Seven people hiked up Bachelor Mountain (not Mt Bachelor) on the westside on the Bugaboo Ridge trail on Sunday, July 28. We all agreed that this route is nicer than the trail that starts near Coffin Mountain, but still over 8 miles and 1600 feet elevation. The flowers were a little past prime but still quite spectacular. We didn’t encounter any other hikers until on our way back to the car. At the summit we had views from Mt Rainier down to Mt Thielsen. There were spectacular views of Mt Jefferson along the entire route and very nice views of Coffin Mountain and the Three Sisters. We hiked by some very nice Douglas fir and western white pine trees; but the terrain was quite varied. We all browsed on huckleberries on our way back to the cars; having agreed to refrain from browsing on the way up so that we could get to the summit! Thanks to Roz for organizing and leading the hike.
We had one learning moment when four of us walked past the very obvious trail (with two very obvious signs) to the summit. Our excuse was the strategic placement of some spectacular beargrass on the opposite side of the trail (and not paying attention while while conversing). Shannon caught our mistake about a quarter mile later and we back-tracked to the trail, but we also got some very nice views for our effort.
Photos by John Fertig and Donald Schwendiman
