Started out as a great overnight hike over Big Hump. Patches of basically frost on the top. Looked like ""kelloggs frosted forest"". Beautiful. Snowed a bit on the top while I was going over, and throughout the night, but no accumulation. Total waste of 3-1/2 lbs of ice axe and crampons. Great views. Magnificent weather. Nearly absolute solitude. Spotted a cougar past Big Hump, 1,300 feet altitude, at a little over 5 miles. I was only about 60-80 feet away from it. It was napping on a corner of the trail. I spooked it and it took off straight up the hill (okay, I also fired a round at a stump to make sure it kept going!). I was way too tired to go back up the hump (the preferred direction of travel), so I continued on, keeping my eyes peeled. I had intended to camp at one of the campsites at 5.5 miles. I noticed a tent from a distance at that one of the sites, but there seemed to be something wrong with it; so I dropped down to check it out (I was going in that direction anyways). It was roped off. All of the little stuff was protected in plastic bags. The tent was flattened. A sleeping bag was on top, in the center, opened, and totally splattered with blood. I found a plastic wrapped note under a rock that read, ""please do not disturb this site, as we have a missing person"". What the '''' No indication of who wrote the note. No notices at the trail head. No nothing. No warning at all. If I had known, I never would have gone over the hump. No way I was going to camp anywhere near there! Not with a cat in the neighborhood! I went on to the next campsite at about 6 miles, and made a cold camp. No cooking, no fire, no nothing. Finally got something out of the MREs I always pack and never eat. Yuck! Believe it or not, I had a good nights sleep, and an eventless hike out the next morning. Didn't see any cats on the way out. I was hollering at every corner. Still wondering about the other guy.

trail in beautiful shape, nothing really to report about that. now the eerie part: at the campsite by the river 5 miles in we found an apparently abandoned camp. there was a tent, open and collapsed with everything inside soaking wet. stuff strewn around all over the place, including pack, food, clothes (lots of pairs of socks), flashlight (with dead batteries), axe, books, even a fishing rod. the permit was for a solo camper on 12-29 with no return date! that was two weeks ago! we were a bit concerned so we looked around more. the sleeping bag had several blood stains, and we noticed a bunch of bandaids and first aid stuff, some partly opened, among the scattered mess. it looks like the guy had gotten cut and attempted bandaging himself. there was also an herbal remedies book prominently out. back on the main trail we found a glow stick that matched an empty box at the camp. a lot of the camping gear appeared to be new and several items hadn't even been removed from their packages. my best guess as to what happened: a fairly inexperienced backpacker went out and bought a bunch of stuff, borrowed some gear (the name on the tent or pack -- i don't remember which -- did not match the permit), went out backpacking by himself, had some difficulties (e.g. the tent was not a winter tent, the sleeping bag wasn't waterproof), got hurt and fled in the night leaving his stuff so that he could make better time back. at least that's what i hoped happened. we took down all the information to contact the authorities. hopefully there is a non-tragic explanation for what happened.

To celebrate my birthday today the best thing I could think of was to take a hike. The Duckabush River Trail to Big Hump turned out to be a great choice for this season. Even the road to the trailhead was better than I had ever seen it. We wondered why only our side of the road was so smooth until we met up with the road grader who was coming down smoothing out the other side. Ours was the only car at the trailhead when we arrived, and later we saw one other couple who passed us as we had a snack by the river at 2.4 miles, and then two other couples on our return to the car. It's great to have this kind of solitude. The trail is in excellent shape all the way. There's no snow all the way to the top of Big Hump, and the views from our lunchspot there were very nice of the surrounding peaks, including St. Peter's Dome, which was lightly covered with snow on its upper slopes. It's about 3.8 miles to the top of Big Hump.

We hiked Duckabush to just past Big Hump (4.2 mi.). What a great day, especially for December 26. It was warm enough that we were in light shirts once we got warmed up, and the sun came out a few times along the trail. There is very little water on the trail, especially compared to what you see in spring hikes. No blow downs, no slides, and no snow as far as we could see. Of course, that could quickly change, and I am sure you would hit snow by the park boundary. The trailhead is at under 500 feet, which makes this a great winter hike.

The trail from Staircase to 1st Divide is in great shape, only two blow-downs on the trail. One above Slide Camp and the other below Two Bear Camp. Bear wires all in good shape. Still some wildflowers on the south slope of Mt. Hopper. Lots of butterflys, bees, but no mosquitos. Home Sweet Home is spectacular, even in late September. Only section of snow is three feet wide and very slick, located just before soggy area at bottom of climb to 1st divide. The crossing at Upper Duck is ankle deep and easy. The Duckabush had only two recent blow-downs, one above 10 Mile and the other below. Otherwise, the trail is in excellent shape. Colors are starting to show but have not peaked.