I made a trip up to Bearhead Mountain with a few friends in early July of 2019. This was a cloudy, damp day, so we didn’t get any views of Rainier, but I really go in for those trips where everything is covered in dew drops and hints of mountains appear and disappear as clouds move through, so this was an A++ hike in my book. We mostly had the trail to ourselves, too — except for an older man we saw coming down, who claimed the trail was blocked up ahead. We saw no sign of the fallen tree he was talking about, and suspected he may have just been trying to keep the crowds away. I can sympathize; this trail was wonderfully almost-over-grown, with no trash and no crowds, a wonderful respite to some of the other trails in the area.

Looking back at the photos I have from this trip, there’s a lot missing. I’ve since gotten a better camera, too, but I can’t say that my photography skills have actually improved.

A small lake we passed early on in the trail. If I recall correctly, there was a lot of skunk cabbage around the trail here, and things may have gotten a little wet.
So many flowers everywhere! So many different shades and shapes of green! So much dew!
A bear grass covered hillside with trees, mountains, and clouds in the background.
A foggy hillside covered in bear grass and other flowers and grasses, rocks, and fallen logs.
Dewy, purple-flowered plant growing amidst the rocks. Rock Penstemon, perhaps?
The wonderfully messy-haired seed head of the Western PasqueFlower — what I often call the Dr. Seuss plant. The actual flowers on these are way less interesting than what the flower becomes.
Pink mountain-heather.
A slightly-blurry photo of the trail cutting through a hillside of dewy bear grass and silky lupine.
An even foggier hillside covered in more bear grass.