Less smoke at Black Butte

My third peak of the Six Peaks Challenge!  I’ve hiked Black Butte about 5 years ago, but from the upper trailhead. This time, I started at the lower trailhead. I started at 7AM, took 2.5 hours to reach the summit, hung around at the top for half an hour, then headed back down in 2 hours more, so 5 hours round-trip. I encountered few people on the ascent – a couple parties of 3 or 4 – but there were lots of people going up as I descended. Dozens. I had intended to do this hike a week earlier, but it was far too smoky, so I waited a week. Which was a good decision! There were a ton of bees at the top, which made it unpleasant to sit and enjoy the view, but it was less bad as long as I kept moving. This has been my most demanding hike this year.