Author: DJHikers

I got out again today, going up Cedar Butte Trail to the Saddle, down Southside to Olallie, up Olallie to the first view point and then back down Olallie to PTC. Partly cloudy day but perfect temps.

There is a sign on the Olallie Trail that makes me think that someone named Dan had an accident, taking a corner too fast:

I just hope no one got hurt; it is more downhill than it looks in the photo and the bikers do come flying down at a hefty pace. Whenever I am on this trail I am ever-vigilant for bikers.

Here is a look at Christmas Lake from above:

About 8 miles, here is the track:

I am going to try to get out on Sunday, which would make this a four-hike week. Sweet!

I got lucky today. Perfect weather – not too hot or cold, no clouds, the views were forever. I started up the trail at 6:24 am and saw no one on the way up and a grand total of five people (a party of two and a party of three) on the way down. Beautiful.

It took me about 1 hour and 5 minutes to navigate up to the balcony, which is important because I do want to do this hike in time to watch the sun rise from that lofty perch. That means going up this trail with a headlamp. There are numerous side trails that lead to rock-climbing slabs so it is important to watch the trail signs. But doing this in the dark should be possible.

About 2/3 of the way up there is a great viewpoint looking south and west:

The trail itself is excellent:

There is also a nice view of one of my favorite bridges, the Mine Creek bridge:

And here is the track:

All in all a very good workout and a fun hike. I expect to do something on Friday, not sure just what.

I did my typical Section Line hike today, no biggie. The only slight wrinkle is that I spent less time on the Bus Trail, having veered off to check out Tradition Lake.

I am thinking of going to Dirty Harry’s Balcony early tomorrow to time how long it takes me to get to the balcony. This is a popular spot to watch the sun rise, as it has a perfect and very high eastern view. As soon as the sun starts oozing over the mountains you get a major light show.

But you have to time it just right. Tomorrow I will give that a shot.

I hiked up the Zig Zag Trail today – almost no snow until I got to the top and then it was deep:

I went back via the service road NF9021, which was snowy most of the way. NF9021 intersects the PTC Trail and it is at least 2.5 miles along that wide and level trail (lots of bikes out) and I noticed the very cool tree at the top looking like it would be a perfect place for an eagle’s nest.

On the way up Zig Zag I noticed J’s and Hall Point and Change Peak looking majestic in the sun:

Here is a typical view of the Zig Zag Trail:

It is steep (1400 feet of elevation gain in one mile) and narrow but easy to follow and not dangerous going up. A great workout for sure, and our weather this past week has been terrific. It is getting close to 80 degrees today and totally sunny. Supposed to be fairly nice next week as well.

As the snow recedes, tougher hikes are calling. For example, maybe something like this, which is north of where I was today:

Here is the track, about 7.75 miles:

A little jaunt today up the Granite Creek Trail to the bridge – I turned around there (it’s about 2 miles, and steep) to avoid getting tangled up in snow. Also, I wanted to drive farther east on the Middle Fork Road to see if I could find the Rainy Creek Trail, which is supposed to be not far from the Rainy Creek Bridge I visited last week after Stego Butte.

I did find the trail and went up a hundred yards or so. Looks challenging but I am sure Derek will be up for an adventure.

On the way down I saw a really cool root just off the trail:

At the Pratt River Trail trailhead you can take a short walk to a nice picnic area that has a great view of the river and Mount Garfield:

I also stopped at Camp Brown on the way back. This is also a very nice spot, it has a .5 mile interpretive trail with signs that explain the area was a logging camp way back in the day, then a sort of boy scout camp and then I forget what else, but is now a wonderful little spot with several picnic areas, awesome forest and nice-sounding river views.

Fun!

Nice hike and workout today. It was a 7-miler up and down the Margaret’s Way trail on Squak Mountain. Beautiful day, supposed to be great all week.

I did the little side trip to Debbie’s View (above). Not much extra mileage but it is a good view point.

There is a stand of birches I always love:

Track below. Not sure where I will go Thursday, but I do plan to get out on the trail.

I did a 6.5 miler today, up and down the Mount Teneriffe Trail. I was hoping to go further but I was not pleased with the trail. There was plenty of snow this week and I was expecting to use my snow shoes but there has been a quick melt-out and the trail was too sketchy for spikes, not nearly deep enough for the snow shoes, and too slippery for just boots. So I turned around at about 2,600 feet.

Not unhappy, though, it was a nice workout on a beautiful day.

Even without getting to any of the viewpoints, let alone the awesome Teneriffe summit, there is plenty of interest.

Here is the track:

Track

I look forward to next week, weather should be decent.

No big deal today, the typical Section Line (back via Nook and Wetlands) conditioning hike.

Back in October I took a photo of nearly-empty Round Lake and said that, like those famous haystacks, I would take photos of Round Lake every three months, to compare. There was a bit more water in January and much more today. We will see how it looks in July.

Nice workout, beautiful day.

No Derek today. He had an unexpected work obligation so I skipped Stegosaurus Butte and explored the Change Creek Trail, up to the Hall Point junction. I read a trip report from Wednesday that said the trail was navigable up to Hall Point – unlike Zig Zag, just across Hall Creek, go figure – so I checked it out. And except for a couple of very short stretches, it was snow-free.

However, the snow from the trail up to Hall Point looked pretty deep so I turned around right there. No problem, hike was about 3 miles and very steep (1400 feet of gain in a one mile stretch) so it was a good workout.

As always I love being out there in the forest.

Track below:

On Tuesday, by chance, I noticed a new WTA (Washington Trails Association) trip report for a hike I have looked at doing called Stegosaurus Butte. It is about 2 miles up and down but ultra-steep, at least according to the sources I have consulted.

I thought perhaps Derek and I could tackle it on Saturday. But I was not sure about how to get to the trail head, or exactly how to find the trail, since the Stegosaurus Butte trail is strictly unofficial, with no sign marking it.

Anyway, I got off at Exit 34 (a popular exit for hikers and for semi-trucks because of the huge truck stop just off the I-90 freeway) and drove way past the popular Mailbox Peak trail head, past the trail I have hiked a few times to Thompson Lake or Granite Lakes, past a few other trail heads to the one I was looking for.

There was an obvious place to start and a very cool little bridge to cross:

There is a very long trail just across the bridge but you cannot go left these days, nor for the next year, as that portion of the trail is closed for renovation and to clear out the damage from a slide.

But that was fine with me, my route took me to the right, down the Pratt River Trail. Maybe .25 mile along that trail I noticed a faint boot path heading up and I pulled out my Gaia app and verified that that was the Stegosaurus Butte Trail and I started up.

And it is definitely up, up, up! And the trail (see above) more or less disappears a few times. I had to check Gaia a couple of times to make sure I was on track. About 1/3 of the way up (see track below) I turned around. I had found the trail and explored it far enough to figure out what to do.

I figured that, solo, it might be a tad on the dicey side coming down such a steep, rocky, rooty trail. Better to wait until I am with Derek, so if something happens there is a possibility of rescue.

On the way back down I decided to check out the Pratt River Trail and it is a nice one. It is totally suitable for people who can walk but are not used to going up steeply. It is a gentle up and down through the forest, never far from the river – just a great walk.

Here is the view from the bridge:

And here is the track. If Derek agrees, we will be back on Saturday to see about the views from the top of the Butte.