Mark’s Photos #11

The thermometer read 19°F and my hands were almost numb. The snow crunched under my trail runners as I stumbled around in the dark. It was 9 o’clock PM on a first quarter moon night in October and I was at 6,000 feet* on the north side of 10,502 foot Mt. Jefferson in the Cascades. I had climbed 3,000 feet up from the trailhead to camp in an area called Jefferson Park, a relatively flat spot on the north shoulder of the mountain. Rock hopping one of many streams on the way in, I had almost fallen in the icy creek. A potentially very very dangerous situation, but I was saved by a well placed hiking pole. Now, by this late hour, I should have been hunkered down in my cozy hammock covered in a goose down sleeping bag, but the first quarter moon was hovering over the mountain in perfect position and was begging to be photographed. I finally found what I was looking for, a flat-ish boulder where I could set my camera/phone. I pulled it out of my pocket, trying to keep it warm enough to function. I set the timer and propped the phone on the boulder just as some wispy clouds drifted across the view. Had to wait a few more minutes until they scuttled on by and tried again. I eventually got the shot you see here without losing any fingers or toes to the numbing cold.

*(Because of the higher latitude in Oregon, the climate at 6,000 feet is equal to about 9,500 ft in central Colorado, for comparison.)