Category: Uncategorized

Perfect hiking weather today, low 50’s, grey but not much rain.

I did the Cedar Butte/Southside Trail/Olallie Trail loop today. Last time I tried this I got off-trail and had a tough time. Today I figured out where I went wrong and it went smoothly.

When I hit Olallie I went right, east, to get in some extra elevation gain and mileage. I turned around at the viewpoint, thus adding about 2.6 miles to the hike. Total today of 8.65 miles.

As always, I love the forest:

And I also love how varied the topography is. Here is a little spot where, just off the trail, the hillside is super-steep and overgrown. Would not be fun to have to bushwhack down this way:

A very nice way to spend a Saturday morning, I was leaving the car to head up the trail at 8 am sharp. The track:

I hiked to Dirty Harry’s Balcony today, about 4.65 miles, 1,200 feet of elevation gain. No big deal, but this place is all about the views.

I did take a very short trip down the Ira Springs Connector Trail – this trail leads to a lot of interesting things, but it is something I hesitate to explore alone. But I did verify its existence and I will keep it in mind.

The track:

Just another relatively mild conditioning hike, up the Squak Mountain Central Peak trail, down the South Access Road – didn’t see many people.

I do like this one little corner, where it is a steep slope down to a stream (not much water at the moment):

Like yesterday, nothing too challenging but a decent workout and, as always, it beats sitting around being depressed about the apocalyptic state of the world.

I did my standard Section Line conditioning hike today.

I am supposedly on jury duty next week so perhaps no hiking. I wanted to get out today, tomorrow, and Sunday so I picked a hike that wouldn’t fry my legs for the weekend.

I passed by Round Lake and thought of Monet’s famous series of haystack paintings. Round Lake changes dramatically throughout the year. Right now it is at its lowest ebb:

Health permitting I want to come back in January, April and July and snap the photo to compare its seasonal journey. For sure, in winter it rains a lot and snows periodically. When the snow melts Round Lake (and its nearby friend Tradition Lake) is a proper little lake. Right now, more of a puddle.

Tiger Mountain does not lack for signage:

No big deal today but a good 4.5 mile outing with the Section Line’s moderate steepness, 600 feet in .8 mile. Beats sitting on the couch.

My plan today was to do something mild, as I haven’t hiked for a couple of weeks. Between the very hazardous air quality and some rain I just haven’t made it out. So I figured to do the Cedar Butte/Southside Trail/Olallie Trail loop but somehow I got off the Southside Trail and wound up having to gingerly make my way downhill on brushy and very slippery terrain.

Oops!

The Southside Trail, when visible, is great:

But it all worked out.

See track below:

This was not a hike it was a walk. I am recording it because Jan was with me – she does not do much walking because her knee is really bad. She will probably get a new knee next year.

In the meantime, she is off this week because yesterday Brittany was married and Jan scheduled this week off in order to spend time with out-of-state relatives. But due to the Trump Plague no one flew in from out of state. In fact, it was a downsized wedding, 30 guests, outdoors, socially distanced (mostly).

So she is off this week, the weather is glorious, so I suggested a walk from the Garcia/PTC intersection to the bridge, 1.5 miles round trip. Flat, very nice trail, she can do that.

Just marvelous scenery and she was even able to walk a bit past the bridge. As usual the views inspire:

Not a super workout but it was nice to get out and Jan had a nice time.

I forgot the camera today but no big deal. It was grey and drizzly all morning, nice cool weather for a steep hike.

And it was steep. I went up Change Creek to J’s Landing, hung out for about 20 seconds, and turned around. I did do a minor detour at the bottom to check out the Hall Creek waterfall but otherwise did not deviate from an out and back. About 4 miles.

Good workout for sure.

I talked myself out of doing Dirty Harry’s Peak on the grounds that it might be dangerous (steep and very rocky) alone. But I was more ambitious than what I wound up doing – Cedar Butte to the summit, then down and back via Christmas Lake.

Driving south on I-405 I saw a sign warning of a serious accident and a five mile backup ahead. So I diverted via the first exit, got a little lost in the side streets, finally wound up doing my old back route via SR202 and SR203, through Duvall and Carnation, and by the time I hit I-90 it was a little late for anything big so I settled on a smaller hike.

Still beats hanging around on the couch but I did want to tackle something more challenging. Lots of activities coming up (I am babysitting Friday, Brittany is staying the night on Saturday, and she is getting married on Sunday) so not sure when next I will get out.

I hate to waste this perfect weather….

Did the Granite Lake’s hike today – up the Granite Creek Trail and back down.

These lakes are not spectacular bodies of water, but they do exist in a bowl surrounded by numerous great peaks, such as Dirty Harry’s above, and to the north peaks like Revolution Peak and Thompson Point. I am thinking about trying to summit Dirty Harry’s on Thursday. It is notoriously steep and rocky – we shall see if I am up for something epic or not.

Here is the upper lake:

Granite Creek itself is running a tad on the low side, this being late summer:

Along the way I found the definite start of an old logging road that supposedly get near the vicinity of a long-abandoned mine. Finding it would be a job for me and Derek, as it sure looks like a bushwhacking, route-finding operation is needed. It would be fun.

Track is below:

This is not the world’s toughest hike, 8 miles round-trip, probably 2.5K elevation gain (much of that in the first 1.25 miles) but a good workout and fun outing.

I had a nice workout today but it was not particularly photogenic.

I parked at E Sunset Way, went up to the Adventure Trail, to Section Line, but where I normally go down via Nook I went up the .6 mile (steep section – see elevation profile below) to the West Tiger 3 Railroad Grade Trail, to the Poo Poo Point trail, down that to Bonneville Power Trail, to Wetlands, back down the final stretch on the connector trail back to the car.

A very fun hike but no particular views. 8.2 miles, 3 hours, perfect weather.