Today Logan, Heidi, Chazz and I hiked into the Commonwealth basin. It was a picture perfect blue sky fall day, and the forecast called for the high to be around 75 in the mountains. We set off fairly early and drove up to the Commonwealth campground parking lot just off of I-90. It was already packed when we arrived and started to hike up. About 50 feet from the trailhead we ran across a side trail - the abandoned trail down from the Basin that was mentioned in most trail descriptions. We decided to go up the "official" route, which coincided with the Pacific Crest Trail for the first 2-3/4 miles.
The trail up was lovely - at about 1.75 miles we broke out of the trees and entered a series of rockfalls with wonderful views of the basin below us and the surrounding mountains. Cool breezes were flowing off the mountain tops, down the rockfall channels. It may have been 50 degrees in spots along the trail.
At the fork in the trail we went left and down into the basin, while the Pacific Crest Trail climbed to the right. We passed the intersection with the old abandoned trail. After another mile we stopped and had lunch in the basin.
The basin was a wonderful spot for camping, eating lunch or picking blueberries. It's criss-crossed by small streams and has several large meadows. We turned back when the trail started it's ascent of Red Mountain.
On the way back we took the abandoned trail for a fast way down. We filled Logan's snack cup with blueberries - he ate till his face turned purple. The old trail was still traveled and in good shape.
After we got home I came down with a bad head cold. Totally worth it, though.
No comments:
Post a Comment