Hike #37: Yellow Aster Butte
September 19, 2015
Mileage: ~6 roundtrip
Elevation Gain: ~2500 ft.

I’m falling a little bit behind in the weekly hiking. Where has September gone? This week we headed to the North Cascades, where we spent the night at Silver Fir campground so we could get an early start the next day. The campground was great, as usual, and our campsite was right next to the Nooksack River, which was lovely in the grey morning light.

Our goal was Yellow Aster Butte, a hike that has been on my list for probably two years. I was really excited to see the autumn colors and hopeful that we’d get some of the spectacular views. 

But, as happens in the northwest, our hiking plans were overtaken by weather. It rained.

Oh, did it rain. I’ve never been quite that soaked on a hike. Although the colors were bright and vibrant, the mist was heavy. We hiked in the clouds, and the clouds won. We turned around somewhere around 3 miles in and ended up back at the car very soggy, and not completely pleased with the photos I’d taken. 

Great colors, but lots of water droplets on my lens. And so much fog!  

A useful exercise in remembering that nature runs the show. Luckily, it’s early in the fall, and we’ve got several more weeks to enjoy the season. If anyone has any recommendations for fall hikes (high or low), I’d love to hear them!