any other hikers here?

[seacatfan]

Beautiful pics gu03! I'm kinda surprised you encountered any snow at all on route. Glad you enjoyed your trip.

[gu03alum]

Beautiful pics gu03! I'm kinda surprised you encountered any snow at all on route. Glad you enjoyed your trip.

We could have kept going on the ridge, but we talked to a guy who had gone both ways. He said the snow takes him 15-20 minutes, but the ridge takes him 2-3 hours.

[gu03alum]

I went to Ingalls Lake on Sunday in search of Larches turning yellow. Most of the larches were still green, but it was still an incredibly beautiful day.

[seacatfan]

Great shot of the lake! A dusting of snow on Stuart really makes it pop.

[seacatfan]

I just haven't hiked much this year. I finally got out today. Parked between Harts Pass and Slate Peak, jumped on the PCT and went north. A sign said we were 31 miles from the Canadian border. Went about 7 miles, then turned around. I think I overdid it. I'm kinda worked over. Some nice fall colors. Saw several ptarmigan, they let us get really close. A bunch of ravens flying around and being really vocal all thru the day. They make some of the craziest noises. Heard a few pika squeaks. There was a bit of haze in the distance but the sky looked mostly blue-ish.

I hadn't been way out east along the North Cascades Highway for several years. Seems like all the trailheads are overflowing. Rainy Lake is insane. Maple Pass loop is nice, but I can't imagine sharing it with that many people. No thanks. You'd probably be encountering another party every 5 minutes or less the entire day.

[gu03alum]

I just haven't hiked much this year. I finally got out today. Parked between Harts Pass and Slate Peak, jumped on the PCT and went north. A sign said we were 31 miles from the Canadian border. Went about 7 miles, then turned around. I think I overdid it. I'm kinda worked over. Some nice fall colors. Saw several ptarmigan, they let us get really close. A bunch of ravens flying around and being really vocal all thru the day. They make some of the craziest noises. Heard a few pika squeaks. There was a bit of haze in the distance but the sky looked mostly blue-ish.

I hadn't been way out east along the North Cascades Highway for several years. Seems like all the trailheads are overflowing. Rainy Lake is insane. Maple Pass loop is nice, but I can't imagine sharing it with that many people. No thanks. You'd probably be encountering another party every 5 minutes or less the entire day.

I'm planning on going with my sister to heather maple loop on Tuesday. Do you think it will be that crowded midweek? I have gone the other direction to cut throat pass and that was beautiful. Maybe we will do that instead to keep away from the crowds.

[gu03alum]

Last Thursday, I climbed Red Mountain with my cousin. That was a really fun scramble. There were a lot of people on the trail that day, but most continued on the PCT while we took the Commonwealth Basin trail to Red Mountain. We saw Pikas on the PCT just before the Commonwealth trail. Going up I was a little nervous about the exposure, but was able to overcome. The views from the top were great. We could see many of the near mountains, but couldn't see any in the distance because of the haze. Luckily the haze did not cause the air quality to be bad. I think it was around 50 that day. We had a beer and food outside at Dru Bru after the hike. It was so nice to do something that feels kind of "normal" after a hike.

view of Red mountain from the PCT



Pika!



view from the top



This was the last section.

[gu03alum]

This weekend I took my daughter on her first backpacking trip. She has not really liked hiking much and I had nearly given up on her. I had talked about going backpacking by myself this weekend and was going to climb Shriner Peak because there are a couple campsites at the top of the mountain. There are some incredible views up there of Rainier and many other mountains at the top. I was kind of excited to see the sunset and sunrise up there. My wife suggested I ask my daughter if she wanted to go with me and she surprisingly said yes. I took her to REI and got her some Hoka trailrunners and snacks and meals. I kept thinking about why she didn't like hiking with me and I think it's because I always take her on hikes I want to do. For example, I took her with me to Mt Elinor which is a short steep hike. I also took her to Mt Si, which isn't super easy even though lots of people do it. I realized if I was going to get her to catch the bug I needed to take her somewhere much easier. I decided Sheep Lake off the PCT and Chinook Pass would be a good place to start. It was a 2 mile hike with 500 feet of elevation gain. I thought after we setup camp we could do a little hiking in the area, perhaps to sourdough gap or further. with that in mind I decided we better get to the trailhead early. I checked Google and it had me going all the way around the south part of Rainier. Apparently 410 is still closed due to wildfires. It added over an hour to the drive, but I was thinking the good thing is there probably won't be as many people at the trailhead. I was right. The parking lot was less than half full when we arrived. She did great on the hike, but I think she was wearing out toward the last quarter mile. I think she was very relieved to see the lake. We found a great camping spot elevated above the lake more than 100 feet away as required. We setup the tent and I said ok lets do a little hiking. She said she would rather read her book. I was a little disappointed, but it ended up being a really relaxing day. I sat in the sun and read my book and we occasionally walked to the lake and waded out up to our knees. The night was windy and around 3 our rainfly came off the tent. I was able to retrieve it and put some rocks over the stakes so they would stay in the ground. My daughter was kind of scared but fell asleep pretty soon after. The next morning we packed up and headed to the car. On the way down she told she probably could have done twice the distance that we did. I'm going to have to find a 4 mile backpacking trip for next time. It was a great trip. We talk, but we got to talk a lot and she shared with me a lot of her innermost thoughts.

view from our campsite

[seacatfan]

I'm planning on going with my sister to heather maple loop on Tuesday. Do you think it will be that crowded midweek? I have gone the other direction to cut throat pass and that was beautiful. Maybe we will do that instead to keep away from the crowds.

I would certainly expect midweek to be less crowded than the weekend. Larch chasing season doesn't last very long so that definitely is affecting crowds. That loop has just gotten really popular though. It would probably be okay for you to go for it I think.

[seacatfan]

Sounds like some interesting trips. Red Mountain just stands out being different type of rock and coloration obviously than its neighbors.

That's wonderful your daughter joined you on an overnight trip and sounds like she had fun. Good quality dad and daughter time, I'm sure those will be memories you cherish for a long time.

[gu03alum]

I would certainly expect midweek to be less crowded than the weekend. Larch chasing season doesn't last very long so that definitely is affecting crowds. That loop has just gotten really popular though. It would probably be okay for you to go for it I think.

Thanks!

[gu03alum]

Well, it was crowded at Heather Maple Pass on a Tuesday, but I'm sure it could have been much worse. It was a beautiful hike on a beautiful day. The fall colors were really popping. I think though I'm going to go back to a little less popular hike for next year to see the larches changing yellow. When we got to the pass there were a lot of people up there taking a break. We were planning on eating lunch and enjoying a beer up there and saw that there was a higher point with a short scramble. We climbed up and had the whole place to ourselves. It was very nice to have the illusion of being alone in such a pretty place.

I read on twitter this morning that there may be some snow accumulation coming to lower elevations. I still have a few more days of leave to use before the end of the year. I'm going to try to get a few more midweek hikes in, but will definitely need to be prepared for the snow.

This is some of the best fall colors I saw all day on the way down from the pass. We did the loop counterclockwise.



A yellow larch



I'm pretty sure this is glacier pe


I think this is Corteo Peak and Black Peak


I brought Johnny Utah with me on the hike

[seacatfan]

Ha ha, yeah I saw some TRs on WTA, larch madness definitely continued during the weekdays. Tuesday might've been the last sunny day we'll see for a while. Looks gorgeous up there, glad you got to enjoy it.

Definitely Black Peak (I climbed that many years ago) and I'm pretty sure correct on Corteo. In the other photo, I think Glacier Peak is hiding behind the tree, the more prominent one the larch tree is pointing at is probably Dome Peak.

Speaking of Black Peak, there is a non official trail that goes over to it past Wing and Lewis Lake. That used to be fairly solitary, but apparently it has been discovered and has blown up just like so many other hikes here in Washington.


I've still never explored around the Chelan Sawtooths. That might be a better bet for places to see the larch without insane crowds. I know several places NOT to go to if you are looking to avoid a mob scene.

[gu03alum]

Ha ha, yeah I saw some TRs on WTA, larch madness definitely continued during the weekdays. Tuesday might've been the last sunny day we'll see for a while. Looks gorgeous up there, glad you got to enjoy it.

Definitely Black Peak (I climbed that many years ago) and I'm pretty sure correct on Corteo. In the other photo, I think Glacier Peak is hiding behind the tree, the more prominent one the larch tree is pointing at is probably Dome Peak.

Speaking of Black Peak, there is a non official trail that goes over to it past Wing and Lewis Lake. That used to be fairly solitary, but apparently it has been discovered and has blown up just like so many other hikes here in Washington.


I've still never explored around the Chelan Sawtooths. That might be a better bet for places to see the larch without insane crowds. I know several places NOT to go to if you are looking to avoid a mob scene.

Unless I went when I was a kid (we did a lot of hiking in central washington when I was a kid and lived in Wenatchee) and don't remember, I don't think I have explored the Chelan Sawtooths either.

[seacatfan]

Unless I went when I was a kid (we did a lot of hiking in central washington when I was a kid and lived in Wenatchee) and don't remember, I don't think I have explored the Chelan Sawtooths either.

Just one of those things that's been on my back burner for a long time. A bunch of lakes over there. Some big peaks that I think are mostly fairly easy scrambles or walkups. Some loop options for multiday adventures. Some of the trails you have to share with motorcycles though I think.

[gu03alum]

Just one of those things that's been on my back burner for a long time. A bunch of lakes over there. Some big peaks that I think are mostly fairly easy scrambles or walkups. Some loop options for multiday adventures. Some of the trails you have to share with motorcycles though I think.

It's funny, because my cousin suggested Wallaby Peak for a hike this week. I go to look it up in Washington Scrambles book and it is first one listed under Chelan Sawtooths. I will be hitting the area tomorrow. I read from Cliff Mass that the north cascades could have gotten a foot of snow last week at higher elevations. I think we are planning on turning around if we come across fresh snow so we may not summit on this trip.

[seacatfan]

I don't know about Chelan Sawtooths, but I'm definitely seeing pictures of multiple areas in the Cascades that have had a significant amount of fresh snow in the last week.

[gu03alum]

I don't know about Chelan Sawtooths, but I'm definitely seeing pictures of multiple areas in the Cascades that have had a significant amount of fresh snow in the last week.

There was a lot of snow so we decided not to climb Wallaby. We did an easy hike in the snow to Cutthroat Lake instead. It was a really nice day, but surprisingly cold. The weather changed quick. The lake was mostly frozen and there was probably a foot of snow on the ground at the lake. I kind of wished we had continued on to Cutthroat pass. I had been there once before and it is one of the most beautiful places I have seen. My cousin was content with hanging out at the lake and it was a really nice place to enjoy a beer and lunch.



Wallaby Peak in the peak to the left of the pass



Liberty Bell



This is a cool video of a first descent of Liberty Bell

LINK

[seacatfan]

Uh...I climbed Lib Bell back when I was a real climber. Ski descent off of it? Nope. Just nope. I watched the video. That's just a whole 'nother level.

I ran into the Hummel twins way back in the day. They were really into ski descents back then, probably claimed a number of firsts. At least one of them got into really hardcore long ski traverses later on.

[willandi]

I'm not big on hiking at my age, 4-5 miles on fairly flat ground I can probably handle, as long as I don't drag a bag of sticks and balls along with me, but THIS hike, I find intriguing. It would be fun to get a group together, with arranged transportation at the finish line, and have a tasting hike.

Try this hoppy urban hike between Interbay and the Ballard Brewery District that passes 15 breweries in 5 miles

https://www.seattletimes.com/life/ou...istered%20User

[gu03alum]

Uh...I climbed Lib Bell back when I was a real climber. Ski descent off of it? Nope. Just nope. I watched the video. That's just a whole 'nother level.

I ran into the Hummel twins way back in the day. They were really into ski descents back then, probably claimed a number of firsts. At least one of them got into really hardcore long ski traverses later on.

that's really cool. I probably will never stand on top of Liberty Bell. back country skiing really intrigues me. I need to keep getting better at skiing. I have only been doing it for about 3 years. I can go down most blacks, but I want to keep building up to double blacks and comfortable on all blacks. Skiing down after climbing a mountain would be so much easier and more fun than walking or glissading down.

[gu03alum]

I'm not big on hiking at my age, 4-5 miles on fairly flat ground I can probably handle, as long as I don't drag a bag of sticks and balls along with me, but THIS hike, I find intriguing. It would be fun to get a group together, with arranged transportation at the finish line, and have a tasting hike.

Try this hoppy urban hike between Interbay and the Ballard Brewery District that passes 15 breweries in 5 miles

https://www.seattletimes.com/life/ou...istered%20User

I went to Minneapolis with a friend and he said lets try to hit 15 breweries in one day. Without thinking, I said that would be pretty cool. I had 1 to 2 beers at each brewery and generally these were high alcohol IPAs or double IPAs. Long story short, I threw up in the Uber on the way back to the hotel. That cost me $150. The next day I had the worst hangover I can ever remember having. I think it lasted a couple of days too. I kept track of each brewery in my notes on my phone and we did hit 15 breweries.

[willandi]

I went to Minneapolis with a friend and he said lets try to hit 15 breweries in one day. Without thinking, I said that would be pretty cool. I had 1 to 2 beers at each brewery and generally these were high alcohol IPAs or double IPAs. Long story short, I threw up in the Uber on the way back to the hotel. That cost me $150. The next day I had the worst hangover I can ever remember having. I think it lasted a couple of days too. I kept track of each brewery in my notes on my phone and we did hit 15 breweries.

Now you could do it in the comfort of your own car! LOL

I agree and understand how hard it would be to be able to actually enjoy what each brewery has to offer, even if one just had a single pint of 'their best (as determined by who).
The article came in my email and thought that it is about as close to hiking as I am willing to try at this stage of my life. Perhaps if Seattle developed a 'rickshaw' type service, we could each reserve on for the 5-6 hours the trip would take.

[gu03alum]

Now you could do it in the comfort of your own car! LOL

I agree and understand how hard it would be to be able to actually enjoy what each brewery has to offer, even if one just had a single pint of 'their best (as determined by who).
The article came in my email and thought that it is about as close to hiking as I am willing to try at this stage of my life. Perhaps if Seattle developed a 'rickshaw' type service, we could each reserve on for the 5-6 hours the trip would take.

I think there is a rickshaw service in Seattle. At least those guys seem to appear at last call and after Mariners games.

[gu03alum]

I did a backpacking trip over the weekend to Ozette loop. We spent the first night at Cape Alava. You can have a fire there so my cousin and I both carried in a duraflame log. I brought a lot of luxuries since it is only 3 miles for each leg of the loop and my pack had to have been around 70 pounds. The beach was covered in rotting red kelp which meant the bugs and birds were thick on the beach. It rained most of the day, but we also brought some tarps and hung out under them. The rain quit around 7 or 8 and we were able to get a good fire going. The tide the next morning was supposed to be lowest until about 2 so had a pretty relaxing morning. We packed up and left around 11 to head south to Sandpoint. The bugs were thick on the beach but weren't too interested in us luckily. It was just very annoying. The day was really nice. I kind of wish I had brought shorts. We got to Sandpoint and there was no more rotting, stinky Kelp and no more swarms of bugs. The beach was sandy and beautiful. Tide was still low so we found a campsite, grabbed a couple beers, and headed out for a walk. Later we set up camp and then headed to a rock that you can hike to the top of so we could enjoy the sunset from a high point. It was a beautiful sunset. The moon was out early so it set early too. Fires are not allowed at Sandpoint, but it wasn't too cold. Plus I had brought an extra blanket so I used that while enjoying all of the stars. It was very clear night and lots and lots of stars. The next morning we packed up and headed back to our cars. Almost from the start we were behind a small deer slowly grazing off the vegetation along the trail. We had to follow her for nearly a half mile before she finally left the trail. She wasn't scared of us at all. I should mention the hike in and out of the beach is really cool too. It is through rainforest and much of it is on boardwalks.