Author: DJHikers

I signed up for a brand new (as of 2018) Cedar River Watershed Education Center (CRWEC) tour: Spring Arrives in the Watershed.

Led by Rolf Gersonde, who, along with Bill Richards leads the Adventures in Forest Ecology tour, this superb tour of the Cedar River Watershed took us all over the watershed with a common theme: what happens when spring arrives?

Well, if I could remember it all I would doing really well.  Suffice it to say that we visited five different sites and at each site we learned about how the change of seasons affects trees and flowers and other plants as well as the birds that stay all winter and the birds that migrate into and out of the Watershed.

Check out this mountain meadow:

This one was the first of two we visited.  The second one was perhaps 100 yards downhill from this one but had very different features – the downhill meadow had the beginning of a stream, express-training the water into the reservoir, leading to different plants at different stages of spring development.

In the downhill meadow Rolf pointed out that the north side of the meadow had melted out before the south side, so the grasses and plants on the north side were already thriving whereas the same flora on the south side were still recovering from having been pressed down by several feet of snow.

These meadows are a favorite hangout for elk; one unfortunate citizen had a fatal encounter with a cougar or a bear:

We also visited an old growth stand, which provided the usual feelings of awe and humility:

Our first view point was beautiful, even though it was rainy and foggy at the time:

No doubt the highlight of the tour for all of us was the breathtaking flowers, rock formations and endless views at the second view point – I believe called Say’s Ledge.  We all climbed out of the van and our jaws dropped.

I was unable to count the number of different kinds of flowers on this ledge – I have more photos than I think feasible to upload but suffice it to say that, at this time of the year, the Watershed is a feast for the eyes.  And the nose – and, let’s face it, all five of our senses.

This tour had something for everyone.  We identified numerous bird calls, and trees, and flowers, learned about coyote scat, did a little hiking off trail, had rain and hail and sun and wind and calm, and we got to experience the watershed (which is off limits to most people most of the time) in a way that few people ever get to do.

Finally, at our last stop, we got to see Chester Morse Lake up close and personal.  When we hike in this area we see if from several thousand feet up – it sure looks bigger when you are standing by the shore.

A great tour and I hope they offer it again next year.  I am looking forward to doing the Old Growth Tour in August with Derek, who would have absolutely loved this one.

 

Great solo hike today.  I went up the Mt. Washington main trail to the summit and descended via the Great Wall.

Aside from the fact that this is one of my favorite hikes, I wanted to get up there to check out the conditions.  Derek and his brother Ryan and I are scheduled to do an overnight hike 6/15-6/16 and we are planning to hit six peaks:

Mt. Wa trail to Great Wall; to Change Peak; back to Great Wall to Mt. Wa; down and back to the service road to Songbird Peak, where we will throw up the tents.

In the AM we want to hit Greenway, Chester Peak and (a stretch goal) McClellan Butte from the west.

But I hadn’t been up to Mt. Wa and the Great Wall for awhile.  Based on trip reports I figured it was snow-free but I wanted to check that out and also check the connection between the Great Wall and the Great Wall Connector trail – when last I was up there I had left flagging tape to mark where you bushwhack to the connector trail.

But today I noticed someone has created a “real” trail, marked well with tape and a cairn, and no need to balance on blown down trees.

Anyway, the route is totally snow-free and I don’t see how any topo condition should stop us.  We are just not sure about the shape of the trail when it gets near and then goes past (east) Chester Peak.

Based on Google Earth images and what we have seen from a distance it looks like you can take a service road to just south of the Chester summit and scramble to the top.  But I guess we will figure that out when we encounter it.

A lonely hike today.  I did not see a single person, up or down, the entire way, until I was back in the parking lot.  Never have I met zero people on a Mt. Washington hike.  One for the ages.

As usual, the views are so much fun and inspirational:

Interesting Halloween-like plant:

Garmin discontinued the service where you could upload a GPX track and get a permanent link to a display and the stats.  So I had to manually extract today’s track and bring it into other utilities.

3,300 feet of elevation gain over 9.8 miles.  Nice!

A Google Earth image of the track.  Today’s track is the blue line.

Carl and I hiked Margaret’s Way today.  I missed the Saturday hike for a great reason.  I was asked to get into the pool with my 3 year-old grandson Camden for his first swimming lesson.  Talk about having fun!

Today was quite lovely, a great hike in the woods, cool weather, enough elevation gain to get a decent workout but not so strenuous that the legs will be sore tomorrow.

Summer is knocking on the door, I am thinking of doing a solo hike on Tuesday to McClellan Butte, which I believe is now safe (no avalanche danger).  We shall see.

On Saturday, the 26th, I did a Tiger Mountain hike with Ken and Greg.  We did the standard route up the Section Line to Nook but then went up the very steep Section Line route to Tiger 3.  We didn’t go all the way to the summit, but went west on the Railroad Grade Trail until it met the Poo Poo Point trail, and we went back down that way.

About 7.75 miles and 2,300 feet of elevation gain.

Yesterday, Derek and I planned a big hike on and near Mt. Washington but we didn’t get started until almost 6pm because Jill’s hair appointment took five hours!  I didn’t mind, I got to hang out with Camden (Fin got back from school about 3:30 and did homework, hung out with pals, etc.) and spend a little time with Finley.

So we downsized our hiking plans and instead drove to the nearby Snoqualmie Point trail head and headed up.  We got about a mile past Stan’s Overlook, through the amazingly gorgeous forest above Stan’s (nice second growth, really special place to be) and turned around.  I was using my head lamp for the last twenty minutes or so, and it was raining pretty hard by that time as well.

Still, a fun day and a nice hike.

Really nice solo hike to Mason Lake today.  I hit the trail at 6:45 and saw no one all the way up.  The trail is in great shape until you get near Mason Lake when there is some mud and still a lot of snow.

The snow was easy to navigate when I got there but I suspect as the day goes on and it warms up you might start sinking into it.

Some company along the trail:

The name of this trail is the Ira Spring Trail.  Ira Spring was a big trail supporter around here and I knew there was a memorial to him somewhere but I never saw it until today:

Perfect weather, about 70 and sunny.  Compelling views.  I kept stopping to marvel at my surroundings.

This hike is the mild one – if you want to work harder you can always go up to Bandera Mountain.  To get an idea of what this is like, here is what it looks like (in 2D anyway) looking up.  When you do Bandera you get up that high in about .7 mile.  Steep!

Finally, I love this sign, which is maybe a mile from the trail head:

I love this sign because it is a great reminder of where you are and what you are doing.  You are hiking up a steep mountain trail, through the wilderness, to visit an alpine lake.  How much fun is that?

Garmin’s web site is frizzled right now, I will post the track when it is fixed.

The plan today was to meet Ken at the Poo Poo Point parking lot but somehow we got our signals crossed and he didn’t make it.  So I went up the Chirico Trail solo, relatively early (about 7:30 am) on a Tuesday.  I mention this because this is one of the busiest trails in the area.

The parking lot is in Issaquah, so it is easy to get to; there are hang and para-gliders launching from the top (but none today while I was there) and that attracts people, since they are very cool to watch; and it is only about 4 miles round trip.  I believe people read that stat and decide it will be a nice easy walk.

It is a nice walk but it is not easy, since you gain about 1700 feet of elevation in less than two miles.  It is a steep one.

I passed two young hikers on the way up.  One of them was clearly quite overweight and out of shape and, as I passed, she said “I am getting my butt kicked.”

On the way down, not far from the top, there they were, they had not quit.  I encouraged them by telling them they were getting close and the overweight one just raised her fist.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day.

Nice!  I am thinking of doing Mason Lake on Thursday, the latest trip reports suggest it has melted out and you can now make it all the way to the lake fairly safely.

Carl and I did a really nice hike today – 10.5 miles (which includes a half mile where, about 1/4 mile up the trail, I remembered that I had not put my Discover Pass up and we had to backtrack – $99 fine without it).  The track is below but verbally we:

1. Parked at the new Teneriffe parking lot.
2. Took the .5 mile connector trail to the Teneriffe Trail.
3. Went up (and I do mean up) the Teneriffe Trail 4.5 miles to the upper Mt. Si connector trail.
4. Took that trail .8 mile to the Haystack, which is at the summit of Mount Si.
5. Hiked across the boulders at the base of the summit to the Mt. Si trail.
6. Went down the Mt. Si trail to the Talus Rock Loop Trail.
7. Took the exit along the loop trail back to Teneriffe.
8. And then back down to the car.

Plenty of beautiful nature to enjoy along the way.

An awesome view south at about 3.4 miles:

Rattlesnake Lake is that tiny sliver of blue about in the middle of the picture.

The Haystack is a popular rock to climb.  But it isn’t for me.

Finally, on the way down we chatted with a hiker going up.  We were asking him about the Talus Rocks Loop and he showed us a photo of the sign.  It was most helpful.  He asked us to post a picture of the sign to get back to Teneriffe Trail from Talus Loop because he had never taken a picture of it.  I will post it also on the WTA web site and cross-reference to this blog post.

A wonderful day but my legs are a bit beat right now after 10.4 miles and 3,600 feet of elevation gain.

The track:

https://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/djhiker/mt-si-via-teneriffe-5-15-2018#.Wvtg1H8h2po

 

My plan today was to hit the McClellan Butte trail via the service roads – NF9020/NF9021/NF110 and NF210.  Unfortunately, the NF210 route seems to be completely extinct.  I would have had to route-find in the woods for .6 mile, hoping to intersect the trail – so I decided to save that for an outing with Derek.

I decided to see how far I could get on NF110 and where I got was to 3,400 feet where the snow was deep and continuous:

Not far from there I found evidence of a really big bear:

Just yesterday, Derek and I were going through some of his photos from our trip last June up NF110 to Truck Summit from the east.  We commented on the two jagged, rocky prominences with what appeared to be a way to approach.  And we were right, we aimed for the two rocks and were able to bushwhack up the ridge.

Not surprisingly, they are still there:

The track:

https://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/djhiker/nf110-5-14-2018#.WvoSLn8h2po

Going out tomorrow with Carl, who is freshly back from Italy.

I intended to check out the McClellan Butte trail today, including whether or not the parking lot is accessible now (it is) but I wound up taking the trail only to the service road (NF9020); I went down (west) on the road to check it out.  I plan to use that to drive up to the trail when next I want to do McClellan Butte.  Happily, the route is clear, no blowdowns or terrible pot holes.

I did, however, run across a spot where people have been dumping huge piles of garbage, including old tires.  And used diapers.  Gross.  This is on top of the endless shotgun shells and blown-apart targets.

I took the service road down to the Garcia/IHT intersection and then went west to the Mine Creek Bridge, one of my favorite bridges in the area.

Clearly, there is still a lot of snow up there, may be a few weeks before I am back exploring the area just north of the Watershed boundary.  And the mountains to the north are snowy as well:

Not very steep today, a bit less than 1K elevation gain, but 7.7 miles on a beautiful day.  I don’t need to huff and puff every time, being in the woods and on the mountains is a charge.

Here is the track:

https://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/djhiker/mcclellan-butte-trail-mine-creek-05-02-2018#.WuosK38h2po

 

Our plan today was to hike the Preston Trail up to West Tiger #1 but we stopped a bit short of the summit because we were soaked to the skin:

Great group today, Mike, Greg, Ken and Mark.  We were all in agreement that we had enough rain for the morning.  Just one of those Pacific Northwest rainy days – not a deluge but a steady rain and, even in the forest, wet enough.

But fun, and a good workout.

The track:

https://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/djhiker/preston-trail-4-28-2018#.WuTSJn8h2po