Trip Reports

I left the Steamboat Rock State Park area behind me and was across the coulee at the gated road/trailhead area about 0.7 miles up Northrup Canyon. This has got to be one of the most amazing desert locations I've seen as the diverse plant population in here makes it a wildlife heaven. It stands out as the only forest stand of trees in Grant County--amazing to find some fir trees here along with the pines! This also makes the canyon one of the hottest birding locations in the Grand Coulee and I now know why I see reference to it so much from the Northwest birding experts. I was greeted within 10 seconds of starting my hike to a lovely owl call from the trees at the base of the cliffs to the south. It wasn't a Great-horned owl, and after a lot more listening I am certain it was a Long-eared or Barred owl that I was listening to. Woodpeckers were sending a percussion of beats echoing off the canyon walls the entire time I was there--the dead ponderosa pine tree snags were a favorite of theirs! Numerous hanging birds nests in the trees showed the activity of summer from some species of flycatchers that visit the canyon. The hike up the road was pleasant and would be much appreciated when the snakes have emerged, as Northrup Canyon with all of it's riparian habitat has a healthy rattlesnake population. But here you have a trail 7-8 feet wide so even if one is present you'll see it well ahead of yourself! I hiked back up the canyon 1.5 miles or so, marveling at the rock formation on the north walls. The red-twig dogwoods and aspen tress really added color to the canyon floor too! Upon returning to the trailhead area I went up the Old Stagecoach Road Trail for 25 minutes as well, and will go up there further when I visit again. This area is closed from November 15-March 31 last winter, clearly signed and fenced off, to protect the fascinating bald eagle roosting event that happens each night in these large trees. A large population of bald eagles of the entire region come here by 5:00pm during the winters. Other note: a newly completed 10 car parking area and shiny toilet outhouse facility are now in place at the trailhead, as was planned last summer to happen this winter. The paint in the outhouse still smelled! Must have been completed within the past week. Real nice! I really want to return to this canyon in mid-May sometime to do some serious birding as the warblers, vireos, and flycatchers come migrating through!

Yes, it's true: FS road #26 is passable all the way to the end. The Suiattle trail is blocked in several places by giant trees and/or the holes they leave behind when they crash in ruin. A little scrambling and a pack removal or two will be required. It was very nice to hike in a deep wilderness area with virtually no snow. I went up the Milk creek trail as far as the first stream crossing, which is impossible to cross with dry feet. Even though I had brought sandals for crossing this stream, I decided to go back and head up the Suiattle trail instead. It is rife with giant trees, Doug firs mostly, with several more smashed and crashed across the trail. Next time I will try to get to the trailhead before 4pm!

After leaving Northrup Canyon I went to check out Spring Canyon east of Electric City, then left to check out the other side of Banks Lake. Upon finishing up there I headed south homeward, but was pulled up to see the Lenore Lake Caves that I've never bothered stopping at. This was a camera-only one hour of fun! Here the desert shooting stars were THICK! Both nine-leafed desert parsley and fern-leafed desert parsley were abundant and in full bloom! Larkspur was blooming in three areas near the rocky cliffs you hike along the top of. The caves were very fun to see and walk into...these hallowed out areas that were created from the backwashing of the falling torrent of water that came over these cliffs in each Great Lake Missoula Flood event. I hiked about 3/4 mile and then hiked back again. The storm clouds were getting ready to spit upon me, so it was refreshing to be inside and driving as I approached Ephrata in a pounding hailstorm. Three hikes in one day. Each location diversely different than the others. What a day!

As usual didn't leave trailhead until 5:20pm. Made the Summit just before sunset. SPECTACULAR!

It was remarkably warm that evening. Snow is about the 3mile sign. No ice that evening. Snow after 3.5 miles was actually good for footing.

I had both my trail dogs with me and it was an extremely wonderfull evening. Spent over an hour on the Summit and then chased each other down the mountain. Today is the 18th and I suspect the snow level is even higher with the warm temps. this afternoon.

I am going to go back tomorrow night before the big storm on...Saturday?

Don't forget your batteries.

Buck, Max and Pepsi

Nothing breaks up a week like a midweek afternoon hike. I arranged with Gary to head over to Tiger after work. We met at the High Point trailhead and headed off on the TMT. The route to the top of Tiger 2 was a little muddy but in fine shape overall. By the time we left the TMT and headed straight for the top of #2 we encountered the mystery blow down area. I ran into this several weeks ago. There are at least 40 small trees down, many blocking the trail. None are very large in diameter. A crew could clean this up fairly quickly. Although there were dozens of cars at the trailhead we saw nobody on our trip up. I was looking forward to some solitude on top of #2.

The top of the mountain looked like some type of convention. We sat down for a bite to eat along with 12 other hikers. Oh, did I mention the 3 trucks there? Several minutes later a party of 9 more come up from #3. Lets see... that's 12 plus 9 plus three workers plus us. That makes 26 people on top of Tiger 2 at 6:45 pm. I have been to Snow Lake and seen less than that. We ate and headed down just ahead of the horde of 12. Tiger 3 had only 2 hikers on top.

We headed down at 7:00pm with exactly one hour until sunset. Before we reached the rairoad grade we passed a group of 2, a group of 10, another 4, and maybe a few more. The weather was threatening at times but we had only a very short and light shower coming down. We made it back to the cars at 8:05 just after sunset but it was not yet dark.

All in all it was a very nice trip. I have been hiking Tiger since 1983 and I have never seen 26 people on top of Tiger 2. I never expected that I would an hour before sunset on a Wednesday in April with threatening weather. I hope I never do again.

We tried the standard clockwise mountain bike loop from the HWY18 side of Tiger but ran into one unexpected problem: lots of blow-downs at the top of the Preston RR Grade trail. We crossed about 20 in the first 1/8 mile, and due to the side slope on this part of the trail it wasn't easy. At least there wasn't too much snow. It didn't seem to be getting any better so we turned around, descended the road, and took the NW Timber Trail out and back. There was only 1 blowdown and a couple of low branches that could take your head off. The trail is in typical shape with small pools of standing water and mud. This is the first time I have seen water running down the trail, on the eastern end, and I suspect it has something to do with the logging that took place last summer right above the trail. Hopefully this section and the top of Preston will receive some maintenance before the crowds show up. We were told by other riders that the blow-downs on Preston were mostly in the first mile.

My husband and I spent our 8th anniversary walking in the rain on this trail and loving every minute of it.

The trail is still quite muddy between Little and Big Hump with many large and deep mud puddles to slosh through. Once we reached the foot of Big Hump the trail dried out. We hit some small snowy patches towards the top of Big Hump past the washed out bridge. But the snow was mostly melted by the time we came back in the afternoon. There were also a few downed trees after about 3.5 miles, but they were easily climbed over or under. We highly recommend 5 Mile Camp as a nice place to sit and have lunch or just look at the river. That was our turnaround point so can't relate any information on trail conditions after that.

This is a very pleasant uncrowded forest hike. The excellent trail was built a couple of years ago by the WTA and King County. The trailhead is in the Sycamore neighborhood off of Front Street just south of 2nd St. Wind up Sycamore Dr uphill as it changes name to Hillside then Crystal Creek. The trailhead is an unmarked gated service road near the end of the street (next to 3 new large houses). The trail initially winds through a mossy forest along Crystal Creek then crosses a new bridge, swings away from the creek, and heads uphill through a Douglas Fir Forest. Respectable trees appear at 1 mile. At about 1.5 miles an intersection with the East Side trail is crossed. That will be the return route. Cross Thrush Gap and 40 paces before reaching Phils trail turn right on an unmarked path. This interesting route pleasantly winds along the west side of Crystal Creek valley for about 1/2 mile where it intersects with the East Side trail. Turn right and eventually cross Crystal creek in a deep valley amongst some large boulders. Soon the East Ridge trail will be intersected. A left turn will get you back to the trailhead in about 1.5 miles. Round trip is about 5 miles and 1200 ft elevation. A 1.2 mile side trip off of Phils trail will take you to the top of viewless Central Peak. Now through mid May is the best time to visit this area since the understory is very lush and the deciduous trees haven't yet formed their light blocking leaves. There are no significant views from the trail so for best forest lighting it's best to visit on a cloudy day. Because of rocky soil and great trail construction the trail is almost free of mud despite the very wet and cold spring we are having.

Troop 294 completed our South to North hike of the entire Wilderness Beach this year by completing the third section, hiking from Lake Ozette to Sooes Beach. Two adults and five scouts hiked this year. We again chose South-North due to prevailing winds. Low tides were at about 9 and 9 which lead to some difficulty later.

We rented our bear cannisters at Port Angeles WIC, stopped at Swains for last minute forgotten items, then drove to Ozette and parked. Many folks were hiking out after the huge windstorm of 4/13. The boardwalk was slippery, with new blowdowns. The hike up to Cape Alava was enjoyable, we used a couple of overlands with ropes and stopped to admire the petroglyphs at Wedding Rocks. We encountered many deer along the coast. A baby sea otter was resting on the rocks north of Cape Alava; we hope her mother was out feeding. We spent the night in the fine campsite in the trees south of the Ozette River, with eagles nesting nearby.

We forded the Ozette at low tide on Day 2. With the recent rain, it was running high and fast, coming up to the thigh on some of our crew, but everyone remained upright. We had a slow hike for 3 miles up the beach, but we did see more sea otters. We then began rounding the Point of Arches with the tide coming in. It didn't look like we would make it to the overland trail, so we headed back south and began a traverse across the point in the woods where we spent the night. We eventually met up with the primitive trail from Willoughby Lake, but we don't recommend cross country travel. There are swamps and more blowdowns than you can count.

We wish we would have timed the hike a little differently, but we were not able to keep a pace that would allow us to round both the Point of Arches and the Ozette River in the same tide window.

We arrived at Shi Shi on the morning of Day 3 and explored the Point of Arches. We then continued North. Petroleum Creek needed to be forded due to the high runoff. We hiked out the incredibly muddy trail (we had received permission from the owners) to our cars at Tillie's, the last house before the gate.

It rained every night, but only a little during the day. We were very glad we had appropriate rain gear and equipment, as well as LNT training. Thanks to our ""hiking angels"" for moving our cars from Lake Ozette to Tillie's on Sooes Beach.

A planned trip to Mt. St. Helens was called off due to impending weather so Fleetfoot and I went to Granite Mt. for a little walk. Six other cars in the lot when we started. A light snow was falling but there was lots of water on the trail. We cleaned out a couple of the water bars and some branches from the trail. One couple passed by us and then we passed them. Stopped for a few seconds to check out the alavanche snout. A lot less snow through the trees than a few weeks before. Still it is pretty impressive. Checked out the waterfall from the bridge on the way in. Hiked a short ways past the cutoff trail and then headed up for the west ridge. The trail had not been solid snow till now and there was just a light covering in here. As we were going up the sun came out for a while and we could see blue patches through the gray sky. There was maybe a half inch of fresh snow underfoot but in places an ice covering that was hard to poke through. We got up to about 3200 feet were Fleeetfoot had dug a trench to check snow condition. While taking a break here it started to snow pretty good.The wind picked up and my hands got cold. The gloves I had were not working so I used a pair of Fleetfoots. We continued up and broke treeline. The wind stopped for a little while so we started across the slope to the ridge. We could see that some alavanche material had come through here- probably from that last heavy storm. Fleetfoot cut trail and I followed. Along the small ridges of the avalanche track the ice was hard. Again no ice axes, so we moved slow.At the ridge we looked down to the meadow at the foot of the peak west of Granite. Fleetfoot continued up the ridge a little ways and I tried to follow but at one point I was not able to get any footing.We decided too turn around here. Plunge stepping was not possible.I sat one one foot and slid to a tree. When we got to a spot that had better footing we traversed a ways and decided to try a glassade.There was about an inch of fresh snow here. Fleetfoot went first and you could see him bouncing along on the ice. I followed and for the next run he used his shovel and I the plastic sled. WOW! speed. Because it was icy mostly, you could not use your feet to break so I spread my arms and pulled snow to control my speed. Another glassade put us to the woods. Fleetfoot was able to continue using his shovel but I did not feel good about using the sled.We still had to be careful coming down through the woods as we would hit icy spots that you could not step through. Once back on the trail it was smooth moving. We saw one person going in and just a few cars left in the lot. Rain on the way back to Seattle. Sun when we got home. My legs were not in as bad shape as from last week at Lake Serene.Pretty good day.

Joined the parade up Si as a spring conditioner. After many months away from hiking it was fun to re-discover walking without snowshoes on - or snow to work through (until the top anyway).

Of course there were lots of folks faster, coming down, slower, etc. - you get the picture of the crowds - and what a variety of dress, jeans, full mountaineering gear and shorts (they didn't last long on the top I'll bet).

Left the trail head at 10am or so under skies with patches of blue here and there. Comfortable going up, til the last mile or so - then it clouded up a little, and the snow changed from flurries to real stuff.

Made the summit (there is of course lots of snow and ice on the way up and down, crampons or yaks the call for the day) and had lunch looking into the guts of clouds.

Turned around and came down into straight rain at 2,000 ft on. Hit the parking lot about 2:30, slowed by the friends I was with.

Good first trip of the year - but not as ready as those with full camping gear strapped to their back!

The trail was pretty muddy in spots, but some recent blowdowns have been cleared from the trail.

The river was running a little high due to heavy rains the previous night and poles came in handy for pole vaulting the first stream crossing.

The tunnels are in good shape and easy to get hrough. I stopped at the official end of the trail. It looked like you could go further, but a slip down to that boiling river was not a pleasant thought.

This must have been quite an exciting train ride in its time.

started off beautiful - sun shining, warm, nearly empty trailhead parking lot... we met a ranger about a mile in who said she'd seen evidence of bear (bite marks, etc.) on an elk carcass near krause bottom. about two miles further in, we found our own elk carcass off the side of the trail, and the biggest raven i've ever seen eating on it. i never knew ravens were like... eagle sized. wow.

pretty idyllic hiking until about 4.5 miles in, just past the lillian trail, when the sky clouded up and started raining lightly. by the time we got to mary's falls campground, it was pretty much pouring. we set up camp, cooked under the tarp, and went to bed early.

i spent about twenty minutes trying to find the bear wire that the sign indicates is ""300 yards""... the only thing i can come up with is maybe it got washed away, because we sure couldn't find it... ended up using the ""rock, rope & stuff sack"" method.

late night/early morning, the rain turned to snow, which would have been nice, if we hadn't already been soaked to the bone. hike out was snowy, lovely drudgery.

hello... spring?

trail though, is (as always) in impeccable condition.

The road to the trailhead is snow-free, but a little rough in spots for cars. There were no other cars at the trailhead so parking was not a problem.

There was a little hail/snow as I left the trailhead, but it faded out on the way up.

The first mile of the trail is snow-free. There was more water than usual on the trail and the stream crossings were running higher than normal. There were plenty of rocks for steps, but poles did come in handy on one crossing.

The last 3/4 mile to the lake was solid snow. Route finding was not too bad, but traction tires were recommended.

The biggest hazards seemed to be collapsing snow bridges and deep holes with water running under them. If you fell into one of these 15 ft deep holes, it was going to be difficult to get out.

The lake had some open water and there was a large slide at the far end of the lake which appeared to be quite recent.

A nice hike which should get better in the next month as the snow melts out a little more. I only saw one other person on the trail all day.

This is one of my preferred ""conditioning"" hikes in the Seattle area. Why? It can be fairly long (14 miles round trip), it has a 4000 foot elevation gain, you can do it pretty much year round and it usually has few if any other hikers on it this time of year, which means that there won't be many witnesses to the sometimes embarassing state of my physical condition. In addition to all that, Teneriffe has never failed to supply me with exposure to every possible weather condition that a hiker might face, so its a great chance to find out if that jacket really is rainproof, if those new Polartec socks are actually warmer than your cozy old wool ones or if you really can put on your snowshoes while facing a gale force wind on a 45 degree incline.

The hike is really on an old forest road, not a trail, though near the top, the trees and bushes are closing in on it, making it feel more like a trail every year. Its also a rough road, in many places assembled with large rocks that make for difficult footing and it can actually be more difficult coming down if you have weak or strained knees.There is lots and lots of runoff this year from the mountain, so there is water on the road in places, but it is minor. The creeks and streams of runoff are beautiful right now, running very hard.

I started out the walk in cloudy misty, weather, but at about 1400 feet, a serious hailstorm hit and I tossed on a coat. Then, the sun came out and I had blue skies and got so hot I had to peel off some layers and don sunglasses. Then, at about 2500 feet, the wind started up and I began to get lite snow, joining a previous dusting that was clinging to the side of the road. At about 3000 feet, I hit the level that had remained under snow and I put on my snowshoes. It was tough going from that point on up. Hikers must have been through here when the snow was soft and melting, because today their old steps were all frozen imprints making walking difficult. Then. . .when I neared the ridge, our wonderfully schizoid weather hit me again. First gentle, beautiful snow. But that didn't last. It turned into a wicked blizzard powered by a wind that blasted up the side of the mountain. I threw all my snow clothes back on and continued along the ridge near the top at around 4200 feet, but I found myself above a clear cut area with the frozen snow blasting me against the mountainside. I stopped to decide whether to continue on or not while I scarfed down a snack and some water. When I was finished, I turned to look back at my progress and through the curtain of snow, I could see that my tracks had become completely obscured already by new snow. It was time to go back.

And just to make sure that I got a taste of ALL our local weather options. . . it started raining!

Snowshoed to the lake from our cabin at Scottish Lakes High Camp, elevation 5100', starting out in a rain/snow mix that turned to big fat flakes off and on all day. A nice climb along McCue Ridge. Then cross-country to the trail, down through the trees and across Roaring Creek on a snowbridge. About 6"" of fresh powder on a solid snowpack the whole way.

The firs and pines were beautiful, with the snow tracing along branches and tufting on the needles. Had lunch on the lakeshore, about 2 1/2 miles from the trailhead. It's a neat place, a long way into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. A couple of skiiers came by, returning from the far shore and an attempt to get to Lake Eileen, marked as ""Loch Eileen"" on my GT Chiwaukum Mts. An avalanche chute turned them back, along the steep narrow drainage between the two lakes.

Just for fun, we plunge-stepped along behind as the skiiers telemarked through the trees, down the drainage. Then it was back uphill to catch the route across the creek and out. Great views north and east toward snow-covered Nason Ridge, during the intermittent sunbreaks.

To get there: The High Camp is marked on FS Road 6935, which meets Hwy 2 across from the rest stop east of Merrit. The road is gated, and it takes a snowmobile to get to the trailhead. This can be arranged in advance - visit http://www.scottishlakes.com/ for more info. The camp is a piece of local history, evolving from the Stark's Ski Camps of the 1940's. (Bill & Peg Stark explored and named many of the lakes here and the Enchantments.)

It's amazing that the snow's so great, this far into spring. Might as well enjoy it!

Went and checked out Sulphur Mtn trail.

About 21 miles in, the Suiattle River Road has some snow patches - no trouble for the Blue Blunder Bus (my Honda CRV). Then we encountered an RV camped in the road. RV'er Tim travels with a chainsaw, and was clearing the road - thanks Tim! The road now goes to Sulphur Creek Camp.

Beyond that the road has some more snow patches, but more importantly there are significant blow-downs that will require a crew. No problem - Sulphur Creek Camp is only a quarter mile or so from the end of the road anyway.

On the trail, my pal and I found snow patches in the forest clearings, but mostly snow-free trail up to 3000'. Lots of blow-down requiring step-overs and end-runs. Lost the trail in the snow at 3300'.

Hiked on up to Point 5121 on snowshoes. We were never lost, however you might say we had 'navigational tribulations'.

One clearing gave a view up Sulphur Creek to Downey Mtn, but mostly we were in forest. It was rainy anyway so we weren't in it for the views. -Dox

Heavy rain was in the forecast for Western Washington so Carla, Tim, Karen and I headed east in search of sun. Hex mountain was the goal. FS Road 116 is gated 20 feet from Salmon La Sac road so we parked in a turn out just away from the gate. Sun greated us in Cle Elum and at the trail head but not two minutes after we left the car clouds blew in and it started raining. Heavy rain and high winds were the recipe for the rest of the trip.

Snow on the road was soft (postholing) but patchy. Nevertheless we donned snowshoes about 1 mile into the trek and wore them for most of the remainder of the trip. Snow alternated deep to thin until about 4200 feet; snowshoes certainly required from that point on.

Even with the recent logging activity NNW of the trail the forest was beautiful with some trees quite large. The short, steep finish to the summit was great! No views today, unfortunately though as high winds and rain still pelted us as we tagged the summit and headed back into the trees for lunch. On the way down, the weather lightened up and some blue skies appeared (of course...). Great trip despite the weather. Approx 7 miles RT, just under 3 hours to summit and 1 hour 45 minutes back down to the car. Dinner at El Corporal in Cle Elum capped the day off right.

We'd planned to hike the Lakeshore Trail as we did last year at this time but it is closed (ferry won't let you off at Prince Creek) due to fire damage and hazards. We decided to go to Stehekin anyway and spend two nights. We took our bikes and biked to where the road is not plowed on the first day. We did the Rainbow Loop the next day (very little snow left). The last day we went at far south on the Lakeshore trail as it is open (Flick Creek Campground). We did the tourist stuff and visited with the rangers who say the trail will be closed all summer. Though this wasn't the trip we planned, we had fun and saw plenty of spring flowers. The staff at Stehekin is most accommodating and made a great effort to see we had an enjoyable time.

There is one large log across the trail near its junction with the Quartz Creek Road. There are many small logs across the trail. Snow patches start at 1230 feet with snow completely covering the trail above 1350 feet. All watercourses are running high and fast. Sky was overcast with heavy rain.

Looks like another late start to the hiking season. Someone want to explain global warming to me again. The first time didn't make any sense.

April 12 and 13 Left trailhead at 5:20pm. I swear my dogs and I hiked at least three miles but I never ran into the sign for Talapus. Snow was quite heavy about 4,000'. Lots of snow bridges, lots of water. Pitched our tent at 9:30pm and spent the night in the rain eating maccaroni and cheese.

This is a most beautiful hike in the spring, even at night. One warning. On our way out one stream in particular (the one next to the spectacular waterfall) had risen more than a foot and was quite swift. My smaller dog almost became a bobber beagle.

Keep on packin'

Buck, Max and Pepsi

3 weeks ago i tried to do this trail but got turned back by snow. All gone, they even got the big blowdown cleaned up too! the 2 bridges are in great condition, after 2 miles up there is quite a lot of water running down the trail. The melt off is running nicely! 2 seasonal creeks with waterfalls are running across the trail-be prepared! the lake was fully melted,did see a tiny bit of snow in the woods. still very cold up there, was nice to come down 500 ft and warm up in the sun. nice views,be sure to have your lunch on the rock overlooking the lake!

The Boulder River trail turned out to be the perfect hike for this cloudy, wet day. Not sure how I've managed to miss this good spring hike before, but I certainly enjoyed it today. The waterfalls at about 1.5 miles are spectacular. The river itself is deep and swift. There are quite a few blowdowns, and one rock landslide, but all are passable with minimal effort (even for the four-legged companion). The trail at times is quite muddy, and often has alot of water running through it, but made for great fun! The trail ends at about 4.5 miles at a lovely riverside campsite. There is very little elevation gain/loss on this hike, but overall a beautiful hike with alot of greenery and water...and even a few skunk cabbage popping up.

Our distinguished leader, Paul A, chose the CCC road off the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie. There were ten of us, and we met at the usual place, Coal Creek Starbucks. It didn't take long after arriving at the trail head, to discover that the trail is still not o.k. A swollen creek too deep and swift to cross turned us back. So, plan two, and up to the ""new"" parking area and bridge across the Snoqualmie. We hiked up the river about 1-1/2 miles, and lunch time arrived. Suprisingly, the weather wasn't too bad, considering the heavy rain in some areas. We had a few sprinkles and even sun breaks! Back to the cars, and into North Bend, for a stop at Scott's Dairy Freeze, and what is that place across the street?? Scribe is re starting with hiking, after several months on the disabled list. It is great to be back with this group. Some of our hikers read Greg Johnston's report in the P.I. (April 11 - ""GETAWAYS). One of our drivers, Fred D, will appreciate the new pavement as he has recently installed new shocks on his ancient Mercury sedan.

The weather wasn't looking very promising but we wanted to get some exersize. On the drive up, we were sure that a drenching was in our future but what the heck. The trail starts beside the Suiattle River at 1000 feet. The trail is in fairly good shape with a few blowdowns. At around 2500 feet, a creek gouged out some trail at several crossings but it was easy enough to get through. The clouds held back the rain and even look to lighten up as the kept on gaining elevation. The snow finaly covered the trail at 3500 feet and at 4000 feet, we put the snow shoes on. It wasn't very long until we lost the trail completely and headed straight up the hill. After about 4.5 hours of walking we were on the ridge. It had started to drizzle and changed to snow for our visit on the ridge. Needless to say, the view was somewhat restricted. After sitting in the snow and eating lunch, we headed down and made it back to the truck in about 2.5 hours.

left to Barclay lake on Apr. 8th, nice sunny day.. last 1 1/2 miles before trailhead is covered in snow, so u gotta park there and hike about 30 min to the trail head... there is alot of snow on the trail.. but the trail is easy to follow.. the big brigde u cross before getting to the lake.. its pretty much hard to cross, the railing is gone. but it is crossable still. most the lake is still frozen over, part of it has thawed... but its beatiful still, 1 small tip, leave early in the morning while the sun will still shine.. cause around 12:30, the sun goes behind mt baring.. and its gone for the rest of the day and very cold.. HAVE FUN

What a shame that the cross country season often ends just as the corn snow begins to form and the days become sunny, long, and filled with views in all directions. Took the day off to hike up the ski slope under the Silver Fir chair lift, and traversed up to Grand Junction (probalby the shortest route up to the groomed trails above Hyak-- took us only 25 minutes. Snow was firm and nearly perfect for climbing, and then there was even some fresh snow up on top on the edges of the groomed trails. Sunday we think was the last day the upper trails will be groomed, but they were still in very good shape on Monday. Saw several skaters, 2 with ecstatic dogs jogging along. The day was cloudless, views of Rampart Ridge particularly handsome. Even though the day was pretty warm and sunny, the skating held good-- and the snow stayed corny, not sticky, all day long. If the temperatures stay in this range, we should be able to find a bit more skating terrain up on these trails, or on the Iron Horse, which looked like it still holds about a 3-4 foot pack. Nordic skiiers need to get together to advocate for a longer grooming season to enjoy these great ski trails.

Don't get too excited, Teanaway devotees, I just walked up the snow covered and officially closed road from 29 Pines Campground to the trailhead [~ 5 miles, 1000 feet up]. Glad I wasn't there when they did it, but the snowmobiles packed the snow down real good. The swollen Bev and North Fork kept me company as I dreamed of past and future trips.

Give it a good month before driving to the trailhead, and even then there will be lots of snow on the trail. One small blowdown on the Bev road.

The weather was excellent, the snow firm, the upper portion of the ski area was closed, the avalanche danger was minimal, the outing was perfect! Well, except for the vicious sunburn I got on all exposed skin, including the undersides of my nose, chin, eyebrow ridges, etc., from the reflected sunlight. Bring dark sunglasses and high-SPF sunscreen if the sun is out. Artist Point is a must-see destination. The path up to it is very steep in places, with no definitive route to follow. I stayed to the left after leaving the ""road"", reaching the ridge top to the east and downhill from Artist Point. I then wandered up to the point through basins and hillocks of untrammeled snow. As steep as my route seemed, when I started to return by the more-used route, I found it to be even worse, so I contoured over to the east again to finish the upper portion of the descent. There were long stretches of the day when I saw or heard no one. I have never experienced such absolute silence before. It was uncanny. Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan were amazing and seemed close enough to touch. There are also endless vistas of far-off peaks. This trip was definitely worth the three-hour drive each way.

Wow is all I can say. Headed down with Ely and Bill Saturday afternoon and got to the the Marble Mountain Sno Park that evening. Bill and Ely slept in the cabin and slept in my car as there were rats and such in the cabin. Started at 730am in rain and yucky weather. Bill and I skinned up on our skis and Ely snowshoed and carried his snowboard. Once we got a few hundred feet up we could see the mountain and it was almost clear. The forecast was not the optimistic, but we wanted to do this so we trudged on in weather that changed every 10 minutes. Once above treeline the sun shined brightly and tanned my pale hide. Around 6500 feet the clouds came back in and snowed and blew on us pretty hard. Once at 7000 feet the clouds were below us and it was gorgeous weather! We had to carry our skis the last few hundred feet as it was pretty icy in spots but we never needed our crampons or ice axes. Hit the summit around 130pm. Hung out for about 30 minutes and then started our descent. Great snow up top, then icy in the middle and cement near the bottom, but we were able to ski all the way to the parking lot, and made it there by 4pm. Could have been faster but we had to retrieve all of our wands. What a great day to get in 5500 vertical feet of skiing! scott@nwog.org

My pals and I took the Lady of the Lake ferry to Stehekin, then made an attempt on Boulder Butte.

It was quite warm as we started up the Purple Pass trail. We were surprised to find snow patches at 2300'. After the stream crossing at 2600' the snow was abundant but we were able to follow the trail until about 3000'.

We made camp at 3300' in the forest. We placed our cooking area atop a rocky outcrop with big views - down to Stehekin and the lake, and up to Castle Rock and Tupshin, up the Stehekin valley to McGregor and Rainbow, and south to the mighty Entiat Mountains.

Next day we found the trail but lost it again in the snow. We snowclimbed, first post-holing then on snowshoes up to about 6500'. Used ice axes at a couple steep steps.

The sun was baking the snowpack and I felt fear of a small slide carrying us over a cliff. Anyway, it had already been a big day so we turned around.

Still, I wish we had finished it. There is a wooded knob a few hundred feet higher that would've been a satisfying summit. Next time for sure.

It was mighty fine to snowcamp there another night. Easy enough to pack up the next morning and get down in time for the boat. We even had time for lunch at the restaurant in Stehekin.

Good friends, big views of North Cascades, and we even had peach pie. All in all a fine spring snow climb. -Dox

It was a beautiful day for hiking and photography in The Gorge - overcast with little rain or sun breaks, perfect for waterfall and forest photography. I had originally decided to hike just up to Fairy Falls above Wahkeena Falls, but I had so much time and such wonderful weather that I turned it into a 5 mile Wahkeena/Multnomah loop trip.

The hike started at the ever busy Wahkeena Falls. A paved trail leads up to the bridge in front of the falls. Most people stop here, but the trail continues unpaved up quite a few switchbacks before leveling out for a bit. Here there's a platform called Lemmon's Viewpoint that gives a nice view of the river, as well as the top of Necktie falls. A side trail zigzags down toward the falls but it's in rough shape. It was apparently once an official part of the trail, as the battered remains of a fence lines the edge as it proceeds past Necktie Falls to its end at the top of Wahkeena Falls. This side trail, as with all others I did on the loop, are well worth the time to explore.

After Necktie Falls, the trail follows the Wahkeena creek upstream to Fairy Falls, which is beautiful in person as in photo. I spent almost an hour here taking photos and eating lunch, before continuing up the trail along the creek. The trail passes the intersection of another creek with Wahkeena. Beyond that the trail splits, with one going to the Angel's Rest Trail and the other to the Multnomah Trail. I took a brief jaunt to the Angel's Rest Trail to see Wahkeena Springs before heading west toward Multnomah. The trail actually passes directly over the springs, so the downstream side of the trail flows like a normal creek, but the upstream side is a forested hillside. Very cool.

The hike from Wahkeena Springs to the Multnomah trail is almost completely flat and moderately forested, showing fire scars on many of the trees. At one point about half way to Multnomah, there are 5 trail intersections at one location -- Angel's Rest, Wahkeena (West and East), Devil's Rest and one name I didn't catch. It was a good thing maps were posted! The rest of the hike to Multnomah was uneventful and relaxing.

I had only been to the top of Multnomah Falls via the popular trail from the bottom. I wasn't expecting much once I reached the trail but I was very pleasantly surprised. The hike up Wahkeena Creek had been nicely covered in moss, but upper Multnomah is even more so. Every available surface -- rock, tree and log -- is covered in a thick carpet of moss. The river is larger than Wahkeena and it tumbles down endless cascades and minor falls. The trail starts above the river and winds down to follow its shoreline. About a half mile down, the trail passes Ecola Falls and Weisendanger Falls in quick succession. Ecola Falls is wide and low, similar to the falls in the Gifford Pinchot. Weisendanger Falls is taller and plummets into a bowl canyon as most falls in the Gorge do. Both are worth photo time. Soon, the trail encounters the paved trail and the upper platform above Multnomah falls and the multitude of tourists. A quick trek down the many switchbacks and through the visitor area and I was back in solace on the loop back trail between Multnomah and Wahkeena.

All in all, it was 6 waterfalls in 5 miles on a perfect day for photographing them. Not a bad way to start my hiking season.

It's always a treat to hike a trail for the first time. This is one trip I have meant to do for a long time. I signed up for a Mountaineer hike to the Dungeness Spit. I was fortunate to have a driver on Bainbridge Island pick two of us up at the ferry dock and handle the driving. We were on the 7:50 ferry arriving at Bainbridge at 8:25. It takes roughly 1 1/2 hours to drive to the trailhead. Drive Highway 101 just west of Sequim. Beyond the Costco is a right turn on Kitchen-Dick Road. Follow the signs into the Wildlife Refuge.

The hike begins with a short walk in the forest to a viewpoint. From here you can see the whole route out to the lighthouse. Drop down to the beach and follow the spit. We were beneficiaries of the Olympic Mountains rain shadow. It rained in Seattle, and on and off to Sequim. The entire hike we had blue skies. The wind did blow. It was a very steady 20 mph or so all the way out. The wind was loud enough to make it difficult to hear conversations. The south side of the spit is all refuge. Hikers must stay to the north. The split is curved enough to keep you from seeing the lighthouse until you are most of the way there. It is 10 miles round trip. We took about 1 1/2 hours to reach the lighthouse. Once there we had lunch at the picnic tables and took a tour of the lighthouse. From the top the view was great. Buildings in downtown Victoria were clearly visible with binoculars. We saw a large sea lion as well. The lighthouse is manned by volunteers who stay one week in the guest house.

On the return the wind lightened up a little. We saw several eagles fly overhead. By the afternoon the spit became much more crowded. Many people seemed content to just go out a short distance. It turned out to be a very nice day for a shoreline hike with great weather and great company.

Hit the road about 10 a.m. Temp in the low 30s. A little surprised that, even at the starting altitude of 1575', the road was still totally snow covered. Snowshoes were not really necessary, but made the going easier. Pretty compacted. Lots of blowdown in the first mile. We could only imagine the views down valley to Big Four Mountain as it was totally overcast and misty. Occasionally we'd get a glimpse of Long Mountain across the valley. About 11 a.m., roughly two miles up the road, we came upon a large pile of avalanche debris. It totally blocks the road at 6-12' high and about 25-30' wide. The slide track looked like an oversized bobsled run. It was well defined with high banks. That, and the amount of cleanly snapped off trees suggested it was a wet avalanche. Undoubtedly occurred during the warm weather of the previous week. We cautiously climbed up and over thinking this was an isolated occurrence. About a half mile later (roughly 2.5 miles in) we came upon another, much larger enormous pile of debris. This one is 200' - 300' wide and 20' - 40' high. Many, many treesÑat least 2 of them were 2-1/2'-3'. An awesome testament to the power of avalanches. A quarter of a mile later we came upon a 3rd avalanche blocking the road. Approximately 45' wide and 6'-12' high. Once again, a lot of chewed up trees. Around 3 miles in we stopped for lunch. Clouds were beginning to lift. We began to hear and see lots of avalanches flowing off of Long Mountain. We were disappointed about not reaching the lake, but decided to hoof it back down. Snow had softened up a bit so it was like shoeing on snowcones. Fast and fun. It sleeted for about 10 minutes. Then cleared up. Then clouded up again. Back to the car at 1:30 p.m.

Considering the generally dense forest along the route, I was a bit surprised that the avalanches reached the road. There's no mention of av danger in Snowshoe Routes and I believe Cross-Country Ski Tours/North Cascades rates the av hazard as low too. In addition, an article in the PI in '98 stated that this ""doesn't have significant avalanche danger."" For human triggered avs this is true, but with the evidence from today I'd rate this as moderate and advise caution when the av hazard is rated as moderate. I would probably go elsewhere when the hazard is rated as considerable or high, especially in the spring as the road lies along the southwest flanks of Devils Peak so receives a lot of sun. With the low visibility, it was impossible to get hints at the length of the tracks or where the crowns were, but the USGS map suggests treeline to be above 4200'. Elevation at the road was between 2400-2600 implying (conservatively) vertical falls of over 2000' off of the upper flank of Devils peak about a mile away. Beforehand, I would have guessed the maximum runouts to be higher up on the forested slopes.

The day served as a very enlightening reminder that ""...no matter how big or how far you've seen an avalanche run in the past, given enough time, it will always run bigger and farther."" (Bruce Temper in Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain)

Our group met in Monroe at 6:30am. By the time we finished messing with stuck vehicles up the Beckler River road it was 9:30am, so not exactly an alpine start! We slogged up the Beckler River road for a mile, then turned up the Rapid River road for 1.3 miles. If I'd brought MtnMike's 1970's 7.5' Greentrails map I'd have found the secret passageway not shown on the USGS map... but alas 'twas not to be. Searching for the elusive old road got us nowhere.

The old road climbs ever so gradually, traversing in good logging road fashion. We tired of this dilly dallying at about 2300' and went straight up. Hours later, somewhat bedraggled by the energy drains of digging out a large truck and walking 2 miles on the road, we summitted. The lookout is snowed closed, nearly up to the top of the door. Views nonexistant but comraderie lots of fun (including WTA's JanetP)! The descent event went without a dent.

The weather was pretty rainy and misty, but the majority of the trail is tree covered. The trail is pretty rocky and snowy, but still negotiable. Near the end (about 2 miles in) the trail has been washed out by what I assume was an avalanche over the winter. We hiked up the snowy debris and fallen trees/shrubs to find the path, only to lose the trail again. We turned back after eating lunch, a bit disappointed for not seeing the lake, but still happy to spend some time outside.

Fleetfoot and I left Seattle with Dave and Kristin around 9:30. A few cars in the lot when we got there. Light drizzle as we started up the road. At the start of the trail there were a few people comming out. We had already taken some layers of clothes off. Fleetfoot had started off a little fast for me. I think he wanted to stay in front of Kristin for a while,however by the time we got to the trail Dave and Kristin were leading. We decided to go the trail to the lake instead of straight up the falls. Small patches of snow as we decended to the lower section of the falls forwarned us of more to come. Good view from the bridge but the mist form the falls said do not linger. At the second crossing the mist was even heavier. Fleetfoot ducked his head under and confirmed that it was indeed cold. Started to get patches of snow on the trail as we switch- backed up. After six or seven switchbacks I needed a break. By now Dave and Kristin were well in front of us. Fleetfoot decided to change shirts as his was still wet from the falls. From here I estimated another six or seven switchbacks till we traversed across toward the lake.There was solid snow after three switchbacks and at least ten more before the traverse. A few people on the way down let us know that Dave and Kristin did not find the trail steep enough for the days hike.I however found my legs turning to rubber and was very happy for the traverse. A large group coming down did not go all the way.A light drizzle came down as we crossed the large snowfield. Most of the snow in here was soft and I was glad that Fleetfoot was putting in steps.We meet up with Dave and Kristin just before the stream crossing.I sat and had a breakfast bar and some of Dave's almonds while Fleetfoot went to the stream.He was able to cross low but not without some care. I suggested that Dave and Kristin go high. They did and I followed. More steps for me to walk in.Dave nad Kristiin caught up with Fleetfoot while I continued up after crossing the stream. I saw a ridge that I thought I would be able to look down onto the lake from. Not to be! This climb took everything out of my legs as there was no one to set steps. I was high on a ridge just beyound the wall that drops down to the lake. Fairly good view of Index- at least that portion that was not in the mist.Fleetfoot was looking down on the lake but at this point no one ( at least not us) wanted to go down just to come back up.After a short time lookiing around and watching a small avalanche off of Index we headed back. I got in a short glassade after crossing the stream. The drizzle had stopped sometime while we were playing around here. A few people were comming in as we left.The weather was nice and the hike out great after we got off the snow on the steps Back to Seattle before sunset and it was not even daylight savings time. GREAT!.

A bit of a drive so I headed over to check out some sunshine for a two day trip to Juniper Dunes Wilderness. My plans were to walk in from the south side and spend the night. However at the entrance to the Peterson road a large new sign reads ""No entrance to JDP at all"". So I headed up to the north side to JDP ranch where they allow entrance but only for day time use, again forbidding signs advising no overnight parking, camping et et.

Anyway the northside access gets you closer, so off I trudged. Headed south/southwest crosscountry and along game trails. Big dunes of sand interesting plants, patterns of wind on the sand, open sky and no other walkers allowed me to shed quickly the previous access problems and relax.

About 4-5k into the dunes you enter part of the Juniper forest. Reportly these are the northern most extension of western Juniper. They are scattered along in a west to east swarth about 1k thick and 4k long. Easily viewed from the summit of the larger dunes you can almost view the entire wilderness. A Golden eagle, Mule deer, coyote, beetles, spring flowers and the quiet of the space made for a very different walk, out by dusk and a car camp finished the day.

There was no snow encountered on the entire route. There are a few logs across both the Nook and Section Line trails. The route via the Section Line Trail is very steep, but does not have the traffic that the West Tiger 3 Trail has. There was one log across the West Tiger 3 Trail. No spring wildflower blooms yet, but signs that they are near. Sky was mostly overcast with moderate temperatures.

We were originally headed for the Rock Candy Mountain region of Capitol Forest when news of a major ATV rally changed our minds. After studying an old copy of the DNR map to the Cap Forest, we decided on visiting the Mima Falls area. It was a good choice.

Although the trails were muddy in spots and thence chopped up by horses, this section of the Capitol Forest proved to be serene and without machines. The trails are in good shape with no obstacles except for mudholes and are multiple use, shared by mountain bikers, horses and hikers, and the occasional dog. We only saw two horsemen, two other hikers and paw prints.

Mima Falls is small, but joyfully musical. We combined Porter #6 and Greenline #6 to make a nice 7 mile loop through varied forest. Spring blossoms were beginning to make appearance and the frogs were singing in the wet lands. It was a very nice afternoon, with the storm clouds holding off until the end of the trip.

The area can be accessed off I-5 via the Maytown exit, south of Tumwater. Head west on 128th Ave Road, turn left onto Mima Rd SW, right on Bordeaux Rd SW, right on Marksman St SW and finally, left into the trailhead parking area. It helps to have a map of the area, available from DNR, also.

Liz Escher

A new trail in the Hood Canal District of Olympic National Forest! The lower loop encircling Big Creek Campground near Lake Cushman has been there for years, but the upper 4-mile loop appears to be brand spanking new. I have no idea if the Forest Service did this on their own or in cooperation with a hiking group. Either way, they've done a fantastic job! The upper loop is at a low enough elevation to even be hiked at times in the winter, so is a very welcome addition. It utilizes a number of old, forgotten logging road grades, while connecting the dots with newly established tread. Fresh as it is, the upper loop could almost be described as plush. Hand-carved signs, many rustic benches, and good engineering are in evidence throughout. The trail crosses a number of brawling torrents, including Big Creek, on very sturdy foot-bridges. The loop is pretty much exclusively through second-growth forest a few decades old. The ultimate treat, however, is a new connector trail leading from the highest portion of the upper loop to a junction with the Mount Ellinor trail! This connector, probably a little over a mile in length, samples some old growth along the way. Imagine that -- one can now hike to the top of Mount Ellinor from the valley bottom at Big Creek Campground without ever leaving high-quality trail! Purists rejoice! Fairly continuous snow starts at the junction with the Ellinor trail currently, so that's where I turned around. There are so many potential new-trail opportunities of this sort in the Olympic Frontcountry above Hood Canal and Quilcene. Here's hoping the Upper Big Creek Loop represents a trend.

Well, it did not rain!

Mt Si was its usual steep self. Not much mud.

Just after the 3 mile mark the snow and ice start and are pretty much continuous to the basin. There was some dirt patches but in the main it is snow to the top.

The snow was not bad and I made it to the top without any pole or other assist since the snow along the inside edge provided reasonable footing around the slippery and icy patches. There was a cloud bank at the basin and no views. No wind but it was still chilly up there. I did don some ice walkers after coming down off the rocky staircase just down from the basin. Others did have full crampons. Frankly, I liked the additional footing provided but it seems others were managing without such devices. If it chills up over the weekend, it could be very slick up there.

""Just a skier"" can also provide a report that LAST week, Rendevous over near Winthrop was still skiable but there were definitely thin patches. Sun Mt probably now has definite bare trails and the road up Sandy Butte probably still has snow. Backcountry was not user friendly with breakable rotten snow.

My daugther and I did a long hike on road and trail to see the wonders of the Grand Canyon of 15 mile creek. The falls and creek canyon are beautiful and the day was excellent.

The weather was warm and the road and trail travel fast. The 15 mile creek canyon is worth seeing, but I am not sure its worth the 10 miles of road walking we did to get to the trailhead.

This hike is good for conditioning as the road is in good shape and the trail is interesting if very short.

We were passed by two groups of vehicles walking on the road, both groups were at the trail head. Question, how did they get by the gate and what is needed to get a gate pass? The Grand Canyon of 15 mile creek would be a great young family hike if there was a way of getting past the gate at the Tiger Mt. Summit Trail Head on Highway 18.

Let's see, it will be 65 degrees and sunny today and wet and rainy for the weekend. It didn't take long to decide to close up the office early and head out for a hike.

I left Seattle at 1:30 and was at the trailhead by 2:05. I was not the only one who thought sitting in the sun at Poo Poo Point was a good idea. The lot was full and another half dozen cars were parked on the side of the road.

The trail is in excellent shape. Quite a contrast to the TMT trip I took on Saturday from High Point. That trail was very muddy and had snow for the last 500' to the top of Tiger 2. The Chirico trail has very little mud. I raced up and reached the upper viewpoint in just under 50 minutes. For a little more exercise I continued on to the intersection with the trail to the High School. No snow at all at the 1900' level.

I returned to the viewpoint to watch the paragliders. It looked like Sea-Tac with 3 or 4 constantly awaiting take off. I counted up to 16 in the air at one time. I guess I was not the only one taking some time off work. There was a very clear view of Baker, Pilchuck, and Three Fingers to the north. From the lower viewpoint Rainier was also clearly visible. I had a good book, food, and water so I spent 90 minutes relaxing on the grass. On the way down I spotted the first sign of Spring. A sharp eye will see half a dozen Trillium in the first mile of the trail. It was a great way to enjoy the nicest day of the year (so far). Now I can get through the rain this weekend.

Did an overnighter to the end of the Lillian River trail. The first four miles of the Elwha River trail, along with the Rica Canyon and Humes Ranch alternate trails are, as always, in fine shape. The Lillian River trail is approaching the status of a mere way trail. This isn't a complaint, though, given that it's a nice option for those seeking solitude, away from the foot/horse traffic of the main Elwha trail. The Lillian trail is narrow throughout with a number of ups and downs, with the tread quality gradually diminishing to its end. After the next-to-last stream crossing on the trail (almost too large to rock-hop right now), salal has nearly overtaken the tread. One has to peer down through the leaves at times to ensure that he remains on the correct route. The valley bottom widens near the end of the trail in fine old growth forest, eventually reaching the river where the nice but small campsite is. There were some lingering snow patches in this area, but enough of a bare spot at the campsite to pitch my tent on dry ground. Didn't see anyone else on the Lillian trail either day.

Tried to make it to the trailhead for Pilchuck, but my 4x4 truck could only make it about 2/3 of the way on the road before the deep snow turned us around. Instead decided to try Lake 22 instead.

Lake 22 parking lot was snowed in, so we parked on the shoulder. Some snow but mostly bare ground for the first 1/3 of the hike. Then completely covered over with snow to the lake. Snowshoes were almost a requirement, but postholed boot prints showed it can be done without. Used the crampons on the snowshoes to front point up the avalanche shoot and then traversed left (east) towards 22 Creek, where we regained the path to the outflow of the lake. Lake is almost completely frozen over. Saw a few others on the trail due to the fantastic weather. It's so much more fun to hike somewhere fun instead of Tiger or Mt. Si this time of year.

Awesome Destruction!

Trying to make the best of some unintended days off, I've been catching up on hikes that I've bypassed for one reason or another. One of those is Squire Creek Pass. So, today (April 2nd), I decided to ignore the negative comments I've read about it and give it a shot, knowing that I would at least have magnificent views of White Horse Mountain and blue skies to compensate if the hike went bust.

The road from downtown Darrington and up towards the trailhead was passable by a passenger car, with only a bit of snow on the sides of the road. About 4 or 5 miles up, though, a concrete barrier blocked the road. I had read that one often had to walk the last mile and a half to the trailhead because of poor road conditions, so I assumed that here (at about 1600 feet) was that spot.

I was wrong.

I walked up about 3/4 of a mile in the narrow canyon and saw why the road was closed. A recent gigantic landslide has torn out the side of the mountain to the northeast (Jumbo Mountain, I believe) and smashed up against the White Horse side, carrying giant cedars and boulders as big as SUV's with it. You can scramble down into the destruction which is about a quarter mile wide here and look all the way up the scar to the top of the mountain and see nature's power. If you want to have a sense of your truly miniscule place on this planet, stand in the middle of the landslide's path and look up at the mountain from which it fell. It is jaw-dropping. And it must have been fairly recent as the smell from the broken cedars (wonderful aroma!) filled the air, the pine needles from the crushed trees were still green and no weeds or plants had sprouted from the giant mounds of newly moved earth.

I crossed over the desolation and scrambled up the other side to continue, but not a hundred yards beyond was another furrow. This one was only about 50 yards wide, but much deeper so I had to really scramble down and then up the other steep embankment to get back on what was left of the road. Again, words can't describe the sight of standing deep in that ditch created by the slide and looking up the mountain to follow how the slide started near the top and grew wider and deeper until it came to rest at the base of the canyon.

Past this second massive slide, the snow deepened dramatically, so I strapped on my snowshoes and continued upward. The snow was almost three feet deep and frozen on the surface so that when I stepped, it created a SNAP! and then a CRUNCH!, like biting into a frozen, hardshell taco. For most of the rest of the way up, it was uneventful, but with wonderful views of the mountains that surrounded the little canyon. And there is something unique about looking out in front of you on a beautiful sunny day and seeing an unbroken, field of crusty virgin snow.

Because I had never been up there before, I didn't know for sure how far it was to the trailhead or if maybe it had been destroyed in one of the slides and I had already passed it. At about 2200 feet, I saw the trailhead - about 100 yards on the other side of yet another washout. This one, though, appeared to be an old one, years old and it had a fairly good stream of water running through it. But, I wanted to at least get to the trailhead, so I dropped my snowshoes and scrambled over the rocks to the trailhead sign. But, I was pretty much pooped out from three hours of scrambling and snowshoeing, so I turned tail and started back down. If it was this much of a struggle just to get to the trailhead. . . I didn't want to go any further!

Beyond some quite obnoxious mud at the first stream crossing and some unsubstantial clumps of snow, the trail is in great shape most of the way to Bridal Veil Falls. The last 1/4 mile to the falls is under snow. Due to some nasty bits of trail erosion (which will require repair once the snow melts) on the steep switchbacks, a snow pole or vampire stake is needed for safety along this section of trail. Once you get past the switchbacks and head into the woods just before the falls, the snow clears out. The boardwalk and stairs right along the falls are totally snow and fancy free. Despite Mt Index adorned in white splendor, there was only a fair amount of water gushing over the falls - at least not as much as there will be in a month or so.

I don't know why this has never occurred to me before, but this was the best snowshoe trip I've ever taken, though admittedly I've been on a limited number. I started at the base of the White Pass Ski Area, and skirted the edge of the eastern most, then southern most ski run of the White Pass resort, called Holiday. I profited from the grooming of the ski run and it was pretty icy in the morning--I probably didn't need snowshoes, though the cleats were handy in the steeper spots and there were a few. Once I reached the top of the ski run, I followed the tracks of other skiers and snowshoes out to the Hogback and had lunch. The skies cleared some, mostly to the east, and had great views of the Miriam Basin, some of the Goat Rocks, and the N. Fk. of the Tieton. Alternate possibilites are to completely encircle the White Pass ski area or heading east to Twin Peaks. Pretty good workout and beautiful country-not too many people even on the ski runs and none once away from them.

The road to the Southern Tatoosh trailhead doesn't open until April 1 and even then there are portions under deep snow, but there's a whole lower level of trails that if you can find them-they're not NFS maintained-wander across the the benches below the Tatoosh WA. Cross the Cowlitz on the Skate Ck Road which leaves Hwy 12 to the south at the north end of Packwood. After crossing the River, take Cannon Rd four miles until it turns into a NFS road-I forget the number. I had to walk up from the road closure, but you can probably drive by now-you'll need 4WD through the snow until you reach a clear cut a about 2 and a quarter miles from the end of the pavement. An old logging road pulls into the top of the clear cut-more of less the beginning of one the better trails-at the end of the road, the trail begins-it's pretty easy to follow and they're recently flagged. The trails cuts through second growth, across the top of some more recent clear cuts, and crosses numerous small creeks. The steepest climb takes place past the second clear cut-following Hinkle Tinkle Creek-but then the trail cuts over the creek and to the west. It hits an old road than occasionally gets used by a jeep or a motorcycle-then cuts across the forest again-again look for flags in the brushiest spots. Eventually you come to a dirt road that you can follow down to the golf course-this used to the old Tatoosh trail-or go uphill-this eventually ties into an NFS road that comes back to the main road just above the clear cut that you pulled into to park. Another way to tie back into the lower trail is to follow another trail just past where Hinkle Tinkle Ck goes under the road-again note the flagging and follow it down the hill and you'll find the spot where you crossed the creek then follow it back to where you started. The snow has compressed the deer and elk so it's pretty easy to spot critters if you're reasonable quiet-I snuck upon and around numerous deer. Fun walk.

Hiked from High Point Trail head on West Tiger 3 trail to West Tiger Railroad and then on railroad trail to TMT up to base of West Tiger 2. Snow on trail near Tom's Crossing was getting deep so rather than hiking to West Tiger 2 summit, took TMT to saddle between West Tiger 2 and West Tiger 3. This may have been a mistake; snow on this section of TMT was deep with lots of ""blow down"". I was able to follow footsteps for the 0.2 miles to the saddle but this section of trail is not trivial! Slope is moderate to steep with lots of windfall over the trail. Do not know if summit trail to West Tiger 2 is in any better shape but would suggest avoiding this section of the TMT for the next week to 10 days until it melts out.

It looks like a work party will have a good bit of clearing to do on this section of the TMT.

One good news item is that a log (fallen tree) has been cleared from near the 2nd creek crossing (2nd from WT3 trail junction) on the West Tiger Railroad trail. This was a welcome fix after several trips over the log last summer.

West Tiger 3 trail is in good shape if a bit muddy.

My wife and I decided to snowshoe to Talapus Lake as we were both curious how much the recent snowfall had changed conditions since our last visit on 12/9/01.

The first challenge was getting by plowed snow left by DOT at the entrance to FRS 9030. Fortunately the snow was only three feet deep and about twenty-five feet wide on the far right end of the road. After thirty minutes I had shoveled about two feet off the top, stamped down any remaining soft sections, and then drove our Subaru over the top. We drove about one and one-half miles up 9030 until the snow was to deep to continue, however, the real challenge will be just past two miles where a small avalanche covers the road with about ten feet of snow. It will take some time for this accumulation to melt.

At the trailhead there was three and one-half feet of snow and the conditions were wet and soft all the way to the lake. Very few parties had ventured beyond this point and by the first plateau there were no tracks in front of us except for one party that had turned off the trail and headed in a Northwest direction. We left the trail at the first contact point with Talapus Creek and went straight up hill to the final switchback that leads to the wilderness boundary sign. Snow covered the lower portions of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness sign so I would put the depth here at six feet.

We took the winter route to Talapus Lake staying on the West side of the creek and were rewarded with a very serene break, except of course for the always-entertaining Gray Jays. Encountered only two other parties that were snow shoeing on 9030.

Anyone who spends time with me eventually ends up at the bottom of a coulee. I don't mean in an Al Capone sort of way; I mean in a nice, ?look at this!? sort of way. I introduced 2 more friends to the grandeur of the coulees of Washington, and was glad to show them the Potholes Coulees and Ancient Lakes therein. All 3 of us discovered the beauty of Dusty Lake. Ancient Lakes is on map 68 of the Washington Gazetteer, and is hike #36 in the 55 Hikes in Central Washington book.

First, we stopped at the L & R Café in Quincy for breakfast. The waitress (Becky) asked where we were headed, and our reply, ?Ancient Lakes.? She asked, ?So are you going to see the Bishops??

?The bishops?? I asked, a bit puzzled. ?There are bishops at Ancient Lakes?? I glanced at Julie and Janet, who each looked equally puzzled. All having been raised Catholic, we had visions of a bunch of Catholic bishops milling around the floor of the coulee at Ancient Lakes, in full bishop attire. We wondered why there would be a gathering of bishops at Ancient Lakes near Quincy, Washington. It certainly wasn?t advertised anywhere.

?Yes, the Bishop family,? the waitress answered. ?They live on the road to Ancient Lakes, and are having a family reunion. I was wondering if you?re of the family.?

?Oh, THOSE Bishops!? we replied. ?No, we?re not going to see the Bishops. We?re backpacking to the Lakes.? That being clarified, we ate breakfast, chatted with Becky some more, and set off.

There are other trips reports on this website re Ancient Lakes (mine is one of them), but I want to be sure folks do go to beautiful Dusty Lake as well. To get to Dusty Lake (using the ""lower route"" in 55 Hikes), you can either go straight on the main trail rather than turning left to go to Ancient Lakes, or better yet, you can walk to Ancient Lakes and take the well-marked horse trail up and over the south coulee wall and wander to the coulees overlooking beautiful Dusty Lake. It?s wonderful to sit on top of the coulee walls above Dusty Lake and listen to silence interrupted only by the sounds of a distant waterfall and the brilliantly colored violet-green swallows swirling around the coulee walls, chasing each other, playing and even bickering at times. The vegetation is just beginning to green, some flowers are blooming, but it?s already pretty darn warm there and will soon be too hot to enjoy, so get out there now (before the snakes hatch).

Back at camp, we listened to the coyotes howl as the sun set, then later watched the stars roll around the sky. It gets very windy there at night, so batten down the hatches tightly. It calms down in the wee hours of the morning, and by dawn the lakes are mirror-like and still. In them, you can see perfect reflections of the waterfalls and bluffs above.

I hope you go! It truly is an amazing place. (wave to the Bishop family as you go by their place. Look for thier red and white mailbox that is a miniature replica of a haybarn).

Note: this trail goes to the lookout, not the peak.

Snow starts at the trailhead, but is patchy for the first few hundred meters. A serious avalanche gully, which had a recent climax 'lanche, is crossed in a mile or so. Funny because it doesn't have visible steepness above it. Must be hidden and have an amazing drop to create the swath of jumbled snow and dirt in the gully that can't be more that a 15-20 deg slope. After that, the route is safe for snowshoeing. We gave up on the trail within about 1500' elevation gain because it climbs rather slowly. Plus it ain't easy to follow with all that pesky white fluff covering everything. Although why we'd want to snowshoe without white fluff is beyond me...

Cloudy at the lookout site, but we could see the big lake and it's airstrip below. Will have to return on a nicer day (and try to get over to the true summit -- the snowy ridge gets dicey in about 1/4 mile).

Descent was great in the white stuff, slipping and sliding like otters and guffawing with glee at the wonderful fun of it all. The downclimb wasn't more than 90 minutes -- not bad for about 4000 vertical! Try that in summer! Then to top it all off -- milkshakes at the 59er Diner. Ahhh.... life doesn't get much better.

Snow is continuous starting around 2700'. The snow is soft and shallow in the forested slopes, with lots of branches sticking out waiting to impale you if you slip. The open slopes higher up are wind-blasted so the snowpack is mostly shallow there too, with some occasional postholing into air pockets. Don't forget those trekking poles!

No views on this overcast day, spent the upper half of the trail pretty much socked in. Signed our names in the Dr. Seuss book, took in the imaginary view, and headed down. Awesome workout.

Headed out for a long overdue snowshoe trip to introduce the new daughter to snow. Checked out accessability of various areas north of Rainier and settled on hiking the FS road to Coplay Lake. The bridge has been rebuilt across the Carbon River, just prior to the Ranger Station. Cross the river there, and head on up. We encountered unrutted snow at about 3000 ft, where we decided to park.

Hiked up the road to Coplay Lake, around 3900 ft, where we decided to call it a day. The 11-month old was sound asleep in the pack, and we weren't too sure how long to push her! Plus, Kurt was feeling like a pack mule, so he wasn't complaining either! Estimate it was about a 4-5 mile round trip. Plenty of little backcountry side trips could be seen up to the north on the Carbon Ridge.

Access info for other roads in the area... the Mowich Lake road was passable (deeply rutted snow, AWD vehicle no problem) up to about 3000 ft, just before the Evans Creek ORV park; still quite a ways from the Paul Peak trailhead. Carbon River road is passable for any car up to the Green Lake trailhead. The NPS has the road blocked off at that point.

Left the trailhead at 730am to go for pratt lake. Had a group of 7 and we made our way and the tracked trail towards the granite mtn junction and then continued on the trail to pratt lake. Dense forest kept out much of the light, and the trail did not need snowshoes till about mile 2 or so. Hit an open slope and then traversed into more trees and the ridgeline. Broke trail from here on out. Ran into a few guys that said they were looking for Granite Mountain (a little bit off I would say). Hit the ridge and descended down to Ollalie Lake. Sun came out and warmed us as we ate our lunches. Pratt Lake was right over the Northwestern ridge, but we had other things on the agenda so we left.

I have heard many good things about this trail, and now I can say for myself that they were all true. I thoroughly enjoyed the Boulder River Trail. As we walked up the trial, we could hear the river getting closer by the gentle rumbling of the water. Although the river is accessable in many places, it was the falls that were particularly interesting and accessable. We sat and watched the falls for a few minutes, and were mesmerized by the flowing water, before heading out to the end of the trail.

There were many downed trees across the trail to climb over and under, and one rock slide to climb over. They were all manageable with little effort, although our dogs required assistance to get over the rock slide. We didn't want to let them do a bypass on their own, as there were other dogs on the trail as well. There was a good number of places tht snow was still on the trail, but was not an obstacle, only an enjoyable excuse for an occasional snowball fight! Overall a great trip, with only a sprinkle of rain, despite the predictions of showers...

The trail was better than the last time I went (about a month ago) because most of the blown-down trees have been cleared. There were probably only about five this time. There was snow on probaby 25% of the trail, but it was melting fast and creating quite a muddy mess. One of the log bridges over a small creek has a blow-down over it and is cracked in half. Still though, there is enough stuff to walk on that you don't have to get your feet wet in the creek. Even for being one of the wetter hikes I have taken, it was still a great trip.

I was doing some photography in the Queets area of Olympic National Park and decided to get out and stretch my legs on this trail. It's a 3 mile loop trail (also known as the Sams River Loop Trail) that supposedly passes through old growth rain forest. I say 'supposedly' because I didn't actually get to see much of it. I had just enough time to stroll the 3 miles and hopefully grab a few photos before dusk, so I drove past the loop trail intersections at both the Ranger Station and the Queets Campground to check out the Queets River Trailhead, which this trail also uses. I parked there, amazed at the flow of the Queets and the fact that someone had actually forded it recently, and started clockwise on the Sams River Trail.

As is to be expected this time of year, the trail is very muddy. In many spots I sunk almost to my ankles and after only a few hundred yards my shoes and rain shell below the knees were covered in mud. I trudged on, however, admiring the abundance of alder and maples covered in moss that rivaled even the Hoh. After about half a mile, I encountered a makeshift trail sign (a laminated note taped to a stick) warning of possible seasonal flooding beyond that point. Indeed, just beyond the sign a small section of trail had been washed away by recent runoff. I continued on and found the trail was completely gone after only a few hundred yards, lost in one large plain of runoff. I followed the apparent path of the trail and found another 100 foot section of it before losing it again. There were several possible paths to choose from at this point, but after exploring them a bit and seeing no trace of trail, I decided to head back rather than get lost at dusk.

I did see a few early flowers on the trail, but I don't know them well enough to identify them. I also saw a few early mosquitos as well, but didn't suffer any attacks. Birds were out en masse deeper in the forest. Looks like spring is indeed on its way.

We approached Blanchard Hill from the Alger exit of I5 and drove towards the trail on Barrell Springs Road and then the forest service road that turns to the right (there's a sign there: ""Blanchard Hill Trail"". We drove about 2.5 miles up the road and passed the lower trail parking lot and then the upper parking lot. We decided to drive one mile further to the Alternate Incline Trail. It's about 1.1 miles up the trail to the railroad grade which then leads you to a junction to Lizard Lake. We've done this hike dozens of times, but we were really suprised to discover snow as we ascended. By the time we were at the junction it was at least six inches deep, and up to a foot in places. We stopped at the lake for a snack. It was largely frozen, and quite lovely in the misty, snow-shrouded basin. We had planned to continue on the British Army Trail, which begins at the north end of the lake. We headed out on it, but the snow got deeper, and the bootsteps we had been following disappeared. The trail itself seemed to disappear in a huge area of blowdown after a short while. We kept trying to find it again, looking for the blazes that the PNWT has put on the trees, but couldn't find them (perhaps they were on some of the trees that had fallen!). We finally turned back, retracing our steps to the lake. Changing our plans, we took the trail towards Lily Lake (about another mile and a quarter). The snow was deeper and messier, since horses had created huge muddy holes as well. After lunch at the lake, we took the Lily Lake trail back down to the road (about three miles) and then walked back up the road to our car. The unexpected snow made the hike a challenge, and we enjoyed it immensely.

As much beta as we got for this trip, none of it helped us. Forest road #62 was open, and we were able to drive in Craig B's truck all the way to about mile 3 or so. Large washout has blocked the road, so that's as far as you can go. Doesn't appear that it will ever get fixed IMO. Started up the trail in wet snow and then put on our snowshoes. The road cuts over the washout about 3 times, so it might have been easier to go straight up the washout, as we did on the way down. We kept looking for the climbers trail as we got near certain elevations, and used Karen Sykes article as a resource as well. They all sent us the wrong way, or we were just plain stupid. We reached the end of the FR, after taking the last left at the fork and located our location via GPS and USGS map. The west ridge was right above us, but there was thick tress and bushes that separated us from the ridge, all in all about 3-400 vertical feet. John and Craig started bushwacking, since I had left my shell in my car at the base of the road (nice job eh?). We suffered and yelled vulgar remarks as we fell in tree wells and wrestled with trees and such. We finally made it into a clearing of forested slopes and made our way onto the West Ridge. It started out gradual and then got pretty steep in some sections, with some modest exposure on the left side of the ridge. The entire trip we had no visibility, and no tracks to follow - but the ridge was pretty obvious and we kept close to the trees. Once at the false summit we descended down 1-200 feet and then back up again. I heard there are some tarns there, but we kept going up - passing the summit elevation on our altimeters until we finally reached the true summit. This summit had been on my tick list for quite awhile so it felt pretty good to be up there. We saw nothing, but it was real interesting up there. Everything was windblown snow from rocks to trees, and the cornices had to have been about 15-25 feet out. Real dangerous if you aren't cautious. The descent was uneventful. I now see why I have been told this is a good trip even in bad conditions and high avalanche danger. images and more soon to be posted at www.nwog.org scott@nwog.org

Yay! Waterfalls. Yay! Mud! Lots of Mud! Lots and lots of Mud! Lots and lots and...you get the idea.

I was trying to take advantage of my Spring Break and do some low-land 'fall bagging around Orting, but after striking out 3 times along Voight Creek, and not being able to locate the trail down to the old Carbon River railroad grade (near Carbonado), and a quick photo session at Victor Falls (near Orting, I'll post a link when I get the pictures back), I headed down to the Pack Forest to check out the falls on the Little Mashel River to see how they behaved with a full flow.

Pulling into the parking area (1 mile south of Eatonville along the Eatonville Cut-off Rd), there seemed to be even more trash on the ground than ever, obviously a popular dumping area. A few feet along the path down to the railroad tracks, there looked to be an entire used clothing store thrown on the ground, wet and dirty.

The river looked pretty burly from the railroad tracks, and I noticed that it makes a pretty neat 180 degree bend right around one side of the old trestle before starting over the waterfalls. Usually I hop down the shortcuts from the trestle and climb down next to Tom Tom Falls, but with the river high, and the rocks wet, it made it a little difficult. There was a second channel of water that was a tad intimidating to cross (at the brink of the falls). Once down to the base of Tom Tom, I shot some pics, reveled in the noise (pretty loud for a 25 foot falls), then slogged downstream in the mud.

The middle falls were brimming on spectacular. There was an almost blinding spray coming off the rocks, and when I could actually see, I had to watch the rocks to make sure I didn't slip and break my butt. Anyway, back to the falls, 125 feet tall, 50+ feet wide, much more impressive in high water (but more picturesque in low water). New, since I was there last was a cross, obviously marking where someone had died after falling off the cliffs near the falls' brink. Further proof these places are not for parties.

Then on to the lower falls, a 60 foot two channeled drop, which loooves to have it's pictures taken at any time of the year, especially with mossy vine maples framing the scene. Then I hit my low point for the day. I grabbed a sticker bush while trying to keep my balance sliding down a slope for pictures, and I still have one stubborn sticker in my finger as I type this. Grr.

Then as I walked back up to the car, pausing to watch a few spastic hummingbirds, I noticed the 5 inches of mud building up on my boot soles. I don't think I've ever seen so much mud. You have been warned.

From Hwy 410 in Enumclaw, look south toward Mt. Rainier and the hump blocking your view of the mountain is Mt. Peak (local name anyway).

The trail begins on the north side of this 1,800' blob on the plateau landscape. The trail climbs steeply from the start and never really lets up for long.

The distance to the top is a bit less than one mile, with 1,100 vertical feet gained. Thanks to a small army of locals who prize this easily accessed hiking venue, the trail is very well maintained and litter free. Plan on a little mud if its been wet and one blow-down near the top. The old summitt look-out is gone, and the trees have grown to obscure all but a peak-a-boo view, but one is always met with a feeling of satisfaction once on top.

This great short conditioning hike is easy to access, almost always snow free and a favorite for many friendly locals who gather here each day for a work-out in the woods. A good hike for kids who don't mind a fairly steep climb. If you bring your dog, please keep them on a leash and scoop-up behind them!

2/3's Donald Larkin Trail Team

A great hike in the rain. The river and it's tributaries were roaring. No-name falls was an awesome spectacle in part because of the intimacy with which you can experience it. Work your way over to right between the forks of the falls, look up and just absorb the soul-cleansing sights and sounds. Some large, rocky pieces of the hillside have partially blocked the trail right at the falls. A short scramble is required. The road in was snow-free and the trail was a little muddy and wet at first, with some small snow patches later. We saw no one else there from 3pm to 7pm.

Here's an easy winter trip that you can make more or less of. Baba, Pilot and I drove to Hurricane Ridge on a cloudy Monday, put on the snowshoes and went for a stroll. The snow was wet and heavy and on the trail/road, the webs were not entirely needed, (ask the woman hiking in her slippers, no socks, I am not making this up). The real pleasure, as everyone knows is to hike into the untracked snow . The cloud and fog cover kept shifting, and the mountains played peek-a-boo all afternoon. We walked about 4 miles and turned back before the hill. Easy to see why the ridge got it's name, snow 10' deep and then over there, patches of bare ground, sculpted by high winds. There were only a few people out today. Bet this place is busy on weekends, still ,well worth the drive. Don't forget to stop at Swain's. Go when you can.

Unless you have a high clearance vehicle, don't even try to drive all the way to the trail head. The snow in the center of the roadway starts to get pretty deep about a half mile from the highway. I ended up parking on the side of the road near the gates. While you can drive up a bit farther, the snow depth increases rapidly and there aren't any good places to pull off. Someone in a sports car tried to drive up to the trail head and ended up getting stuck when one of the front tires fell into a deep puddle and the back of the car was lifted by the snow. Right now, it's much easier to hike the extra half mile.

The trail itself isn't all that bad for the first mile and a half. There are lots of blow downs, but in most places, the snow is compact. A half mile from the lake, the hike becomes challenging, even with snowshoes.

Take your time coming back down. In a couple of places, the footprints seem to go every which way and it's easy to go down the wrong path. One of the most confusing interchanges is about a mile up the trail. There's a trail sign that points to the lake, but it's not really clear where you should go to get down. Several people carved a path that continues to go straight down. You'll end up in a creek. The best way down is the route that will go to your right. Your back should face the trail sign.

I wanted to hike the Licorice Fern trail doing a loop from Red Town trail head. The day started by hiking to the Red Town dam site, and then via the Cave Hole trail to Coal Creek Falls, from the falls to the end of the new Licorice Fern trail and then a return via the Wildside trail (total distance of about 9 miles).

All of the trails were in good shape particularly the Licorice Fern trail which was nearly mud free. The falls (Coal Creek and a second one on the Indian Trail) are exciting to see, with lots of water coming down.

This is a great get in shape hike with limited up and down and quiet walking as there are still not many people using the new Licorice Fern trail.

I would like to give a tip of the hat to the property owners who provided the land for the newest trail in Cougar Mt. County Park. Thanks for your generosity.

With a 4000'+ snow level forecast, we headed for Mount Rainier. We skied from Paradise up Mazama Ridge last April. Today we decided to go back to Mazama via the Narada Falls trailhead. Gary has done this trip a number of times but it was my first.

The trailhead is at about 4600'. It was midway between lightly raining and snowing. The first half mile is through trees up to the road. Not too bad skiing up but requiring a bit of skill to descend. From the road we turned right heading towards Reflection Lakes. The snow was much more consolidated than I was expecting. A WTA report from only a few days earlier noted thigh deep snow. Skiing south on the road was a breeze. When the road turns east the conditions changed. Snow covers the road at a steep angle. Steep enough that I looked right at times and could not see the bottom of the slope. Hmm... so this is an easy road tour. This went on for a considerable distance then leveled out. We skied on to and across Reflection Lakes and to the Louise Lake overview. After the lakes there were no tracks at all. That was a nice treat at such a popular spot.

Now the work began. We began ascending up the ridge through meadows and forest. The route was great even with touring skis and no skins. The snow was very well consolidated and made for good climbing. As we rose up Mazama Ridge we moved into the clouds. Visibility dropped dramatically. Further up the ridge we met snowshoe and ski tracks coming up from the Paradise Road. This would be our route home. The ridge is a great place for ski touring. We continued higher following the obvious tracks. A group of skiers passed us heading down the ridge. It was nice to have seen so few people on the way up. The visibility continued to decline. I had a tough time sees ahead as the snow and sky blended together. It was a battle stayng on my feet as small dips were tough to notice. At the end of the ridge it was time for lunch before the descent. Thankfully, the wind was light making lunch very enjoyable.

I had planned to ski back down the ridge to where it rapidly descends to the road. From there I was going to snowshoe back to the car. The combination of lack of visibility and lack of skill convinced me I was better off snowshoeing all the way back. Gary had a chance to practice telemark turns on the gentle slopes and I had the chance to avoid lots of bruises. Thanks to the existing snowshoe tracks the way down was fairly easy. I still had trouble seeing them right in front of me at times. As we descended visibility improved rapidly. When we met up with our ascending tracks we turned right and followed the well used track down. On snowshoes the steep descent to the road was fun. From the road it was only another half mile to the Narada trailhead.

For a late season trip the conditions were very good. 225 inches of snow is very impressive. It makes for some great touring.

Lake Twenty-Two, a cautionary tale of early spring snow and tree wells. Chicago Mary, Eco-Willy and I decided to take a quick hike up to Lk 22 to watch the snow avalanche off the cliffs above the lake. The day started cloudy and rainy, my hope was for a little better weather by going north (the storm was coming in from the south. Well we lucked out (sortta), it didn't rain on us but it was cloudy, and the clouds were low enough that when we got to the lake it was whiteout. Mary had never been to the lake so we had to explain the view; she didn't believe us when we said there were huge cliffs across from the lake. But you could here some great rumbles as the snow let loss from on high. We had lunch and headed back down. We were amazed at all the snow still at the lake. Just before we got to the avalanche field, when I was going around a fallen tree I stepped a little to close to a tree well and down I went. Up to my chest with one snowshoe buried under a branch. I was stuck fast. Well we started digging and I was able to reach down and un-buckle my shoe, then we dug out my snowshoe. There were a few anxious moments but all worked out well. Lucky I was with other people. It would have taken alot longer to dig out. Use caution around the avalanche field, as there is evidence of recent avalanches. Otherwise the trail is in good condition. Sgt Roc tip: Always hike with others in early spring loose snow conditions, unless you want to spend a long time digging yourself out if you fall into a hole.

After a grueling half day of telemarking at White Pass, headed out at closing time to ski out to Hogback Mtn. Skinned up to the base of the final rise to the summit. No views to speak of and challenging snow conditions back to the ski area. Back at the car at 6:15. The ski area no longer sells a one ride lift ticket to backcountry users, possibly because of opposition to and the ultimate failure of their plans to expand into the Hogback basin.

Having been raised in a region of the country that had real discernable seasons, the variety and abrupt fluctuations in our northwest weather never fail to amuse me. My parameters for choosing a hike this time led me to Mount Jupiter on the Olympic Peninsula. It has some elevation gain, is a reasonably long hike and it is supposed to be within the legendary rain shadow so I hoped it might have been spared our recent snowfall. But, knowing the way things are around here, I packed my snowshoes, plenty of clothing layers so I would be prepared for most condition and some new equipment I wanted to try out.

Once again, the trail deity appeared to wish me well because my arrival at the foot of this little mountain was greeted by clear blue skies and dry warm weather. So warm, in fact, that I was overdressed even in a wool shirt. Looking at my path ahead and the mountain, it was dry with apparently no snow, so I opted to go without my snowshoes. Yeah, you?re right. It was a mistake. The gate to the Mount Jupiter trail is still locked ? and it may be until May 1 -- so you have to be prepared for a nearly five mile walk up a forest road just to get to the trailhead. Park at a wide spot in the road that is 100 yards from the gate because there is no where at the gate to park and there is barely enough room to turn around.

The long walk up the road is largely through a clear-cut area, making that aspect of it a bit depressing, but it is teaming with birds, singing joyously and grouchy frogs croaking away. The one advantage of the clear cut and the winding ridge road is that on a clear beautiful day, you get awesome views. Up near 2000 feet there are some spots where you just need to sit on the side and look out over the Sound and south along the peninsula. I felt as though I was a long way from serious civilization, but through the light haze, off to the southeast, I could see the spires of downtown Seattle. Further south you can spot the snow-covered giants Rainier and Adams. When I got my fill of beautiful views of the Sound, the river deltas and the soaring eagles overhead, I continued up.

The rest of the walk up was mostly dry, but once I was off the road and climbing through the trees, snow that the sunshine had not been able to clear off began to build up. It was easy going until I got up near 3000 feet. The now on the trail became too deep and I found myself sinking up past my calves with every step. It would have been a piece of cake if I had brought my snowshoes with me. So, with regret, at this point I turned back. And, as you would expect of our weather here, by the time I got near the bottom, the rain started. Hey! What happened to the rain shadow!?!?!

All in all, a basic, long forest road walk with beautiful views of the Sound, south to the Brothers and north to Mount Constance, but you will need snowshoes if you want to get much higher than 3000 feet.

Started at 2pm and left the upper parking lot and ascended the left side of the source lake basin. Once at source lake there were many different paths that ascend above the lake towards the snow lake ridgeline. Be aware of avalanche forecasts, this is a very dangerous place to be when it is high avy danger. We followed the path up and then left as the path traversed to the right which is usually not the way to the ridge - but one in our group had no snowshoes (ToTheTop) so we stayed on the path. Finally we made it to a ridgeline, but with the very low visibility at times we called it highpoint at that time and had lunch. What awful snow right now, can't wait for some consolidation

this trail is in pretty rough shape... moderate, avoidable wash out at about three miles, then another slightly more complicated, rocky slide-related wash out a little ways past that, then just before the pack bridge, a precarious mud-slide traverse over the rushing river. the pack bridge has gotten some serious damage, too. then, as if all of that isn't enough, in the middle of a steep and high (200 or so feet down in the event of a misstep) slide area, around five miles in, a couple of huge fallen trees are blocking the trail, requiring a bit of rather nimble scrambling to get over, around, under and back down to the trail. we turned around at slide camp, 5.5 miles. trail generally okay, but cliffy, muddy, in need of maintenance, and not for the faint of heart. also cold and snowy.

The trail to Mutton Mt has snow from the get-go. The road is plowed with a little parking room for our one car. It was wet gloppy snow all the way to 4700' today. But pleasant forest with some grand trees, and the trail condition seems to be ok (under the snow). By 3500' we had lost the trail and found it several times. By the time we found the junction area there was no evidence of trail. And little visibility. But no matter, we slogged up higher and higher (and also lower a couple times) until we reached the sheepishly named Mutton Mountain.

Being muttonheads, it seemed like a good idea to tag off yet another peak. By George, a noble idea was Noble Knob. But in the pea soup fog we missed the northbound ridge and wandered too far NW down the wrong ridge. By the time we discovered the errors of our ways, time was short. Thus we slogged up and up and up to the junction. Exhausted but jubilent at not getting lost again, we sashayed on down to the parking area.

Road to Staircase is completely clear - a few potholes. Saw a herd of elk grazing next to the river just as we passed the ONP sign. Car camped at Staircase - nice this time of year, only three other spots were taken.

On Sunday we hiked a ways up Wagonwheel Lake trail. No trees across trail - its in pretty good shape actually. Snow patches start at 2000 feet, then snowcovered at 2300 feet. Trail was quite easy to follow in the snow. We didnt use snowshoes until maybe 3500.

We stopped in the pretty forest at 4,000 feet, just where the ridge kind of shifts. I've heard, and the map suggests, that there is an avalanche prone slope a little further toward the lake. We didnt go so I dont know firsthand.

So for some reason, every time I get out to go hiking I go out on the lousiest day. Yesterday was faboo, tomorrow looks great, and today, it's kind of nasty, and of course ONLY where I was going.

Me and my friend, who's down from Western for spring break, took his three greyhounds up to the Iron Horse trail and slogged it from the Twin Falls TH to the Ragnar trestle and back. In the rain. In the very wet rain. Grr.

The hike itself was nice. Still a good amount of snow on the sides of the trail, but not on the trail itself for the most part. The waterfall at the ragnar trestle was flowing nicely, a pretty falls I might add, don't know how I overlooked it for so long. And thanks to being pulled along by the antsy dogs, we did 4 miles (rt) in just under 2 hours, so we came home, where it was dry as a california beach, and played frisbee for a few hours. Hey, we had to dry our clothes out somehow, right?

Just a few days after the ""first day of spring snowfall,"" a couple of friends and I hiked from Whiskey Bend to the bridge crossing the Elwha River. We encountered snow patches on the roadside just up to the ranger station. We did the various loops which included side trips to Michael's cabin, the Humes Ranch cabin and the meadow. Not many signs of spring with our recent chilly weather- not a trillium, skunk cabbage nor leafy green shoots of the undergrowth- were in sight. Deer browsed in the meadow of Humes Ranch and paid us no heed even as we walked past them. Ticks are in evidence as I found one on my trouser leg. Parts of the trail nearest the river show signs of sloughing from the past winter rains. There was one muddy gully crossing quite close to the high sandy bank between the large meadow and the Elwha bridge that goes to Dodger Point. Use caution here and watch your footing. It is possible and maybe advisable to negotiate the trail further from the river bank than my friends and I did. Trail was lovely and peaceful though muddy in spots...no blowdowns. The moss covered trees are always a wonderful sight.

Starting Point: Longmire (2700') High Point: Mildred Point (5935') Round Trip Distance: 10.4 miles Route starts near Longmire and head up the road and then ascend the trail on the left about 1/5 mile up. If the road is open to Paradise, a slightly higher start can be made at the Van Trump Park Trailhead a quarter of a mile beyond the gate at Longmire. In 1.6 miles you gain about 1100'. Then take the right fork in the trail just below the crest of Rampart Ridge, but this was not visible as there was too much snow, but we had a good leader that knew the way so we broke trail and continued up the Ridge. Then after a mile or 2 you enter Van Trump Park, and open meadows. There was so much wet snow that really slowed us down. We made the final approach over several false summits and then got to Mildred Point. Visibility was real low, so we never saw the mountain, but saw the lower portions of the Kautz Glacier and such. Some real cool spires are near the point that you can walk out on, but the drop offs are about 800 feet down so be careful. Be careful of large cornices near the true summit as well. www.nwog.org scott@nwog.org

This route has been looked at for a number of years and finally done as a one day (0800-1700)outing on Sat. The recent heavy snowfall has consolidated but the going was still arduous. It was good to have a group of five to rotate thru the leading position. We stayed on the west side of Denny Creek for most of the way and then gained a little too much elevation getting to Melakwa Lake. The lake itself has lost definition as the heavy snows make it impossible to see the actual edges of it. The upper lake looks more like a small pond. The snow over the lakes and up to Melakwa Pass were thankfully firmer than below. The pass had 18 ft cornices to either side but the middle of the pass the wind had blown the snow down to 4 ft. One could have jumped off but we cut a couple steps to ease the access toward Chair Peak lake. A quick butt glissade brought us down the steep slope to Chair Peak lake. This area has perhaps the greatest risk of avalanche activity along the route. A 100' wide 4 foot deep slab avalanche had broken off sometime in the previous week off of Chair Peak and slide down across our traversing path to Snow Lake. We continued our glissades down the slide slopes to Snow Lake. It is a treat to walk across the lake as one is quite close to flanks of Chair Peak which usually are 1/3 mile away. The rock wall there has interesting fluting which creates many small narrow (2' wide) chimneys. There is quite a bit of ice along this portion of Chair. At the end of the lake we made gruelling elevation gain back up to the ridge over Source Lake. We then were delighted to merge with the trenches made by previous snowshoers for a quick descent to Alpental parking area. We used two cars for this trip leaving one at either end. The elevation start at Denny is 2,200' and the start at Alpental is 3,100' So why add 900' to the climb? The snowpack on the southern exposed area of Melakwa Pass is more firm from sun and wind exposure. The northern portion of the Melakwa pass is not firm at all and would make for a more difficult ascent. Plus coming from the north you may meet face to face with a cornice and have to burrow your way to the top. From the south you could at least cut away a portion and then jump down.

If you're looking for a beautiful, lush forest with plenty of old growth still present, views near the top, a river, trail-in-good-condition kind of trail, the Duckabush River trail is it. The trail is now almost completely logged out (thanks to WTA); what trees are still across the trail are very small, past the 4 mile mark, and easily gotten over.

The trail is in very good shape overall, and wanders through bright green moss-laden, twisted old trees. The skunk-cabbage is blooming here, and it's curious odor is mixed with the lush, heady scent of fertile spring and wet earth. There are some flat, meadowy areas near the River, filled with birds and twisty tendrils of moss hanging off the trees. The trail is flat until at about 3 miles when it turns to a series of well-built, steep, but steady-graded switchbacks that take you past a huge moss and lichen covered, dripping and ""weeping"" boulder towering next to the trail. Beyond is a great vista with views down the Duckabush River valley to the east and views of snow-studded North Rock, East Rock and West Rock mountains to the south. Beyond the vista a bridge is out, and at first glance you scoff at the orange ribbon across the trail ""crime-scene"" style. But once you see the gaping maw the bridge gapped at one time, you understand the orange ribbon and are glad you didn't miss the fact that there's no bridge there. The creek is crossed very easily, and the trail flattens out once again, and takes you into the darker, more dense forest for awhile; more old growth - trees that were sprared by the loggers 100 years ago. There are signs of an old forest fire here; it's is probably what spared the scarred trees from the saw. A randy and noisy grouse was loose in the area; another sure sign and sound of spring.

Best day for a hike in the snow. We climbed to Talapus in 4 hours,elevation gain about 1600 feet, back down in 2 1/2, elevation loss 1600. We strapped on the snowshoes at the car and began cutting every switchback that the snowed under road took. Nice, deep, heavy,wet snow, not bad to walk in. The road is not plowed far from the freeway so you get to the trail head by hoofin' it. No one had been above the summer trailhead since last week's big dump so we made our own trail. There are some large fir, cedar, and spruce along the way.Talapus Lake is sure real pretty in white, we stayed long enough for a little hot brandy. Most of the trip down we used a GPS unit to avoid the trail, road, and our footprints. The is something wonderfully sublime cuising down a steep slope in deep snow on the 'shoes. It is my favorite part of these trips. We were happy and giggling all the way down. The birds were singing to us. Go when you can!

Had a great hike. Snow right from the beginning of the trail. We had our three kids (6,3,1) so we didn't make it all the way to the falls, but we got pretty close. The snow wasn't bad at all and made it really pretty and fun. It was never more than 10"" deep.

There is about 5 feet of snow at this time. After leaving the snowpark follow the road approx. 1/8 mile to the trailhead sign on the left which is mostly under the snow, but the top part of the sign is visible. The trail is pretty good to the first falls. After a short slight incline you drop down to the creek and cross a footbridge. After climbing the switchbacks you can take the trail down to the base of the first falls which goes off to the left and is pretty well marked by previous snowshoers. There is a gorgeous ice build up on the sides of the falls which illuminates a beautiful blue. Our goal was to get to the second falls about 2 miles ahead. There are large drifted in areas and some blown down trees which makes staying on the trail difficult. There is an area where a creek comes down and crosses the trail which leaves approx. a 2 foot opening to step across, or if you go up the hill just a bit there is a crossing. Needless to say we were unable to get to the second falls as it was pretty slow going and no previous trekkers had been there to ease our pain of trailbreaking. After about 2 hours going in, we turned back. If you have never been here in the winter it is truly a winter wonderland and well worth the work.

Yeah, well, once more with feeling.

Actually, we were going to try for Nordic Pass (near Windy Pass - Hyak ski area) but the snow banks were about 15 feet tall and overhung. Besides, it would have been too much work.

The snow was firm in the a.m. It softened and by the junction was getting quite pliable. Too pliable. There was one person ahead on the left junction and for a change about 4 ahead on the right junction. We first opted for the left but it was going to be a lot of work as we were sinking while breaking trail. In addition, my wide skis meant I was recutting/widening and it was going to be a lot of work.

So we headed back to the junction after a bit and went up the right junction. The avalanche area had dropped some snow just as you reach it. We proceeded without problems. But it was still a slow slog up. The snow was very typical Cascade concrete. Well, maybe a bit less dense but it was heavy and damp.

Oh, yes, it was very sunny (I just applied aloe vera to my very read face). I was slogging alone as my friend made better time in her lighter equipment and waxless skis. Made it up to the top and headed for the summit area where the winds finally kicked in. The wind actually did not have a cold, cutting bite. It was still chilling but almost mild. There was a lot of wind drift and some very deep troughs in between the waves. At that point it was pretty well wind-packed. Some clothes, some food and we headed down (wrongly) the other way.

Since only one person came up that way (boy, what strength!) and two others went down that way, it was work. It was work and poling all the way back down to the junction. The snow was heavy and wet by this time. And attempt at kick and glide would result in sinking four inches since the trail was not deeply set.

Even from the junction back down, it was a slow slog. My wax skis proved better FINALLY over the waxless of my friend. But it was one of the slowest trips back down I've experienced. The snow was just SLOW.

All in all - a lot of work! (G) Oh, yeah, clouds did spillover from the west but they were high.

Still a lot of snow up there. Enjoy.

The Forest Service road up to the trail head is not plowed so Boy Wonder and I park at the snow-bank several hundred yards after exiting I-90 at exit 45. Climbed into our snowshoes immediately and headed cross-country north northeast through the trees to cut some of the road switchbacks and make better time. Barely enough snow in the woods for 'shoeing at these lower elevations. Temperature is warm (45 degrees?) and the snow is pretty wet and heavy. With cross-country shortcuts it's about 1 mile to trail head from truck; took us about 1-1/4 hours of leisurely walking. Snow is deeper up here but same wet heavy stuff. Strike off cross country again soon after leaving the trail head for Talapus Lake; sign says 2.2 miles to the lake. We continue north northeast-ish until we get to about 3200 ft. elevation. Very pleasant walk through the forest, fair amount of sunshine and blue sky mixed in with passing clouds. Cross several snow fields on the hillside with good views of hills and mountains to the south. Stay at 3200 ft. level until we run into Talapus Lake. Four hour travel time from the truck to lake, it's sweaty work breaking trail in this wet cement. Eat the rest of our lunch at the lake and have a little nip o' brandy while enjoying the glamorous views across the lake as the sun shone on the northern hillside of the tree covered basin. 2-1/2 hour ramble back to the truck, wheeeee-eee! It's great fun sliding down the steep embankments when we cut the switchbacks on the way back.

With the snow melting and the sun out for once, me and the kid went to the pennisula to do lower lena lake. Great weather-the trail is in nice condtion! Hit snow at about 1 mile up-at 1 1/2 we came across the huge tree down, i had to take my pack off to get under,the kid just zipped under! After that the snow got progressively deeper, 7"" when we hit the bridge-decided that was ok for a good hike and called it a day! had a great hike even though we missed the lake by a mile. if i had had snowshoes....ps:also saw cougar footprints in the snow near the bridge-that was so cool!

Planned to snowshoe the Wonderland trail from Longmire to Kautz Creek valley and camp for the night with a good view of the mountain. Well, how often do things really work out the way you plan them to anyway?

A friend and I set out from Longmire and followed tracks on the trail for a couple of miles before losing the trail altogether. Continued to follow the tracks for a few minutes and found a couple of guys digging a cave for the night's stay in a densely wooded area.

We knew that we were close to the intersection of the Van Trump and Wonderland trails, so we set out to find it. It was a good effort, but we couldn't recognize either trail in the snow and blowdown.

In a few minutes we did gain the ""top"" of the low part of the ridge somewhere above the Van Trump trail. We settled in for the night here.

Now big mountain views, but we had a fairly open view of Eagle Peak and a trees-in-the-way view of Satulik Mountain. Heard a couple of avalanches - one near and one far; and a hooting owl kept us company for an hour in the night. Followed our tracks out the next day.

Weather was balmy - clear skies, about 30 degrees F all night, and melting snow all over the place.

This was to be our second attempt at this illusive traverse. The first time we had low visibility and wound up following other tracks that went in a circle? We went up Wednesday afternoon, go to the summit of Si at noon, and started the traverse in deep wet powder, a real slog. We followed the fireroad to just near Teneriffe, but we had no visibility and only knew that we needed to head East, but that would put us somewhere in a basin so we continued on a ridgeline that lead us to the Twilightzone. After wandering around for 2 hours, we hit our turnaround time and headed back. Once we were back at the end of the fireroad, we looked back and saw the faint outline of Teneriffe. We were way off is all I can say, about 1/2 mile past it heading north. Will only try this again on a clear day. I sure hope no one follows our tracks! scott@nwog.org

Having already had the days planned excursion to the Saddle Mountain area SE of Vantage thwarted even before the day began, I picked up Karen Sykes at Preston for a day to create something of an adventure anyhow. With the pass closed down due to the heavy snows for a second straight day we needed to stay on this side of the hill and headed up the Middle Fork Snoqualmie valley to do just that. We stopped first by the trestle area in the bend in the road and hiked back on the old Oxbow Loop road down to the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River. It was lovely down there and the snow started falling again while we were wandering around and doing much photography. The snow patterns on the boulders were fascinating!

We then took off to head to the Middle Fork trailhead. However enroute to the MidFork trailhead we were stopped at the FS boundary by the start of dozens of trees across the road (smartly stopped...sure, I could have driven over the first couple of trees in sight...but what was ahead of us who knew). The snow was 8"" on the road by here anyhow so we parked, hiked the Middle Fork Road in pure silence of rigs. It was a spectacular way to experience this otherwise busy road area by actually hiking it through a winter wonderland and in total silence. In about 1.5 miles we reached the eastern end of the CCC Road and then chose to head back on the CCC Road to Bessemer Road, down the mile on the Bessemer Road to the Middle Fork Road, and back to complete a big 6-7 mile loop. We should have taken the massive tangle of snow-laden leaning trees on the path as a warning for what was to come. Once the CCC road hit >1300' there was 20-24"" of snow to plow through while all the trees in the world were leaning on the pathway to bash through and get totally as soaked as if I had swam the river. These three miles of normally easy hiking were the hardest three miles I've hiked in a long time. By the time we finally started the final 1/2 mile to reach the Bessemer Road Karen and I were very ready to reach it and at least be out of the soaking game of leaning snow laden tree bashing. At last we reached the Bessemer, and the legs somehow got us down to the main road and eventually back to the waiting rig. I felt so sorry for the lone salmonberry flower I saw trying to keep it's hopes up in 24"" of fresh snowfall! The drive out comprised of seeing how hot the heater in the buggy would get us before we started feeling it. It was a great day!! Alas, unless you want to stumble out of the woods as soaked as we were you had better wait until at least the snow melts off of the trees to clear up the path a bit!

This was my first time on the trail. the concerns I had of the boardwalk being slippery was compounded by the light snow and cold weather the night of the 15th. There was snow and ice on the boardwalks which made it very slippery, but passable none the less. There were two blowdowns on the Cape Alava segment of the trail, but they were easily navigable without getting off of the trail. All in all it was a wonderful experience, good for one and all.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

The trail is pretty much snow the whole way. Not much need for snowshoes down below but you go straight up the normally open switchback area. That's a bit of a workout. After that it's a pretty good idea to throw the shoes on as we barely stepped off the trail in a few spots and postholed right through.

There were only 10 other people there that day but the trail was pretty easy to follow. Once we got to the lake there was still about 7 feet of snow on top of everything. After this week, you can probably add another 2 feet.

The lot isn't plowed so there is only room for about 5-7 cars right off the Highway.

We seemed to take forever to get to Rainier this morning.... stopping for gas, stopping for food... when they didn't have what we wanted we went somewhere else for food... backtracked a smidge to buy tire chains... stopping to get trekking poles and shopping at the 1/2 price sale while we were there in Ashford ..... Whew! Finally managed to get to Longmire at about 11:00am but we really didn't miss out on much because the road to Paradise wasn't even open yet. They opened it around 11:30, we chained up and went on our way. The sun came out about the time we reached Paradise. Yay! So gorgeous up there with all the fresh snowfall! The parking lot wasn't full at all. Got out our snowshoes and headed to Mazama ridge and thankfully there was a group of three skiers ahead of us. Thankfully because all previous tracks were long gone and the snow was DEEP! Even with them breaking trail ahead of us, it sure seemed like we were still sinking a lot. Maybe or maybe not, but it was a lot more work than normal on this route today. Beautiful fresh snow but very tough going. On the steep slope up to the ridge, we were up to about our thighs in snow. Very soft and sinky snow. Got to about, I don't know, maybe 40 or 50 ft from the top of the ridge and the 3 skiers stopped to ski down. We broke trail to the top and that was a bit of a challenge in itself -- the snowdrifts were very obtrusive. Of course I had this brilliant idea to grab a hold of one of the tree branches to pull myself forward - only to get myself dumped on by a heavily snow-clad tree. Rebecca took over the lead from there (that was my plan) and proceeded to the ridgetop.

Because of the late start and the slow going, we decided to make that our destination and sat for lunch. About a minute later (literally), the sun vanished and the clouds and snow rolled in like someone snapped their fingers. From sunny blue skies, to no visibility. We barely touched our lunches before we got ourselves back together to head back down. Going down didn't seem much easier. I was such a clutz in the deep snow and managed to fall a few times and have a heck of a time getting myself up. One of the times, Rebecca tried to help me up and got herself in the same predicament. We must have looked like quite the pair! Anyway, back to the car. We ran into some friends that were hoping to do some ice climbing at Narada Falls (or in that area), and they said they couldn't get to the ice because the snow was too deep and tough going.

Sort of a short trip in distance, but a great day! Glad we got to entertain ourselves (and if anyone else was watching, I'm sure we entertained them, too) in the mountains this lovely St. Patty's Day!

Drove Suiattle River Road to Buck Creek camp - road was clear and dry. About a mile after that (maybe 17 miles in?) there was snow on the road and although there were car tracks over the snow we decided to stop there. Parked the Blue Blunder Bus at Buck Creek and hiked a ways up Huckleberry Mtn trail.

A little snow cover from the recent weather started a few hundred vertical feet up. Most downed trees required only stooping or high-stepping to bypass, although one required class 3 move using hands to get over.

Snowpack started around elevation 2000' but we didnt need our snowshoes. We hiked until near 3000' until we encountered a seasonal creek that had cut a sharp defile in the mountain. It was only slightly hazardous and tricky but it provided a good enough turn-around point. Ahh, another grand epic avoided! -Dox

As often as not, my hikes are simply for the purpose of having the time to walk and think or, if with a friend, a long hike in which to chatter freely and aimlessly. One of my favorites in this category is the White Chuck Bench Trail. About 6 miles southeast of Darrington this 13-mile round trip hike has only moderate elevation gain but is peaceful and quiet. Today, the weather was sunny but cold, in the low thirties. Snow frosted all the trees and the mountains were covered, though the roads were bare and dry. Starting early, the trail was snow covered, yet usually visible, and the branches of trees and the trunks of brush were heavily encrusted in snow, bending down to either obscure the trail or coldly smack you in the face if you didn?t stoop low enough. The creek crossings are in decent shape, though a bit scary when the logs are snow covered. And it appears that the Forest Service is in the process of replacing the log that spans Black Oak Creek with a real bridge. There are many, many blowdowns along the trail and many washouts. The worst of the washouts is at about the two-mile mark. The runoff follows the trail, so you have to walk beside the stream to rediscover the trail. Just above it is another old washout that has destroyed the trail. You have to follow the gully made by the rushing water to get back on the path. In addition to these two, there are numerous old wash-overs that have left gravel, silt and mud on the trail. At about a mile from the upper terminus a giant cedar has fallen into the White Chuck River and taken a ten-foot chunk of the trail with it. You?ll have to climb up a small embankment to get around this, but it ain?t difficult. In this section, the snow was the deepest, which made it hard to find the path at times. Luckily, an unerringly accurate rabbit preceded me and I was able to follow him back to the trail every time. This is where the trail is the most scenic. Huge old cedars standing guard on the side, their reddish bark, their green tops frosted by the snow and all of that against the background of a brilliant blue sky. Beautiful.

This is a surprisingly good hike for being so close to the freeway. The trail starts out right on the banks of the South Fork Snoqualmie River, just about one mile from exit 34 of I-90. After a short, level hike, the way switchbacks into old-growth forest with some real granfather trees. There is an excellent preview of the falls from a bench on the top of an incline about half way there. Most of the elevation gained is soon lost on a descent to river level again. Here is found the great-grandfather tree, a gigantic Douglas fir. More climbing and switchbacking leads to a spectacular bridge that passes between the upper and lower falls, giving good views of both. Don't pass up the upper falls view point a little way past the bridge, or the lower falls viewpoint accessed by a side trail just after that huge douglas fir. Lush vegetation, clinging mosses, and the sounds of falling water combine to create an aura of primevel isolation. Huge boulders for climbing, well-established side trails for exploring, nooks and crannies for picknicking, plunge pools for summer swimming, it's all there. The surrounding mountains are covered in fresh snow, making them the perfect canvas for all the colors of the setting sun. On the drive out in the deepening dusk, about seven o'clock, we were surprised and amazed to see an entire herd of Roosevelt elk feeding in the front yard of a house (and across the street), just one-half mile from the freeway! There were at least a dozen , maybe more. They kept appearing out of the gloaming like apparitions. The car, it's headlights, etc. didn't scare them at all, but the frantic efforts of Daisy the dog to climb out of a window open about two inches made the elk scatter into the darkness.

Sunday morning found us enjoying a blanket of white in the lowlands as we prepared for our St. Patrick's Day outing. Given the theme of the day we pointed the truck toward ""Green""water lakes and trail # 1176.

Heading southeast out of Enumclaw on Highway 410 we were delayed slightly by several over-zealous Crystal bound downhill-skier-mobiles with pilots who had reached for the Starbucks and caught their tires in the fresh slush resulting in an abrupt trip to the ditch and in one case a full roll! Nice of them all to pump some revenue into the local towing community.

Road #70 was in pretty good shape all the way to the trailhead although four-wheel drive was needed to get up and over the hill. The trailhead was not plowed but there is room for a rig or two to get off the snowmobile autobahn. The relentless buzz of gas powered sleds cruising up the road at high speeds made us wonder what life would be like if the early settlers in Seattle had not worked so hard to carve out the Naches Wagon Trail in an attempt to divert settlers from the Oregon Trail to Pugetropolis. The well marked video-surveilance of the trailhead latrines reminded us why we've boycotted the Forest Service's Fee policies. Be sure to wave before you wipe!

With a nice blanket of 6-8 inches of new snow over a rain packed crust, we ducked in and out of the web of snow laden trees bending toward the ground. Two of us wore our snowshoes but they were not mandatory. Within a short distance we were into the big trees enjoying an absolutely beautiful stand of old growth. Too bad the trees off to each side were not also saved.

We especially enjoyed the lime-green moss growing on the rocks just across the Greenwater River and the constant presence of the sounds of the river. We paused for a spell at the water's edge to ""do the Ouzel"" along with our feathered friend.

Two of the river crossings are tricky due to the snow accumulated on the foot-logs. Use caution and the very sturdy handrails here. Before we knew it we were at the first lake and then the second where we stomped our way out to ""picnic point"". We noted that the lake should be a mile or two further as it seemed that we had not worked hard enough to deserve lunch yet.

After a lunch enjoyed in the sun and gently falling snow, we strapped the snowshoes back on for the trek back to the truck. We had to ""pinch"" ourselves to confirm that we were not dreaming as we had the entire trail to ourselves and saw no other hikers at all. It's waiting for you to enjoy it if you are brave enough to drive a vehicle up the 70 Road without a trailer of gas powered sleds in tow!

Happy Trails! The Donald Larkin Trail Team

I usually get out very early to ski up to Windy Pass. I like to get up and partly down before the crowds arrive. Now that it's Mid-March skiers seem to be done for the season. I left Seattle in fairly heavy snow and 32 degrees. By the time I reached Preston the snow and rain had ceased and the drive to the pass was easy. I arrived at the Keechelus Sno-park at 11:00. The freeway sign read 37 degrees. I'm not used to going up to the pass the escape the cold of Seattle. Even at 11:00 there were only about a dozen cars in the lot. The snow is very good for March. I followed the woods trail up to the groomed Hyak trail and had an easy time heading up to Windy Pass. I saw 4 or 5 skiers coming down and passed 5 going up.

At the pass the wind was light and I thought about heading up to Nordic Pass. Several skiers had done so in the last few days as their tracks were fairly fresh. Instead, I decided to head right back down. Only a few skiers had been down since the morning grooming and the conditions were great. I came down 4km in 12 minutes, which is pretty good speed for me. Even now at 1:00 I saw only a few skiers coming up.

Back at the railroad grade I turned right and skied out to the old snowsheds. A flat and slick track made for a fast aerobic workout. The trip back was very quick. All totalled I covered 13 miles and 1300'. A very nice afternoon of skiing.

Surprising to leave Seattle in a small snow squall and find very little new snow at the parking area. Oh, well, that's the way it is.

No grooming had occurred although the carrier truck was at the parking lot.

No one else had gone UP Amabilis today but someone must have done it yesterday, I suspect. There was about an inch of new snow over a crusty mix. As I was about a block from the junction, the groomer caught up with me wasting all my track efforts.

Again, followed old tracks up the left fork. As I was/am recovering from a cold, I was getting pretty beat and stopped for some food. At which point, finally, other skiers appeared. They kept going and I munched a bit. Oh, yes, did I neglect to say it was SUNNY east of the summit. Some high clouds but sun made it very nice. I headed up in the now nicely cleaned track. It started flurrying a bit but it was kind of nice. I just got to the crest of the ridge and decided that the snow off road and back down the slopes to the northwest looked like fun rather than doing any more road. It did turn out to be fun and varied from 6 inches to knee deep. I swept back down to the road.

The tracks were fast to the junction. The groomed area was very packed and a nice fast run back down. There were more skiers just on their way up. The parking area was pretty well full.

A good day. More snow on the way along I-90 to North Bend and Issaquah. Rain in Seattle.

A great escape.

Road is unplowed past RR tracks. Was advised by snowplow mechanic that I should park on the side of the RR tracks nearest the hwy. There was no trail to follow, but I had been up a month earlier so I somewhat knew where I was going. I skinned up on skiis while 2 other friends snowshoed up the trail. I wasn't paying too much attention since they were leading and I was concentrating on this whole new concept of skiing up a trail. We wound up on the western side of the basin about 3-400 feet above the basin. Had a horrible time with the skis, concrete snow with lots of ups and downs on the way out. Kind of depressing.