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I did a nice hike today, I parked at the High Point Trailhead and hiked up the W. Tiger #3 trail to the summit. I went down via the first section of the Section Line Trail to the Railroad Grade Trail where I went west to hook back up with the Tiger #3 Trail down.

Today was just about the exact opposite of Sunday’s hike. There, I was way off trail, bushwhacking and almost getting lost, but today I was on Tiger Mountain and on obvious trail the entire time. Plus, I have been on these trails many times so there was never the slightest question of being lost.

The view from the Tiger #3 summit is not exactly awe-inspiring:

About 6 miles, 2K elevation gain, a nice workout. Pic of track right here:

I was way off-trail today but on the way down, when I was finally back in familiar surroundings I passed a hiker going up with her 3 (one is behind her) goats. Cool!

I thought yesterday I might be hiking with Derek today – he is my off-trail bushwhacking companion – but he couldn’t make it so, perhaps unwisely, I stuck to my plan.

I had long noticed, on topo and other maps, that a very old and de-commissioned logging road came near the McClellan Butte trail. I had previously discovered where, on the McClellan Butte trail the former road came relatively close, and on yet another occasion I learned where the old road intersected the road designated NF110, up and down which I and Derek had hiked previously.

So I thought I had figured it out.

Not so much.

I went up the McClellan Butte trail and, just short of where I planned to start route-finding, I stopped to snap a picture of the neighborhood:

There were also some very nice flowers right there:

Immediately upon leaving the trail the going was rough. Right there were a series of large trees that had been cut down and left to decompose. Nice to look at but not easy getting over.

When I got over all the trees I was headed towards an unfordable creek (Wood Creek, according to the maps) so I had to bear right and try to find the least obnoxiously overgrown path. At this point, I knew the former road had petered out; I was looking to intersect it.

I assumed it would be de-commissioned but, having seen quite a few such former roads, I figured it wouldn’t be too bad. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

When I finally found what, according to my Gaia mapping/tracking app told me was the former road, there was nothing to see. At one point there was a faint outline of the olden days:

Getting back to a normal trail (NF110) was a long series of back-and-forths and looking for traces of the old roads. At one point I wound up getting turned around and went in a circle. My track reflects my confusion but, fortunately, Gaia bailed me out.

I was very happy to get back to a real trail and even happier to leave the bushwhacking behind. At one point, I had to cross Wood Creek, hopping over slippery rocks while trying to fight off closely overgrown bushes peppered with very nasty prickly needles. Glad I am that no one was around to hear my curses.

Once I got back to NF110 it was fine, not exciting, but a nice long walk back to the car. I got to see the wonderful mountains to the north:

Here is the strange track:

About 7.5 miles, 2,500 feet of elevation gain. I made it back so it’s all good!

I am ramping up my training hikes. Instead of my standard Tiger Mountain conditioning hike I was on Rattlesnake Mountain this morning.

I left the car about 7:30 and that was a decent time. I saw a bunch of high school age boys coming down (I presume they were some local sports team) but otherwise the trail was not crowded at all. I mention this because this trail, on the weekends, is like downtown Seattle with the crowds. By 7:30 on a weekend, both sides of the road leading into the Rattlesnake Lake area are covered with cars. But today, it was nice.

I started up the new/official trail but quickly veered off-course and used the first section of the old trail, which is much steeper. I then used the official trail all the way up to the first anti-horse and anti-bike fence, which, using the official trail (which is longer) was about 3.6 miles.

On the way back I veered from the official trail farther up, mainly because I could hear a bunch of people coming up the trail and I was not inclined to navigate that situation.

On the way up I stopped at the upper ledge and looked north to see Mount Si and Mount Teneriffe – I love seeing mountains I recently hiked, and Teneriffe (on the right in the picture below) was my hike last Saturday.

Just over 6 miles, 3K elevation gain, 3.5 hours, a nice workout.

Great hike today. I went to the summit of Mount Teneriffe, going the long way both directions (no Kamikaze Trail today, I won’t do that one solo). Beautiful day and perhaps a tad too beautiful. I totally soaked two sweat bands on the way up.

Teneriffe is one of those summits that is above the tree line and taller than everything in the immediate vicinity. And so you get an amazing 360 degree view.

The trail and the summit were packed. Here is the view looking south towards Rainier:

You can see Teneriffe’s near western neighbor, Mount Si:

And the view north is also spectacular, featuring nearby Green Mountain:

Just under 14 miles, about 4,200 feet of elevation gain (parking lot is 830, summit is, per my Garmin, 4,750, plus there are quite a few ups and downs along the trail). A nice workout.

And when I was done I got to attend Finley and Camden’s joint birthday party. Great food, fun people, and plenty of presents to open.

Not sure what hikes I will be doing next week but none of them will measure up to this one. A really good hike.

My plan today was to hike to Granite Lakes by taking the connector trail to the Granite Creek Trail but I didn’t notice the trail head as I drove by (it is just a wide spot in the road) so I wound up starting from the Granite Creek Trail Head.

That’s quite OK because the connector trail adds 1.3 miles each way, and because it is longer it is not as steep. A close look at the track below shows that the first 1.4 or so miles of this hike are fairly steep but then it shallows out.

This is a very nice trail and it was a good workout. Granite Creek is a loud (at this time of the year at any rate) companion for most of the way:

The Granite Lakes are sub-alpine lakes in the area known as the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River. When you get to the lake you are in effect in a bowl. Wherever you look, you see the tall mountains that surround the lakes:

On the way down I saw a great example of how nature renews itself. There were several young trees growing out of an enormous old-growth stump:

It was a nice, fairly cool day. I saw about 8 or 9 folks the entire hike. This area is jam-packed on the weekends. In fact, since this trail is just down the road from the massively popular Mailbox Peak, on a sunny weekend just getting into and out of the area is a challenge, with all the people parking along the sides of the narrow road. But today, well, not so much.

A bit more than 8.5 miles and 2,769 feet of elevation gain. Here is an image of the track:

Fun day!

The weather was so beautiful on Memorial Day that I opted to do a nice little 5-miler, parking at the Olallie Park south picnic area, going up the Hall Creek Connector Trail, and then east on the Palouse-to-Cascades (PTC) trail. This trail used to be called the Iron Horse Trail (and the John Wayne Pioneer Trail).

I love the Mine Creek Bridge. It is a beautiful bridge and it is in an awesomely scenic spot. When you stand on the bridge and look south:

You see the mountains that surround you, including Chester Peak (attaining that summit is one of Derek and my goals), as seen above.

When you look north:

You see the mountains on the other side of the freeway, such as Dirty Harry’s Peak and Mailbox Peak.

On the way back, heading west, I got a nice view of Mount Si (pointy prominence on the left) and Mount Teneriffe (pointy prominence on the right):

I plan to go to Granite Lakes tomorrow, 5/29 and if all goes as planned, Teneriffe on Saturday, June 1. And June 1 is the combined birthday party for granddaughter Finley, who just turned 10, and Camden, who is about to turn 4.

Should be a great day!

Today I “officially” started training for the Irish adventure. We will be doing about 18 miles a day, each day, for three days. Whew!

So today I parked at the Margaret’s Way parking lot, off SR900, with a plan to go all the way across the mountain to the SE May Valley Road Side, and back.

On the way out, I went up the Margaret’s Way trail to its end at the Chybinski Loop and then went right and took the Perimeter Loop Trail, my first time on that one. It was fine except for one very serious blow down. I wound up crawling on my belly underneath, as going over it looked even tougher, with several branches obstructing the path over this massive tree. Old growth? Perhaps – it was big. I should have snapped a photo, but I was wrapped up in getting past the obstacle.

This trail hit the Bullitt Gorge Trail, which hit the May Valley Loop trail and I took that one to its beginning, just .1 mile from the parking lot on that side. I took a quick break and just turned around.

On the way back I skipped the Perimeter Trail due to the blow down and substituted the West Peak Trail. I have done that trail from the other direction a few times, today was the first time from this direction. It is steep!

But then I finished that section back at the Margaret’s Way Trail and cruised back, the 2.76 miles. Saw some nice flowers along the way:

Here is an image of the track, which was 11.9 miles, 3,300 feet of elevation gain:

You can see it is basically an out-and-back except for the loop around the word ‘Squak Mountain West Peak 608 [meters]’. I took the lower section on the way out and the upper section on the way back.

A nice workout. I need to pile on the mileage and work up to 3 days in a row.

Yesterday I participated in the Cedar River Watershed Education Center’s (CRWEC) tour “Spring Comes to the Watershed.” This was the second year of this tour and I was on the first one last year.

Last year it took place in early June and the weather was interesting, alternating between sun, rain, hail, and sleet, but this year it was less interesting and more enjoyable, sunny and warm the entire time (9am to 4pm).

Rolf Gersonde once again led the tour, this time assisted by Julie Stonefelt. Julie filled us in on some of the human history of the watershed. For example, she told us that fire pits dating back thousands of years have been uncovered in the watershed.

Rolf’s theme was that spring comes to the watershed at different times in different areas. After all, not every place in the world features huge differences in elevation, and as elevation varies, so do the weather and the temperature, among other factors. The flora and fauna of each ecological niche is unique.

We stopped several times, and each stop was its own learning experience. Rolf took us to two meadows, and the difference in the meadows, which were adjacent on the side of the mountain, were striking.

The first meadow, pictured above, had quite a bit of standing water and countless numbers of frogs, tadpoles, and proto-tadpoles. The second meadow, slightly lower in elevation, was bisected by a small stream. The stream and its banks had plants that existed nowhere else.

Another stop was at a tremendous view point at 3200 feet:

We who hike in this area on a regular basis are accustomed to attaining summits and other views and looking south into the Watershed, which is of course off-limits. It is only on rare occasions like this tour that we can visit the watershed and look north at our regular vista points.

A visit to an old growth stand was also special:

Rolf and Julie were so generous with the time – at each stop we had plenty of opportunity to just sit back and enjoy the moment. I spent about fifteen minutes transfixed by a small waterfall, just watching the endlessly changing water tumble down the mountain:

We saw quite a few birds and heard many more. Rolf identified more than a dozen species based on their calls. And we got to see four Turkey Vultures drifting along on the air, high above:

I am looking forward to my third Old Growth Forest tour in August. I do not understand why these tours are not more popular than they are. We had only eight people in the group:

Perhaps the CRWEC is more about the Watershed than the publicity.

In either case, as long as I and these tours exist, I will be enjoying them, learning from them, and relishing the opportunity to approach nature with the appropriate level of humility.

I did my usual conditioning hike today on Tiger Mountain but I added the extra mile or so (total hike was 6 miles) by adding the Talus Rocks Trail. This trail hits the Tiger 3 trail so I took Tiger 3 down to the Bus Trail and back via Wetlands Trail.

As always, the forest is beautiful:

Nice way to start a Thursday.

I hiked up to Songbird Peak today with Carl. What a great hike! The weather was perfect, although towards the end it was a bit warm. Summer is coming.

We hiked up the Mount Washington main trail to the Great Wall connector trail. From there we went to the new bike trail, which was mostly deep, semi-slushy snow, and then to the Great Wall which did have a couple of snowy sections but overall was not too bad.

We skipped Change Peak and Mount Washington and headed straight to Songbird.

Plenty of things to see along the way, including a great view of Rainier:

Here is what the snow looked like:

13.17 miles, 4,410 feet of elevation gain, per the Garmin (seems a little high to me). About 7 hours total – not bad, we spent about 30 minutes on Songbird to have some snacks, catch our breath, and marvel at the view. It is almost 360 degrees and wherever you look it is nothing but mountains and trees.

Marvelous!