Exploration-Northwest

Saturday, October 18, 2014

End of Summer in Summerland

The first snowfall marks the end of summer. The higher elevations become barren and cold as a blanket of while engulfs the whole region. The end of something is ostensibly the beginning of something else...I like to think so. The unsettling thoughts of not being able to visit my favorite mountain meadow leaves me hollow and yearning for next June or July, or sometimes August. The short hiking season is so unfair. Maybe I should move to the desert and learn to love the sand and cacti. At least there I will have the opportunity to visit my favorite places (after I find them) each and everyday of the year. Who am I kidding, the desert? Not going to happen. I need the trees, lakes, and flowered mountain meadows.
   Writing that I need the mountains begs the obvious question. Why? Is the answer to be found in some lame philosophical explanation involving my parents, or maybe it's a form of escapism? Or, here's another explanation, or lack there of, who cares! I think too many people evaluate and attempt to "discover" their motivation in life, that they never really learn to live. That sounds like a classic "avoiders technique" (thanks Todd). Whatever the reason, when I hike I don't think about much else..."one foot in front of the other" is about the end of my brains involvement. That's not entirely true, but hiking does put a muzzle on the chatterbox that's continually evaluating the "right way to live." I've looked for the answer to the "right way" in the back of dusty, ancient books and in the faces of those that "have it all together," and I'm still not convinced. I highly doubt that anyone holds the golden key to that little gem of wisdom. I apparently need to go on another hike. Here's a little write up of my last adventure in the wilderness - Summerland, Mt Rainier 10-16-2014.
    I left at high noon. The dense forest was dark and unnerving; especially after I saw two bear prints in the mud almost as soon as I stepped foot into the woods. I turned on my Iphone external speaker and listened to Michael Buble' (and sang along) as I quickly headed towards Summerland. About half way up the trail I passed three other hikers going the other direction. I informed them about the bear tracks...they weren't too impressed and continued on. At about 3 miles I made it to the bottom of the switchback and a light coating of snow on the trail. Arriving at Summerland 30 minutes later, I was rewarded with beautiful views of The Mountain and a solitude that I have grown to love. I like meeting hikers on the trail, but the solitude of being alone in an inhospitable location adds value to the experience. Being alone in surroundings that require you to rely solely on your own faculties does something to you, not really sure what or if it's even positive, but something happens. (I'll save that for another article). After staying at the camp for 30 minutes, I decided to head back down. It was only 2:30, but the sun was setting behind Columbia Crest and soon the imaginative beasts would be roaming the deep woods.
   While hiking down the switchbacks, I came across a nice lady that was hiking up. She said she was from Greenwater, and appeared to hike everyday of her life. Ah, the life a daily hiker. I'm getting there (yes, another article in the making). Father down the trail, I saw a beasty looking animal scampering towards me. It refused to yield, and a confrontation was imminent. I posted a video (below) that details the skirmish that left both of us unscathed. (couldn't up video-will try later to post video of Porcupine).
    A wonderful ending hike to a near perfect summer...cant wait for next summer!

Bear

Summerland Camp

Mt. Rainier

Porcupine on trail- halfway to trailhead

Bear paw print

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Muzzleloader heaven - Chinook Pass-Oct 2014

    So I start hiking at 10:30 am on 10-07-2014, S/B from Chinook Pass, and immediately came across two Elk hunters carrying muzzleloaders. They were wearing camo clothing, sweating heavily, and walking towards the parking lot without any killed animals or evidence there of. Don't mistake my tone for being anti hunting. I get it, and understand the sport of hunting. I used to hunt ducks and other small birds that taste good, but the expense of it just didn't make sense. After writing that, I just thought of the thousands of dollars I've spent in the last year to just walk and camp in the woods. I suppose the best part of hunting, when I used to hunt, was the wilderness part. Anyway, back to the hunters.
     I almost always stop and talk to people on the trail, hunters or otherwise, while hiking. I asked the hunters if they had any luck and they said they had not seen any "spikes" or "cows." And here I thought they were hunting Elk. Just kidding. I know what a "cow" is, but still not sure of what falls under the classification of a "spike." I'm guessing its a young bull elk. The sweating-heavily hunter said that they were within 50 yards of a bull, but neither he nor his partner had a bull tag. I should probably let you know that the temperature was around 70 degrees and I was wearing my running shorts and short sleeve shirt. The hunters were wearing heavy camo outfits so the elk ostensibly could not spot them. I thought elk, deer, and moose were color blind? I'd make a horrible hunter. If I were ever invited to go hunting, which is pretty much as likely as growing a full head of hair, I'd show up in a safety vest with an orange hat. Enough of the hunters, on with the rest of the hike.
    This hike was, in addition to enjoying the beauty of the wilderness, an effort to try out my new sleeping bag and tent. I'll do a separate write up of the reviews of each in the Gear Reviews (where else would I put reviews?).
    Hiking south from Chinook Pass (east side of Mt Rainier) the trail is "mostly" easy ups and downs At about 3 miles I came to Dewey and little Dewey lakes. A sizeable lake that appears to be quite deep on the side opposite the trail. I marched right on past the lake and continued to Anderson Lake at about 2 miles farther down the trail. Anderson lake is small, but beautiful. Another mile farther down the trail I came to the junction of the PCT and American ridge trail. I turned left (E/B) and followed the ridge trail for about a half mile to American Lake, another small, but beautiful lake. At 1.5 miles from the PCT trail junction, I arrived at another junction. There is a 4X4 pole with a pink ribbon on it marking the intersection. After spending about 45 minutes trying all the various trails that left in every direction from the intersection, I started heading down the correct trail towards Cougar Lake. So which trail is the correct trail? Easy, its the trail that is immediately on your right as you arrive at the junction/4X4 with ribbon. Just make a hard right turn (almost heading back the same direction you just came from), and you'll be on the correct trail. From the junction, it's .8 miles down to Cougar Lake. Which incidentally didn't look anything like a cougar, nor did I see a cougar...which is good. As I arrived at Cougar lake, or what I thought was cougar lake (it was actually a little lake next door), I made a mistake of hiking around the right side of little cougar. Here's what you do...stay to the left, hike past the big camp site next to little coug, and then turn right and hike on the strip of land between the two lakes. The good camp sites are on the far end of Cougar lake. Cougar Lake is hiding on the other side of the trees that are on the left side of little cougar. I found a nice camp spot on the extreme far end of cougar lake, about 30 feet from the lake.
    A word about camping next to a lake, at the bottom of large bowl during October. Don't. The amount of dew is pretty much like camping in the rain. Everything got soaked. The evening was exciting though.
    As dusk fell the bull elk became very active. I heard bugling for most of the night, but from across the lake. It sounded like one bull came closer and closer, but I never saw him. I also heard a loud BARK from the woods about 50 feet from my camp. At first I thought it was a dog, but then I realized it couldn't be. It must have been a coyote. I never saw him, either. Here are some pictures of the hike---

Dewey Lake

Rainier

Dork

Anderson lake

Camp at Cougar lake

Camp at Cougar looking away from lake

Cougar lake in early morning

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Waptus lake and Spade Lake 09-2014

   A successful fishing expedition of Waptus and Spade Lakes. This is the third time I've made the 9-10 mile trek to Waptus lake this year, and I'm beginning to get to know the trail very well. The hike out at the end of this epic adventure was in record time. Two hours and 50 minutes for nine miles is nothing to spit at...even if it is just plain bad English. Anyway, here is the trip....
I hiked to Waptus lake and set up camp on the east side near the Spade lake intersection. After abandoning all my preconceived ideas about setting up camp, getting dinner started, and making sure I had my camera ready in case I caught a fish, I went fishing. I tied on a Super Duper spinner (obviously a duper above a regular Super spinner) I cast it out into the clear, calm lake and caught a log. Wait! That's not a log! It was the largest Eastern Brook trout I've ever caught. To be perfectly honest, I've never caught an Eastern Brook trout, so I suppose that's not saying much. The fish was a fat monster as trout go. It was about 16" and fat (as I already said at the beginning of this sentence). Mr fish, lets call him Bob, had two of the three hooks impeded in his lower jaw, but since I crimp the barbs down, the hooks slid right out. Bob was not happy, and decided to roll around a bit and got slightly tangled in the line. My concern grew for Bob's safety as I always release fish so I grabbed onto the hook to avoid any further damage to Bob, and damaged myself in the process. I was hooked on fishing, or at least hooked on the Super Duper. I found where the Duper part lies. Bob was laughing, or at least smirking a bit. With the hook in my finger, and Bob flopping and spinning near the shore, the hook was starting to draw blood. Alas, I was able to unwind Bob and set him free...I think her turned back, and flipped his tail at me. I caught two other fish (picture below of one), and was able to release them without incident.
   The next morning the real fun began as I hiked to Spade lake. I left camp and started up the hill at 0900 hours. As I reached the intersection of the Spade lake trail and the Pacific Crest trail, I saw three young hikers, in single file, with determined looks on their faces. I'm guessing, since they were hiking at 20-miles-per-day speed, they must have been PCT thru hikers headed for Canada. My map of Spade lake trail, from the Waptus river trail, says it's 2.9 miles. This is a blatant lie. Seldom do my mannerisms and 51% optimistic-outlook get reduced to the point of swearing at an inanimate object, like a trail. I made an exception this time. About 3/4's of the way up the hill, I started swearing and calling the trail names. My rage-against-the-trail continued until I arrived at Spade lake, and all was forgotten. Momentarily anyway. Spade lake is truly beautiful, but getting within eyesight of the lake is only part of the battle. Here's a little secret, don't waste your time searching off to the right side of the lake for access to the lake. Especially don't waste about 30 minutes, when there is access up and over the glacial rocks to the left (still wasn't easy to find access). I finally got down to the lake, flung my spinner in the water, and watched as one small fish tried to bite. I didn't catch anything.
   The "2.9 mile" hike to Spade lake took me about 6 hours round trip. I don't hike slow, but the terrain is very difficult (think Mailbox peak, but not as nice). There were at least 12 blow overs, and 2-3 of those were difficult and dangerous to cross. Would I do it again? Nope. The beauty of Waptus lake or Deep lake are nearly the same, but very little risk of breaking something on those hikes.
Here are the pictures...

Rainbow?

Center/East side of Waptus Lake

Waptus lake

Waptus Lake

Spade Lake trail

Small Pond near Spade lake

Spade Lake

Monday, September 15, 2014

Salmon La Sac Loop

A forty-five mile loop from Salmon La Sac north to Deception Pass then south, via Hyas Lake, back to the car. A small detour on day three to Tuck lake and Robin Lakes was cut short by rain and low clouds.
The hike began with a my usual 30 lbs of gear stuffed in my ULA circuit backpack, and the addition of my brand new collapsible fly pole. Heading north from Salmon La Sac on the Waptus river trail I was greeted by the usual, and easy, 9 mile hike that is just little ups and downs to the lake. I crossed the river (foot bridge is still out) after taking out the insoles (superfeet - orange model) from my New Balance trail runners (910's, I think). My sock also came off. I was surprised by how comfortable and easy the river crossing was, and by how easily it was to squish most of the water out of my shoes with a camp towel. After putting shoes back on (with insoles and socks), I did notice a little bit of dampness, but I was able to continue hiking without any blisters or other issues. The shoes dried the rest of the way over night.
I camped my first night at the south end of the lake, and it was windy. Luckily the wind stopped during the night and no trees fell on me. The south end camp area has several very tall, dead trees that appear to ready to pound an unsuspecting hiking into the ground.
The next day (day 2), I continued northbound up and over Deception Pass. I was able to make a phone call at the top of deception pass. One bar on the Iphone, and it was switching between Verizon and "extended" which I'm guessing means "just send us a blank check, we'll take care of the rest." After the extended phone call, I headed down the hill and around the corner (back southbound) to the Tuck and Robin Lakes intersection. I found a nice campsite just a few feet from the intersection, and made camp for the night. I met a doe very near the campsite that didn't seem bothered by my presence at all. Not a problem for me, but considering that the doe was within the bow hunting zone that allowed the taking of doe's, could be a problem for her. I did meet a bow hunter the following day about 5 miles farther down the trail.
On day 3 I started early and attempted to hike up to Robin Lakes which is 1.4 miles past Tuck lake. The trail to tuck lake was very steep, and as I reached Tuck lake, it started to rain. The trail had me using my hands to scramble up the trail. Upon reaching Tuck lake, and looking east towards the cloud covered mountain that I'd have to climb up and over, I came up with lots of reasons why it would be best to turn around. A couple of my favorites were "it's just going to be raining anyway", "the trail is way too steep"... Anyway, I turned around and started back down. There is a very nice camp on the south side of the trail just a few feet down the trail from tuck lake. It has a nice sandy bottom and has a very impressive view. Might be a bit windy though.
I hiked down the Tuck Lake trail (1.1 miles), and then continued back S/B towards Hyas lake. Hyas lake is only 2-3 miles from a trailhead (located 10 miles from Salmon La Sac) and has at least three beautiful campsites. I hiked past Hyas Lake and continued to the TH and then headed W/B on the Trail creek Trail. At about 2.4 miles from the trailhead, I stopped at Squaw Lake for the night. The fish were jumping, but none would bite a fly. I had a good camp fire, and then hiked 15 miles out the next day.
I caught 5 fish during the outing (all from the Waptus river).