Copper Butte

This weekend, or at least my weekend which is really in the middle of the week, Walter and I headed up to the Kettle Mountains and hiked to the top of Copper Butte, the highest mountain in the Kettle Range. The hike from the trailhead and back is around 6 miles; not a long distance but the last half of the hike is pretty steep.

The first part of the trail which is an old stagecoach road

Breaking out of the trees and into the burn area

The hike up was sort of weird. The area had burned back in the 90s and the forest is mostly silver snags poking up from the underbrush. As we got out of the green trees and into the ghost forest I started hearing this sort of moaning sound coming from the valley below. The sound grew louder as it moved up the hills. It was of course, the wind and what I was hearing was just the start of a really big wind storm that would last all day and into the night.

Copper Butte

By the time Walter and I got up onto the side of the butte the wind was pretty bad. I had been having an ear problem for about a week and the wind irritated it quite a bit. I was a bit concerned about some of the snags blowing down but I did not hear any trees cracking or falling, at least not then. The falling and crashing trees were later on during the day and evening.

Steep trail

From the trail and top of the butte I could see a fire burning in the Okanagan that started a week before from lightening. I could even see the North Cascades way in the distance, though the sky was not completely clear. There were tons of wild flowers along the trail. Lots of lupin and Indian paintbrush and some cool purple looking daisies. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures from the very tippy top of the mountain. For some reason the camera has been occasionally taking pictures that are just white. The highest pictures I have area from about 800 or so feet from the top, and only of the west side. That is ok though because the view to the east is about the same as from Wapaloosie, and I will be hiking back over Copper Butte to get to Scar Mountain anyway. I also tried to get a picture of a cool spot of flowers but those turned out totally white too.

Flowers along the trail

Looking towards the North Cascades

Toward the Okanagan

After we got to the top of the mountain, I tried to take some pictures and then immediately headed back down the trail. We sat in a more sheltered spot by the last switchback and had a little rest, and then had more of a snack at the saddle between Copper Butte and Midnight Mountain where there are some real trees.

Northeast

Again

Walter checking out the view

We were back at the Canyon Creek Campground by around 3 and tried to take a little snooze in the tent but there were lots of sticks and branches falling out of the trees and onto the tent. I finally got up and climbed into the car so I did not have to worry about getting beaned by a branch. As the evening wore on the wind became stronger and trees started crashing in the forest. A tree even fell on the road into the campground and some guys took their axes and lumberjacked it out of the way. There were several times I actually felt the fallen trees hit the ground, and one fell over near the end of the campground. I slept in the car until around 4 in the morning and went back into my tent after the wind calmed down.

Amazing flowers

Very interesting log

The next morning I picked a quart of huckleberries at the campground and Walter and I headed home. While we were dodging branches, a pretty big fire had started in Spokane and spread quickly in the wind. The fire started in my favorite Dishman Hills and has burned over a thousand acres. There was also a lot of smoke in the Columbia River valley from new fires and ones in then Okanagan that had blown up from the wind. It was actually a really bad storm.

Huckleberry fingers

Smoke above the Columbia River the morning after the wind storm

Not sure what my next plans are. My mom is coming to visit for a couple of weeks so I might drag her out somewhere. My next weekend will be spent cleaning the house and getting caught up on stuff I have neglected.