Carl and I hiked Rattlesnake Mountain, Exit 27 to Grand Prospect today. Except for two trail runners who passed us we were the first on the trail after what was an overnight snow. Gorgeous.
View at Grand Prospect was also nice:
The snow was easy to navigate but it was starting to accumulate by the time we got past 2,500 feet:
8.18 miles, a wonderful workout and tons of fun. Escape the madness of the world for a few hours….
I did a fun but fairly gentle hike today. I planned to do the Section Line but it was raining when I started so I chose a route that would allow me to get back to the car relatively quickly if it started to pour. But it did not so I just went with the flow.
I passed Tradition Lake and then headed down the Swamp Trail and the Big Tree Trail:
I saw something today I have never seen on Tiger – a tent!
Tent
I actually steered pretty clear of this tent, that picture is zoomed on my camera. I have no idea why anyone would pitch a tent on Tiger Mountain, I don’t think it is technically allowed (not that it bothers me). Oh, well. A nice little outing.
I am scheduled to hike with Carl to Grand Prospect on Friday, should be fun.
As usual, my photos do not even come close to capturing what motivated me to take the picture. Is there a word for that?
Anyway, once again I was hiking in relative gloom due to an early start. And then I got to the end of a switchback and I looked north and west and there, in the distance, the sun was lighting up a hillside a town or so away. It was nice.
But this was just another conditioning hike, up Section Line, down Nook Trail. I wanted to get home in time to drive to Remlinger Farms, which is in a city called Carnation, to pick up some very yummy edibles (e.g. their own brand of salad dressing, which is totally delicious, called Burgundy Poppyseed) for ourselves and for stocking stuffers.
Which we did and now we are back. Lots of rain in the forecast for next week but Monday should be OK and I am thinking of doing Grand Prospect.
Sudden Sun
I did a standard conditioning hike today, starting at the E. Sunset Way lot about 7:35. Sun rose about that time but it was kind of gloomy the entire way. The mountain itself blocks the sun early on, and being in the forest also makes it kind of dim.
But towards the end of the hike, on the wetlands trail, there was a break in the trees and the sun crept over the top of the mountain and it was like someone turned on a spotlight. The sun on Round Lake caught my attention and showed me what a glorious day it was.
About 5.75 miles, here is the track:
Just The Forest
Between my weak camera skills and my cheap camera, the view above it less than impressive. But it is a reminder for me. Actually being there in the forest, early, doing a nice work out, is so much fun. I cannot capture it on camera but I can snap these little reminders.
I did the Cedar Butte hike today. Beautiful weather. Above is the view from Cedar Butte summit looking straight north. If you move the camera just a little you get some beautiful mountains to the north and east:
I extended the hike a bit by walking west towards Rattlesnake Lake. The view towards the three ledges was nice:
I also saw a very cool orange fungus (Tremella mesenterica?):
I passed by the spot that overlooks the famous Boxley Blowout, which occurred on 12/23/1918. Read about it here: https://www.historylink.org/File/2426
For the purpose of today, this blowout created Christmas Lake (so called for an obvious reason) which I have photographed many times from along its shore but here is what it looks like from above, from the PTC trail:
Christmas Lake
You can see Christmas Lake on the track below. I did about 4.8 miles and had a super-fun time. Weather next week is supposed to be decent so I am looking forward to getting out a couple of times.
I turned 69 yesterday and rewarded myself by getting my butt out the door and to the May Valley Squak Mountain trail head. The forecast was for clouds but no rain. But about .25 mile up the trail it started raining and it was coming down pretty steadily. I had a waterproof jacket and a waterproof hat but no waterproof pants – dumb mistake to leave it behind based on a weather report.
My pants were getting soggy so I shortened the hike. I wound up doing only about 3.3 miles. I did do the little side-trail, the Pretzel Tree Trail, just to see what it is. It is definitely designed for little kids. The trail is short and flat (a little loop) and features signs along the way, telling the story of a field mouse wandering through the woods, chatting with various creatures along the way and learning a little about forest ecology.
As for the pretzel tree itself, I never did spot it. It might have come down at some point.
Anyway, it was better than just hanging out and being blue about the low-key Thanksgiving Day. No kids, no grandkids, no happy buzz around the table. I just hope that 2021 is a better year with more to be thankful for.
Nice cool day, I got out early and saw only 3 people on the way up, perhaps a dozen on the way down. I think we get a break in the weather for a few days, I hope to get out at least a couple of times next week.
The forest on the way to Stan’s is not awesome, like the forest above Stan’s, but it does have its moments – this little stream was making a pleasant noise:
I like the Twin Falls hike. It is only about 4.5 miles long but there is plenty of elevation gain and the river (South Fork of the Snoqualmie River) and falls both sound and look spectacular.
There are, of course, two waterfalls at Twin Falls, the upper falls and the lower falls. The view above, taken from the first view point on the hike, shows both of them from a distance of about .5 miles.
At 1.3 miles you reach a bridge that crosses the river just above the top of the lower falls. Here is a view looking up and a view looking down:
And, to top it off, there is a nice view point (going down from the trail about 100 steps) of the lower falls:
So whaddya think? Is this a fun hike or what?
I did pretty much my usual conditioning hike on Tiger Mountain today. I did do the extra 1.5 miles that include the Talus Rocks trail, and a mile or so going down on the Tiger 3 trail.
So, about 6 miles, nice, crisp day, a good way to start a Sunday.
Derek and I planned to do a 14-miler up to the summit of Mt. Washington today but 5 year-old Camden wanted to come with dad and Grampy so we downsized our ambitions.
We did the Christmas Lake trail:
Then we were going to do Cedar Butte but right at the start of the trail we ran into multiple large parties so we bailed and just went back to the car, but via the PTC and Sno Valley Trails.
It was about 3.2 miles, not bad for the little guy.
We saw some cool mushrooms growing in a tree but my photo is not very good:
It wasn’t a huge workout for me or for Derek but we had fun!