Excellent early evening hike in the Columbia River Gorge!
The parking lot was about 2/3 full when I arrived at 3pm. I encountered many other hikers making their descent as I was sweating up the hill, but the trail never felt 'crowded'. I must have just missed the rush, because by the time I reached the meadows near the top I barely saw any more people and I had the summit to myself. I took the Augspurger trail back down, and only passed two parties of two the entire way back to the parking lot. What a great day for it!
There are still some wildflowers near the top, but most of them are wilted and drying up. Other than the brush growing in close over the trail in several spots, there weren't any obstacles. Bugs didn't seem to be a problem except for in the parking lot. There were only a handful of cars in the lot when I returned a little before 7pm, which I found a little surprising considering there were still two full hours of daylight left on this beautiful Spring day.
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