leonard hill

Up by the Leonard Hill Fire Tower, there is a clearing cut into the hillside, and an area where there is a little fire place, and some grass that never grows that tall. It’s obvious that people camp up here from time to time, to enjoy the beautiful sunset, and myself I’ve been itching to watch a sunset from here for some time.

While on June 5th, the weather was somewhat cloudy, as thunderstorm after thunderstorm came rolling through the valleys and mountains alike, it actually turned out to be a remarkably beautiful evening. with a beautiful sunset into the clouds. The views from Leonard Hill where as spectacular as always.

Looking at my camping set up.

The rain lead to some beautiful misty sky scapes, especially as the sun was lowering in the sky. Here is Rossman Hill, where I had camped deep in the valley the previous night.

And here Blenheim Mountain with the Blenheim Upper Power Project Reservoir above it.

It was windy up there, but the little White Gas Coleman Stove did just find boiling the water for the pasta I was cooking up for dinner. I did stick it behind this little rock to provide a little more shelter from the wind, but regardless cooked it quickly.

With the wind racing up the hill with coming front, I kept the fire very small and a lot of water nearby. It had been raining throughout the day, so things weren’t particularly flammable, but with the winds being so strong, it was a bit frightening.

I watched the sunset into the valley while the very small campfire roared away with the winds whipping away. It wasn’t particularly cool, but by 8 PM, I did feel it neccessary to put on a long-sleeved shirt.

The sun setting through the trees.

With the clouds starting to over take the sun.

And eventually a front comes through, making the sun set before it normally would, quite far to the north, over Rossman Hill.

The view after sunset. You can just barely make out the mountains, from Utsayathana to the left, to Blenheim and the Reservoir in the center, to Burnt-Rossman Hills on the right.

The truck truck and camping gear after dark.

Awaking in the morning to pounding rain, which fortunately let up into a relatively thick fog by the time I got up in the morning. Here is a view out the back window of the truck cap.

My “night stand” in the truck. Books, radio, flashlight, even fan. I’m as well prepared as I would be at home for sure. That light has only a 9-watt florescent bulb in it, although if I ever needed more light, I have two other lead-lamps with 26-watt florescent in them to illuminate the night.

Packing up my gear on the foggy morning.

The rain and fog pretty much obstructed the view by morning.

The farther I got down the mountain, the worst the weather got on the truck trail. A little farther down the mountain, the fog was so bad, I had to drive really slow with my truck.

Here is a map of where I camped on top of Leonard Hill.