Big ol trail run. Started at the base of Snoqualmie East, up to the top of the ski area, traversed via the Nordic trails across to Central and West, jumped on the PCT and headed south past Lodge Lake & Olallie Meadow to Mirror Lake, up and over Tinkham Peak, across to Silver Peak, dropped down to the Iron Horse Trail, and went through the Hyak Tunnel back to Snoqualmie East to close the loop. My GPS watch tracked 22.75 mi over 7.5 hours.
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Started moving at 6:15 am. Wore trail runners, light fleece joggers, a light wool long-sleeve, a second long-sleeve which came off almost immediately, a neck gaiter, and a pair of fleece gloves. Brought poles but no spikes, which worked for me.
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No snow on the face of the ski areas anymore, though there's some in the trees in the Nordic trails above the downhill areas. Caught an eyeful of some wild scarlet alpenglow on Chair Peak and Granite Mountain around 7:00.
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PCT was uneventful until Olallie Meadow, where I saw my first snow on trail. Judging by the lack of footprints, I think the last person there was me a week ago. There were a bunch of people parked at the Silver Peak TH (NF-9070) so that road is still accessible. Snow got more present on trail as I went south towards Silver Peak/Mirror Lake until it entirely covered the trail, which made for a slippery run. The trail was well-tracked though, I had no issue following it.
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Mirror Lake is still entirely melted out and several groups were camping there. Refilled water at the lake. Passed a couple gents headed up to Tinkham, but I was breaking trail through shin-deep snow for the majority of the way up. Some exposed rock/heather along the way provided welcome breaks from snow. Gorgeous views at the top, and I found it was a much sunnier day than I had even hoped for.
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The traverse across Tinkham was miserable with several inches of snow, and the way down the NW side was worse. Downright dangerous tbh, easily the sketchiest hiking I've done all year. 0/10 would not recommend. Steep & slippery snow-covered loam most of the way, and high-exposure narrow trail at the top with ice-crusted snow covering it. I was (unsurprisingly) breaking trail, and I hope nobody takes my tracks to mean it's passable.
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Met a couple groups heading up to Silver Peak, vaguely following a trail, but it was well-buried under snow. I followed another two gents' tracks for a while, then overtook them and broke trail the rest of the way to the top. Jumped onto some bare scree for the final climb to the summit-- half the peak is snow-covered, the other half is exposed scree. Paused to call my partner at the top and let her know my run was taking longer than expected (T-Mobile has 5G up there).
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Dropped down to the Iron Horse Trail by way of a godawful snow-covered scree field and nearly broke my ankles several times. -3/10 would recommend even less than Tinkham from the NW. Bruised my shins busting through the ice crust on the way down. Saw the biggest mountain goat I've ever seen along the way (I initially thought it was an albino bear). Snow stopped around 4000'. Kept my eyes out for chanterelles in the trees but didn't see any.
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Booked it back through the Hyak Tunnel, which was hopping with people. I think this is the last weekend it'll be open for the year. Passed a group of cyclists wearing Halloween costumes, which was super spooky (I recall seeing a dinosaur, a shark, a Pikachu, and a bat). Followed the Iron Horse Trail past the parking lot, hung a right onto the residential streets, and swung around the Summit East lodge back to my car, finishing the run at 1:45 pm.
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