5/13, Friday. Took a day off work, as the weather this weekend is very wet everywhere. Picked up a car at 9am. Filled gas first (it was only 1/4 full). It's ~3 hour drive to the Horse Lake TH. After the road turns gravel, I decided to turn back and park at the pull out with other ~5 cars, because the slope here was already blooming nicely (especially yarrow, phlox and lomatium). So I chose to walk instead of driving slowly.
My goal was the red dot marked on the first photo. There, you have a great view of the Enchantments and Glacier Peak. Today, the weather was not as good as last time, also balsamroot and lupine were either dead or just in bud. A disappoinment comparing with last May. Had lunch here with the view of the Cascades. There was only one other person here. He was on bike.
On the way back, I headed down north, all along, I could see the mountains (shaded blue on the map below). Another reason is that trip reports mentioned flowers were excellent along Homestead Trail. Indeed, it was very nice (shaded orange on the map below). More basalmroot and lupine here. Phlox is more pink here. Saw a few more hikers here.
The connection to my original trail passes through some dense phlox bloom (mostly white, see light pink shade on the map below).
The trail crosses an interesting looking canyon. After the junction (Gut Saddle), I took a longer Jackhammer Trail back, instead of going on the ridge, just for the variety. However, the ridge trail has better flowers. Overall, more flowers on the north facing slopes.
Total about 10 miles. 25k steps. Even though colors are not as good as last year, it's still nice to walk among the flowers. It's a weekday, so less people.
No traffic on my way back. Stopped at Issaquah Trader Joe's before they close for some groceries. Drove to Hertz downtown's 6th floor parking. Couldn't find the key-drop. They had it when I rented a car last November. I saw a guy drove here to park, so I asked him. He said they removed the key-drop, because there were thefts breaking those boxes and stealing cars. He would come back and return the key the next morning. What a world! I drove home.
