Cold. Damp. The road had only recently opened to Windy Pass. What better time than this to climb trusty Silver Peak? NONE! The PCT was deserted and except one spot where the snow obscured the trail, we made great time. Sadly, no pika on the way in. It was early and they're smart enough to have been snoozing while we were hiking.

If you've hiked with me you'll notice I look up a lot. A stupid amount. Usually it's because I'm trying to get a read on the weather. I'm no meteorological savant like Weather Matt, but I can usually make a guess as to what's coming. For example, if it's wet, it's probably raining. If the trees are moving, it's windy. That sort of thing. But one thing I'm actually good at is detecting just a hint of blue through the clouds. Not a sucker hole, but a faint trace indicating the clouds aren't that thick and maybe, just maybe we'll break through them. On this day I saw that trace.

As we gained the saddle between Tinkham and Silver Peaks it was clear the clouds were for lowlanders. The higher we went the better the views. In every direction there was a thick blanket of clouds hiding the ground except the peaks that peeked (ha!) through. Volcanoes dotted the horizon and from the summit of Silver there was almost nothing blocking our view.

We marveled, snapped pics, sniffed rocks (well, Tinkham did), and snacked. We even considered going down the other side of the mountain to make a loop, but caution won out. The only part that wasn't great was descending into the clouds again. It got cold and damp as we left the blue skies behind.

But that just made us want to go back again and again.

📍On the lands of the Wenatchi people.