We hiked into Mt Jefferson Wilderness today and had a great view of Three Fingered Jack as we traversed under its scree slopes shortly after leaving camp. The tail passed around Porcupine Peak and over Minto Pass before dropping past Rockpile Mountain to the lake. We climbed up onto a ridge overlooking Mt Jefferson just in time to see a pair of thunderstorms merge over the summit. We were pelted with hail and blasted with thunder from directly above as we quickly descended from the ridge out of harm’s way. Finally we made it to camp, 18.9 miles, 30.4 km later, just in time for cheeseburgers and another beer before dark.

Straight out of camp, I rounded a bend and saw an incredible view. Behind the ridge I was standing on, I could see Cache Mountain, Mt Washington, Black Crater, North Sister, Middle Sister, and far off in the distance, South Sister. All of the mountains lined up into one frame perfectly.

Just past the first stop, I walked through the shadow of Three Fingered Jack. The craggy summit was surrounded by fallen scree, and the trail crossed just along the bottom edge of the rockfield.

As I rounded the northern edge of the mountain, the brightly illuminated side came into view. This side looked even more jagged than the last. I could also see Mt Jefferson from this ridge, it looked so far away and I found it hard to believe we’d be there within a day or so.

The trail passed through a burn zone, and as I walked, I saw clouds gathering in the distance. There was forecast for possible rain this afternoon, as time went on the clouds became darker.

I climbed up onto a ridge overlooking Mt Jefferson and saw two huge storm cells merging. The sound of thunder was constant, and after a few minutes it started to rain on the ridge. It was time to get to lower elevation ASAP. I half ran, half walked to get lower, with Mango right behind me. We were pelted with pea sized hail while lightning flashed overhead and thunder crashed not even a second later. At one point we had to cross an open clearing, but decided best not to. Lightning struck the ground, more than once, just past the trees on the other side.

The storm passed and we could see Mt Jefferson again. We crossed the clearing and walked to a small lake to collect water for the night. The ground was covered in hail and everything was soaking wet.

On the way to camp, we saw signs of trees being hit by lightning. There was no smoke or fire, but huge splinters of wood were embedded in the ground near a tree which had split in a twisting helix.

When we got to camp, Cook came out to meet us and told us the whole trail had been flooding just half an hour ago. A few moments later, Wow joined us and recounted her experience just before the top of the ridge. We all set up camp, and I cooked up some cheeseburgers I’d been carrying the ingredients for all this way. Even without lettuce they were amazing, I found another can of beer in my pack too. Carrying this stuff through a storm definitely improves the flavour.