Week 126 Jan. 27 - Little River, again

Total distance: Approximately 14 miles
Elevation Gain: 3500 feet
Time: 8:30 am - 4:00 pm
Weather: Overcast and cool.

I tried and failed again at reaching Hurricane Ridge from the Little River Trailhead.  I got lost in the same place again, so that's good.  But I think I need some map and compass, maybe a gps device or something, to find the trail in this one area.

I took Sean with me, and the two of us had a good time.  He is dealing with life, and I can only imagine  being 16 and dealing with all that stuff.  I told him before the hike that I will always walk the trails when my heart hurts, and it usually still hurts when I return.  It does get better, and for brief moments along the hike, I forget my troubles.  He and I spent a lot of the day in silence.  We talked when we needed too, but we enjoyed the wilderness and the silence this hike always seems to provide.  I have hiked this trail three times and each time only seen the other person I was hiking with.

Orchid: Working on the stuff in my head, with a future friend with me.

Onion: Losing the trail... again.

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Google Map

Week 125 Jan. 20 - Paradise

Total distance: Approximately 3 miles

Elevation Gain: 200 feet

Time: 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Weather: Sunny and warm, really warm.

My parents came up to see me from Oklahoma, and the weather report was for beautiful sunny weather the whole time.  Then a fog rolled in earlier in the week and stayed in the lowlands and created an inversion zone.  So down in Tacoma the weather was gray, cloudy, and a cool 38°F, and up at 5000 feet it was sunny, clear, and a warm 55°F.  We spent Sunday afternoon walking around the Paradise area.  We got up a little bit, and we got great views of Mt. Rainier.  We didn't do much, and I wasn't sure my dad enjoyed it.  My mom did.  We stayed the night down in Longmire at the National Park Inn.  It was my favorite part of their visit.

Orchid: Sharing the sacred mountain with my mom and dad.

Onion: No onion.

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Google Map

Week 124 Jan. 13 - Panorama Point and Mazama Ridge

Total distance: Approximately 8 miles
Elevation Gain: 2000 feet
Time: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Weather: Sunny, cool, and windy.

Last week I was up at Paradise. We had some great times, but not the greatest weather.  I mentioned my previous 2 Januarys with incredible weather days.  Well, I guess last week was a week early.  Today was the amazing weather day up at Paradise.  A senior at my school Fritz, who I taught as a freshman and as a junior, asked if we could go on a hike over winter break.  I said yes, but forgot when I agreed to go with teachers last week.  He was generous enough to not mind, and he agreed that this weekend would be fine.  It was the better weather, and we had an amazing day.

Fritz is a great guy, and he has an amazing mom.  It is one of those families that I love, and one that has gotten to know me and knows where my priorities fall. Despite being human, some people have some insane demands of teachers.  I always appreciate the families that allow me to be myself.  Fritz was always a student I could rely on, and we always had a great relationship.  He and I have never hiked together though. As a matter of fact, I never really asked him directly to join me.  I knew he was a fisherman, but I never knew his passion for catching good views with his camera.  I borrowed a pair of snowshoes from a friend and asked if he wanted to go to Rainier or to the Olympics.  He opted for Rainier, and I am so glad he did.

We met up at 7:15, and we were up at paradise by 9:45 am.  We had to chain up at Longmire, but my old Subaru made the journey just fine.  I had not packed my pack in the morning, I just simply threw all the gear into a Rubbermaid® container.  By the time I was packed and geared up, it was 10 am.  It was in gearing up that I noticed I left my camera at home.  Fritz suggested my cell phone in airplane mode would have to suffice.  We took off up to Panorama Point.  We had such sunny weather we were both rocking sunglasses.  I had my glacier goggles on which always make me feel like a badass.  We climbed at a decent pace up some pretty steep slopes stopping occasionally to catch our breath, both from the snowshoeing and the breath-taking views.  We snapped quite a few photos and kept remarking about the exceptional day ahead of us.  After a good two hours of climbing, we had come to a rock cairn and no one else was around.  We soaked in the views to the south.  The Tatoosh Range, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens, and even Mt. Hood were all shining in the bright January sun.  This is always one of my favorite views.

We drank hot chocolate and hot cider, then we decided to go down to Mazama Ridge and catch the Fourth Crossings Trail down to the road.  We then took the road back to the parking lot.  The snow was an exceptionally dry powder for Washington.  It was fluffy and dry.  I could not get over how wonderful the conditions were.  We glissaded when we could, we stopped for photos, we marveled at the skiers tracks, we enjoyed some meaningful chats, and we were done too soon.  We were back at the car by 3ish, and made the journey back to Tacoma in style, stopping for coffee, then for a Mexican food dinner.

Orchid: First hike with a future friend.

Onion: My face got a little too much sun, but it isn't burned.  It actually feels good right now.

Picture:

Google Map

Week 123 Jan. 6 - Reflection Lake and Mazama Ridge

Total distance: Approximately 8 miles
Elevation Gain: 1500 feet
Time: 10:00 am - 3:30 pm
Weather: Overcast, cool, breezy.

I went out today, that's right, I am blogging about this hike the day it happened.  It has been awhile since I did that and for no real reason other than procrastination and busyness.  It is a New Year, and with the new year comes renewed hope for the future.  The future of all things seems so open and new. I have made 11 resolutions so far, and I am looking for 2 more to round the list out at 13.  I have spoken about trying to blog the night I return from a hike as being one of my "hiking" resolutions.  Either way, I am writing about a hike I did today.

Diane, my friend that goes to the desert with Creighton and me, texted earlier this week with the idea to hike on Sunday.  She mentioned Paradise.  I sent out an email invite and had two more takers.  It has now happened three Januarys in a row.  I have found myself snowshoeing on Mazama Ridge, and usually stopping by Reflection Lakes.  This was the first time in those three Januarys when the visibility wasn't as great.  Just look at the photos from Week 21 and Week 71.

Since visibility was limited up high, we took the low route to Reflection Lake.  We skirted around the Barn Flats on the well worn snow.  We took the route through the trees, following the signs and pole markers.  It was a bit of a climb, but I had been doing a decent job managing layers.  We hadn't seen anyone yet, and as we climbed we came across a cross country skier.  We passed him and were soon at the lake, about an hour and a half after leaving the car.  There were three people across the lake, we followed previous track over to the north lake shore and stamped out a landing pad to eat lunch, stare at the Tatoosh Mountains peaking through the clouds, and enjoy a hot beverage.  Great company, good snacks, and a quiet serene scene.  We took off for the car with a plan to go up on Mazama Ridge and come back down the Fourth Crossing Trail.

The climb up the ridge was a great.  It was a bit of work too.  Climbing, combined with some trail breaking has certainly made these legs of mine a tad sore from the chore.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  Diane was entirely enthused; she said she hadn't been able to get out and hike at all this Winter Break.  We had so much fu, we missed the trail down to the road.  While the distance we continued past the turn wasn't great, the elevation we gained unnecessarily was hard.  I enjoyed it, but it was tough.  As we climbed visibility was very low, the wind picked up, and the nervous feeling of a complete whiteout was looming.

Thankfully Diane felt off about the trail and said let's turn around.  Conditions quickly improved.  We found the trail heading down minutes later.  We made quick work of all the down hill and were back on the road in a flash.  Sooner than I wanted, we were done with the hike.

Orchid: Bombing downhill to the road.

Onion: The brief panic of not knowing where we were.

Picture:

Google Map

Week 122 Jan. 1 - Putah Creek

Total distance: Approximately 4 miles

Elevation Gain: 200 feet

Time: 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Weather: Sunny and cold.

This is the first week I am counting even though the hike was not on the "weekend."  There are a few hikes where I counted a Friday hike or a Monday hike.  The one Friday hike, I actually hiked on the weekend too, but I got sick that night and never blogged about the hike on the weekend.  It was earlier in the streak (actually about 2 years ago exactly).  Then almost a year later I counted a Monday hike because the holidays were Saturday and Sunday.  But this last week I hiked on Tuesday.

I was in California for the holidays visiting my friend Matt and his lovely family.  Matt actually started this whole thing back in September 2010.  We had a great hike planned earlier in the week for Monday.  I was totally fine with counting it because of all the holiday time and travel stuff.  Well then came the crazy intestinal bug his son got, followed hours later by his wife, then me, then Matt. Monday was recovery.  Tuesday, we felt normal enough to do something.

We biked 5 miles to a trailhead, hiked about 4 miles along Putah Creek (the same creek I was at about a year earlier, but lower in the valley), and biked back home another 5 miles.  It was a lovely hike, and it was nice to hike on jeans and tennis shoes again.

Orchid: Hiking with my best friend.

Onion: Knowing I was leaving the next day.  And really needing a bathroom for 3/4 of the hike.

Picture:

Google Map