Mountain scouting

The plan was to take three of our grandchildren to hike the trails at Bird Creek Meadows on Mt. Adams.The area is beautiful, with alpine flower fields, grand vistas, and would not be too difficult for the youngsters to hike. We made it almost all the way up there, only to find out the area is closed, and will only be open on Labor Day this year. Major wildfires have burned the forests on the way up there, some of the road was almost washed out in several places. The men blocking our way were working to clear some of the burned trees, and fixing the road, they said. It is on the Yakima Indian reservation, they have authority over what happens there. We had missed a closure sign a ways down the road in our eagerness to get there. Back down the mountain we came, and ended up going to our yearly huckleberry picking area to scout out things. Since the plan had been to hike, we hiked ("bushwhacked"} around the lake we usually camp at, and checked out nearby lakes. .
The main photo is of us scouting out a new lake. In the first  extra Jax is at a little pond and the other is us making a stop at Bird Creek with the burned forest all around.