First hike of the new year with Ken, Mark, Mike and Greg. We took a version of the old trail from the Rattlesnake Lake side of the mountain to the upper ledge and found some folks making tea. The upper ledge is not capacious:
Crowd on the Ledge
I hiked solo on New Year’s Eve, did Margaret’s Way but when I got home just a few minutes before Jill and Derek and the kids arrived so I never got around to recording it.
Next week is my last week as a working stiff. I will be retired as of next Friday. So – more hiking in 2018!
I have done a few hikes since my last post but only today have I been able to create a new post – some infected files. Hope it stays uninfected.
Went to Mason Lake yesterday with Greg, Mark and Mike. Had a great time but missed Carl, who is out for a few months following knee surgery. He should be back in time for some nice late spring hikes.
The trail was a bit snowy but fairly clear the entire way. There was one section that was a little sketchy, narrow, icy, with a drop off only a few inches away. Here is Mike wisely using three points of contact to steady himself:
Watch Your Step
Great views of Rainier and the peaks south of the freeway:
RainierPeaks to the South
All in all a wonderful way to spend Saturday morning.
Sadly, Mike, who, after we met at the Exit 22 Park and Ride, volunteered to take us to the trail head 23 miles east, hit something sharp as we hit the gravel road that leads to the Ira Spring Trail Head and it popped his tire.
He was able to get us back to a Starbucks where the under-the-weather Ken Mallit met us (and bought our coffee – what a guy!) and drove us back to the Park and Ride. Hopefully Mark got a new tire and all is well.
Very nice hike today with Carl, Mike, Mark, David and Ken. We started at the Exit 27 (Snoqualmie Point) parking lot and went 4 miles to Grand Prospect, had a quick snack and turned around.
There was a little snow in a few spots but no trouble.
The Trail
Not the most challenging hike and the views are less than awesome but it was fun, great fun with the Saturday hiking crew, and better by far than sitting on the couch.
Carl and I were going to do Change Peak but when we met up at the Park and Ride it was already raining so we decided to scale down. By the time we got to Stan’s Overlook it was starting to pour so we headed back down.
Better than nothing, a fun day. Had coffee afterwards in Snoqualmie’s nice little coffee shop.
If the view above was out of the window where I worked I would consider myself lucky. But this is the view from just above the E. Sunset Way Trail Head on Tiger Mountain. So, not quite awesome.
This is my new trip report for a hike I will be doing for conditioning purposes every chance I get. I brought my Garmin but once again it screwed up and tracked the entire trip from home to the trail head, etc. From past hikes here I believe what I did today was about 4.5 miles, 1,400 feet elevation gain. In that area.
I went up the E Sunset Way connector trail, up to the Puget Power Trail, to the Adventure Trail, to High School Trail, to Section Line, down the Nook Trail to the Bus Trail, Bus Trail to Around-The-Lake Trail, back to Puget Power Trail and then back down to the car.
The Bus Trail itself is nice:
Bus Trail
The namesake bus, not so much:
Bus From the TrailWhat’s Left of the Bus
No track because it was screwed up. I will just update this post whenever I do this hike, like (hopefully) on a Monday afternoon on a long break from work.
A really wonderful hike with Derek this morning. Perfect weather. Went up the old trail, Derek’s first for that route, and he is a believer. We will never go up the new trail again.
We got to the middle ledge (the one just above Rattlesnake Ledge, just below the upper ledge) just before sunrise, as you can see above.
A few minutes past the upper ledge the sun had peaked above the eastern mountains and the woods were so gorgeous with the sun peeking through the woods:
Sun Dappled Woods
Later, there was a nice northeastern view:
Northeast
But we had to go through a clear-cut section (where they were cutting down the timber last year, when the through-trail was closed) involving ugly barrenness and a detour.
Ugly Detour and Clear-Cut Section
Finally back in the woods it was nice the rest of the way.
9.7 miles, 2,900 feet elevation gain, a very fun day and a great workout.
What I did Saturday is hardly a hike, just under 4 miles and 1K elevation but I guess it qualifies technically. My legs were a bit worn out from the Thursday Granite Mountain outing so I did something mild.
I guess this should be included in my annual count.
Nice hike today with Derek, his call, Granite Mountain. This is a tough hike but not a killer. However, winter has come early to the mountain as we hit snow at maybe 4,700 feet (summit is 5,600). Near the summit we were slipping and sliding.
Maybe .3 mile from the summit there is a discouragingly steep section, considering how much effort it takes to get to the point where you can look up at this:
Gotta go up there
But having come so far, you might as well keep going and so we did. It really is beautiful in the snow on a mountain:
Wintry Scene in September
About 8 miles, 3,700 feet of elevation gain, great hike. Saw not quite a half dozen people on what is, during the summer on a weekend, like downtown Seattle with the crowds.
Great hike today with Carl. We went up the Change Creek Trail, took the Pond shortcut to the Olallie bike trail (still not officially open) to the Great Wall, south to the service road, east along that road a mile or so, then north to Songbird Peak. Same route back.
Carl on Songbird Peak
Perfect day. It was cool and cloudy in the early going, just right for that steep beginning, but by the time we got to the bike trail the sun was out and the views were incredible.
In The CloudsChester Morse Lake
13.1 miles, about 3,600 feet of elevation gain, a really nice hike.
