In mid-July the heat came, and the air turned a smoky gray-brown, blotting out the blue sky. By mid-August it was hot and smoky so long I was starting to forget what a blue sky looked like. Then, finally, a short break in the weather came. The sky cleared and turned back to blue, and we got a short break from the relentless heat. It was time to pack the backpacks and get out on the trail. With loaded backpacks we headed south and hit the trail to Summit and Rapid Lakes.
The first part of this trail seems to be a popular day hike, but with an early start there wasn’t much (any) traffic on the trail.
Once past Boulder Lake any signs of people on the trail were left behind. We saw just one other person in the three days out on this hike past Boulder Lake. The trail maintenance also stopped at Boulder Lake, and there were plentiful downed trees across the trail. The one person we did see said that he couldn’t even find the trail past Rapid Lake, and he finished his hike a day early after turning around stopped by all the deadfall.
We found a campsite at the edge of Summit Lake and settled in for the afternoon.
We wandered up to the saddle above camp, and it offered quite a view looking east into the Salmon River Mountains.
It didn’t appear that Summit Lake had any fish in it, but there were plenty of frogs.
The next day we were back on the trail. Instead of a day hike like originally planned, we decided to take camp with us and wander over to another nearby lake, Rapid Lake.
We were lucky enough to be the only ones at Rapid Lake as well.
The next day we wrapped up our short backpacking trip, but decided to do some more exploring while we were out and about. After a quiet night at a dispersed camp we hit one more trail the next day. The trail to Hard Creek Lake offered stunning views filled with wildflowers and granite peaks.
We chose a short hike so we could finish up and get back to the truck. The heat was returning, after a short respite.
It hit 110 degrees on the drive home. About 20 miles from home we topped White Bird summit and saw the Camas Prairie shrouded in the smoke. I suppose a short break is better than none. It’s nice to look back to the photos from this trip and confirm, the sky is still blue when the smoke goes away. I think I’m ready to see August end, September anyone?
