Cave Ridge - Guye Peak

At the Alpental parking lot, we started up the "trail" toward Guye Peak and Snoqualmie Mountain. Some recent bulldozing seems to have occured right at the road but the "trail" is visible at the top of the track. I am using the term "trail" quite loosely but all of the routes we followed today are on the new Green Trails map for this region. The lower section has the usual steep talus areas with plenty of pack grabbing slide alder encroaching over the trail. The one section that had been very loose with rock fall issues seems to have stabilized since I was last here. After about 1100' of gain, there was a "trail" junction where we headed towards Guye Peak. Some snow started just past this junction. After some more rocky "trail" there is a 4-way stop sign - at least that is how I refer to it. We first turned right towards Guye Peak and quickly reached a bench area with a great little tarn albeit frozen. From here the "trail" returned to steep but also slippery with snow. We ascended a couple hundred feet and I wimped out. I was starting to feel like a cat up a tree and there is only one way to get this cat out of a tree - it is not a pretty sight. So down we came - slowly, very slowly. Back at the 4-way stop, we continued to the north towards Cave Ridge. "Trails" and way paths go every where and anywhere. We lost the main trail more than a few times but eventually found our way to the "summit" of Cave Ridge where we relaxed to the point of almost napping and enjoying the great views of the Alpine Lakes peaks. There was quite a lot of groaning on my part coming down the knee jarring rocky "trail".