Frost, lightning (?) and a witch (?) on Tiger 3

Frost greeted us at the trailhead.

It was cold yesterday morning, when John Anderson and I exited our cars at the parking lot of Tiger 3. The good news was that the bite of the cold that cut through my thin safari trousers would disappear after we had hiked for a few minutes. Just inside the trailhead gate the low brush was still frosted, probably from moisture that settled on the leaves and needles as the air lost its carrying capacity due to the cold.

But just a little way up the trail the air was warmer, and at a curve in the trail, despite the cold air, there was no frost to be found, as indicated in the photo below. Hunch: The cold air descended past this point and on into the lowlands, chilling the air it found there, and precipitating out the moisture.

The overcast filtered the light, giving the forest a somewhat gray tone.

This dead tree trunk was clustered with fungi seeking residual nutrients.

Water that had seeped from the ground was gathered in knots of ice crystals.

This hike marked John's best since we first began hiking together last summer. He reahced Tiger's summit, a 2,000 foot elevation gain and a six-mile round trip hike.  On his last attempt he  fell short by less than a half mile.

John reaches the summit of Tiger 3, at 2,522 feet of elevation, and a 2,000-foot elevation gain.

John eyes the sign at the Tiger 3 summit.

Lightning strike?

On the descent I noticed a curious stump. In the pair of photos below, the top image shows a rotting stump with the heartwood more intact. The lower photo shows that the exterior bark is burnt. None of the nearby trees had scorched bark. My hunch is that this is a lightning strike and that the heartwood was less affected than the wood closer to the exterior of the tree.

My hunch: that this tree was a victim of a lightning strike that was kinder to the heartwood.

The witch

Further along on the descent, John paused and stared out into the trees at a strange item hanging from the branches. My first thought was a hang-glider who had been caught there. John joked that it looked like a witch. This photo from my phone isn't much help.  Farther yet, we ran into a young woman who said she had made the same discovery and called out, thinking it might have been a hang glider who was caught up. The mystery continues. Next time I'll take a camera with a long lens. My hike app, All Trails, made it possible to pinpoint the location on a Tiger 3 topo map, so it won't be hard to find.

The tree "witch"

Satistics for the day:

Distance: 6 miles
Elevation gain: 2,000 feet
Conditions:Chll, about 40 F, clear sky.
Load: 20 pounds of backpack

Statistics, year to date:

Distance: 1499.5 miles

Elevation gain: 62,720 feet; 9,335 to fifth Rainier