Week 14 Dec. 05 - Green Mountain

Total Distance: Approximately 5 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 1000 ft.
Time: 10:10 am - 2:00 pm
Weather: Cold, sunny, mostly cloudy skies.

Set out this morning with 3 kids, a colleague, and her 2-year old puppy.  The original plan on Monday was to try and find a place to go snowshoeing, but with final exams looming the club decided on a low elevation hike close to home.  Took about an hour to get to the trailhead, where we met up with another student who lived close enough to just meet us there.

We hit the trail right at 10:10 and began a slow climb along Gold Creek.  The area was described on wta.org as a working forest.  The trail did have some open areas, but there were some pretty woody areas, and I really liked the hike.  As we climbed to the top, there were intermittent views of the Olympics to the west.  I was dressed in so many layers, that I spent much of the time on the way up cursing my choice for long underwear bottoms.  We got to a parking lot only 0.4 miles from the Green Mountain vista.  I guess the road is closed in the winter.  As we stopped to snack here, we got cold.  The wind was blowing, and we only sat for a few minutes.

As we reached the top, the vista was awesome.  The views of the Olympics and the Cascades at the top of Green Mountain were too spectacular to be caught by my camera, but I still tried.  Looking back east, you could see the City of Seattle so clearly, with the foothills of the Cascades reaching towards the Sound.  The low cloud cover prevented views of Rainier.  As we hiked down along the Plummer trail, the views of the Olympics were great.  I wish the clouds would have lifted completely, but the snow covered Olympics still came through.  It felt as if the mountains were taunting me to come visit.  I love the time I have spent in the Olympics, but it has not been nearly enough to fully appreciate their beauty and majesty.

On the way out, two of the boys wanted to take a polar bear dip into the Gold Creek.  I passed, although it looked like fun.  Great kids, great hike, and good fun.  I was really excited for this hike.  Last week marked a quarter of a year spent hiking on the weekends.  I was well aware I was moving into the second half of the first half.  There are only 12 more weeks until I will have made it half a year hiking every weekend.  Let's hope my body holds up.

Orchid: Views of the Olympics.

Onion: No onion, maybe the hike being too short :)

Picture:

Google Map