Ten Monday hikers got to take on the challenge of Cook & Green Pass and were rewarded for the effort.

This was a redo of an August hike that was cancelled due to poor air quality. We had none of that on Monday with bright sunlight and the wind blowing air into our lungs as we hiked up the trail.

We arrived at the TH by 10:30 with a breeze at 59 degrees that felt cooler but proved to be invigorating on the trail.

The opening hike is a steady climb over the first mile and the biggest effort of the day. Up through tall forests and out on exposed rocks with wind gusts up to 25 mph.

The rocks and boulders, and mountains have an orange to red hue, giving the Red Buttes their name. But if you got in your Time Machine and went back several million years, these same rock mountains would be green from the native Serpentine stones. So they'd be called the Green Buttes if there were any people around to name them. What happened? The constant exposure to the sun oxidized the green stones, giving them an orangish-red crust. Split rocks, seen on the trail, are still green on the inside with that orange to red shell.

The bright sunlight makes this hike special and a favorite to many hikers. From the green forested hillsides and shrub-lined trail, to the big Red Buttes as they got closer as we moved up the trail.

The white face of Mt. Shasta provided constant views from 70 miles away on this clear sky day.

The Evergreen Conifers were in our on-trail discussions, as this part of Southern Oregon and Northern California is very diverse for growing the big trees.

We found some rare Brewer Spruces on this hike.

We stopped for lunch atop the windy cliff that overlooks Echo Lake. This was our highest point on the hike. We got our group photo there with the Red Buttes at our back.

After lunch, we hiked 1.6 miles further down the trail to view Lily Pad Lake, before most of us started heading back to the TH. The PCT trail crosses a Forest Service road, which we took back to the cars.

On the day, we hiked 7.7 miles with 1,300', of gain.

It was a special day of views and effort, making us both elated and tired.

A few of us relaxed at Boom Town in Jacksonville, post-hike.

Happy Trails,
Rich