11.2 miles of hiking • 1000' elevation gain •
Actual mileage 11.2miles, elevation gain 1042ft (corrected with gpsfly)
We wanted to hit 3 wildernesses today and decided to hike the PCT at the Santiam Pass access. Hiking north into Mt. Jefferson Wilderness there is nothing but a burned forest. However, there is also a complete rebirth of th forest evident from the enormous amount of low growing vegetation and huge number of seedlings!
Hiking south toward Mt. Washington Wilderness you must first hike through the Hoodoo Nordic Track area. The mosquitos where overwhelming but we had full battle gear and had almost no bites! After entering into Mt. Washington Wilderness we started to see the remains of a very hot fire. The forest floor was charred and sterilized except for the Beargrass that was starting to come out. There was no one on the trail the entire day!
We saw views of Mt. Washington and Three-Fingered Jack toward the end of the hike. The day started out cold (mid 40's) and raining and ended up somewhat clear and windy but in the 60's.
