SEPTEMBER 25, 2010  A Mountaineers BWT hike.  The weather forecast on Tuesday was for a 20% chance of rain, but it improved minute by minute, and by Saturday morning, we were promised a sunny day with a high near 63.   The day began inauspiciously, however, when we caught unaware by a road closure at Snoqualmie Pass that trapped us under foggy skies for more than an hour.  By the time we reached the trailhead, the parking lot was full and the day was half over. 

This is one of my favorite hikes, and I know the trail so well I could almost hike it in my sleep.  But today everything seemed larger than life.  The sky was bigger, the woods were prettier, the trail was more rugged, and the incomparable Mount Stuart somehow closer.  A few hardy flowers are still blooming along the trail alongside brilliant red and gold bushes, and the larches are already starting to turn golden.  Because of our late start, we didn't hike to Ingalls Lake and instead enjoyed a leisurely lunch at Ingalls Pass and Headlight Creek Basin.   Mt. Stuart dominated the scenery to the east, and the Esmerelda Peaks, Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier were visible to the west.   All too soon it was time to start our hike out.