Trip Reports

Intermittent snow begins at about 2900 feet. Snow is constant after about 3400 feet.

Went out for a quick walk in the woods and decided to head for the Greenwater Basin. Parked at trailhead, serenaded by a couple of bozos target shooting on the road across the river. Snow on the trail from the start made walking pretty tough-- not enough for snowshoes, but pretty tough on the ankles. Snow has melted enough that it isn't soft, but forms a hard lump in the middle of the trail. Just past first log bridge a creek has jumped the banks and is running down the middle of the trail. A few blowdowns, but nothing really hard to impede progress. Both lakes are clear of ice, but campsites still melting out. Nice to have the area to ourselves-- only saw 4 people all day. Trail beyond upper lake too hard to deal with, so turned back to lake to have lunch. A nice trip right now, but don't expect to set records.

Visited Dodger Point on Sunday - mighty fine hill-walkin'. This was a 'Leader Surprise' outing - my friends had no idea where we were going until we were miles down the trail!

On Saturday we drove to Whiskey Bend (road is clear). Hiked Elwha River trail (wide open highway, only obstacle is a few horse-droppings).

At Humes Ranch we turned onto Long Ridge trail and soon crossed bridge over the Elwha. Long Ridge trail is in good shape here - a few blow downs but nothing too serious. Some brush is encroaching in places. Snow patches started at 3200'. Bigger snowpatches at 3500', and trail was covered at 3,900'.

Rob and Seth kicked steps on up through the forest and we made our snowcamp at 5,000' - hey, 4,000 feet of gain and ten miles from the car - good job, team!

Fine step-kicking snow Sunday morning - used trekking poles most of the way but ice axes on a couple of firm slopes - didnt use the snowshoes. Soon we were on the summit of Dodger Point. Spent a couple hours gazing in awe at the Bailey Range and the summit of Mt Olympus. Whew! yagga wow wow - just look at them mountains!

Found the shelter at the summit almost completely buried in snow - only the very apex of the roof was exposed. Carla and I just had to try to dig our way in. We dug down five feet, maybe six, then realized it was locked - Drat! Thwarted!

After waking Jackie from her nap, we reluctantly left the summit, boot-skiing and post-holing down to camp.

Due to trees, our snowcamp afforded only peekaboo views of the Baileys, but offered nice views north and east to Hurricane Ridge and Mt Angeles. After dinner we retired to the 'South Veranda' overlooking the Elwha River Valley. Stayed up late sipping from Mario's flask, laughing and talking and telling stories.

The hike out on Monday was long and our feet were on fire, so we rested in the meadow at Humes. I consider the Elwha River to be a national treasure, and to sit there in the sunshine with my friends watching the aerial mating dance of bald eagles - no kidding - is something I'll never forget.

Dodger Point! -Dox

Snowed hard the whole day, first steep slope up from the parking lot had a MAJOR slab avalanche, probably while the snowplows were working on the road above.

6"" of fresh snow on top of a somewhat harder layer underneath made for good step kicking. Reflection lakes were still snowed over, trees were loaded with fresh snow, looked like January out there.

Route was pretty straight foreward, above the lakes it was better to stay a little left and not ascend the steep ridge to the south-east, some slide potential there.

Still plenty of snow up top but enough exposed rock to make for a fun but very wet climb up a 70 ft 5.6 or so gully. It ended up being a pretty funny thrashfest in wet plastic boots. After carrying the rope and climbing gear all that way you sort of feel obligated to use it!

No views that day, we could barely make out Pinnacle peak right next door.

Lots of slide activity on the way back down, most of it triggered by a couple of snowboarders. All the slides we saw were about 6"" deep but were wet and heavy enough that several feet of crud built up at the bottom. It was pretty easy to step out of a slide if one got started, they were moving very slowly.

We headed out for an overnight intending to tour Snowking Mountain on skies via the Kindy Ridge trail. The adventure began as soon as we turned of the Cascade River road onto Forest Road 1570. A jungle of twisted blowdowns and a small creek ran through the road down to the first switchback. We had anticipated something like this by taking a bowsaw. We cut though a good half-dozen 8"" diameter trees, and countless smaller ones. We drove over a few 10"" ground level trees which we couldn't cut, which will need high clearance or better sawmanship to get over in the very near future. This might get cleaned up by a maintennence crew as the season progresses. The road got better down towards the bridge over the cascade river.

After the junction with 1571, we passed a marker indicating that the forest service is considering decomissioning the road. The road after that point is in fine shape up to 1800'. Here there is a large washout/debris flow. Vehicle travel past this point is not possible, about 2 miles from the roadend.

We hiked past the washout on the road, which is littered with countless small-diameter blowdowns, with brush encroaching in places. The 'trail' starts immediately uphill in a clearcut, just east of the creek, rather than west as is shown on the USGS map. Clearcuts and trails do not mix - the first few hundred feet follows the edge of the cut and is very brushy! Once into the old growth, the route continues to roughly follow just east of the creek. it is still steep, a classic climber/fisherman trail with no switchbacks, easy to loose in places especially with partial snow-cover. At about 3500' the snow becomes continous, and we hiked straight up the slope. Around 4000' the terrain gets to be genuinely skiiable and is nice going from here on up.

We made it to the top of point 5791 on the ridge. The map indicates that it is forested, but is actually quite open with scattered gnarled old trees and rock outcrops. Here are amazing panoramic views of the crest. Good perspectives on Eldorado, Forbidden, Formiddable, and Snowking itself. This knob is a worthy summit by itself. Several of us skiied the ridge to Cyclone lake without much difficulty.

It seems unlikely that the forest service will fix the washout anytime soon, if at all, since they are considering the road for decommissioning already. I think that the best solution is to keep the road open up to 1800', to just before the washout near a wooden bridge in good condition. There is continuous strech of old-growth forest above the road here that ascends a moderate slope just west of the main creek. This would be the ideal spot for a new route. It would bypass the broad swithback on the last 2 miles of the road, which is prone to brush and blowdowns, and avoid the clearcuts altogether. Anyone want to do a workparty there soon or lobby the forest service?

I signed up to do a new scramble with the Mountaineers. I have hiked to Annette Lake numerous times and scrambled up Silver Peak to the east half a dozen times. I have never scrambled up Humpback Mountain which sits just to the west of the lake. Today was not to be the day to finally get up Humpback. We met in Issaquah and Jay, our leader, was not comfortable with the avalanche conditions on Humpback. We kicked around a few ideas and decided on Pratt Mountain. I have scrambled up Pratt 6 or 7 times in the summer and several times on snow. I had not been up in at least 4 years. This trip can be done from either the Talapus Lake or the Pratt Lake trailhead. We chose the Pratt. Much of the drive from Issaquah was rainy so we headed out with slim hopes of a dry trip. The first mile to the Granite Mountain turnoff is nearly snow free. There is a little snow for the next 1/4 mile to the big creek crossing. This time of year the creek is an easy rock hop. After the creek the snow begins to cover the whole trail. That would be the end of dirt until we returned to this point.

The next section of trail was well packed down and did not require snowshoes. Soon the earlier rain caught up with us. The good news was that we were already high enough for it to be snow and not rain. I will take snow over rain any time. The snow didn't last very long. Soon we were back to just a gray misty hike. In one spot there is a small creek which has melted out all the snow. At this point we had to climb down about 6 feet and back up the other side. Otherwise, there are no problems to negotiate. One bridge is out at about 3 miles but it was possible to drop down and cross a snow bridge. This should not be much of a problem when the snow bridge melts out. I have hiked the Pratt Trail in all seasons and knew about where the Ollalie Lake turnoff is. The sign is just showing above the snow. At this point we dropped down roughly along the route of the summer trail. When we reached the Ollalie Lake outlet creek we had a bit of a problem. No snow bridges are left but it is about an 8-10 foot vertical drop to the creek and the same to get up on the other side. We tried several possible spots but could not get across. One adventurous party member did manage to cross but he tore out several of the steps up the other side. The rest of us followed the creek up to Ollalie Lake and had an easy time crossing at the outlet. I remembered that in the summer there is a huge log jam there. Now it is covered with many feet of snow. Nobody postholed at all when we crossed.

After a brief break it was time put on snowshoes and start climbing. By the lake we had traveled over 3 miles and gained about 1900'. The next 1+ mile gains 1300' more. The snow was wet and heavy. With 10 people we tore up quite a trail. This was good for setting nice steps to follow up. It was not so good for our descent. The route goes straight up from the Ollalie outlet. We did a good job of staying in the open as much as possible and avoiding tree wells. Sinking to your waist in soft snow is not much fun. We ground out the elevation to the ridge coming down from the summit of Pratt. This steep section allowed for a bit of separation between the members of the group. Everyone did quite well on the climb. Once on the ridge we waited for everyone to catch up. We were now well up in the clouds. The white of the snow and the sky merged into one. I know there are great views from this ridge but today we were lucky to be able to see each other. There is one spot on the ridge where I have been turned back several times on snow scrambles. The ridge is nearly vertical to the left and corniced over the right side. You usually must drop off the ridge on the right and then climb straight up once past the cornice. Today the conditions were perfect. We were able to climb right up the ridge. From there it was just a nice ridge climb to the summit. On top the wind was blowing at about zero mph. My last trip up here it was about 15 degrees and blowing 25 mph. That day wes stayed on top for about 2 minutes. Today we had a leisurely lunch and spent about 45 minutes on top. For just a brief moment the sun did shine on us (a little). The afternoon clearing never did occur.

The descent was easy on the ridge. The steeper section down to the lake was a little more of an adventure. With the soft wet snow torn up by ten climbers and now 10 descenders it was slick and bumpy. I think nearly everyone had at least one fall. Several deserved some kind of award for style points. I kept up my part with several out of control falls. Once down to the lake it was an easy trip back. While I was a little disappointed to not get up Humpback Mountain, the second choice was great. We had a good strong group of Mountaineers and good conditions over all. Pictures have been posted at http://www.kuresman.com. Go to ""Trip Reports 2002"", then ""Pratt Mountain"".

Snow blocked the road at 3400 feet, 1.6 miles from park Boundary. We started skiing on poor snow for .5 miles, then there were a few short bare spots to walk in the next .2 miles. The next mile we mostly walked the road except for a .3 mile section that had snow. The first bare section was .3 miles long and the second was .4 miles long. Finally in the park the snow improved. At the Paul Peak parking lot there was 3 feet of snow. 3.5 miles from our SUV, 3900 feet, we headed back. In a couple of weeks, you should be able to drive to the park boundary.

Excellent conditions. Much more snow than in past years at this time. You could ski right down to the upper trailhead latrine without too much effort. The road is clogged by a few hundred feet of perhaps 12"" snow about a mile below the lower trailhead. Deep snow above the parking area at the lower trailhead-- at least 2 feet and solid. It will takes weeks for it to melt.

West Tiger 1 via the ""Poo Top Loop"" is a good alternative hike to the over-populated West Tiger 3 for a longer, better workout and fewer people.

Starting at the main High Point trailhead, I followed the traditional West Tiger 3 trail a short bit, then turned off on the Bus Trail. I cut south on the Bonneville trail, then began the long climb up to the peak using the Poo Poo Point trail, the lower portion of which is one of the most pleasant trails on Tiger Mountain. Past the bridge over Many Creek Valley Creek, the trail steepened and got muddy. Passing the junction with the West Tiger railroad trail (1900' elev.), I continued climbing on the One View Trail (not sure if I spotted the one view), then at 15 mile gap I turned right a short piece on the Tiger Mountain trail to get to the Hidden Forest Trail. This trail climbed at an excessive rate for a bit, then leveled off and intersected the Tiger Mountain Road. Crossing the road, I followed the Poo Top Trail, which had been freshly cleared of fallen trees (hurray!), up to the top of West Tiger 1. As of late April, there were still one foot snowdrifts on the top of the peak--what a winter it has been!

To descend, I followed the west tiger 1 trail on the northeast side of the peak (here an amazing amount of snow remained) down to the Tiger Mountain Trail at Fred's Junction. Then I continued down the TMT all the way back to High Point (there is considerable mud from Fred's Junction down to the High Point Creek crossing).

All these trails add up to about 10 miles and 3000' of gain. A fine Tiger adventure!

the trail is snow free to the ledges and we had great views all around. it got really crowded about 2pm, as we were coming down, we passed hoards going up. glad it was a weekday. nonetheless--an excellent day and a great easy hike

the road to the denny creek trail is still snow bound starting at the one-lane bridge.i hiked about a quarter mile upstream,then turned around because i didn't have snowshoes.but before i took off, i filled up my waterbottle with that delicious snowmelt and that made it all worth it!

ever see those giant cliffs sticking out of mt.defiance and dropping straight down to i-90? well,you can hike up and sit right ontop of 'em!and you probably won't have much company either.they call it dirty harry's balcony.about 2 miles on an unsigned,unmarked trail gets you there.most of the way is on an overgrown logging road/creekbed heading through lonely 2nd growth forest.turn right at the rock cairns and follow markers through a shady hollow that opens right on top of the cliffs.the way is free of snow in spring,and has awesome views of mcclellan butte, mt.defiance,waterfalls,and eighteen-wheelers down beeeelllloooooowwwwwww!!!!!!!

I finally did Rattle Snake Mtn. The view on top was much better than I expected. I went with my wife,who started having a good time once we reached the top. As for the conditions at this time, you'll still be best to bring snowshoes. The trail is snow free until you hit the first logging road above the Ledges. Once at the road, you'll see the trail continue on the other side. Shortly afterwards, it is not to be found again. No worries, just climb uphill on your left until you hit another logging road. Follow this upper road Northwest until you hit a fork in the road. We hit the road just North of the fork so we missed the fork. We continued on our road because it parralled the main road that had forked left, and the lower road we were on eventually merged with the upper road. Another left turn on the upper road brings you to the summit. Snowshoes and a topo map printed from www.topozone.com will get you up to the top no problem. Some call this the East peak of Rattle snake but it is the highest and only summit of the mountain. The hike down is quick and painless. This trip seems to be another local alternative for those people who seem to think they need to go up Si every week or two.

Needing an inspirational environment in which to try to finish a newspaper article I was writing, I decided that sitting on top of Oyster Dome typing away on a keyboard would do the trick. The road approaching the start of the trail (Chuckanut Drive - Highway 11) has signs all along it warning that the road is closed, but it is open at least as far as the trailhead at Oyster Creek. What a gorgeous day! The trail is in great condition - thanks to the local Pacific Northwest Trail Association that has recently done maintenance on it. And the views of Samish Bay are just awesome! Its been almost 2 years since I've been up on these mountains and it is a true mutli-use area. Though this was a weekday, there were mountain bikers, hang gliders, horseback riders, mountain joggers and rock climbers populating the network of trails in addition to a few of us hikers. I sat on top of the dome and did my work, while two of the rock climbers were working their way up the gigantic chair I was sitting on. No snow anywhere, Lily Lake is close to dry, no runoff on the trail to speak of and gorgeous blue skies. . . but no solitude.

HEADED UP TO ICICLE RIDGE FOR S0ME VIEWS AND ROCK SCRAMBLING THIS FINE DAY. FIGURED I NEEDED A DAY TO UNWIND AFTER HELPING INSTRUCT EVERETT MOUNTAINEERS ROCK SCRAMBLE CLASS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. BESIDES ONCE YOU FIGURE YOU'VE DRIVEN 260 ROUND TRIP MILES(BESIDES THE PACKING), WHY NOT ONE MORE DAY OF BEAUTIFUL SUNSHINE?

HEADED OUT 9AM WITH ST0RMS THREATENING TO THE WEST. DIDN'T HIT SIGNIFICANT SNOW ON TRAIL UNTIL ABOUT 4,400'IN THE GULLIES WHICH ARE STILL SNOW CHUTES. EXPOSURE T0 LONG DANGEROUS RUNOUTS MEANS TAKE AN ICE AXE AND BE READY TO USE IT. THERE ARE A FEW ""STRAIGHT UP"" PLACES ESPECIALLY NEEDING ONE IN ""STAKE POSITION"". AT THE LAST STRAIGHT UP PLACE, WITH STEEP BOOT PATH IN FRONT OF YOU, LOOK STRAIGHT AHEAD ACROSS CHUTE TO SEE TRAIL OBLITERATED ON OTHER SIDE(ABOUT 5,400'). I SINGLE RED FLAGGED IT. FROM HERE SNOW LEVELS ARE 2-3' DEEP. BEYOND THIS CHUTE THE GRADIENT LEVELS HOWEVER IN MOST PLACES, MAKING FOR A MORE ENJOYABLE SNOW SCRAMBLE.EXPECT TRAIL HIDDEN IN SNOWS.

I STOPPED AT ABOUT 5,800' IN DEEP SNOW WHEN STORMS STARTED PASSING THROUGH AND IT STARTED SNOWING. TACTICAL ERROR OF LEAVING SNOWSHOES IN CAR LEFT ME POSTHOLING UP TO WAIST. TIME TO PULL THE PLUG AND HEAD F0R THE BARN!!

AT 900' FEET ELEVATION GAIN PER MILE, THIS IS NOT A HIKE FOR THE FAINTHEARTED. TOTAL 4,500' GAIN TO ICICLE RIDGE. THE TRAIL IS IN GOOD SHAPE WITH ONLY 2 BLOWDOWNS, ONE IN FIRST MILE, ONE IN THIRD MILE. TRILLIUM, GLACIER LILLIES IN EVIDENCE. NO SNAKES YET, ALTHOUGH AIR TEMPS REACHED 65 DEGREES IN AFTERNOON. THE BURN AREAS START AT ABOUT 1 MILE FR0M TRAILHEAD. THERE IS MUCH PARTIAL BURNING WITHOUT THAT FEELING YOU'RE ON THE MOON WITHOUT SHADE IN SIGHT. VIEWS ACROSS TO CASHMERE MTN. GREAT.

COUPLE OF SIDE NOTES ON TRAIL/ROAD OPENINGS, ETC. THE SNOW ON #1579 DOESN'T SEEM TO BE MELTING QUICKLY UP HIGH. ROAD 7601 TO EIGHTMILE AND STUART LAKES IS CLOSED AT BOTTOM. RANGER REPORTED EXPECTED OPENING NEXT WEEK. STILL ALOT OF BLOWDOWN TREES TO BE MOVED TO LET VEHICLES THROUGH. MAIN ROAD 76 IS SNOW FREE TO END OF PAVED SECTION AT IDA CREEK CAMPGROUND. STILL SOME RAPIDLY DISAPPEARING SNOW ON GRAVEL PORTION ABOUT .5 MILES BEYOND. CAMPGROUNDS BEYOND NOT OPEN YET. COULD BE BY THIS WEEKEND, OR AT LEAST ROAD OPEN TO TRAILHEADS FOR JACK CREEK AND GRINDSTONE MTN.

A NOTE OF CAUTION ON CAMPGROUNDS: THOUSAND TRAILS IS CONCENTIONAIRE FOR US FOREST SERVICE(YOU AND I!)WITH REPS STAYING IN CAMPGROUNDS. THEY APPEAR TO BE TAKING THEIR J0BS A BIT TOO SERIOUSLY WHICH MAY LEAD TO CONFRONTATIONS. VERY AUTHORITARIAN, YET THEY WEAR NO GOVERNMENT BADGES OR ID'S. JUST THOUSAND TRAILS BADGES. SIGNS SAY A $3 PER DAY USE FEE IS REQUIRED, BUT IT SEEMS OK T0 PARK ON ROADWAYS OUTSIDE. YOU GET THE FEELING WITH ALL THE RULES, YOU MAY BE MISSING SOMETHING EVEN AFTER YOU READ ALL THE POSTINGS. AND, HARD TO FIND ANYONE TO ASK. MIGHT CHECK AT LEAVENWORTH RANGER STATION ON THE WAY UP.

Ahh, the Olympics. Sparkling water, fresh air, trails in perfect condition, no pets. On the Duckabush, that restriction kicks in at the national park boundary, about 6 1/2 miles from the parking area. This was plenty of room for Daisy and me to hike to our hearts' content. The trail starts out with a gentle one-mile climb up Little Hump, descends a short way to river level, and then follows the river more or less for another mile. About the time you start climbing up the steep section to Big Hump, you will notice that the forest has changed to very old growth. The false summit of Big Hump has some excellent views up and down the valley, with the Cascades visible in the far distance. Some of the switchbacks up to the true summit were carved right into the cliff face, but still maintain a doable grade. There are several places where water drips down cliffs or boulders in numerous tiny streams coming off of each strand of moss. The walking was a delight due to the lack of snow, the great trail condition, and the perfect weather. Only three people used the trail that day, based on the trail register, cars in the lot, and people met on the trail. The travel time to the trailhead was no worse than some Cascade hikes, about 2 1/2 hours including the relaxing ferry ride. The only bummer was the $16 the WSF extorted from me. Their motto should be, ""Go ahead, drive thru Tacoma, see if we care!""

Wow what an amazing day! Decided LATE last night to skip school today and head up to Rainier because of fantastic weather reports and itchy legs. I drove up during the night (no traffic-hooray) and reached the locked gate at Longmire at about 1:15 AM hoping that this late in the season the gate would be opened before the 8:30 time I've always heard quoted for winter. Nope, 8:30 right on the dot. I spent a lot of time waiting in my car trying to sleep piecing together probably four or five hours total (don't ever seriously try to sleep in a 95 Pontiac Grand Am). Finally, at 8:30 I headed up a bare and dry highway to Paradise that had absolutely no reason to be closed until 8:30.

Lots of snow around the Paradise parking lot. That will take some serious time to melt off this year. Started up the ""trail"" at about 9:10 or so under perfectly clear blue skies and completely calm conditions. Even at this hour, it was warm enough to hike with just long underwear and a T-shirt and no gloves or hat, and it only got warmer throughout the day. I never put my gloves or hat on, even at 10,000 foot Camp Muir.

Snow conditions were perfect, very firm due to low overnight temperatures. Although I had a pair of MSR Ascents with me I never used them or crampons although taking snowshoes is highly advisable just in case it isn't as perfect when you go as when I did.

Made very good time up to the steep section leading to Panorama Point where I had to slow down for obvious reasons. Avalanche danger along the route is minimal to non-existant right now. Made some more good time until the real uphill toil of the Muir Snowfield began to bog me down. There were some icy sections in this area where snowshoes or, better yet crampons, would have been helpful, but I was just too lazy to put them on for those fairly short stretches of ice.

Right about here I saw two successive ice avalanches roaring down the Nisqually Icefall. One of them was really quite large and loud and scary. No worries, those can't reach you on the Muir Snowfield (but that did make me wonder how anyone ever safely climbs the Nisqually Icefall; those two avalanches were fairly early in the morning, before the heat of the day could really get to the snowpack).

Warning: the Muir Snowfield is much longer and gains much more elevation (4700 feet from Paradise to Camp Muir) than it appears to. Those of you who have been there before know what I'm talking about, all the rest, take heed.

After four hours of toil (the last 25 agonizing minutes with the shelter in sight), I finally reached Camp Muir. Seeing as though this is my first really taxing trip of the year, I don't think four hours was all that bad, of course I also nearly fell down on the ground wanting to die when I got to the top. Elevation isn't good for me, I felt 20 times better once I got down about 1500 feet.

Conditions still fantastic even at the top; absolutely no wind! I did have the feeling though that I was being rapidly baked by the sun while simultaniously being flash frozen by the thin 10,000 foot air of late April.

After taking a few pictures, I headed down, greatly aided by the softening of the snow by the sun (it was really quite easy and I always felt completely comfortable even though I was alone). 4700 feet later I arrived tired but happy in the Paradise Parking Lot. Great day.

An old abandoned trail with lots of charm, the old Frog Lake Trail wins the prize for early-season hiking to make you feel remote even though you're barely out of town. No sign at the trailhead any more, just look uphill on the north side of the Clear Creek Bridge on the Mtn. Loop Hwy just south of Darrington (direcly across from the Clear Creek Campground). Snow free.

Lots of blowdown, overgrown, even one spot where silt completely obscures the trail. The good news is you'll feel like the first person to discover an ancient trail, and solitude (from hikers) is virtually guaranteed. The downside is that at several points the upper portion the trail runs just a few yards below the road, even meeting the road at a switchback. So you may hear or see some vehicles. There's a mix of some old-growth and lots of 2nd growth forest, and in Spring a lot of skunk cabbage, wild rose and trillium. Bogs, logs, mud and brush!

Check out my photos at: http://www.ofoto.com/I.jspm=30397669303&n=71289598

Trail starts in a steep climb into the notch canyon above Clear Creek, clinging to the edge of a hundred-foot precipice over roaring rapids. Wonderful!

Next it traverses over some hummocky terrain, the highlight of which is a log ""bridge"" over a chasm. Forest Service was good and installed new cleats and a wire-rope handrail sometime in the last 10 years since I was here. Then you come to the point where silt has covered the trail entirely... stay to the right as you cross the flood-plain and you'll find the trail again.

Ultimately it ends up dumping you out on the spur road to Frog Lake, which, after a turnaround, becomes an old track through the woods that eventually peters out in many spur trails around the south side of the lake. Very dense underbrush. Evidence of a variety of Homo Sapiens known as the ""Beer-Drinking Shotgun Shooter"" at the lake.

All-in-all a wonderful couple of afternoon miles spent in the wet woods. Look for many types of lichens! Wear your GoreTex pants so you can easily crawl under things, and while you're on your hands and knees, observe the forest floor microcosm.

pfitech@seanet.com

Started from old logging road that goes up Dirty Harry's peak & balcony. Encountered consistent snow at around 3100'. Road will eventually lead to south slope of DH peak. Looked like a simple scramble up to top as its a gentle talus slope with a well anchored snowbase.

Stayed in snow just above treeline & headed relatively east. Foggy & misty all day but did opened some just enough to see the destination. Don't stay too near north face of west ridge of West Defiance to avoid avalanche gullies/slopes. There are big open snow slopes interspersed by connecting thick islands of trees that makes prolonged exposure minimal.

Gained north ridge & was a fairly simple scramble south to West Defiance. Note the cornices on east side of this ridge. The west ridge looks quite narrow & exposed. Brought snowshoes but did not use. Saw no other human above snowline. This peak is also known as Web Mountain.

We gathered a group of nine friends to help with the annual Olympic Beaches clean-up this year. The boardwalk from Ozette to Sand Point was slippery, but with care we avoided any spills, even with a light rain overnight on Saturday.

The ocean beach-walk from Sand Point to Yellow Banks is mostly flat, hard beach until you near the only point between the two. Make sure you plan on rounding the point within an hour or two of low tide.

We saw starfish, anenomies, hermit crabs, eagles and some kind of falcons. There's about three good campsites at Yellow Banks, but there's a massive dead sea lion in front of the first, so really only two good sites, or you could camp on the beach at the far southend, like another group did last weekend.

At around .5 miles up the trail we began encountering snow next to and on the trail. At around .75 there began around 2 feet of packed hard snow. Passable, but slow going. At approximateley the 3 mile mark the snow is near to impassable without snow shoes and a St Bernard. I saw one set of boot tracks of a hearty soul beyond that point. There are multiple blow downs and at the few snowless patches we were swimming in muck and ankle deep water. A fun and scenic trip in the first few miles.

There is a snowslide across Road 9030 at MP 2.3, 2200 feet elevation. The slide is a little more than a foot at its shallowest point. Four wheel drive vehicles can proceed another quarter mile to 2300 feet, where snow makes the road impassable. Snow mostly covers the road and trail above 2300 feet, with the trail becoming completely snow-covered above 3000 feet. Talapus Lake is 100% frozen with four to six feet of snow at the lake.

Known by several different names through its history, my web site is five years old. Although the fifth anniversary was likely a few weeks ago, I choose its anniversary to coincide with the Battle of San Jacinto, the day of Texas independence. Although the site has never been featured in a national magazine, that's a good thing. Seems being featured in Backpacker is the kiss of death for an outdoor web site.

The road to the Bandera/Mason Lake trailhead is clear of snow and some of the potholes have been filled in with gravel. The trail is snowfree through the Bandera/Mason fork and for the next 1/2 mile. I took the left fork at that point, which I think is the newer route that avoids part of the eroded trail and the rock field. The snow became solid at Mason Creek (~3000'). I put on instep crampons and followed the tracks along the creek. The trail levels a bit in about 1/2 mile and the snow was soft, so I switched to showshoes for the rest of the climb. I followed the L side of the open area. None of the big rocks were visible through the snow. The lake is entirely frozen except for a small area near where the creek drains. I had planned to continue on to Mt. Defiance. If I had used my compass or GPS I probably wouldn't have gotten turned around on the ridge north of Mason, heading east instead of west. I considered doing a clockwise loop around the lake instead, but it was a fairly steep descent to the lake and I couldn't see much in the fog. It didn't seem like there would be a view on Mt. Defiance either, so I retraced my route out.

This is a must-miss destination. The hike started out in slushy, slippery snow on the road 1/2 mile from the summer trailhead. The forest along the road and the first 3/4 mile of trail is scrubby, depressing, recent 2nd growth. The snow got deeper and deeper as the hike went on, even though there is no elevation gain to speak of. The walking was very tiresome due to the rotten snow conditions. There were a few big trees and some that grew straight out of large boulders. The lake itself is slightly scenic, but hardly worth the effort to get there. The best part of the day was listening to the humongous avalanches coming down Mt. Baring. If it hadn't been totally clouded over and foggy, there would have been some views to liven up the hike. By the time this trail is melted out enough to hike on actual ground, there will be a thousand better places also melted out. I'm going back to Suiattle river!

This is a nice local forest hike to the top of Central Peak on Squak Mountain. The trails on the May Valley side of Squak are definitely the domain of horses. The trailhead is off of May Valley Rd about a mile west of Issaquah-Hobart Rd. One must walk the South Access Rd 1/2 mi to reach the Equestrian Loop Trail. This trail recieves a fair amount of horse traffic and it shows. Many sections of the trail look like they've been torn up with a huge roto tiller. Horsey mud holes are abundant. If you can ignore the trail condition, the surrounding forest is lovely. In about 1.5 miles turn right onto Phil's Trail. In 1/4 mile the boundry for Squak Mountain is crossed and the horse free zone is entered. The trail tread abruptly improves dramatically. The Summit Trail takes you a steep 1/4 up an interesting ravine amongst large trees to the South Access road. Go up the road about 200 yard to Central Peak. Walk around the microwave towers to get a nice slot view of downtown Seattle. I returned along South Access Rd. About 1/2 way down the mountain there is brand new graveled trail off to the right which is not officially opened but I took it anyway. This 3/4 mile long trail segment was the best part of the trip. The trail is in excellent condition since it has not yet seen any horse traffic. The forest it traverses is as nice as second growth forest gets. It eventually meets up with the South Access Rd again directly opposite the start of the Equestrian Loop trail.

The road up to Talapus Lake trailhead is mostly clear of snow. We ended up driving up to about 1/2 mile from the trail head, which beats slogging 3 miles up a snow covered road.

The snow was very crusty and altogether missing in some spots lower down on the trail. Still plenty of snow after the first mile, though. We did see a couple groups out there with just boots, no snowshoes or crampons. However, with as much snow that is left and as soft as it is in places, I wouldn't have wanted to be in their shoes (pun intended).

Some interesting route finding led us straight up the face of Bandera and then over to catch the trail again. Say what you want about MSR snowshoes being noisy on crust (they are!), the Televator heel rest thingy is worth its weight in gold ascending the steep stuff. My calves are forever grateful for that purchase.

We stayed entirely on the west side of the creek and only went as far as Talapus Lk. Unfortunately, the ceiling today was about the same elevation as the lake (~3300') so there were really no views to be had and with the wind coming down from the saddle between Bandera and Pratt Mts, the lake wasn't all that pleasant to be at.

Good trip. No rain. We were up and back in a little less than 3 hours.

This trail is now my favorite long dayhike. I hiked the first eleven miles of this long trail that passes from The Brothers Wilderness Area in the Olympic National Forest and into the Olympic National Park with awesome old growth giants looming overhead and sheer rock walls bordering the rushing river. I suspect that this trail is incredibly busy during summer, so now is a good time to try it. The trail is in great shape all along the river, up the many switchbacks over Big Hump and to FiveMile Camp - testimony that it likely gets a lot of use. Beyond FiveMile, the trail gets less use, but takes one into much more beautiful territory. There are quite a few washouts between FiveMile and TenMile and one of them requires you to do a bit of searching to find where the trail continues, but none are too serious. A gorgeous river, rock cliffs, giant old trees, many great campsites and one fairly good aerobic workout on an exhausting 22 mile round tripper.

Did a loop hike going up West Tiger 3, over to West Tiger 2 and then down via connecting trail to TMT, and out via Lingering Loop Trail.

The day was misty and chilly on the summits of West Tiger 3 & 2 with limited views. The big surprise however was that the Lingering Loop Trail vanished at Dwight's Way and I took an alternate route down after looking for the Lingering Loop Trail.

The route was is good shape with no snow on the summits of W. Tiger 3 or 2. There is some blow down on the TMT but only minor. The blow down does not present any difficulties in navigation or hiking.

On reaching the bottom near a pond, found the start of the Lingering Loop. The trail is unsigned and only identifiable from reading a Green Trails Map. Well on another day will take the trail heading up to the TMT to see if it still exists.

I got to the trailhead at about 8:15 am. I had never hiked this trail and there was a pick-up in the parking lot sitting there, left for dead. The rain was coming down and it was very quiet. I was sort of spooked. This other pick-up comes cruising into the lot and then just spinds around and leaves. I figured any locals looking to steal my car would still be hung over so it was safe. Maybe I was just tired, but I still felt a bit uneasy heading down the trail alone. The trail is very scenic, level and pretty easy until the posted sign for Bridal Veil Falls and Lake Serene. I decided to head up to the falls and found many wood stairs put in place helpful and in good condition. There was a little snowfield to cross on one of the last switchbacks. The falls were way more majestic than I expected. A nice suprise. What a great spot to sit and contemplate the sign reading ""falling is deadly"" with a little stick figure heading off a cliff. Thanks for the reminder. I had heard this part of the hike was a tough little climb. Yes, but very short. After connecting back with the main trail I happily set off for Lake Serene. Passing the lower part of the falls at first is another impressive sight. (Watch for stick figure men falling from above.) Having never hiked this trail, I was suprised at the rigorous climb. The .5 mile hike to the falls is nothing compared to the 2 mile climb to the lake. The fog was thickening around me but the rain had pretty much stopped. There was quite a bit of snow heading toward the upper switchbacks. Then more snow, then at the very top, all snow. I hadn't expected this much snow and could barely see in front of me. I was glad to have brought poles. I stopped for a cliff bar and checked my watch. Standing alone on the snow I psyched myself out. I though maybe I had missed a turnoff or something. Where is this @$*!%! lake anyway? After looking back and forth a few times, I decided to head back. I figured that fog would keep me from seeing anything beyond 25 ft at the lake anyway. I saw about 8 people coming up the trail as I decended, and realized it was silly to have gone back down. Still - a beautiful trail and I'll go back as soon as possible to see the lake. I highly recommend this trail, but it is fairly rigorous for a while. Get there early, the parking lot was filling up when I left.

A buddy and I hiked into Domke Lake Saturday afternoon. It is a very serene lake this time of year, but I understand it gets a bit more used later in the summer. We hit knee-deep snow for the last 1/2 mile, but the camping area was clear. Sunday Morning, we summited Domke Peak, and attempted to follow the trail to the summit - through several deep snowfields. After reaching the first summit, we headed back down and returned to the Ferry.

The Duckabush 803 trail was a good choice for an early season backpack. A spring storm had left snow above 2,000 feet the week before, so finding a snow free backpack trail west of the Cascade Crest was difficult. The trail is in excellent condition. It's relatively free of large rock steps and tree roots. Earlier reports from the rangers indicated there were extensive blowdowns, but when we went through, there were at most only 3 small blowdowns. It looks like the trail crews had gone through and fixed things up quite nicely.

The trail climbs gently out of the parking lot to the top of the Little Hump, then descends to follow the river basin for a couple of miles. The trail then begins a steep ascent up the Big Hump, climbing close to 1,000 feet in a mile with a number of switchbacks. It's a good challenge for novices and a good conditioner for the more experienced hikers. The views from the trail are limited, with a couple of locations near the top of the Big Hump affording some views across the valley. After arriving at the top of the Big Hump, the trail drops back down to the valley floor. The first campsite next to the river is at about 6 miles. It's a great campsite and can hold a large group. Take nylon cord and a bear bag. We saw no critters and very few mosquitos. We encountered relatively few hikers out on the trail either on Saturday or Sunday. I imagine it will get more crowded as we get further into Spring.

My buddy Mud and I arrived at the trailhead about 3:00pm. The day was absolutely beautiful and we quickly shed a few layers of clothing donned our packs and made tracks. We left the trailhead and started out on the Mission Ridge trail. Trail conditions on this trail were great up until about 4000 ft when we started to get into some snow. There was about a mile and a half of trail that had patches of snow. Most of it wasn't bad but there were a few places where we repeatedly broke through the crust up to our knees. The snow slowed us down quite a bit as we were not well prepared for it. Camped on the ridge feeling a bit discouraged that we didn't make it to the Devil's Gulch trail and a fresh supply of water. At least there was snow to melt down into water. Hiking back on the Devils Gulch trail was sweet relief after the uphill trek through the snow the previous day. The trail had many water crossings none of which had bridges. Most were small enough to jump over but there was one where we scuttled across a fallen tree. Lots of blown down trees. These didn't really slow us down but they discouraged a couple of mountain bikers we talked to on the way out.

I've had a bad case of the spring fever so I prescribed a dayhike on the Elwha river trail. We hit the trailhead at a very liesurely 1:00 PM amidst blue sky, a pleasant breeze, and summer-like temperatures. The trail is in great shape, blowdowns have been cleared, no bugs, and hardly any muddy spots. The Elwha was running high and turquoise with the spring runoff. Lots of deer grazing in both upper and lower meadows at Humes ranch. We went as far as the Dodger point bridge to behold the turbulent waters of the Elwha's ""Grand Canyon"". Humes Ranch was so peaceful that we could have stayed longer but the throngs of youth coming down the trail toting boomboxes and gymbags (gee, I wonder what they had in those gymbags??) was a signal for us to move 'em out. If you've been hibernating all winter and want to get out for a nice spring walk to loosen up your legs, the Elwha trail is just the ticket.

Spring scrambling season in the Teanaway is officially open! On Saturday I set out for a solo climb up Iron Peak. I called the Cle Elum Ranger Station (509-674-4411)on Thursday and learned that the North Fork Teanaway Road was still blocked by snow before the Stafford Road. With a warm day forcast and a cool evening Friday, I set out early and was on the road/trail by 7:38. I could drive .8 miles beyond the end of pavement at 29 Pines Campgrounds. From here it is 8 miles to the summit of Iron. The elevation was 2800'. The summit is 6510'.

The cold night left the snow frozen solid. I made great time as my feet didn't even leave a mark in the ice. There are a few bare spots after Stafford but mostly the road is covered by 1 to 3 feet of snow. With warm Spring temperatures I would guess that 2 to 3 more weeks will leave the road bare to Beverly Campgrounds. I reached the Beverly Road intersection in 50 minutes. That 3 mile section had only about 400' of elevation gain. There is one tree across the road that will need to be cut. From the Beverly intersection the elevation gain began. 1 1/4 more miles and I reached the summer trailhead. Three feet of snow are still here. The foot bridge has nearly melted out leaving a 3 foot drop down and back up again.

Snowmobiles seem to have been able to drive across the narrow foot bridge as the snow is still well packed down up to Bean Creek. At the creek I had already covered 5 of the 8 miles but gained only 1200' of the 3700' total to the summit. The creek is still not very deep and the snow requires a 6' climb down to the water. All snow bridges are gone. I use light wet suit boots for Spring creek fords and I put them on here. With poles and the boots I had no trouble crossing the creek. On the far side I took off my poly pro bottoms and put on my snowshoes. From here up it was shorts and a short sleeve shirt. There was not a cloud in the sky and the temperature was rising rapidly. There was stil plenty of snow for the next densely forested section. In fact, with the hard snow I had only 3 or 4 postholes the whole day. Ideal conditions for a lone snowshoer.

After leaving the forest the route enters a more open basin. The creek was still roaring to my left as I climbed up the valley. The next obstacle is crossing Beverly Creek. In later Spring the snow bridges can be thin and a fall through is 5 to 10 feet into the creek. This day it was no problem. The bridge was at least 5 feet thick. The heavy snow allowed for an earlier creek crossing and a more direct approach to the summit ridge. From the creek it is about 1 mile and 1300' to the top. As I climbed up the trees became smaller and the views much larger. Behind me Volcanic Neck came into view. At the end of the valley Bill and Teanaway Peak were very impressive. Between them Mt. Stuart came into view. At 5900' the trees ended and the route steepened for the final push to the top. The east slope is heavily corniced at the top and care is needed to avoid them. Just north of the summit is a very steep slope with no cornices. I went straight up here. I carried an ice axe but it was easier to continue with snowshoes and poles. The last 600' took a long time. I'm not used to spending so long in the bright sun. Of course as I neared the top clouds began to drift in. By the ridge top the sun had vanished. I quickly hiked the last few hundred steps to the summit and pulled out the extra clothes. The views in April are spectacular. Rainier, Three Queens, Daniel, Hawkins, Esmerelda, Fortune, Ingalls, South Ingalls, Stuart, and the other Teanaway area peaks. I reached the summit at 12:03. I was surprised to find the summit register. The actual summit has at least 10 feet of snow on it. The wire connecting the register to the rocks stuck out above the snow.

After 45 minutes on top I headed down. Of course after I reached the creek the sun came back out. I was surprised that in the afternoon sun the snow was still firm. I sank only a few inches. The slog back was very long. I kept on the snowshoes until I reached the North Fork Road. I reached my car it 4:38, exactly 9 hours after leaving. I saw exactly zero people on the trip. What a great way to open up the Spring scrambling season! I have photos on my site at www.kuresman.com. Look under Trip Reports-2002.

This hike turned out to be a tad longer than I planned, some 18 miles. The trails taken were NW Timber, Preston RR, East Tiger, Silent Swamp.

The Silent Swamp Trail is an undiscovered treasure. The trailhead on Road 5500 easy to miss if you're approaching from uphill.

The Northwest Timber Trail is mostly clear of obstructions; only small nuisances and storm debris remain. The Preston Railroad Grade is mostly clear through 2350 feet elevation where the trail begins a traverse around the north slope of East Tiger Mountain. There are about 40 trees across the trail on the 1.2 mile traverse to the trail's junction with Road #4000. There is snow on the East Tiger Summit Road above 2700 feet and on Road #5500 between the junction with East Tiger Summit and 2620 feet elevation. Skunk cabbage, trillium and salmonberry are in flower. Sky was overcast with occasional misting.

Mike and I figured Si would be crowded so we hit Rattlesnake very early for a trip up to the East summit. We had expected to run into some snow but not at the elevation we did nor the amounts we saw. It was misting and raining lightly the whole way up. We made good time to the top of the ledges and ran into 2 people along the way, neither had gone to the East summit, both had stopped at the ledges. We took a break at the highest ledge (#3) and then started for the East summit. We ran into patches of snow right away and hit consolidated snow on the trail approx. 500' in elevation gain above the ledge area. We followed someone else's tracks up past the slash burn area but soon felt that the tracks did not lead the right way and with the depth of the snow in the area we could not find any of the flags that we have followed in the past so we blazed our own trail through the trees until we popped out on one of the many roads that run all over the top of Rattlesnake. The snow was about 2 feet deep but we were not sinking down that much. We proceeded up hill, making a couple of wrong turns along the way, each of us taking turns to break trail. At this point the rain and mist and fog was making visibility very limited. We backtracked at least twice and kept heading upward on a series of roads. We checked our compass and topo map so we knew we were headed in the right direction. The higher we got the deeper and softer the snow was. We were both post-holing quite a bit, down to our knees and someplaces to our hips in spots. Looking at the sides of the roads where the trees are I would estimate the snow depth at 4 feet easy if not deeper where it has drifted. Finally we topped out about 2.5 hours after starting. We usually hang around on top but with no views and the rain getting heavier we started back down since we were both soaked. We did not see any people until we got back to the ledge area. I would guess the snow will be on Rattlesnake for quite a while given the amounts we saw today. See you on the trail. SR

I got my wife to do some peak bagging. Surprising since she thinks the idea of hitting every highpoint with a name is stupid. We only had a few hours so we headed to Rattlesnake Mountain. By the time we arrived in North Bend, it was raining. Knowing I needed my wife to have a fun (dry) time, I turned around and went to the only place I could think of that would have nice weather. I bought a $3 map of the Cougar Mountain Trails a few months ago. I was interested in doing all the named summits that were given to each high point in this King County park. We parked at the Anti-Aircraft Peak Trailhead. Took the AA ridge trail to the Clay pit, then Mine Shaft trail (past the very cool mine shaft) to the area of Clay pit Peak 1560+. About 5 minutes of off trail tromping got us to the top. This was my new lowest peak climbed in Washington. We hiked back to the trail and soon found an old shortcut trail to the top of Wilderness Peak (1,595 ft). This peak was my new lowest peak that has a register! Next we hiked over and along the trail to Long View Peak (1,445 ft). Another nice little forested point, now the new lowest peak climbed. Finally, we took Fred's Railroad Tr. and AA ridge trail back to the parking lot. We also walked up the short distance to Anti-Aircraft Peak (1,483 ft.). We had a good time, stayed dry and got back in time for work.

With the recommendation of a friend and my map of the area in hand, we plotted a hike from the high school, up on Section Line to #3, then along the TMT to Fifteen mile Gap, briefly on One View to Poo Poo Point and back again.

Generally good conditions were found and an element of solitude, especially on the TMT. Which brings me to the point of this story. Someone had written of blowdown on the TMT north of #2. We were on the section running south of #2 in a generally SE direction. The first mile from Manning's Reach has blowdown after blowdown after... You get the point. Must have been that wind storm of a couple of weeks back, because it looks pretty fresh. Mostly small trees,yet some big ones too. Some a little difficult to get around on steep mossy hillsides. Saw one fellow carrying a machete who said he was going in to work on them (and leaving his cuttings right on the trail!). What is needed is a few bow saws, make that a half dozen, and the work will be done soon. Next person up bring along something and over time it should get taken care of! Thanks!!

Had an interesting late season ski off Swauk Pass. I was solo so I went to the Sno-Park with the intent of skiing up to Haney Meadow. There were a few snowmobile vehicles in the parking lot, but I did not encounter any machines. In fact, once I left the parking area there was not a person to be seen.

The conditions were spring corn snow and I was on klister and climbing really well. Shortly after I left the road for the last time I encountered a trail junction with a spur to Swauk Meadow, and shortly after that I came upon a group of cougar tracks and deer tracks. I continued on to the Tronson Road trail junction where the climb up the valley north of Diamond Head begins in earnest. At this junction I crossed two snowshoe track lines heading down. There were also an abundance of cougar tracks. These were quite fresh (they were totally un-melted even in the sun). The cougar seemed to have searched the area and sniffed out the snowshoe party quite thoroughly.

I was now faced with a mental barrier to progress. Out solo, with no humans nearby, entering heavy timber, and with a cougar clearly in the immediate area I was unhappy with my margins. I decided to retreat. I am interested in the opinions of others who are familiar with solo travel. I have been out like this for years and occasionally retreat, but a predator retreat is unusual.

Still had a great time, even though the day was quite a bit shorter than expected. The Blewett Pass/Swauk Pass area is melting out rapidly so plan to ski somewhere else.

cev

Intended to climb either Guye or Red from Commonwealth Basin. Unfortunately, the fog that we kept hoping would burn off never did. Reached the 4400' level of Red but lots of recent avalanche debris and inability to see much of anything turned us off of any ideas of continuing up.

We mistakenly assumed that there would have been enough melt-freeze to firm the snow up; bring snowshoes or skis!

Road has some pretty deep potholes; we lucked out with great weather; trail was good for the most part, but a few mud spots (crib steps that could really use some new gravel) and some downed trees forced us off the trail a few times; good boots are a must; found a flat, rocky beach about five miles in that was a perfect spot for the night (just past the wide, white bridge and a huge downed tree that covered the trail for ~20 yards); nice, quiet and private (no one really out yet); Lipton rice packs are an easy to make, tasty dinner :-); even with sleeping in, breakfast, packing up and the hike out, we were back at the trialhead by noon; great overnighter to start the season.

Happy hiking :-) -James

A WTA crew was out working on the first mile of the trail to remove the log steps and to cut around the old berms to flatten the trail out.

Segments of the trail have been washed out a couple miles from the TH and the segment just before the bridge is essentially gone from soil erosion.

The camps along the river are in good condition.

The trail after the last camp by the river up to the park boundary has numerous blowdowns. We cleared many of the small ones, but there are at least half a dozen big ones that are not easy to pass.

I hiked the North Fork Quinault to just past Trapper Cabin. The shelter has been propped up by large sections of the tree that nearly flattened it. The entire roof will need replacing, it is leaking badly. The trail follows the river and is seldom far from it. You can hear it, you usually cannot see it. Except at the start, it follows a somewhat steep canyon. Camping at Wolf Bar,Francis Creek has some small spaces and nearly was wiped out by the changing course creek but it does have bear wires and an outhouse,and a nice spot above Trapper Creek Shelter w/ outhouse.

I Stayed at Halfway House Camp, a river bar in still leafless alder, freshly covered with deep sand from the river.A very nice spot with a waterfall, a series of rapids, two sharp turns in the river's course through a very narrow canyon, and a whole bunch of freshly stacked rock cairns on the beach. (they seem to follow me everywhere)

There are plenty of blowdowns, none too hard to get around, three fairly new bridges made of steel and wood, Three Prune,Stalding, and Kimta. Good luck with Wild Rose Creek, it's a slippery trick, a slick wade, a high log you shouldn't be on. Patchy snow above Kimta, not too bad. I found two piles of elk bones. The best place to camp is across from Rustler Creek, with it's broad bench of sand, grass, alders, but I won't tell you how to find it.I did not see anyone else for three days, no rain, either.

Did I mention that the gate is now open? Go when you can.

I figured it was about time I got back to Bridal Veil Falls to correct the crappy pictures I currently have. After much speculation and trepedation that the creek wouldn't be high enough or would be too low, I started out around 2.

The trail looks like it had been worked on since I was there last (that doesn't say much since I hadn't hiked it for 3 years). Off the bat, there's the new bridge at the first stream crossing. A nice addition, but it would have been better had the bridge been ON the trail. There's currently a narrow muddy track that goes around a big tree to get to the bridge, and then a branch or two will slap you in the face if you're not careful.

Onward, the rest of the stream crossings were not a problem, and I hauled up the trail faster than I thought I would (being pretty out of shape). Met a few people along the way, much less crowded than I would have expected on a nice Friday afternoon.

Got to the base of the falls around 2:40, ate some lunch and proceeded to burn some film. The creek was lower than I expected for this time of the year, but it turned out to be the perfect water level for photography. No spray, low enough that I could walk on the rocky streambed at the base of the falls without getting wet, etc. Suggestion - those of you interested, find a rude boot path on the immediate left of the bridge that will take you right to the base of the main part of the lower falls. Standing there right in the middle of the pool (sort of) and gazing up 250+ feet at the falls, which are much wider than appears from the bridge, is worth the hike itself.

After eating and shooting, I went back to the spur to the middle falls, and re-aquainted myself with my sore feet. Those stairs are killer! There were a few snow patches in the open areas on the spur, one about 50 feet wide and possibly as much as 5-6 feet deep still, presented a moderate risk for postholing, but it should melt within a week or so. Would have been a wicked glissade <g>.

I spent a little time shooting the middle falls, then started down. Seemed like the walk down was longer than coming up. Maybe it was the jelly legs from doing those stairs. I would have contemplated going all the way to the lake, but after seeing the little snow there was on the falls spur, and me without my snowshoes, I opted to go get a burger at Zekes instead. Less tiring that way.

Then, for a final moment of what turned out to be a pretty good day, about a tenth of a mile from the parking lot, I spotted a Pica hopping down the trail. It just stayed on the trail almost like it was going back to it's car. Fortunately, it stopped long enough to let me take it's picture.

Took off on a gorgeous friday for my annual April day hike in the North Cascades. Wind damage from the recent windstorm was evident all along Rte. 20. Drove just before the closure to mp 130 and set off down the Thunder Creek trail. Patches of snow cover portions of the valley trail even at 1200 ft. Ironically, the trail up to the pass is virtually snow free (it faces the south) until a half mile or so before 4th of July camp, where the snow abruptly deepens and snowshoes are useful. Fortunately, two campers (hi Tom & Jessica) brought shoes and tramped down the snow for me so my postholing was minimal! Terrific views of Colonial, Snowking and the Neve glacier, which are absolutely buried in deep snow. The real problem was the significant damage left by the storm--i counted 48 blowdowns (several are real obstacles) across the trail. Will take a lot of work to clean up! Great early hike--im ready for a great season!

Hoping to reach MT Dickerman for some elevation gain, I found the road still closed at Deer Creek and not wanting to snowhoe four miles before starting my hike, I backtracked along the Mountain Loop Highway. I stopped at the Lake 22 trailhead and decided to give it a try, being a hike I'd never done.

Its a pretty little 6 mile round-trip hike with an elevation gain of around 1500 feet. Its a bit wet from the snowmelt, with a few old blowdowns that have been around for a while, but the trail is in quite good condition until you have gained about 1000 feet and are near the falls coming down from the lake. The snow, that has been patchy up to that point, becomes ubiquitous. And since it is warm and moist and melting rapidly, it becomes difficult walking from that point on up to the lake. Without snowshoes, I found myself sinking and sliding constantly and even with snowshoes, since the snow is getting so mushy, I slipped and fell numerous times. I'd recommend a trekking pole or walking stick for this last part of the jaunt. Perfect day for a hike!

Yawn, nothing like getting up at 2:45am to go out for a day of photography and hiking in the desert! Wanting more time to accomplish more and still be home by mid-afternoon I found myself rolling out of the driveway at 2:57pm enroute to my first stop of the day: Steamboat Rock State Park in the great Grand Coulee country. Even after some snow over the pass (it's almost May for goodness sake!) and stops at Indian John Hill and Ephrata, I was escorting myself up the sandy trail toward Steamboat Rock by 6:20am. What joy it felt like to look across the vast area of Steamboat Rock State Park at that hour and see no sign of life, even in the three lonely campers in the campground. Ahead of me was the massive ""island"" of a rock mountain that was left behind through all of the Great Missoula Floods, the sun was rising against it's green and brown lichen-covered rocks, and I was prepared to look over this huge area of The Grand Coulee...from on top! Down low along the rocks and cliffs arrowleaf balsamroot was blooming and the morning sunrise was making it really glow. Prairie star-flowers were carpeting the desert floor everywhere I hiked this day. The trail becomes very rough and steep the first 1/8 mile up through the slot in the cliffs, even becoming more of a scramble in two places. Upon reaching the middle ledge suddenly a carpet of sagebrush buttercups bombed the ground in all directions turning many areas a glow of yellow! Upon reaching the split in the trail I veered left to explore to the western end of the top of ""The Rock"" until I came to the edge which dropped off to the flatlands below. Through here it was obvious far fewer people come this direction as the path is really a sort of bash through the sage in places. Staying to the trail here is a fine and smart thing to do to protect the fragile ecosystem surrounding you. Here also the flowers really put on a show: bluebells growing under the large sage canopy of the desert, yellow-bells, large clumps of not yet blooming prairie lupines, and the true start of the day was the vast purple areas of desert shooting star! Wow! Just when was standing up from shooting underneath a lovely clump of shooting stars two female ringed-neck pheasants tore off away from the area I was encroaching on them. Scared the daylights outta me! Golden-crowned kinglets were singing a lively song in some shrubs along a rocky area--looked like squaw current shrubs to me. I hiked back after looking down into the waters of Banks Lake off the western end of the rock, and just as I took the eastern trail I was greeted with seven mule deer coming up the same trail area I had come up. They looked like they had enjoyed a night down low drinking and feeding, and now that it was the late hour of 8:00am decided to head up high to hide and rest for the day. I was lucky to have a large rock to hide behind and followed suit by shooting at least four of them...with an equivalent of 800mm of lens on the camera! They had to have known I was there due to their nervousness looking my direction, but it was the only way up so they hurried quickly and soon were gone. What a treat to be up there so early! I then roamed the eastern end of the rock for another hour before hiking back down to the day use area where I parked. I noticed large areas of death camas growing near the trailhead as well, then was on my way out to my second hike of the day by 9:20am. Next: Northrup Canyon.

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).