My first trip to the knoll this year, I set my satellite messenger on a rock to let Monica know my ETA. The location was so delightful I stayed quite some time taking photos and riding the slope, and on departure forgot to pick the messenger back up. Luckily I had the tracking feature on, so once I was home and discovered its absence I was able to find its location on my online map. The next weekend I slogged thru alternately slushy and hard crust to the GPS coordinates and retrieved it and then more slogging with rain coming down back to the car.
After those trips, spending happy long hours mapping routes and gazing at Forest Service maps and aerial photos, I'd thought of inviting Wayne to plan out a route with me on the maps, but I'm glad to have waited until we were out on the mountain to choose. Sure enough the first place he leads me is to the place I'd most wanted to go together which is the exact place I'd gotten so absorbed by the beauty and lost my messenger. Wayne told me of camping there with his daughter years ago. So lovely. Great view of the valley fog we left behind.
{{../valley_fog.jpg|Valley Fog|width=80%}}
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