Author: DJHikers

Dennis Matthews, fairly freshly back from five weeks in Germany has had a bum knee – knee surgery a few months ago – so he needed a fairly mild hike.

So did I.  My last hike, July 4, was terrific but that night my left calf more or less blew up (pulled muscle and muscle spasms) so this is the first hike I have done since then.

And I was so careful today – stretching before and after the hike, lots of electrolyte replacement (think: Gatorade/G2), compression sleeves on my calves, and not straining too much.

So we did Cedar Butte, as I had done on 7/3 with Derek and Rick.  On the way down we investigated the Southside Trail but didn’t go too far, since we were without GPS or map.  Something for me and Derek and the Garmin to check out.

On the way back we checked out Rattlesnake Lake:

And the lake, in spite of the rocky shore (no beach, sadly) is very popular:

And as we left we noticed a cool stump, a remnant of the logging back in the day (as are all the stumps now visible due to low water level in the lake itself):

So that’s it – not sure how far we went, maybe 7 miles or so, we were not exactly making record time, plenty of long breaks, about 5h 15 minutes.  But lots of fun.

Dennis wants our next hike to be Mason Lake and that sounds good to me.  As for me, next weekend I will see about doing something like Mt Washington again, as I am planning a hike with my friend Bruce Stobie and his pals up McClellan Butte on 8/16.

I definitely need to get back in shape for that one.

Today I did another ‘conditioning’ hike up the Mt. WA main trail and down the Great Wall.  And about halfway up, huffing and puffing and trudging along the steep trail I thought: why treat this like an open-air gym, just a great way to get into better condition?  I have grown so accustomed to this hike I had stopped appreciating just how awesome it is.

Furthermore, it occurred to me that hiking can be like training a dog.  Just as you reward a dog with a treat for doing the right thing, a hike like this (familiar trails, solo) is doing the right thing because the ascent is a vigorous workout, and the reward – well, just look ahead a bit.

But first, here is the view north from the junction of the North Trail and the Main Trail:

Actually, this is not just Mt. Si, the sharp point that the tallest nearby tree is pointing to is Mt. Teneriffe.  And here are Mt. Si and Mt. Teneriffe from the Great Wall, that is, from the other side of the mountain:

Just a slight change of perspective, but the difference is fun.

Anyway, today I did not take stuff like this for granted:

Or this:

Or this:

You get the idea.  I am thinking like a dog and had a terrific start to my Fourth.

For the record, I made it from car to summit in 1h 54min, a new personal record.  Not sure how quickly I can shave that time, that was about as fast as I can go right now.

And, my only break on the way up was at the junction with the North Trail – I pushed past our old break spot and the new break spot beyond that.  My next hike there I will go maybe 50 yards farther and try to extend it from there.

But I’m telling you, Mt. Washington has a last trick for you.  After 3 or so miles of really tough and steep hiking, you get almost a mile of (relatively) moderate effort.  But you can look up and see there is more in store.

And how – the section just past the junction with the North Trail – I now call it ‘the final exam’ – is steep.  At the top of that section the trail hits an old logging road and moderates a bit from there to almost the summit.

Anyway, I was thinking about how lucky I am to live where I live and be able to do this stuff.  The Great Wall trail rocks!

Just imagine being able to reward yourself for doing the right thing and hiking up a mountain by being able to hike down on a trail like this.

Happy Fourth!

My brother-in-law Rick Downs is visiting with his family from Chicago and he and Derek and I did the Cedar Butte hike this morning.  Kudos to Rick because he did his best and what more can any of us do?

Rick lives in Illinois, which is Flatland, he travels on business almost every week of the year, and he is not a hiker.  But I picked a hike I thought would be challenging but doable and he came through like a trouper.  He was exerting himself and sweating and working hard – great job, Rick!  And he loved it.

Cedar Butte is about 2.8 miles round trip, and is a bit more than a mile from the parking lot.  So Rick’s total hike was roughly 5 miles.  Cedar Butte is not flat, it is about 850 feet of elevation gain in 1.4 miles, which is more than you will find anywhere in Illinois outside the walls of a skyscraper.

Although Cedar Butte tops out at about 1900 feet of elevation, look at these views:

And from just below the summit:

And along the trail you can view the Boxley Blowout historical site:

http://www.scn.org/cedar_butte/bb-main.html

And there is even a marker at the summit:

And with that it is official: Rick made it to the top, it wasn’t easy for him but he powered through and would love to do more (if he could; Illinois and airplanes offer few mountain hiking opportunities).

Tomorrow, Fourth of July, I am planning another solo conditioning hike up Mt. Washington.  Got to get in shape for another try at Vesper Peak.

We planned on hiking to the summit of Vesper Peak but only made it as far as Vesper Lake.  Hot day, extremely challenging hike.  We were eight hours on the trail as it was, so this summit will have to wait for the next time.

This hike was the idea of Darrell Hull, introduced to us by George del Campo and to Darrell I say: good on ya, mate!  This was the toughest and greatest hike of my short hiking career.  The challenge and the views were outstanding.

Part of the challenge was the four streams we crossed; the one in the picture above was one of the easier ones.

The trail was not easy; lots of rocks and tough footing.

This view looks down onto a section we have just hiked.

As for the environment around Vesper Peak, here are a few samples:

Tough as it was, Derek kept on going.  We pushed past Headlee Pass to Vesper Lake and planted ourselves.  But Derek kept exploring:

He came back and took me and George to the upper section of Vesper Lake; note that at this altitude, even on a hot day at the end of June, there is still a little snow and ice:

Speaking of Vesper Peak we almost made it:

So, all in all, a memorable and totally outstanding day.  We will be back to finish the job and make it to the summit of Vesper Peak.  I predict it will be on a cooler and cloudier day.

Update 7/2:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/walking-in-nature-lowers-risk-of-depression-scientists-find-in-mri-study

Evidence that walking in nature reduces depression – I agree!

Just adding this for our records – solo hike yesterday, up Mt. WA main trail, down Great Wall.  Rather warm, I sweated like a sweat hog going up, my shirt was soaked.  But Finley stayed with us last night and after the hike I drove to her house to pick her up.

She is sleeping with Granny even as I type.

Tomorrow is the big hike up Vesper Peak with Derek, George del Campo and Darrell Hull.  4100 feet of elevation gain in 4.5 miles and the views are, by all accounts, spectacular.  Let us hope the forecasted thunderstorms do not appear.

I was marshaling at the US Open/Chambers Bay all last week and I forgot the camera.  What I did this morning is probably not photo-worthy anyway.  Just noting this hike to support future trips down memory lane.

Derek will understand what I am saying.

1. Got to Exit 38 lot at 6:35 – Father’s Day, I figured it would be jammed.  But I was the first car.

2. Headed up at 6:40.

3. Owl Point at 7:30, that is, only 50 minutes (it is 2 miles from the parking lot).

4. Summit at 8:37 – 1h:57m!

Only 2 breaks from the car to the summit.  3 if you count a minute gathering and stacking rocks to create a little cairn marking the junction of the (what we call) the North Trail and the Main Trail.  I also figured out that there is a better mid-hike break spot than the usual, which is where two large boulders sit in the middle of the trail.  It is fairly level just past that spot and maybe 200 yards past the boulders is a nice view point.  So next time I do this trail, I will power past the normal break point and enjoy the view just a bit farther up the trail.

First one up so I did not see anyone on the way up, perhaps 15 or so people on the way down, including several rock climbers, one of whom was holding a toddler who was not happy and not shy about showing it.   Poor little guy!

Happy Father’s Day to anyone reading this.

Many times hiking around the Mt. Washington area we have seen a pond down in a valley, way off.  Last Saturday we got tantalizingly close but did not get down to it.

Today, our overall goal was to hike up – as in starting low and going high – the Change Creek trail we hiked down last Saturday.  The last (longish) leg of our hike last week was down to the John Wayne/Iron Horse trail via Change Creek.

And one of our side trips was down one of the two trails that lead down to the pond.  And there it is.

We hit Hall’s Point and J’s Landing, both view points, along the way and discovered what appears to be a trail at J’s Landing that goes a long way up one of the spines around there.  Next time we go back we are going to investigate that one.

As usual, there was no shortage of ‘wow!’ moments, like the nice view above or this one, with Derek enjoying a mini-break:

Shortly after we hit the trail we noticed someone who wants it even steeper; note the purple rope you could use to pull yourself up:

Many awesome views around this neighborhood:

We think we did about 11.5 miles altogether.  Derek naturally wanted to get back to little Cam – who can blame him?

Next week I am going to be a marshal at the US Open in Chambers Bay, just barely south of Tacoma.  My shifts are one Monday, Thursday, and Saturday.  I have the other days to hang out at the Open and spectate but I just might drive north for a little hike on Wednesday.  I don’t want to get out of shape for what promises to be a super-steep on on Monday, June 29 to Vesper Peak.

 

Derek and I were going to do Kamikaze Falls today and normally I would be disappointed with a cancellation.

But not this time – Camden arrived last night and what a thrill.  Fin stayed with us last night and is asleep even as I type.

So Grampy is going back to bed to dream of future hikes with Fin and Cam.

Update 6/11: Cannot help but add this pic

Our hike yesterday was just a bit more than 19 miles with something in the neighborhood of 6800 feet of elevation gain.  Our goal was to use the Garmin to map Mt. Washington and its neighborhood – well, as much as we could in one day – and in that we succeeded.

In outline we:

1. Summitted Mt. Washington via the same trail we took on Thursday, the one that starts at a pond and ends with a mad trail-scramble (as compared to the various rocky scrambles in the area).

2. Went down the main trail to the Great Wall trail and then up to the summit again, this time via that trail.

3. Went down the Great Wall trail to yet another trail, up to the summit of Change Peak.

4. And then back down the Great Wall to the junction with Change Creek trail, and from there back down to the John Wayne/Iron Horse trail, which is about a mile east of where we hit the trail to begin with at 5AM.

It was about 3:30 PM when we returned to the car, for a ten-and-half hour hike.

Fun!

We have talked about Mt. Washington so much, would you like to see what it looks like from the Great Wall trail, heading (right in the picture) towards Change Peak?

Right in the middle of the mountain is a light-colored area with few trees and if you look closely you can see a sliver of trail going up and to the right.  That is part of the main trail and it switchbacks up to the summit a few times from where you can see it in the photo.  The second time we were standing there we saw hikers going up.

A little farther down this trail is Change Peak, our goal after summitting Mt. Washington twice.  Since we were at about 3100 feet when we took this picture, the peak doesn’t look very tall, but the GPS told us it is about 4300 feet at the summit:

One of our landmarks on the Great Wall is a rocky prominence that, Derek discovered last Thursday, has a little cache object (a plastic box) on the top, semi-hidden.  I suspect we stumbled across a geocache (Google it if you are curious).

Here is a picture of Grampy Joel on the top, reaching for the cache to leave a souvenir for the next explorer:

To reach Mt. Washington summit from here, keep going straight, turn right at the logging road intersection, and when you reach a trailhead that looks too steep and too unmaintained, that’s it.  It’s a 30 degree grade for 900 feet to intersect with the main trail, just a few yards from the summit.

By the way, since Derek was the first of we two to climb this little pile of rocks, he is on the hook to name it.  As of 6/6/15 he is still considering it.

And here is the neighborhood of many of our other hikes, including the one we plan for Tuesday, June 9, looking north from around the corner:

Little Si is out of the picture to the left; Mt. Si/Haystack on the left; then two peaks that represent a ridge between Si and Teneriffe; then Teneriffe.

On Tuesday we are going to pretty much go straight up Teneriffe via the invisible trail just to the left of the first taller (actually, just closer to the camera) tree starting in the center of the picture.

The Change Creek trail was new to us and because it is twisty and turny we were a little tense that we were going to head back to John Wayne/Iron Horse but suddenly our goal was in sight and our fears of having to backtrack seven miles disappeared:

All in all we had a terrific hike.  Just over 19 miles on the GPS.  Ten hours and thirty minutes by the watch, and for our Boeing On The Move calculation that counts as 630 minutes @137 steps a minute.

Tuesday is the Kamikaze Trail to the summit of Mount Teneriffe on two days of leg rest so I am – except for a pending trip to the off-leash dog park with Jan and Lili later – a couch potato today.

 

As much as we love discovering new hikes, there is something utterly compelling about learning more and more about otherwise familiar territory.  Mount Washington is our exploration laboratory.

On this hike, we started on the main trail, passed the Sallus View and Great Wall detours and hiked up to a pond where, we had noted, the main trail switchbacks up but a side trail loops up the west side of the mountain.  Here is a view of that spot with the western trail behind the camera, the main trail coming up and switching direction:

This led us to some amazingly steep sections.  Hand-over-hand for at least 1/4 mile in one spot.

We had been coached on this by a man we have now run into twice.  We do not know his name but hikers in this area owe him a big debt, as he regularly (perhaps every day!) scours these trails for overgrown branches, which he trims, and new routes, which he marks:

Anyway, we absolutely loved this route to the summit and are going to do it again on Saturday, 6/6.  (we changed our plans because of the projected 85+ degree heat we will defer our 31 mile hike to a weekday, and one that is cooler).   On Saturday we will have no real time constraints and we will have the GPS device to map all the main trails.

Here is one of the scrambles, this one to the summit of what we are calling Change Peak, which is also known as East Mount Washington:

The scenery around there is outstanding:

We did about 12.5 miles in 5 hours and 40 minutes – not too bad considering how steep much of it was and the time we spent scrambling up rocky challenges.

Derek found something like a geocache on the top of one of our landmarks and we are both going up there Saturday to leave a present for the next explorer.

A future hike: 6/29 Derek and I are going to hike with George del Campo and Darrell Hull up to Vesper Peak.  Should be fun!