Betsy and I headed up to the northeast corner of Mt Adams for a chilly late season trip. The earlier hope had been to go to Devils Garden and on to Avalanche Valley, but the weather did not cooperate.
We headed up the Muddy Meadows trail under thick clouds on Sunday afternoon through occasional sun patches interspersed with rain and snow bands. The trail was nice and damp at the start at 4400 feet.
Much different by the time we reached the Highline Trail at 5900
A couple miles later we got to camp next to the first Muddy Fork and more precip was threatening, so we set up our tents, made a quick dinner, and then the snow started so we got in our tents.
According to the forecast it should have been the sunny the next morning, but it was still cloudy and cold - in the low 30s. There was some ice in my water bottles. Late in the morning we headed up the trail towards Devils Garden but stopped on the ridge before the second crossing of the Muddy Fork. The sun finally came out for a while and this was as clear as Mt Adams got
Then the clouds returned and we headed back to camp and just hung out. As the afternoon progressed the sunny periods got longer but clouds returned near sunset. Just before, there was a large cap cloud on Adams
Here is Betsy and I all bundled up for the cold
That night was quite windy but the next morning finally dawned clear
The sun got higher and finally started to warm things up a bit
Through a gap in the trees behind my tent there was a view of Goat Rocks, with Old Snowy Mtn on the left and Ives Peak on the right.
As we headed back I got a view of Mt. Rainier
This being fall, there was some nice huckleberry color
And upon returning to Muddy Meadows at the trailhead, was the view we were denied at the start
