TNAB Trip report for Red Mountain 8/14 2003

Date: August 14th, 2003
Hike: Red Mountain
Route: Commonwealth Basin trail, drop the overnight gear at the foot of Red Mountain, standard trail to the base of the pass and scramble from there.
Attendees: Bruce, Matt, Gretchen, and Mark
Comments: Nice evening on the mountain! bugs are calming down.

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Photo Credits: Matt K.

Matt's Hike Summary: Relaxing on Red Mountain

Sparse attendance on the overnight last night, but a beautiful night to be out in the mountains. Unusually warm all the way up, even the wind was warm at times. We took the commonwealth basin trail from the PCT parking lot and dropped our overnight gear just past the stream before the real climbing starts. From there it was a race against the sun which we narrowly won reaching the summit 15 minutes before sunset. (The sun sets early behind Snoqualmie / Lundin peak) No mountain goats to be seen this year. Views were very good - the air has cleared out a lot in the past week. There was a swarm of some sort of bug on the summit, but they didn't bite. Returned to camp around 9, just before needing headlamps. Bruce hiked back out, leaving just Gretchen, Mark and Myself to pitch the tents, enjoy quesadillas, a bottle of Arrogant Bastard Ale, and a bottle of champagne. Not to mention the cocoa with baily's and Rumple Minze. We were quite well supplied for 3 people! Bugs were pretty much non-existant making the evening most pleasant, and it stayed warm pretty much all night. Up at 05:30 today, back on the road a little before 7 and now just trying to stay awake by sending ya'll email.