Our old guidebook (Cross-County Ski Tours: Washington's South Cascades and Olympics by Kirkendall and Spring) describes this trip as an option to the Mount Catherine Loop, but because the maps in that book are so difficult to read, we had never before figured out how to get to Nordic Pass. Thanks to better maps and a GPS we finally sorted out a viable route. We used Nordic backcountry skis for the trip.
We started from the Hyak Sno-Park at about 9:30. The Sno-Park was busy, but had plenty of parking space left. We skied up the groomed trail for about 1.25 mi, then took the short, ungroomed, signed cutoff before Mill Creek to get up to Forest Road 9070, which is part of the the groomed Snoqualmie Pass Nordic Center trail system. Heading left (southwest), Road 9070 is part of the common corridor on which backcountry travelers are allowed without a Nordic Center pass. (If you snowshoe this route, remember good groomed ski trail etiquette: snowshoe along the outer edge of the trail in single file without trampling the set tracks, and do not ever boot hike on the groomed trail.) The conditions on the groomed trails were spring-like, with increasingly mushy snow as the warm, sunny day progressed, but the snow pack is deep so skiing is still good. After about a mile on FS 9070, we turned uphill on Hidden Valley Trail, which is a steep slog in heavy backcountry skis. About 1.8 miles from the turn, we left the groomed trails, just before the Mill Creek crossing, and headed up the upper Mill Creek drainage for the ca. 2 mile route over Nordic Pass. There is no marked trail, and we initially second-guessed our route choice as we fought our way through dense second growth forest on slopes that are cut by many small drainages south of Mill Creek. Our plan was to head west to Frog Lake and then intersect Nordic Pass Trail. However, we found that Mill Creek was too deeply entrenched to cross, and so we stayed south of the creek all the way up to the head of the valley. Once we settled into our route, the forest opened up into a beautiful, open, old-growth glade. The grade was moderate and the deep springtime snow pack was consolidated, so trail breaking was easy, and skiing was pure joy. Shortly before Nordic Pass, after finally crossing the creek, we found two blue diamonds and then lost them. To our surprise, we did not see any other ski or snowshoe tracks. After lunch at Nordic Pass we headed pretty much straight west down some very steep slopes toward Windy Pass. Our route required a lot of descending traverses, kick turns, some side-slipping and side stepping. It was a little too steep and tree-covered for my beginner level telemark skills. We ended up in Olallie Meadow, about 0.5 mi north of the Mount Catherine summer trailhead at Windy Pass. The open, gentle slopes at Olallie Meadow were perfect for practicing a few tele turns. Once back on the groomed route at Windy Pass, we made the 6 mile descent to complete the route. By afternoon the trails were mushy, and the descent was slow. We were back at the car by about 3:15, logging 11.5 miles (plus a mile lap around Olallie Meadow).
This is a great trip with some route-finding challenges in the middle section across Nordic Pass. Next time we might try crossing Mill Creek on the groomed trail before heading west on the off-trail route. The beauty of the area is that if you have navigation skills and the snow is deep, you can choose a different adventure each time you go!
Comments
C P on Windy Pass - Mount Catherine Snowshoe, Nordic Pass - Hyak
Was this yesterday?, last week? Heading says today.
Posted by:
C P on Mar 28, 2021 01:11 PM
MoleskinAddict on Windy Pass - Mount Catherine Snowshoe, Nordic Pass - Hyak
It was yesterday (3/27/21). I'll correct the date in post.
Posted by:
MoleskinAddict on Mar 28, 2021 01:20 PM