Eugenious

My friend Chandra, with whom I spend far too little time, asked me to join her for a reconnaissance climb of Mt. Bailey, an old volcano north of Crater Lake. She’s leading a hike up Bailey in a few weeks, and I need to climb volcanoes – perfect fit!

We saw one great horned owl; one sign warning of a blue-green algae bloom in Diamond Lake; maybe one hairy woodpecker, just glanced through the trees; countless mountains in our 360 degree view from the summit, including the Three Sisters, Jefferson, Washington, Diamond Peak, Mount Scott, the remains of Mount Mazama, and also Mount McLoughlin, Mount Shasta, and probably Mount Ashland; lupine, paintbrush, pasqueflower, bleeding heart, blooming manzanita, mountain dandelion, tiny yellow mountain violets, their blooms the size of my thumbnail, and grouse whortleberry.

Chandra was bitten by 207 mosquitoes (okay, that’s a guess), and we were both driven nearly mad by many thousands of other bloodsuckers. She taught me about roadless areas and the poisoning of Diamond Lake. Last night, we saw oodles of stars from our tent’s skylight. We were awoken by many fishermen at 5 a.m., after they’d finally gone to bed at 11 p.m., following quite a bit of discussion about “franks.” I only threw one snowball at Chandra; I missed on purpose.

Here are a few photos from our trip:

Our first peek at Bailey from the trail. The summit is the bare area in the middle along the horizon.

Chandra not swatting at mosquitoes for a moment, with Diamond Lake and Mt. Thielsen beyond.

Looking through the summit ridge's window to Thielsen.

Cinder saddle, rock wall, talus slopes, then easy walk to summit.

Mount Bailey across Diamond Lake. I found this photo at a thrift store. It looks like it might have been taken a little earlier in the season than now - maybe May or June.