Hiking in the Puget Sound

I got a relatively close look at a deer today. I startled her and her startle startled me. She ran just off the trail and stopped. I stopped. I pulled out the camera, zoomed in, and got the shot above. When I proceeded she bounded uphill a few strides and stopped again. I take it she has seen plenty of hikers, is wary of us, but has learned we aren’t pulling out guns. Bambis on Tiger Mountain are safe.

I went up Section Line as per my usual conditioning hike, but extended it a bit by taking the Talus Rocks Trail to West Tiger 3 trail, and down to the Swamp and Big Tree Trails, etc., back to the E. Sunset Lot.

Plenty of nice flowers out right now:

And there is the decent view of Issaquah and Lake Sammamish (look up July 14, 1974) in the distance.

About 5.5 miles, a nice little workout.

A semi-bust today. My plan was to go up Zig Zag Trail but when I got to the start of the trail (after the .1 mile ultra-steep connector) my knee was sore. Since I want to keep up my pattern of three hikes a week, I headed east on the flat PTC trail to Mine Creek Bridge and turned around.

When I got back to Zig Zag my knee was feeling better but I didn’t have time by then to go up to the top. I went up about .25 mile, to the Hall Creek Trail junction and turned around. Live to fight another day and all that.

I had a date to pick up my grandson Camden (almost 6) and bring him back for a stay over. When I got there the plans changed, and not for a good reason. On the way to work this morning Jill got into an accident and her car is totaled. No one was hurt, which is good news, but I am predicting a huge problem going forward. I am pretty sure the person is going to sue and being without a car is going to be an issue. We will do what we can to help.

In the meantime, both Camden and his sister Finley (now 12) are over:

So at least we have that going for us. But what a miserable turn of events – totaling the car.

I now know exactly how I missed the spur trail to Southeast Peak.

Squak Mountain has many trails, and thus many trail junctions, and there is a sign for almost – almost – every one. Check out this junction (the left leads to SE Peak):

Not that SE Peak is a big deal. It has a slightly better view (see top photo, above) than West Peak or Central Peak, but Squak Mountain peaks are just not high enough to be above the tree line (SE is 1630 feet).

Anyway, now I know.

Some nice color along the trail:

About 7.75 miles, (including a little detour when I looked for an alternate way down but, when I got to the bottom, discovered they are building condos right up to the trail itself!) a good workout. Here is the track:

My plan today was to hike up the SE side of Squak Mountain to Southeast Peak. I missed the turn for the peak – the arrow pointing downwards above shows the turn I missed. I am not sure how I missed it. There are a few signs on this mountain and I suspect the trail I needed to take had a sign that said something besides ‘Southeast Peak’ (unlike the sign for West Peak, e.g.).

Anyway, I forgot my camera but will remember it Thursday when I come back. I was going to do something else Thursday but this screw-up bugs me and I won’t be OK with it until I actually hit this peak.

I had heard this trail was very steep, but if it is, I didn’t get to the steep section. It is a fairly steady climb, but I do not regard this trail as steep. I guess I will learn more on Thursday.

Derek and I did Stegosaurus Butte today, we went all the way up to the true summit (see track below). I was on this trail a few weeks ago and, I now see, wisely decided to turn around mid-way, as the hike ahead of me looked so steep that it might be dangerous going down, and being injured and alone on an out-of-the-way trail like this sounds like death.

And, in fact, it was incredibly steep and, today, muddy and slick. Here is the elevation profile:

The views at the top are amazing:

This is what the summit looks like; that is, if you turn around after oohing and ahhing about the views of the neighboring mountains, this is what you see:

Here is Derek on the way down:

Derek

Only 2.43 miles but an excellent workout. We had a great time and agreed we want to go back, particularly on a day when we won’t look like mud wrestlers when we are done.

The track:

Once again I did my standard Tiger Mountain Section Line conditioning hike. Nothing special. And yet, along the way, I could not help but pause from time to time just to enjoy the forest. Not views that are exceptional within the context of Tiger Mountain State Forest, but exceptional within the context of every day life. Imagine being in downtown Seattle and stumbling across a view like above.

I hope to get out somewhere on Saturday. I guess I will have to check the weather to see what seems reasonable.

Not a hike today – Jan took a day off from work and we drove out FR56, the Middle Fork Road, into the heart of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest to Camp Brown, former site of a logging camp and other activities. Last year they carved out a nice little interpretive trail, a .5 mile loop, and we headed down the trail to the secluded and beautiful picnic spot to munch our sandwiches and nibble on chips. We were the only people around on a Tuesday and it was great.

The place is right next to the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River:

We were looking up at mountains like The Pulpit:

And at nearby Stegosaurus Butte:

After we ate we strolled back to the car and I drove a short way on FR56 to the Middle Fork Trail Head where we made the short walk to the Gateway Bridge. Jan snapped a picture of the river but I left my camera in the car.

That’s OK, I will be back. There are many hikes to do in this area and I look forward to exploring as much as I can.

Only 4 miles today but plenty of workout. The Change Creek Trail, which I took up to J’s Landing, has a stretch where you gain about 1350 feet in a mile. It’s a challenge for old guys like me.

Not much of a view today, it was foggy and cloudy while I was hiking.

On the way home the sun started to come out and this afternoon is looking nice.

This trail has so many things to see, from waterfalls to interesting rocks:

This is the sort of thing that gives a Sunday morning plenty of zing.

Here is the track:

We have had one of the driest Aprils on record so I wasn’t surprised to see little Trillium Creek running low.

Anyway, I did my standard Section Line conditioning hike today. However, I should mention that all the hiking is paying off. It used to take me 40 minutes to get from the E. Sunset Way lot to the start of Section Line; today I did it in 34 minutes. And the Section Line, up to the intersection with the Nook Connector, used to take 35 minutes. Today I did it in 23 minutes. And without much straining.

On the way down Nook I saw a new sign:

And here is the view itself:

The only thing I could find via web search was that there is a video game, whose description sounds like it is a Pokemon rip-off, with a character called Pipsee. Is this some sort of gamer homage?

Another decent workout and the snow on the mountains continues to melt out. I am thinking next week I might just venture up Mount Si and/or Mount Washington.

I got an early start this morning, leaving the car to go up the trail at 6am. Now that the sun is rising earlier and earlier I like to get out and beat the traffic.

Stan’s is another one of my conditioning hikes. I plan on getting out tomorrow so I didn’t want to hammer my legs. I am still thinking about what to do tomorrow, perhaps something in the Middle Fork area.

Part of the Rattlesnake hike today is the service road you can get on to bypass part of the forested trail and get some views. I snapped a different view on the way down:

Like I always say, it beats sitting on the couch.