Hiking in the Puget Sound

Today’s hike had everything but a view. It was cloudy most of the way. A little sunshine to the west when I got to the Mount Si summit block (the Haystack) but rain for almost an hour on the way down.

But the hike was just a bit more than ten miles, 3300 feet of elevation gain, not a blazing hot day. I saw no one all the way up and a grand total of four people on the way down.

I went up the Mount Teneriffe trail to the Si connector trail and then back down the same way. The new Mount Teneriffe parking lot doesn’t open (there is a gate) until 7 but the old lot, a school bus turnaround, is always open. Illegal to park there on a school day but today – no problem.

So I started up the trail at 5:12 am and got back to the car just a bit after 9.

As I say, no views today:

But that’s OK. A great workout. Track below.

I did about 7.9 miles today, not real steep. Up Cedar Butte Trail to Olallie then down, then to Christmas Lake and I added some fun and easy mileage by going down the trail to the (closed, still closed) Cedar River Watershed Education Center, then back.

Not a hugely taxing workout but pretty good and lots of fun. Rattlesnake Lake is at an OK size right now:

Track below:

I did the Zig Zag Trail today and then went back via the service road, NF9021. Total of about 7.2 miles. Zig Zag is steep, 1350 feet in a mile, so it is a nice workout, even if the route from the top of Zig Zag back down to the car is fairly easy.

Beautiful day. I started up the trail just after 6am but even so, my sweat band was soaked by the time I got to the top of Zig Zag.

Plenty of views, including the very nasty sight of shooting galleries along NF9021:

I fail to understand why people feel it is OK to:

a. Illegally do target practice in an areas where you might wind up shooting someone, and
b. Leave your garbage and gun detritus around.

In addition to the shells and cartridge cases, they leave beer cans, other debris – it is like a junk yard in some areas. Yuck.

But when you aren’t looking at the crap you get to look at some nice mountains:

Not sure where I am going to go on Monday but one possibility is Dirty Harry’s Peak, a notoriously rocky and steep hike to a nice summit.

I did a nice one today, Annette Lake. At the end I did, for the first time, the Asahel Curtis Nature trail. The trail head for this little interpretive loop is right next to the Annette Lake trail head. The little trail is nice, perfectly fit for kids or out-of-towners or anyone who wants to experience a forest trail without having to lug their butt up a long, steep trail. There are a dozen plaques along the trail that show you what you are looking at – Douglas Fir, Red Cedar, wetlands, etc. etc. It is nice.

Annette Lake is a very popular destination. On weekends it is jammed, impossible to find a place to park. Cars line the service road for a long way.

But I pulled in today about 5:45 am and only one car was in the lot, I presume an overnight backpacker or two. Anyway, I saw no one on the way up and about a dozen or so people on the way down. I also saw no one on the nature trail.

About 7.75 miles, 2K elevation gain, a beautiful walk through the forest to a gorgeous sub-alpine lake. The lake is surrounded by mountains and, when you are only one there, totally peaceful. Nice!

Abiel Peak

One of the Locally Famous Avalanche Chutes

I treated myself to a post-Fourth hike in Mount Rainier National Park. I summitted Crystal Peak (elev. 6595) at about 8:30 am. I left the car to go up the trail about 6:15. Round trip mileage was just over 8 miles.

The first 1.5 miles of this hike share the trail with those going to Crystal Lakes and beyond. There is a signed junction for the Crystal Peak trail and I took that route.

The entire hike is a fairly steady climb. There are a few sections, short, that are flat. And there are a few, also short, that are steeper than average. But overall, it is a steady up, up, up the entire way. That is, until you get within a couple of hundred yards of the summit, and then it is a very steep semi-scramble. The summit itself is a great 360 degree summit, with one side a cliff:

Summit Cliff

The views from up there are forever:

The wildflowers are out in droves lately:

This is one of the most beautiful hikes I have done and I guarantee I will be back. However, it is about 90 miles from home. I left at 4am, got there by six and spent little time getting geared up. I was back at the car by 10:30, having spent at least 15 minutes on the top.

Perfect weather, I was first up (encountered about a dozen people going up as I was going down) and had the summit to myself. It was never broiling hot; that early, the mountain itself blocks the most intense sun.

Great workout, beautiful hike – sweet!

I wanted to do something early and relatively quick, to get up and down before the heat. I hit the trail at about 6:15 and was back to the car by 8:45 – about 4.25 miles, up the Change Creek Trail to J’s Landing and back down. A few weeks ago when I did this trail there were several very nasty blowdowns along the trail but today not much of a problem. Some trail angel got rid of the worst of the blowdowns. Many thanks whoever you are.

The way up was relatively cool, as the clouds were blocking the sun. They were low; I was in them at J’s:

Nevertheless, this trail is enough of a workout that I totally soaked a sweat band going up.

A nice workout. My overnight camping trip has been moved to August 5, a hike on Thursday, camp at Lake Easton State Park, and then a hike on Friday. Should be awesome. I am thinking that Friday will be Kendall Katwalk but I am undecided on Thursday. Somewhere around Exit 85, I think.

Nice view on the way up of clouds and sun:

And the wildflowers are beautiful all over:

The track:

My goal today was to find the Lake Marten trail. I had a good general idea where it is. I had sent a link to a trip report to Derek to suggest it for us to check out. But this is another unofficial trail and not necessarily easy to find.

I haven’t hiked for a few days because it has been in the 100’s – like, 110 degrees. Not good weather to hike. So I left the house this morning just after 4 am. I was heading out from the car at 5:30. Nice and cool.

I parked at the Middle Fork parking lot. Parking here adds 2 miles round trip to the hike (a mile to the Snoqualmie Lake trail head) and it avoids having to drive over/around some very nasty potholes. Anyway, it is a wonderful mile. The first .5 mile is on a connector trail and the 2nd growth forest is beautiful:

After you get onto the Sno Lake Trail you are close to the Taylor River. This section of the river, at this time of the year, is exciting. It is white water and very loud – loud in a great way:

I did finally find the Marten Lake trail, 3.7 miles from the car. I went a couple of hundred yards up the trail just to see how it is and it is a doozy:

Now, when Derek and I plan this hike, I will know where to go. I did not feel comfortable doing this trail alone. It is very rough and very steep but it ends at a marvelous sub-alpine lake (in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, no less) and I am looking forward to giving it a try.

Hike was just under 8 miles. Here is the track:

I only did about 4 miles today. Kind of a bust. We have a heat warning around here, it is supposed to be in triple digits by Sunday and it has been in the 90’s in some spots. So I figured I would get out really early.

I left the car to go up the trail by 5:50 am. There was only 1 other car in the lot. This trail is wide and new for the first 1.25 miles but after that it gets brushy and narrow. And about the time these old-man legs hit that mark, the first in what turned out to be a long stream of hikers passed me.

At 2 miles I turned around, at the bridge that spans Granite Creek.

I will try an even earlier start on Sunday, by Change Creek which is a fairly obscure hike, and see if that works. I do not want to be caught on the trail in the heat so I will see how it goes.

I did a proper hike today, Mason Lake. I took a different route than normal. It is usual to drive to I-90 Exit 45 and then drive 3 miles west on a service road. But the trip reports are complaining about the massive pot holes so I took Exit 42, went to the north side of the freeway, parked along a little pullout and went up the unofficial trail that hits the service road .25 miles from the parking lot. The trail is .4 miles long so this route adds about 500 feet of elevation gain (the short trail is steep!) and 1.25 miles to the hike. So it was about 8.5 miles.

Trail is in good shape. Almost no snow anywhere. As always on a sunny day, the views from the ridge at 4,300 feet are awesome:

And on the way down I got to see a frog. They normally run away but this guy just sat there. I hope he is all right.

The track:

On Wednesday, 6/16, we (me and Jan, Jill and Derek and the kids, Cam and Fin) drove to central Washington near East Wenatchee to do our annual Lincoln Rock car camping outing. Derek and I traditionally hike but circumstances conspired against us.

Anyway, on Thursday, I walked down the Rocky Reach Trail. It gets its name from the Rocky Reach Dam, which is situated on the Columbia River, generates a lot of power for the area, and is the reason why the lake on which Lincoln Rock State Park is situated exists.

About 2.5 miles down the trail I saw an eagle sitting in a tree. She was sitting on a branch above her nest. I could see two little eagle heads (black, not white) popping up. I thought it was cool to be able to see an eagle from relatively close and in a relatively predictable place.

So I went back on Friday with my camera. This time she was in the nest and not all that easy to see. In the picture above look for the nest in the tree; she is sitting in it.

The topography around Lincoln Rock is very hilly – see below. Derek and I would love to find a way to hike up one of the hills. They are super-steep and would be a terrific workout with a great view. But they all seem to be private property and off limits. We shall see.

Only a 5 mile walk but it was blazing hot, in the mid-90’s, so it was fairly decent workout. Plus, in the morning Derek and I took out the kayaks for a nice upper body workout. So, no slacking but no hiking either.

I hope to get out tomorrow around here, as we got home today, unpacked, and are more or less exhausted.