On a hot summer day in mid-July we took the chairlift from the Sun Peaks Resort up to mid-mountain, then we hiked a longer loop route to the top of the mountain and then back on trails through the West Bowl. There was a bit of haze in the area, but it was mostly sunny and the wind was helpful with any mosquitoes or flies. The route was up through Crystal Bowl to Top of the World, then on double and single track trails northwest toward the peak. The final section is steep, but was worth the effort. We have done this hike most years and we often wait for the right weather, but the odds of getting a clear day this month weren’t good because of area forest fires. There were meadows full of wildflowers all along the route. The display varies, depending on what part of summer it is. On this day, there were many lupines, paintbrush, arnica, pearly everlasting, forget-me-nots, bracted lousewort, subalpine aster, stonecrop, pussytoes, mat saxifrage, false hellebore, groundsel, orchids, cinquefoil, and many more.
Cow parsnip was in bloom in seep zone subalpine meadows, often on ski runs.
The snow was all melted on the steep slopes up to the peak.
Tod Mountain stands at 7060 feet (m) with wide views, but haze prevented the longer views. We could see the route we had taken from the summit to the Top of the World (Burfield Chair), 2.2 km away.
We return to Tod Mountain to enjoy the hike through flowering alpine meadows, but the reward of going to the summit is a bonus. We hiked Tod Mountain five times last summer and this year we have planned another hike, that time on different trails (Gils to Tod Lake).
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