7/13, Saturday, overcast with 20% chance of thunderstorm (same prediction for Sunday). I picked up a rental car at 8am. Didn't leave until 9am. Arrived at Norway Pass TH at noon, due to the winding road, and often get stuck behind slow moving RVs and once a caravan of 10+ cars. All paved except for a brief section after on FR26. A privy at the large parking lot, a pump for portable water. Along the drive, scarlet paintbrush, white daisy, purple penstemon are all over. I picked this weekend to come here because of the flowers.
I did the lollipop Whittier Ridge - Lakes loop clockwise. The first 2.9 miles is the stem of the lollipop, out of which the very first mile gains most of the elevation
Saw tons of Naked Buckwheat, and ripe wild strawberry - a bit sandy though. At the trail junction, keep straight to stay on Boundary Trail. The right turn is for Lakes Trail, which I hiked back on. At mile 4.1, is Bear Camp. I filled my water bottle with snow. 
From here on is quite pretty. Lots of buttercup and phlox. At mile 4.7, the next junction, instead of going forward for Mt. Margaret (less than 1 mile away), turn right here. Immediately the trail becomes a bit bushy and narrower. I strapped my umbrella on my pack.
The next ~2 miles took me ~2 hours, following the spine of Whittier Ridge, to the top of Whittier Mt (just one of the many rock pile you'd walk on), and down. Mostly stay truly on the top with vertical drops on both sides, rather than skirting around. Not for the faint of heart. But if you like scrambling, this is fun. Follow the boot track, sometimes more than one, or pick your own. View is splendid. 
Unfortunately the storm was brewing, and all the mountains were covered. I met only one hiker going the opposite direction, while I was taking pictures at the summit. Plenty bright pink penstemon on the rocks. Good view of Holmstedt Lake. Quite some goat hair & scat. After the ridge traverse, the trail drops down quickly towards the lakes basin. At one snow patch, I missed the almost 180° turn, and went up-slope to Snow Lake (quite ugly). I corrected myself, and got on Lakes Trail.
The Lakes Trail is less interesting, but a good change of pace. I can relax, and pick up the speed. Flowers now made it quite pleasant. Bugs were not an issue. A couple of small creek crossings. One muddy spot. Trail is well used, and well maintained. Shovel and Panhandle Lakes are bigger, prettier than Obscurity Lake. Towards the end is Grizzly Lake, which is quite small and ugly. The trail now goes up to Bear Pass. Finally, I was done with the loop.
Bear Pass has good view of Spirit Lake. By then, both St. Helens and Rainier had cleared up a bit. At the junction to Independence Pass, saw two people waiting for sunset with their tripods. I was back to the TH @8:07pm, exactly 8 hours. Seems longer than 14.3 miles. My phone registered 40K steps.
After filling my water bottle at the pump, drove to Windy Ridge View Point, at the end of Hwy-99, hoping for a good sunset. But the western sky was too cloudy. Hood, Adams, and St. Helens were out. The restroom here has no water :( Good that I brought a gallon of water. 
7/14, Sunday. Partly sunny. Set my alarm at 5am, clouds were too thick, went back to sleep. 
When I finally got up, I walked up the stairs of Windy Ridge. Counted about 400 stairs. The top is gentle, gravel like, with plenty flowers. Great view of Spirit Lake. I went up for ~1 mile. Up and down in an hour. 
The next is this big loop. About 12 miles, half of those are a stroll in the paradise. Flowers were amazing.After walking on the wide gravel road (gate closed to general public) for 1.7 miles, I headed up Abraham Trail.
The first mile is a delight on a ridge towards Alpine Butte, with red and purple covering the slopes on both sides. The next mile circled east flank of Alpine Butte, also full of paintbrush and penstemon. Met a topless runner on this section.
At Plain of Abraham I stayed close to the butte to cut to Loowit Trail. Shorter, may not be faster. Getting up and down to Windy Pass on the north side used to be a bit sketchy. Now a breeze. A zigzag was fashioned out of the loose rocks.
Once down to the north blast zone, everywhere was blue: little dwarf lupine was covering all the pumice slopes. Except at Willow Springs, where pink monkey flower dominates in the shade of trees. The water here is clean enough to drink. West of the springs had less flowers. The 1/4 mile detour to Loowit Falls, is not as interesting, unless you haven't been here before. I was hoping to find some shade for lunch, but none. Returned to Loowit Trail, and continued west. Met more people on this trail, a group of loop hikers, and folks from Johnston Ridge Observatory.
Flowers intensified near the junction with Willow Springs Trail. I took to Willow Springs Trail towards Spirit Lake. The next 0.8 miles was a flower la-la land, so is on Truman Trail, which I took to the right to go back to my car. The blue eventually gave away to yellow and then to red. Had a long lunch break here. Met 3 hikers here until the road.There were 3 privileged cars parked at the road end. I had to walk back to Windy Ridge Viewpoint. Saw more people on the road, one couple with dogs carried nothing (not even water). I'm not sure dogs are even allowed on the trails here. Back at TH at 15:18. No incident driving home.
