Nosh Nosh Wahtum, Cathedral Rock — Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016

Snoqualmie Region > Salmon La Sac/Teanaway

With the heavy precipitation expected over the next couple of days, this may have been my last higher Cascades for the year. Sigh. But I am grateful to have been able to get this one done. I've been up to Squaw Lake before but I never went farther up to get a view of Cathedral Rock. Quite an impressive hunk of rock. I didn't go all the way to the base as I wasn't sure how well I would be able to see it and also the front of the system was just beginning to pass overhead with a raindrop here and there. The trail was rather wet and muddy in places due to the last small system that went through a couple of days ago. The higher up, the more mud. Almost all of it was easily hopped by or around without any real mushiness except for a few places which required some careful footing. The snow on the ground from the previous showers started around the lake and kept getting more pronounced the higher up I went (well, no, duh! lol). Easy to walk through--easier than the mud. There was notable frost/ice along the trail for most of the length in numerous places. I was worried about more forming after nightfall as I was probably going to be coming down 1-2 hours after sunset. In actuality, as I was heading up close to sunset I was noticing the temperature dropping (it was still clear) but when the system moved in it seemed to halt the drop so I never had to deal with additional frost/ice. Ah, the insulation of water vapor. I didn't have to deal with any more ice going down than I did going up. The road, though, I don't think I ever want to try to imagine what it's going to be like next spring. Pothole city, puddles everywhere (some kinda deep) and some over the entire road. I think it's about a 10 mile distance from Salmon La Sac and I could only go about 10-15 for the length of it. All in all, nothing else to report other than after this system goes through it's probably not going to be a good idea attempting to hike the higher elevations. Best to wait for good snowfall for shoeing or skiing.