On Wednesday we had 4 people come out to hike Big Red Mountain. The original plan was Union Peak, but with concerns about lightning, we opted for the closer shorter hike. We started our hike along the PCT from Siskyou Gap a little after 9:00 AM and it was already 70°

As we hiked along, we saw some Milk Vetch in the pod stage, Siskiyou Fireweed and some Bear Grass. The Big Red hike is known for Bear Grass, but we were a little late in the season for a big bloom.

We continued along and checked our various tracks and found a spot that looked like a good place to head up the mountain. We stopped at some big rocks and had a snack before the climb. We were in the middle of a bunch of brightly colored Paint Brush. We then made our way up the mountain to the top.

Scott had never been to the top and as he and Nanci discussed that he thought this was where his dad Hank wanted the former rule of no uphill after lunch. I saw Hank the next day and he confirmed that. We had great views of Dutchman's Peak, Mount McLoughlin and Mount Shasta.

We decided to head back a different way and tried to remember how to reconnect with the trail. Between Steve's memory and mine with the aid of my track, we came right out where we needed to be. We headed back to the cars and arrived around 12:30 PM and had avoided any bad weather. We had hiked 5.15 miles and gained 1204 feet of elevation.