Читать книгу One Night Wilderness: Portland. Top Backcountry Getaways Within Three Hours of the City онлайн

29 страница из 57

Near the top of the headwall, the terrain opens up, becomes less steep, and features lots of huckleberries and good views. The trail’s last 0.5 mile goes up and down, crossing a marshy meadow and several small creeks, and passing a shallow pond before depositing you on the northeast shore of Lake of the Angels. This scenic, teardrop-shaped lake is surrounded by rocky areas, meadows, and high-elevation conifers such as subalpine firs, Alaska yellow cedars, and mountain hemlocks. As always, never camp in the fragile meadows near the lake, but instead seek out places with harder surfaces away from the shore. The best views are from the south shore up to rugged Mount Stone.

Adventurous hikers can use the lake as a base camp for some fine explorations. Top goals include the views from atop the ridge to the west (accessible by an easy but unsigned boot path), the Stone Ponds (reached by a tough scramble through an obvious notch in the southeast shoulder of Mount Stone), and the top of a snow-filled gully high on the shoulder of Mount Skokomish to the southwest.