Bottom: An official "wilderness warning" sign along the trail.
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Can you believe that, as of this hike, we've lost over 1-1/4 hours of evening daylight? If you've been on recent hikes, you are certainly aware of it, as it seems as though the sun is setting before we hit the trail. As least the rate-of-change of the rate-of-change of the time of sunset is about to decrease - which could mean only one thing: Equinox is approaching!
The approach of equinox means something else: The end of the Wednesday Night Hikes for the 2008 season: After this hike there is only one left!
This day started out looking less than ideal for hiking: The temperatures had dropped significantly and there had been rain showers scattered across the valley all day. As the gathering time for the hike approached, dark clouds continued to loom in the south. Past experience has shown, however, that by the time of the hike - even if it there is scattered rain in the valley, it's more likely than not to not be doing the same thing up one of the canyons - or if it was, it would soon stop: Because many of the summer storms are driven by the heat of the sun, their driving forces dissipate as it gets later in the afternoon.
This was no exception: While there were plenty of clouds to be seen (which makes for better lighting) there was no sign of impending rain. What was obvious was the fact that it had rained earlier in the day and for this reason, we were happy to let Dale take the lead and shake much of the water off the plants along the trail.
Despite the fact that it had rained earlier, the trail wasn't particularly muddy - just wet enough to require that one keeps a lookout for the occasional patch of clay-ish mud, the slick rock or tree root - good advice in any weather! As we proceeded up the sometimes-steep Butler Fork trail, we could see the occasional glimpses of dramatic lighting around us, further enhanced by the presence of the clouds and their further warming of the available light.
Passing the junction of the trail that led further up Butler Fork, we veered to the left - toward Mill-A Basin. Climbing through a semi-riparian area (with a brook babbling to our left) we continued straight up the tributary fork until it began to steepen even more, at which point the trail commenced a series of switchbacks - first on the north side of the ravine, and finally crossing over to the south side. As we ascended, we began to catch glimpses up-canyon that also revealed warm alpenglow on some of the nearby peaks and cliffs. During our climb, we were somewhat surprised to see two others coming down: A woman, followed closely by a man dressed in camouflage and carrying a crossbow: Apparently, they weren't crazy enough to hike in the dark!
We soon arrived at the top of the ridge that separates Butler Fork from Mill-A basin: Dale and Tim went a bit forward - into a grove of quaking aspen - to take in the view and search for some fall color while I continued south along the ridge, on the less-worn trail toward Circle-All peak itself, pausing along the way to look at (and photograph) some of the interplay of light, mist and fog. Arriving at the peak a few minutes before sunset, I was treated to a spectacular sunset, along with eerie views of clouds enveloping some of the nearby mountain peaks.
After a few minutes alone some of the others arrived, starting with Bruce, followed shortly by Dale, Tim and Bryan. Although they were a few minutes too late to see the sunset directly, the final group consisting of Elaine (in the lead,) Ron and Gordon arrived in time to see some of the underlit clouds and their interactions with the mountains.
Even though most of us had wet clothing from the wet leaves, the high humidity retarded evaporation so the 40 degree temperature atop the peak (along with the still air) made it seem a bit warmer than the same temperature did atop Scott's Hill last week. Soon after taking the obligatory group photo(s) we donned our respective jackets and headlamps, wielded our flashlights and started back down in the dark.
We decided to take the descent slowly - partially in deference to Elaine, who was understandably cautious to avoid unnecessary aggravation of her recovering ankle, but also due to our being wary of the many foot-snagging roots and slippery rocks that we knew were present along the trail. One interesting effect of the high humidity, cool temperatures, and lack of wind was that the steam from our breath seemed to move along with us rather than rapidly dissipate - a phenomenon mildly annoying to those of us wearing headlamps who seemed to be in a perpetual bank of self-generated fog!
Without incident, we managed to find our way down the switchbacks, along the stream, across the treacherous traverse of several steep rock faces and cross the slippery log bridge over the stream and back to our vehicles. Shortly after arriving, just as we were starting to doff our gear, someone said "Isn't it about time for the Iridium Flare?" Looking upwards and scanning the sky toward the East-southeast, it was only a minute or so before a satellite hove into view in a cloud-free portion of, growing in brightness and disappearing once again into the moonlit heavens - an welcome bonus to the evening's sights.
After piling into our cars and wandering back down-canyon, three of us (Gordon, Bruce and I) reconvened at the Belgian Waffle Inn and, as usual, promptly canceled any beneficial effects of the evening's exercise.
Comment: The Iridium flare (from satellite #66) occurred at 21:31:54 MDT on a bearing of 103 degrees (true north reference) and was, according to predictions, a "Daytime Flare" with a magnitude of -6.5 or so at our location. Originally we didn't think that we'd see it, as it was far later than we'd expected to be out and about that evening.
No-one is quite sure of the name's origin, but Gordon mentioned that Circle-All Peak is named after the Circle-All slide area. Where that got it's name is unclear!
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