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Fairly short solo hike today (Jan and I went to a play yesterday afternoon so I skipped the standard Saturday hike with the usual suspects), Section Line down the Nook Trail.

I encountered the above broken tree limb on the Bus Trail and thought: how bad would your timing be if you happened to be on the trail at the exact time the limb fell?

It happens – last year a guy was killed by a falling tree on the trail I hiked on Thursday, Twin Falls – but I don’t think the probability is very high. Here is where the limb came from:

One other note, I passed Round Lake along the Wetlands Trail and was glad to see it is is close to being back to its normal size. It is a small lake again rather than a big puddle.

I did a solo moderate hike today, Twin Falls. The only truly memorable event today was the fact that I investigated a little side trail I had seen many times, always telling myself “some day….” and today was the day.

The Twin Falls trail starts at a trail head accessed from I-90 Exit 34 and ends at what is now the Palouse to Cascades (PTC) trail just west of the Mount Washington trail head, Exit 38.

A few yards east of the Mount Washington trail head is a little trail that goes – where? Many is the time I have seen it and wondered and told myself that I would check it out some day.

Today when I got to the PTC I walked east, just to get a little more mileage in, and as I went past the Mount Washington trail I noticed the mystery trail and headed up.

It was rough, to put it mildly. It was steep, straight up the mountain, and rugged. I had to climb over several huge downed trees. It didn’t go very far, but at the end of the navigable territory was a huge rock. Very interesting rock and I took some photos which, unfortunately, were blurry.

I had to conclude that this trail, like the trail a few yards west of the Mount Washington trail, were created by hikers looking for and not quite finding the Mount Washington trail which is notoriously difficult to notice (I missed it on my first solo hike up Mt. Wa), particularly in the dark.

But the answer to the mystery is: this trail goes nowhere.

I noticed a very pretty section of the forest on the way down:

Just under five miles, about 1,200 ft elevation gain. Here is a Google Earth view of the track:

The plan today was to meet at the Tiger Mountain Cable Line trailhead at 7:30. I got there about 7 and texted Ken (above, closest to the camera) that I was going to start early. Ken and Greg are both faster hikers than me and I figured I would get a little start so they wouldn’t have to wait for me.

The Cable Line trail is justly famous around here among hikers for being rough (totally unmaintained and seriously eroded for most of the way) and steep. It is about 2,000 feet of elevation gain in roughly 1.5 miles. Check out the elevation profile (distance is in km, elevation gain in meters):

I kept wondering when someone would catch up with me but in fact I made it all the way to the summit, waited there a few minutes and started back down when I finally saw Greg coming up, with Ken right behind.

The summit was windy and a little wet so we retreated down the trail a little way to a former camp site, rested, and then hiked down via the Tiger 3 trail – the same trail I went up on Tuesday.

Here is the track with the ‘up’ on the right (east) and the down on the left:

Nice way to start a Saturday, very strenuous on the way up, a great stroll through a beautiful forest on the way down.

Retirement isn’t all roses but this morning I was focused on the good news. It was Tuesday and I didn’t have to go to work. I could go outside and play, which for me means go hiking.

I have hiked down from the Tiger #3 summit via the Tiger #3 trail but I have never gone up that way. So today I reversed a previous route where I had gone up the Section Line and down Tiger #3. Here is the track, with ‘up’ on the right (east):

The summit of Tiger #3 does not offer the greatest views but there is a bit of a look west, towards Bellevue, Seattle, and the Olympics if you look hard enough:

One reason I have avoided this trail is because it is notoriously crowded. But I figured early Tuesday (I hit the trail at 7:21 am) would be an exception and I was right. I probably saw about a dozen people all day, and no one at all on the very steep Section Line that I took going down.

No need to guess the elevation of Tiger #3:

All in all it was a terrific way to start the day, just under 5 miles (3 miles up, 2 miles down) and 2K elevation gain. 2.5 hours, a decent workout.

I’ve done this hike solo a couple of times in recent weeks but today I was with Carl, Ken, David, Mark and Greg. Had a great time.

Ken, Greg and Mark added extra weight to their packs as they are training for an assault upon Mount Shasta in June. Mount Shasta is a proper mountain climb where they will be bringing ropes and crampons and really rocking out.

Today was much gentler but still lots of fun. On the way down we passed Sally Jewel, Obama’s Secretary of the Interior on her way up. Very cool!

Above is the view from Grand Prospect (about 3,300 feet elevation) here is what the place looks like as you approach:

Just under 8 miles, in spite of the photo above there was actually not much snow on the trail until we were almost at Grand Prospect.

Looks like Tiger 2 for next weekend and I am thinking of doing something Monday, when the weather may be more or less favorable.

What a great way to start the new year. I hiked with Mike, Mark, Greg, and Ken up Mount Washington. There was a lot of snow starting about 2,000 feet and we had to stop to put on our spikes. But the trail was packed down pretty well and we definitely were not sorry we left the snow shoes at home.

The trail was absolutely gorgeous, a true winter wonderland.

There were plenty of people on the trail and why not? Holiday, sunny, what’s not to love?

We stayed on the summit for a few minutes and then headed down:

On the way down I was sad thinking about my friend’s son’s death. My friend, under other circumstances, might have enjoyed a hike like this. All we can do is take advantage of the opportunities we have and hope for the best.

My plan today was to hike up Margaret’s Way and then go to the West Peak but when I got to the Chybinski Loop (a short distance from the West Peak trail, and the top of Margaret’s Way) the sky opened up. So I put my jacket back on and turned around.

However, less than a mile down the rain stopped and I decided to just keep on going, rather than re-hike back up. By the time I got back to the car the weather was pretty decent.

However, when I got home I saw I had missed a call from an old and dear friend. I called him back and he shared the awful news that his 42 year-old son had died of a heart attack in the days before Christmas.

My heart goes out to him and his wife and their daughter and – well, everyone who knew the lad, who was a wonderful guy, the kind of person who would light up a room.

At any moment, just how far away is tragedy?

Everyone else was at the outlet mall so Derek and I did a hike. Actually, we had planned a fairly challenging and snowy hike but Derek wound up having to work through about 1pm so we changed plans.

We parked at the High Point parking lot and went a short way on the Bus Trail then immediately took the Nook Trail up. We tacked over to the Section Line, down that one then hooked up to the other end of the Bus Trail and came back that way, with a detour to check out the water level on Tradition Lake. (it is very low)

Nice hike, we had a good workout. We both love the forest; many of the trees along the way wear heavy shawls of moss.

I hiked up the Rattlesnake Mountain Old Trail with Ken, Greg, Mark, and David to East Peak where we turned around and went back down. About 8 miles round trip.

I brought the camera but frankly forgot about it. But we didn’t visit any of the view points along the way, and it didn’t occur to me to snap a photo of the radio equipment (if that’s what it is – some sort of tower) on top of East Peak.

So, a good hike, nice workout, very little snow up there. A fun way to start the day.

Solo hike today.  I started on the “new” Rattlesnake Ledge trail and quickly took the “old” trail.  I left the old for the new at the first intersection, so I cut off about .4 mile and added some fairly steep terrain.

At the trail head is a memorial to a teenager who died last March – Eddie Petrik is his name – when he and his friends got up to the ledge but it was dangerously icy.  He slid off as his friends watched in horror and was killed in the fall.  Tragic.  A grim reminder that hiking around the mountains can be dangerous.

For me the hike was fairly uneventful.  I went up, noticed how low the lake was and then went down, and walked into the middle of the lake basin, where, this spring, the fisherman will be in their boats, casting away.

I was alone on the ledge with only the hungry birds for company.  I didn’t break out a snack so they looked at me with contempt.

A fun way to start the day.  On the way home I stopped at Jill’s house to drop off her iPad, which was left over the weekend when the kids, who stayed over on Saturday, left with their parents on Sunday.  When I came in, Camden was “hiding” under his sister’s bed, a clear invitation to start a game of hide-and-seek.