Vermont Dome, June 14th 2014

We wake up to a bit of rain, but it soon goes away and the day becomes sunny and warm. This isn't great because it means that we both overheat in our rain gear, which we can't take off due to the hordes of mosquitoes. We start off the day hiking through a bit of brush, but soon find a ridge where we can get a good line of sight of where we'll be going. Our path brings us up a ridge, down a steep slope into a valley with a small creek, up a steep slope on the opposite side, around and up another ridge, then up and up and up. We encounter some tussocks, but they are small and not bad to hike over. We stop for lunch on the last ridge before the final ascent to Vermont Dome.

sidehilling in rain gear.  Vermont Dome in background

Some treasures of the trail included:
-A white-crowned sparrow nest with 5 blue-brown speckled eggs.

-A random metal pail in the brush.  Not sure where it came from.
-A rainbow building its way up out of the river valley opposite us.
-A big hunk of quartzite, perfectly cleaved and translucent.

My legs are aching when we reach the summit of Vermont dome, but it is well worth the view. In every direction are snow capped, enormous craggy peaks.  Below these peaks are smaller mountains, artfully sculpted and carved by glaciers long ago.  Then far below those are the rivers, braiding their way through the landscape, still carving and shaping it today.  I don't know where to look because it is all so amazing. We have dinner and watch the sun come out from behind the clouds to illuminate the mountain ridges. In the saddle of the mountain we set up the tent and fall asleep under the midnight sun.