any other hikers here?

[gu03alum]

I’m focusing all of my free time on skiing in the winter. I really want to get good. I have gotten much more confident, but chickened our on what looked like an easy diamond run yesterday, because I couldn’t see the route. It didn’t look too bad on the chair lift up. I have done a few diamonds and definitely had some issues. Anyway, point of the post is I don’t have free time for hiking. Very disappointing. I wish work wouldn’t always get in the way. I tried to convince my wife that I could get to Si if I left at 3 AM and be back in time to take the family to church. Darn family getting in the way too . I don’t have any big jokes planned next year except for Shasta. I might attempt Stuart again in June. I would like to knock out some more “peaks” in the Snoqualmie area like Kaleetan and Red Mountain.

[seacatfan]

I would like to knock out some more “peaks” in the Snoqualmie area like Kaleetan and Red Mountain.

Is that the Red Mountain above Commonwealth Basin? That can be a good spring outing once avalanche conditions stabilize. It's fairly cruddy rock so it's preferable when snow is covering most of the route.

Nearby Lundin is an interesting climb. I did it years ago, I might balk at it now. There's a bit of smearing up slabs with lots of exposure on either side. Not really difficult from a technical standpoint but the consequences of messing up would be dire.

I've never done Alta or Hibox near Rachel Lake but those are both supposed to be decent scrambles.

[gu03alum]

Is that the Red Mountain above Commonwealth Basin? That can be a good spring outing once avalanche conditions stabilize. It's fairly cruddy rock so it's preferable when snow is covering most of the route.

Nearby Lundin is an interesting climb. I did it years ago, I might balk at it now. There's a bit of smearing up slabs with lots of exposure on either side. Not really difficult from a technical standpoint but the consequences of messing up would be dire.

I've never done Alta or Hibox near Rachel Lake but those are both supposed to be decent scrambles.

Yes, that is correct about Red Mountain. My cousin and I went over there a month or two ago with the intention of climbing Red Mountain, but neither of us were feeling it and stopped at Commonwealth Basin. Those are good ideas. I have hiked up to Rachel lake and Rampart Ridge a few times, but never had time to climb those mountains (had to get home each time to get my daughter from the bus stop).

[seacatfan]

Lazy winter. Finally getting out a bit in recent weeks. Intended to do Ellinor a couple weekends ago but we ended up going up the Staircase Rapids trail instead. Didn't go real far, pretty area, hadn't been there before. The road was gated a mile or so before the trailhead (at that time, conditions may have changed). We encountered a group of around 8 or 10 female elk right after the gate.

A little while after Staircase I drove out past Anacortes to Washington Park, neat place to walk around a bit. It's a fairly short loop ramble, so afterward I went to nearby Deception Pass State Park. I didn't cross the bridge onto Whidbey Island, stayed on the north side of the park. Another nice area to stroll around.

Today did a pair of short hikes along Hwy 20. Road is gated right at Colonial Creek Campground currently. From there we did a quick, easy, scenic hike along Thunder Knob. A bit of bare trail, mostly light covering of snow but a good boot track the whole way.

After that went just a bit back to the west and tried Pyramid Lake. I did that once before, eons ago, remember almost nothing about it. Snow right from the beginning, nobody had been up there recently, no tracks at all. Booted it at first, but soon put on snowshoes. Unfortunately found out my 20 year old or so pair of snowshoes is busted. I tried to come up with a temporary fix, but it wasn't ideal. We got about 2/3 of the way to the lake when I pulled the plug on it. Beautiful day out there today. Is it spring for real now?

[gu03alum]

Lazy winter. Finally getting out a bit in recent weeks. Intended to do Ellinor a couple weekends ago but we ended up going up the Staircase Rapids trail instead. Didn't go real far, pretty area, hadn't been there before. The road was gated a mile or so before the trailhead (at that time, conditions may have changed). We encountered a group of around 8 or 10 female elk right after the gate.

A little while after Staircase I drove out past Anacortes to Washington Park, neat place to walk around a bit. It's a fairly short loop ramble, so afterward I went to nearby Deception Pass State Park. I didn't cross the bridge onto Whidbey Island, stayed on the north side of the park. Another nice area to stroll around.

Today did a pair of short hikes along Hwy 20. Road is gated right at Colonial Creek Campground currently. From there we did a quick, easy, scenic hike along Thunder Knob. A bit of bare trail, mostly light covering of snow but a good boot track the whole way.

After that went just a bit back to the west and tried Pyramid Lake. I did that once before, eons ago, remember almost nothing about it. Snow right from the beginning, nobody had been up there recently, no tracks at all. Booted it at first, but soon put on snowshoes. Unfortunately found out my 20 year old or so pair of snowshoes is busted. I tried to come up with a temporary fix, but it wasn't ideal. We got about 2/3 of the way to the lake when I pulled the plug on it. Beautiful day out there today. Is it spring for real now?

You are off to a great start! I have not been hiking this year. I have been training for a hike up Helens at the end of March before you need a permit. I will only go if the weather is nice and no avalanche danger. If it's not good, then I will probably go skiing again.

[gu03alum]

I attempted Helens today. The snow was soft and the rain was hard. After getting out of tree line the wind was blowing pretty hard too. It was cold and it sucked. We kept going up to about 5,000 feet and decided to call it. I think if I hadn’t climbed the mountain I probably would have pushed for the summit.

[seacatfan]

That doesn't sound like any fun at all! After a generally nice March, the weather has gone to crap in April. I think that happens just about every year. You'd think I'd expect it by now.

[gu03alum]

That doesn't sound like any fun at all! After a generally nice March, the weather has gone to crap in April. I think that happens just about every year. You'd think I'd expect it by now.

I stupidly took my family camping at Larrabee State Park on Thursday. It looked like the rain would quit at 7 and not rain much the rest of the weekend. The rain did not stop at 7 and I found out that my large family tent is not very waterproof. My daughter's sleeping bag and pad were soaked and there were puddles on the floor of the tent. At around 830, with the rain still coming down hard I decided to get a hotel room. We packed up things that needed to dry and headed to the hotel in Bellingham. We took our time going back to the camp the next day, hitting up a brewery for lunch. The new forecast showed rain starting in the middle of the night again so we decided to hang out at the camp while things dry and then took off around 5.

[seacatfan]

I stupidly took my family camping at Larrabee State Park on Thursday. It looked like the rain would quit at 7 and not rain much the rest of the weekend. The rain did not stop at 7 and I found out that my large family tent is not very waterproof. My daughter's sleeping bag and pad were soaked and there were puddles on the floor of the tent. At around 830, with the rain still coming down hard I decided to get a hotel room. We packed up things that needed to dry and headed to the hotel in Bellingham. We took our time going back to the camp the next day, hitting up a brewery for lunch. The new forecast showed rain starting in the middle of the night again so we decided to hang out at the camp while things dry and then took off around 5.

Bummer about the weather. Neat park. Yeah I've never developed an affinity for camping in the rain. You gave it a good try anyway!

[seacatfan]

Last weekend had an outing w/ a buddy, can't exactly call it a hike. He's been wanting to try this for quite a while. We gave it a go but were unsuccessful. Too late in the year, too much brush. Needed to go earlier when it was snow covered. It's not a trail at all, starts on an abandoned, reclaimed road and then it's just bushwacking. Doesn't even officially have a name, but it has a nickname I've seen used on a hiking website--Slodal. It think it's Pt. 5470 on a map, the ridge immediately next to Bedal and Sloan (thus the nickname). We got a few views but not the prize close up shot of Sloan. It was kind of a miserable experience--character building I guess.

My Discover Pass is about to expire, so I headed to Wallace Falls SP again today. Did the loop from the top of the falls, along the logging road, Wallace Lake and down Greg Ball trail. Even threw in Jay Lake for extra credit. Pleasant day to be out.

[seacatfan]

Got in one last usage of the Discover Pass in April before it expired. Wandered around Larrabee State Park. Headed up past Fragrance Lake, was intending to go to Lost Lake but got a bit turned around. Some of the signage up there sucks. I ended up just short of it but did a decent lollipop loop anyway. Also played around at the beach there a little bit as well.

[gu03alum]

Last weekend had an outing w/ a buddy, can't exactly call it a hike. He's been wanting to try this for quite a while. We gave it a go but were unsuccessful. Too late in the year, too much brush. Needed to go earlier when it was snow covered. It's not a trail at all, starts on an abandoned, reclaimed road and then it's just bushwacking. Doesn't even officially have a name, but it has a nickname I've seen used on a hiking website--Slodal. It think it's Pt. 5470 on a map, the ridge immediately next to Bedal and Sloan (thus the nickname). We got a few views but not the prize close up shot of Sloan. It was kind of a miserable experience--character building I guess.

My Discover Pass is about to expire, so I headed to Wallace Falls SP again today. Did the loop from the top of the falls, along the logging road, Wallace Lake and down Greg Ball trail. Even threw in Jay Lake for extra credit. Pleasant day to be out.

That sounds brutal. After doing a lot of bushwhacking on my attempt at Mt Prophet last year I don't think I want to do anymore bushwhacking.

[Zagceo]

I’ve climbed Whitney twice...June and July....Not May with snow.

Zag Alums to the rescue.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/may/12/gonzaga-leadership-alums-save-hikers-stranded-over/

[seacatfan]

Wow, great story about the Zag Alums. As for the rescued party...Darwin was thwarted. They tried their hardest to get themselves killed but it didn't quite work out. I honestly had to quit reading the article about halfway thru. One dude had never used crampons before and didn't even open the package until they were at the trailhead, where he discovered they weren't actually crampons but only microspikes. Unbelievable. I bet he'd never used an ice axe before either. There's somewhat of a learning curve with equipment like that, you need to practice before you are actually in a situation where your life might depend on using it properly.

[bartruff1]

The forests are emerald green this spring....with some snow above 5000' .....

I do not know the circumstances..... but the violent attack on hikers on the Appalachian Trail is very sad and disturbing...… there is practically zero violent crime 6 miles into a roadless/wilderness area in the Pacific Northwest..... I suspect it was on a urban section of the trail...