Fluttershy among a fall color grove of Black Cottonwood trees. I brought Fluttershy and Flutterbat on a 9.5 mile long loop hike, which turned out to be one of the most remote, challenging hikes I’ve ever done. More challenging on navigation, trials, and tribulations, and less so in terms of physical difficulty. The trail was extremely hard to follow at times, being so overgrown and abandoned; I lost the trail once; I was stung twice and chased by bees on the way back; and I got back just before dark.
 
The whole loop took Fluttershy, Batty, and I past two serene lakes, a high summit with a commanding view of Mt. Hood and the White River Valley, and down into the lonesome, dark, and boggy forest down along Boulder Creek and Crane Prairie. I saw almost no one the entire hike, and saw absolutely no one down in the dark bottomlands around Boulder Creek, where the trail was hard to follow and where a hive of bees chased us down the trail.
 
I took this photo near the end of my hike, at a beautiful talus slope dotted with golden Western Larches (a deciduous conifer, aka “pine” tree), and these cottonwoods. The Quaking Aspens were past their time, so I didn’t bother with a photo.
 
Fluttershy plushie (23 inches) made by Dawning Love