Monday's hike was another excellent "Beat the Heat" day on the PCT. While temperatures reached triple digits in the valley, the trail up to Big Red Mountain was in the 70s during the hike.

Our caravan drove 18 miles up from Highway 99 in Talent, past the Wagner Butte parking area, to a right onto FS20 and parked at Siskiyou Gap about at 6,000'. The drive up becomes dusty and bumpy when the asphalt disappears.

After applying sunscreen and sunhats, our group of 16 started up the PCT, which continued up for most of the next three miles. Wildflowers and shrubs greeted us on both sides of the trail, and soon we greeted two pairs of through-hikers coming down the trail on their way towards Mt. Ashland.

The reddish-orange of the soil and rocks gave BRM its name. High in iron content but low in nutrients eliminates many flowers, but many more remain that thrive in that environment. This is Serpentine soil.

The flowers, posted in order of colors, are: Orange Cup Lichen (not a flower), white Anenome, purple Lewisia, reddish Sedem (ice plant), purple Lewisia?, frosted orange Indian Paintbrush, fields of Scarlet Gilia (orange), white Tritellia sp?, pink Alum (wild onion), pink and yellow Alice's Fleabane (Aster), white and yellow Aster?, and blue Flax, Of course, long stemed white Bear Grass was everywhere after the first mile of the hike.

The sky was sunny and mostly clear, so after we all climbed up to the BRM summit above 7000', we had great views for lunch. The big seven are: Mt McLoughlin, Pilot Rock, Mt Ashland, Wagner Butte, BRM, Dutchman Peak, and Mt Shasta.

After lunch, we had our group shot from the summit, then 4 went back down to the trail, and 12 headed south along the ridge for more views. Eventually, we descended first into meadows and then into the forest, which dropped us back onto the PCT.