Week 33 Apr. 16 - Heather Lake

Total Distance: 4.3 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 1533 ft. 
Time: 10:50 am - 2:00 pm 
Weather: Overcast, cool, rain off and on turning to snow as I climbed to Heather Lake. 

This week took me further north than any other week.  I was staying with a friend in her Marysville beach home Friday night, and I took it as an opportunity to hike in the North Cascades.  I had picked out three potential hikes for this weekend all in the same area, two were at the same trailhead, but lately I have had trouble choosing my hike until the last minute.  This morning was one of those tough mornings to get out of bed and go hiking.  I stayed up late talking with my friend, and when I finally went to bed I was exhausted.  My alarms starting going off, and it felt like I had only been asleep for a few minutes.  My bed was warm, and I laid in bed hearing the rain pound on the roof above. Unfortunately I did the predictable, I went back to sleep.  After the weeks I have had lately, sleeping in was well deserved.  My friend also cooked me a delicious breakfast of poached eggs on toast, a caloric cache of energy I would need wherever I went.

Getting a later start than I wanted, I got to the Heather Lake trailhead around 10:45 am.  This is the same trailhead for a winter climb of Mt. Pilchuck.  Both hikes are in my snowshoe book, and with chaperoning prom tonight, I thought the shorter hike would be better.  Learning the lesson from the Green Lake hike on Wednesday of this week, I put on my gaiters and clipped my snowshoes to my pack.  Right as I got going I bumped into two men on their way out, and I asked if they made it to the lake.  They said they got close, but the were falling so deep into snow drifts they couldn't make it.  I asked if snowshoes would do the trick, they confirmed I had everything I needed.

I took off into a young forest.  It was obvious this was second growth.  The trees were tall and skinny, and huge tree stumps littered the forest floor.  The trail was covered with running water, as both the rain continued, and the snow is beginning to melt with the warmer weather.  My boot/gaiter combo was up for any puddle as I walked at quite a clip up the valley.  Soon I came across another four hikers walking out.  They too were forced to turn around since the snow was just too deep to walk through without help.  As I climbed, the trail became completely covered with snow.  Eventually, the snow on the trail was too slick to keep fighting with it, and I put on my snowshoes.  This made the hiking so much easier.  I stepped off to the side of the trail and broke fresh tracks next to the deep footprints of the previous hikers.

As I walked on, I found myself surrounded by much larger trees than those I first saw below the snow line.  It was clear to me that I was hiking in the Old Growth forest of the Pacific Northwest.  These fellow living organisms are breathtaking.  Many stretch higher than 200 feet into the heavens. I imagine it would take several people to stretch their arms around the base of these massive trees.  Daydreaming about the forest, I found myself looking up the valley with no footprints left to follow.  I made my way through the trees, breaking fresh tracks in snow that would have easily swallowed me whole without my snowshoes.  Then over a snowdrift, I could see the clearing of Heather Lake.

I was the first visitor today.  I climbed up a small hill overlooking the lake.  I stomped out a place to sit.  Put down my insulated pad, and bundled up as the clouds were swarming into the lake basin.  While eating my lunch, it began to snow.  I enjoyed the silence and beauty of an undisturbed, snow-covered lake.  Then, I heard a loud crack.  Startled, I looked up, and I could see an avalanche falling on the far side of the lake.  It was absolutely beautiful and frightening.  After about 30 minutes, I packed up.  On my way out, I turned around and some of the clouds and mist lifted for me to see the bottom of the ridge that makes Mt. Pilchuck above.

Less than five minutes, after leaving I saw four hikers making their way following my tracks.  They were all in their boots and were having a tough go.  My tracks helped a little, but it wasn't great.  I continued on, and passed what seemed like a parade of hikers, a few prepared, many in jeans and tennis shoes.  It isn't quite jeans hiking weather.  I don't know if they all made it, but I learned earlier this week Until June or July if you are gaining elevation bring your snowshoes.  If you don't use them, they aren't that heavy to carry.

Orchid: Lunch at the lake.

Onion: Finding several orange peels n my hike out. I picked up all I saw, but I am sure I missed some...

Picture:

Google Map, GPS Track

Week 32.5 Apr.13 - Green Lake

Total Distance: Approximately 8 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 1400 ft. 
Time: 4:50 pm - 9:05 pm 
Weather: Overcast, cool, rainy then turning to snow as the evening came.

This was a totally crazy hike.

First, I hike mostly on the weekends, since I have a job that requires a lot of work in the week.  For those of you who know me, or have read most of the blog entries, you know I teach high school math.  My weeks are pretty busy, so I normally hike on Saturday or Sunday.  That's the goal anyway, to hike every weekend for a year.  There have been some circumstances, Christmas for example, that had a few hikes fall on Friday or Monday.  One hike, week 18, was a Thursday because I wanted to count the hike with one of my best friends from high school.  For the record, I still hiked that weekend too, i just didn't blog about it.

This hike, however, was totally inspired by my best friend at work.  He has been on a lot of these hikes with me.  He was a co-leader in Dark Canyon, he went to Blanka Lake in week 4, he took me out to Big Heart Lake for the second hike in week 2, and he was my friend that spent a few nights in the hospital three weeks ago.

As part of his recovery, he has been hiking a bit, and he came up to me Tuesday at work and said, "let me pick up up tomorrow morning, and we will go straight to the Carbon River Ranger Station in Mount Rainier and go for a hike." I was definitely excited by the possibility but worried about the time.  He convinced me that it was only an hour away, and we could easily get a good hike in before dark, now that the days are getting longer.

True to his word, he picked me up this morning for work.  We loaded the car with our gear.  I brought a change of clothes to school, and right at 3:30 pm, we were on our way to the trailhead.  With traffic, we did not get there until about 4:45 pm.  We geared up, as started walking.  Now the Ranger Station at Carbon River used to be an entrance to the park, but back in 2006 the road past here was washed out.  As a result, you can no longer drive past the ranger station.  We began our walk on the old road.  We walked a good 2 miles, when we came to the Green Lake Trailhead.  The little sign said Green Lake was 1.8 miles away.  It was 6:00 pm.  We decided to go for it.  

As we got off the road and on to the trail, I was immediately happy to be hiking on a Wednesday.  The trail was gaining elevation bit by bit, and eventually we were seeing snow in the forest around us.  As we kept moving up, snow would be in small patches on the trail.  Then there would be long stretches of snow.  There was a little amount of snow at first, but as the trail climbed, the snow got deeper. Forty-five minutes from the Green Lake trailhead, the snow was pretty deep.  We made due, and reached the lake at 7:10 pm.  

It was beautiful.  The clouds began to part; blue sky and sunshine broke through while we stood there.  We had a small snack and started our walk out.  We were at the road by 8, and back at the car by 9.  Around 8:30 pm, it was too dark to keep walking without our head lamps.  We put them on and finished our hike in the dark.

Orchid: Amazing, magical, wonderful midweek hike.

Onion: I didn't wear gaiters... socks were soaking wet.

Picture:

Google Map

Week 32 Apr. 9 - Hurricane Hill, again

Total Distance: Approximately 6.6 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 2,187 ft. 
Time: 11:30 am - 3:15 pm 
Weather: Cold and sunny in the morning turning to mostly cloudy skies in the afternoon.

For you loyal readers, yes, I have done this snowshoe trip before, back in week 19. When I was there earlier, the conditions were a near white out in the morning, and it cleared up slightly in the afternoon.  I knew this hike was special for its views of the Olympics.  I am not one to complain about the weather I get, but I vowed to do this hike again when the weather forecast was for clear skies.  Hurricane Hill is about 3 miles from the Hurricane Ridge Visitor's Center in Olympic National Park.  The road to get there is a turn of highway 101 in Port Angeles.  And both times I was driving to Cape Alava for the overnight trips in weeks 27 and 29, I could see the blue skies above Hurricane Ridge, and I would day dream of snow shoeing up there again.  The last two days of this week were amazing, in terms of weather, and I knew Saturday was a better forecast than Sunday.  I had three other hikes I was considering Friday evening, but I decided this was the week I would go back to Hurricane Hill.

I actually got out of bed this morning and was packed and out the door by 8:45 am.  I was in Port Angeles by 10:45 am, and I was up in the Hurricane Ridge parking lot by 11:15 am.  I checked in at the ranger station, required for all snowshoers and cross-country skiers going out to the hill, and went back to the car to gear up.  The weather was sunny and spectacular at the ridge.  I had to put on sunglasses, and I could barely see the screen of my camera or cell phone with all the glare.  I was walking by 11:30 am, and I remembered to set up my cell phone to record the GPS track.

The walk starts simply enough on a road, although the road is covered with snow.  I passed a few snowshoers who were also heading out to the hill.  I even passed a few skiers and snowshoers on their way out.  All in all, I saw about 6 people, and I was psyching myself up for a crowded trail.  I love seeing people out enjoying the natural world, but there is something about having it all to yourself that is extra-special.  After about 30 minutes, I was past the road and on the trail.  I was following snowshoe footprints of previous hikers, but I could easily step of to the side and make my own tracks when I felt like it.  As I walked up the ridge to the top of the hill, I would stop periodically to look around at the Olympics.  The views of the peaks and valleys were magical.  I know photos can convey some of the beauty, but it does not even compare to what it looks like in person.  I am also prejudice to the Olympic Mountain range.  They are not the tallest peaks by any means, Mount Olympus does not even exceed 8000 ft.  There is something about them that touches my very soul.  I have been on a few trips within the boundaries of the park, but it seems like those trips have been more special than any of the other trips I have taken.

As I continued up, I noticed the other people I passed were not catching me.  I kept walking up, but after a solid hour of hiking, only stopping for photos, I decided to eat a snack.  I took a long break, drinking a lot of water and eating but still no one was in sight.  I continued on the trail, and was at the top of Hurricane Hill by 1:00 pm.  It was windy and cold up at the top.  I used my snowshoes to pat down a big area, laid my rain jacket out, bundled up, and sat to eat my lunch.  I also pulled out a thermos of hot coffee.  I had poured this at 8:15 am, and it was still hot when I drank it almost 5 hours later.  While eating lunch and drinking coffee, my cell phone dinged with a text message.  I went to check it, and sure enough I had 5 bars of 3G coverage.  If I was a Verizon customer, this would be normal, but I use AT&T.  Unable to resist the temptation, I updated facebook, and checked-in at Hurricane Hill.

After about 35 minutes, I was too cold to stay seated, and I took off down the hill.  I was burning up in a matter of minutes.  I took some layers off and continued to walk out.  Around 2:15 pm, I met a group of 5 people, people I did not see on my way out, and they were heading to the top.  Two of the five were former park rangers.  We had a great chat, and they were some really nice people.  I continued on, and did not see anyone else until I was back on the road.  By 3:15 pm, I was back at the Hurricane Ridge Visitor's Center.  It was definitely worth the trip back.

Orchid: Hot coffee on top of the hill.

Onion: Facebook in the backcountry, wish I could have resisted.

Picture:

Google Map

Week 31 Apr. 1 - Dosewallips State Park

Total Distance: Approximately 3.5 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 1000 ft. 
Time: 11:30 am - 1:30 pm 
Weather: Overcast, cool, rainy, and wet.

First things first, if you do not live in Washington state, and even if you do, the name of this state park is pronounced "DOH-si-wall-ups." I know I could not say it until I heard it pronounced for the first time.  According to wikipedia, the name comes from a Twana Indian myth about a man who was turned into a mountain at the source of the Dosewallips River.  The river runs east out of Olympic National Parkand drains into the Hood Canal.  Where the river meets the ocean, Washington state has established a 425 acre park.

As with many of my hikes, I used the Washington Trails Association hike finder to discover this place.  I was looking for a relatively short hike with minimal elevation gain because I was hiking with my mom and dad this weekend.  I am on spring break, and my parents came up to visit.  I was so happy to have them up here, since they live in Oklahoma and have not been to Tacoma for about 3 years.  I was also excited that since they were here over the weekend, they were going on a hike with me.

We hit the road at 9:30 am and were at the park by 11:30 am.  It was only about 20 minutes north of where I was the week before and it was right off Highway 101.  We got geared up in the parking lot and hit the trail.  We walked up the south side of the Dosewallips River for the first quarter mile.  We walked past a creek or two then started slowly climbing in elevation.  We took a little break near the top of the hill, then kept walking.  My mom kept a good pace as the leader, and my dad wanted to stay in the back.  This left me in the middle, enjoying the walk with my parents in the woods.  We only took the one break, and before I knew it we were back in the parking lot.

The hike was a great length for my mom and dad, and they seemed to really enjoy it.  I know I did.  In the last 31 weeks, I have hiked with all four members of my immediate family, my sister-in-law, my two best friends from high school, my best friend from work, an old girlfriend from college, and countless other great people.

Orchid: Hiking with my mom and dad.

Onion: The non-stop rain.

Picture:

Google Map

Week 30 Mar. 27 - Lower Lena Lake and the Valley of Silent Men

Total Distance: Approximately 8.0 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 2000 ft. 
Time: 10:30 am - 2:30 pm 
Weather: Overcast. Rainy at low elevation, wet slushy snow at higher elevations.

It took me a long time to decide what hike I wanted to do this weekend.  I usually have an idea mid-week, but this week had a variety of challenges.  Not to go into too much detail, but in addition to the week before Spring Break at school and house-sitting/dog-sitting for friends, a good friend of mine spent two nights in the hospital.  He is actually the good hiking buddy from work who goes on most of these hikes with me.  The good news, my friend is back to normal and he is out of the hospital, but the bad news, he will not be hiking with me for a few weeks.  While visiting him Thursday night, a friend of his that was there was telling me about good hikes in the lower part of the Olympic National Forest.  She mentioned the Lena Lakes, and a quick look in my snowshoeing book had a good little hike description for the lower lake and the valley above to the north.

I got up early enough, got some food, filled the tank up, and was on the road by 8:40 am.  I made it to the trailhead by 10:20 am.  I got out and was doing all the little things I do when I get to a trailhead now. I took off my house shoes and put on my rain pants, boots, and gaiters.  There were 3 people hanging around their car with big packs, and being the chatty person that I am, I began talking with them.  They were waiting on the other 6 hikers that were in their party that camped out the night before.  I was asking some questions like, "will I need my snowshoes," or, "how long does it take to get to Lower Lena Lake?"  Got my answers (yes and about 1 and half or 2 hours), then gathered my pack and hit the trail.  

I guess it was about 15 minutes into the hike, I realized I forgot my camera.  Luckily, I had my phone recording the gps track, so I could use my phone for a few pictures.  Bummer though, because my camera takes much better pictures, and I usually take more with my camera.  The hike was good, a lot of switchbacks and uphill walking.  I enjoy hiking by myself more than I ever thought I would before I began this commitment.  I did pass a few people coming down, but I have started to notice that when I am walking in the woods my mind will actually stop for these brief moments.  I just am thinking about my next step, the trail ahead of me, or the beauty around me.  There are times when I am literally not thinking about anything else except the moment I am in.  It is these moments I crave, moments when I am only focused on the present.  

Around 11:20 am, I starting hitting patches of snow on the trail.  I could keep walking in boots through these, and I kept waiting to put on my snowshoes.  After a solid hour and a half without stopping, I got to the lake, still having not needed to put snowshoes on.  I was immediately struck by the beauty of the lake while the snow was falling.  I took a few pictures, but cell phone cameras never capture landscapes well.  Rarely do digital cameras do nature justice, but it is a little better.  I walked around the west edge of the lake crossed over to the north end, and continued up the trail towards "The Brothers."  The Brothers is a pair of peaks about 6800 ft tall.  I was not going to summit, but I did walk up the trail as if I were, and this took me into the Valley of Silent Men.  Walked for about 45 minutes, and got stuck in a dead end.  I saw the trail on the other side of the river, and I went to backtrack to find the fork.  I found the fork in about 2 minutes, but I decided to head out.  

I was back at Lena Lake around 1 pm.  I ate lunch, took another picture, and began walking back to the car.  I was in the parking lot at 2:30 pm.

Orchid: Seeing the Lake for the first time.

Onion: Not needing my snowshoes.

Picture:

Google Map

Week 29 Mar. 19 & 20 - Cape Alava, again

Total Distance: Approximately 7.0 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 500 ft. 
Time: 11:30 am Sat. - 12:00 pm Sun.
Weather: Mostly cloudy with rain off and on Saturday.  Beautiful sunny morning on Sunday.

Yes, I did the same trip this weekend that I did two weeks ago.  The only difference was I had one of my best friends from high school with me.  It was the same friend that got me to go on a hike 29 weeks ago right before he flew out.  This last weekend, he was coming up to start his spring break.  The options were for either us to hang out at my house, but I suggested we go camp out overnight somewhere.  When I was describing the overnighter I did two weeks ago, he said "let's go there." 

He flew in late Friday night, we went to the store, packed our packs, loaded the car, and were asleep by midnight with our alarms set for an early departure.  Woke up and hit the road, we were in Port Angeles by 8:30 am and had a delicious breakfast at Traylor's. After breakfast, we went and picked up our permit, and by 9:30 am, we were back on the road.

We got to the trail head at 11:30 am.  The hike was great.  We were moving the whole time, and my friend was enjoying the beauty of the forest.  We were on the beach by 1:00 pm, right as the high tide was hitting the beach.  While I was here two weeks ago, I did not remember the tide getting as high.  It was pounding the drift wood right near the campsites.  After watching the waves for a bit, we got camp set up and took two hour nap.

We got up and walked south down to Wedding Rocks.  There were lots of people around on the beach.  There were groups of high school age kids and a big group of boy scouts.  We climbed up on the big rock and had a good snack break.  We walked around and found what we think were some of the petroglyphs in the area.  We walked back north and continued past camp.  I did not head far in this direction two weeks ago, so it was really nice to see different parts of the coast.  Just north of the border of of the National Park and the Ozette Indian Reservation, the coast opens up to this cove where the vastness of the ocean stretches to the north and parts of Canada were visible.

We go back to camp around 5:30 pm and fixed dinner.  Right around the time dinner was ready, and we were getting our campfire going, it started raining. We fought the rain for the next few hours.  Luckily it wasn't a very hard rain, but it did require us to work hard for our fire.  Around 9 pm, the rain stopped, and we stayed up to await the full moon that was closer than any other in the last twenty years.

Finally saw the moon, but it was behind the clouds.  We got in the tent around 10:15 pm, and I think I was asleep in less than 5 minutes.  We got up around 9:15 am and fixed breakfast.  We had packed up by 10:30 am and hit the trail by 10:40 am.  We booked it back, it took 1 hour and 5 minutes.  Unfortunately, my friend had a flight at 7 pm, and we had to get moving back home.

Orchid: Spending the night with my best friend in one of my favorite places.

Onion: Short trip/visit with my friend, time goes too fast.

Picture:

 

Google Map

Week 28 Mar. 12 - Packwood Lake Trail

Total Distance: 13.9 miles
Elevation Gain: 3676 ft. 

     Min: 1700 ft.  Max: 2885 ft.
Time: 12:15 pm - 5:00 pm 
Weather: Cool, overcast, and rainy with short periods of freezing rain. 

Well, I had a great time snowshoeing because anytime snowshoeing is a great time. But, there were a lot of things hat made this a tough, bittersweet outing in the woods.

First, the plan was to go with a friend on Sunday, but she backed out Friday evening.  Looking at the avalanche danger rose for the weekend on Friday evening, Saturday was the safer day.  I went to bed with alarms set, but I was still not 100% committed.  I finally got up at 8 am, after my alarms had gone for a few hours.  And it took me until about 9 to get out of the door, plus I had to stop and get gas.  I knew it was a long hike with a long drive, and I was getting a late start.  This was the first mistake.

After driving for a good two hours, I finally get to Packwood.  I had my snowshoe route book with me, and it said to get to Packwood and "turn right after the Ranger Station." Well I was looking for a Ranger Station as I drove out of town.  I found a place to turn around, went back to a gas station and asked where the road was.  I looked up the directions the night before on my laptop and iPad.  I could have easily gotten the name of the road the turn was on, but I didn't.  This was the second mistake.

The trailhead is 6 miles of WA -Highway 12, and at mile 3.5, I could not get my car through the patch of snow.  I got turned around and would begin my walk on the road.  I took a second to get geared up: boots, gaiters, poles, strapped my snowshoes to my pack, rain gear on, and started walking, fast.  It was about 12:15 pm, and I knew if I was going to get to the lake I would have to go quickly.  In about 10 minutes I came across two big down tress, so I would not have been able to drive much farther from where I parked.  This was also when I realized that no one else was on the trail ahead of me or I would have seen their cars.  I was excited by a day alone on the trail.

As always, I was over dressed, especially with my pace, and soon I was sweating.  I waned to power through the road section, so I just kept going.  After about an hour, I was ready for some water.  And then it hit me, mistake number three, this one was the BIG ONE.  I left all three water bottles in my car.  I had almost left them in my house.  Running through the house right before I left, I saw them by the sink.  When I grabbed them, I just through them in the front seat.  When I parked and got out of the car, I completely forgot them.  It was too far to turn around and get them and still make it to the lake, so I thought I could just grab some handfuls of snow as I got thirsty and let it melt in my mouth.

I walked and walked. I rarely stopped, only to take pictures or use the bathroom.  I was constantly checking the time, nervous about no water and a potential late evening.  I also kept weirding myself out.  On the trail there were tons of elk, deer, and coyote tracks.  With the lack of noise being made and my rain gear making soft, subtle sounds, I started to mentally spiral into fear.  I would turn around quickly an expect to see something, but I was alone... every time.

Finally at 2:30 pm, I turned around to head back to the car.  I was a little sore, but more nervous about the lack of water and the sunset seemed impending.  I was out a little quicker on the way down.  I was back walking on the road by 4. Around this time, the sun started peaking out a bit.  Around 4:30 pm, a black tail deer came out of the trail about 100 feet ahead of me.  It was across the road so quick, I wasn't able to snag a picture.  I was back at the car at 4:55 pm.  I walked around front and saw two huge elk.  I turned off my cell phone tracking app.  When I got cell service again, I got the map downloaded behind the track, see it here.  I was less than a mile from the lake... 

Orchid: The walk down from 4 until about 5 pm.

Onion: Leaving all my water in the car forcing me to turn around not knowing how close I was to the lake.

Picture:

Google Map

Week 27 Mar. 5 & 6 - Cape Alava

Total Distance: Approximately 5.2 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 500 ft. 

Time: 11:35 am Sat. - 12:05 pm Sun.
Weather: Partly cloudy with some magnificent sun breaks.

So this hike started has an Outdoor Club trip, but getting back to school on Wednesday and going back out on Friday was just too unreasonable for the kids.  As a result, I decided to cancel the school trip and instead go out myself.  

I got up at 6:30 am on Saturday and drove to the trailhead.  I was there around 11:30am.  The walk to Cape Alava from the Ozette Ranger Station is 3.1 miles.  I began the walk at 11:35 and was at the beach by 1:00 pm.  A pretty good pace, i thought, and by the time I hit the beach the sun was out.  I set up camp, and packed a small day back and walked down south to Wedding Rocks, about a mile away.  Apparently there are petroglyphs here, but I could not find them.  I spent time sitting and reflecting.  I love the wilderness so much.  I thought this hiking commitment would have satisfied my appetite for wild places.  I fear the appetite is only growing and becoming harder to satisfy.

Anyway, after searching in vain for the petroglyphs for about an hour, I went back to camp.  Got back around 5:45 pm and made dinner, watched the sun set into the Pacific and put all the little things away before heading into my tent.  I was going into my tent to read, but it was 7:15 pm and I could not keep my eyes open.  I laid my head down and was asleep by 7:30 pm.  I woke up the next morning at 8:30 am.  It was the best sleep I have had in years.

I had my oatmeal and coffee, put camp away, and started the walk out by 10:20am.  I was at the car at 11:53am.  All I could think about was how I wish I wasn't leaving.

Orchid: First solo night in the wild.

Onion: Leaving Sunday morning.

Picture:

Google Map