MP 1630    We still are encountering some snow fields on the Northern slopes of the mountains.   Birds, butterflies and wildflowers abound.    I have never seen so many hummingbirds.   The butterflies swirl up from the trail in great swarms.    The weather forecast for Ashland, which is only about 100 miles north,  was for a high of 105 degrees.    We have not encountered such high temperatures at these higher elevations but it has been getting quite warm in the afternoons.   In the past two days I have encountered only one group of section hikers.   No one else has been on the trail.    The trail has been a roller coaster with steep ups and downs.   In the afternoon it became quite hot and I struggled to maintain my momentum.   Finally I stopped to read me book for about an hour.    Later in the afternoon the sky became overcast, dark and brooding and it began to cool.    I came to a wooded area that was full of deer.    One came quite close to me and when I spoke to it, it seemed curious.    Thereupon it hiked with me for about a mile down the trail, about 20 to 30 feet to my side.   Occasionally it disappeared, only to reappear a little bit later.   A doe with her fawn in tow crossed the trail in front of me.    August 4