Climbing Snoqualmie Mountain

Looking east from the summit

In my prep for climbing Mt Shasta i needed a tough mountain hike with a steep elevation per mile ratio. I've heard of many people using Mailbox Peak for practice. But i opted for a better and higher view, Snoqualmie Mountain! 

The Y in the trail. Stay left!

Snoqualmie Mountain sits perched above the Snoqualmie pass area at 6,278 ft. The trailhead a quick 5 minutes off I-5 and is located just south of the famous and more used Snow lake trailhead. There is no trailhead sign but an obvious trail is visible which ascends up what looks like to be an old overgrown gravel road. 

Getting close to the summit

The trail starts ascending from the beginning and goes up fast as it needs to climb over 3,100 vertical feet in 3.3 miles. There's plenty of roots and rocks to climb. The lower portion has several parts of the trail which are in the middle of a creek bed but the creek was dry this June.
The view from the summit is amazing as it's the highest mountain in the pass area. Mt Rainier, Mt Hood, Glacier Peak, Mt Adams, Mt Stuart and the jagged central cascade peaks are all visible on a clear day! It's a must for all peak baggers and day hikers!

The southern rock cliffs of the mountain

Looking NW at Snow lake and Chair Peak from the summit

Looking west from the summit

Looking south at Snoqualmie Pass and Mt Rainier from the summit

Looking SE from the summit

Looking east from the summit

Looking north from the summit

Close up of Mt Hinman

Close up of Mt Stuart

Close up of Glacier peak

Close up of Mt Rainier

Mt Rainier

Western Trillium
Trillium ovatum

Red Columbine
Aquilegia formosa

                       

Fauna of South Sister, Oregon

South Sister from the south

Here's my collection of fauna from my trip to the top of South Sister in Oregon. I didn't have a lot of time to take pictures of wildflowers and plants along the way as the hike was a long one and we had limited time.

Enjoy the pictures. The plants pictured below were very common along the trail. These plants are only a few of the vast amount of fauna around South Sister. 

Alpine Buckwheat
Eriogonum pyrolifolium
If you take the time to smell this plant's flowers you'll know why the common name is 'dirty socks'

Paintbrush
Castilleja
I'm not sure which species of Paintbrush this is. If you know please let me know.

Dwarf Mountain Lupine
Lupinus lyallii

Possibly....
Sulphur Buckwheat
Eriogonum umbellatum

Partridgefoot
Luetkea pectinata

Tolmie's Saxifrage
Saxifraga tolmiei

Davidson's Penstemon
Penstemon davidsonii

Not sure what type of grass this is but i found it above 9,000 ft

I'm guessing here...
Mountain Arnica
Arnica latifolia
If eaten this plant will cause a rise in body temperature.If applied on skin it is an antiseptic. Europeans and North Americans used Arnica in herbal remedies.

Can you find the frog?

Can you find the ground squirrel?

Common names, scientific names and all info for each plant was taken from "Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast" by Pojar and Mackinnon