Elevation Gain: Approximately 650 ft.
Time: 8:00 am - 12:30 pm
Weather: Cold, cloudy, sleet off and on turning to rain.
Today was the first hike of the season when I was intentionally looking for snow. I had this crazy plan of backpacking this weekend. I wanted to get a few friends to go out and cook a Thanksgiving feast in the backcountry, but it turns out most people want to spend the holiday with family. I normally am with family, but this year I convinced my mom to let me stay here in Washington, but I did promise I would not go out into the woods alone on Thanksgiving. I had a lovely holiday with a friend from work and his family, then I spent Friday resting and lounging around the house. I also planned a snowshoe trip for Saturday. The plan was to snowshoe to the top of Mount Catherine right off I-90 at Snoqualmie Pass. I checked the weather, the sunrise/sunset information, and directions. Sunrise was around 7:30 am, and according to Google Maps, it would take an hour and half. I was up, packed, and out the door at 6:20 am.
I reached the trailhead at 7:50 am and was geared up and walking by 8 am. At the end of the parking lot, the trail was covered with snow. I was walking in a light freezing rain, but I was warm fast. I stopped after about 15 minutes and delayered. I was walking again soon. I walked for about an hour, when I figured I had missed the turn of the road. I walked back and shortly found the blue blazes leading up to the other road. Soon after I got to the second road, I began seeing a lot of animal tracks. Mostly what I think was snowshoe hare, but it was still exciting.
Around 9:30 am, I hit the end of the cross-country ski tracks I had been following. It was obvious the road continued on, but the going was a lot slower. I was breaking fresh tracks in some deep snow. I came up on a sign for the Twin Lakes trailhead 2 miles up. I got to the trailhead at 10:30 am. This is where I turn and follow the road up to Windy Pass to get to the top of Mount Catherine, but I was tired. Breaking trail had me sweating like crazy. I decided to hike to the Twin Lakes and then turn around. As I moved off the road to the trail, I got caught in a deep snow drift. And as I was moving around trying to get loose, I began slipping down to my left, but my left foot was stuck. As I tried to move, I kept falling deeper in the snow to the left with my leg stuck. I started getting a bit nervous as the pain in my ankle and knee was quite sufficient. I actually screamed a little as I kept slipping. Finally, I don't know how, but the snow holding my left leg in place broke free. I slid down into a little creek but got up quickly.
I had to a work a bit, but I got back on to the trail and was moving to the lake. Unfortunately, the path to the lake was deeper snow than I had to deal with on the road. There were also creek crossings that were a little sketchy, like the one right by the road. I crossed three other creeks and was really tired. I looked around and I figured I had gone far enough for the first snowshoe outing of the winter. I began walking out.
Walking out was a tad faster, since I had footprints to follow. It was, however, colder. I passed two people on the road moving up to Windy pass. Once I got back to the main road, there were a ton of people playing in the snow near the parking lot. I was back at the car at 12:30 pm.
Orchid: Breaking fresh tracks with no one nearby.
Onion: Twisted knee and ankle.
Picture:
Google Map
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