The Year in Review

2008 was a watershed year for us–with some thirteen hikes, including our first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth backpacking trips ever.  Before I start looking ahead to the 2009 hiking season, I thought I’d take a look back at what we accomplished in our first semi-serious season.  Before I started this blog in June, we’d already gone on a couple trips that I really wish I would’ve written up, but I have included them in the list below…

 

 

1. Rialto Beach and Beyond, 05/29/08-05/31/08, 2-night backpack, ~12 miles, ~200′ elevation gain.  Our first backpacking trip, and, out of every one of the year, arguably the most difficult and the hike requiring the most preparation.  At turns sand, tide pools, and slippery boulders, what each step lacked in elevation gain it more than made up for in treacherousness.  Since several areas were impassable at high tide, much care was given to being at a certain location by a specific time.  My favorite moment was climbing the rope up and over Never-Round Point and seeing the secluded crescent beach on the other side.  Other highlights were seals, sea otters, and eagles.  We saw no-one for almost two days.  This trip also marked the beginnings of my new camera, and so I barely knew how to use it.  Photos at Flickr.

2. Ingalls Creek, 06/15/08-06/16/08, 1-night backpack, ~8 miles, ~1500′ elevation gain.  Out again for a quick overnighter.  What with all the stubborn snow, we were looking for lower elevation, east of the crest hikes, this one worked out, but with Ingalls Creek rushing, we only went so far.  The flowers were beautiful, and I liked looking at my map and knowing that The Enchantments were above us.  At Flickr.

3. Mt. Aix, 06/29/08-06-30/08, 1-night backpack, ~10 miles, ~4000′+ elevation gain, ~7000′+ max.  A great experience: hard uphill climb, beautifully perched campsite, crossing snow, outstanding views, retreating in fear, a thunderstorm, and sunrise and Mt. Rainier.  I want to go back and reach the summit.  Definitely with a day-pack instead of a full backpack, though.  At Flickr.

4. Fourth of July Pass, 07/13/08-07/14/08, day hike w/ car camping, ~9 miles, ~2200′ elevation gain.  I broke my lens.  The hike was okay.  The North Cascades Highway was amazing.  At Flickr.

5. Nason Ridge, 07/20/08, day hike, ~10 miles, ~2300′ elevation gain, ~6200′ max.  The mountain goat encounter, lunch inside the lookout, views of Glacier Peak.  Flickr.

6. Lake Ingalls, 08/03/08, day hike, ~11 miles, ~2300′ elevation gain, ~6400′ max.  The beautiful basin, Mt. Stuart, the lake, the goats aplenty, our first marmots, the perfect weather.  A place to revisit.  Flickr.

7. Mt. Si, 08/19/08, solo day hike, ~8 miles, ~3100′ elevation gain, ~3600′ max.  I was happy to get out on this hike after some time in Wisconsin.  I was also happy to find the trail spectacularly unbusy.  I got it out of the way.  And smartly decided I didn’t have the experience to summit.  Flickr.

8. West Fork Foss River Lakes, 08/23/08-08/24/08, 1-night backpack, ~10 miles, ~2600′ elevation gain, ~4200′ max.  Roughest trail of the year, most exhilarating river crossing, a nice waterfall and pikas.  Flickr.

9. Summerland & Panhandle Gap, 08/31/08, day hike, ~11 miles, ~3000′ elevation gain, ~6800′ max.  Clouds, snow, and marmots.  An otherworldly landscape.  My own set of trekking poles and daypacks.  Flickr.

10. Spider Meadow & Spider Gap, 09/07/08-09/08/08, 1-night backpack, ~15 miles, ~3600′ elevation gain, ~7100′ max.  The huge meadow, a coyote sighting, the hard climb up to Larch Knob, our great campsite, my silly solo climb up to the gap, the views, glissades, and stars.  Flickr.

11. Skyline Divide & Artist Point, 09/14/08-09/15/08, dayhike w/ car camping, ~6 miles, ~2000′ elevation gain, ~6200′ max.  The moon owned this hike.  Taking pictures forever.  Our first experience hiking in the dark.  Worthwhile drive up to Artist Point.  Return inevitable.  Flickr.

12. North Fork Sauk River & PCT to Red Pass, 09/28/08-09/30/08, solo 2-night backpack, ~20 miles, ~4500′ elevation gain, ~6600′ max.  First solo backpacking trip.  First visit to Glacier Peak Wilderness.  The first-night fear, the beautiful fall colors, mountains, mushrooms, solitude.  Amazing.  Flickr.

13. Lake Quinault, 10/17/08-10/19/08, area nature trails and lodge time, ~3 miles, ~500′+ elevation gain.  Hiking  gave way to sitting in front of the fireplace.  Relaxation, big trees, first elk sightings.  Flickr.

14. Snow Lake, 10/27/08, day hike, ~8 miles, ~1300′+ elevation gain, ~4400′ max.  Last hike of the year. Snow and ice on the descent to the lake.  In and out before the crowds.  Forgot the camera.  Flickr.

It was a good year, and the first of many.  Though our schedules shift, and our bodies age, I can’t imagine giving this up.  You’ve got me, Pacific Northwest.  The coming year may not have the quantity, but it’s gotta have the quality.  And you’ll find it here.  (Send happy thoughts re: Enchantments Permits and Canadian Rockies trips.)

2008 stats: ~140 miles of hiking, ~33000‘ of elevation gain, and ~2000 photos I didn’t delete…yet.

North Fork Sauk River & PCT to Red Pass, 09/28/08-09/30/08

The final weekend in September beckoned.  The weather looked to be fantastic.  Unfortunately, Nicole and one of her toenails were at odds with one another, so if anything were to be done, it would have to be done solo.  Somehow I decided that a mere dayhike wouldn’t suffice; this meant I’d be going on my very first all-alone backpack: two nights in Glacier Peak Wilderness.  I actually didn’t give it much thought at the time (that is, before I set up camp the first night in near-darkness and questioned every sound I thought I heard).  It just seemed like the natural progression of things, something that I knew I’d do eventually.

As I may have mentioned in the past, Glacier Peak Wilderness (hereafter, GPW) has held near-mythical status in my novice hiker mind.  Maybe it’s because Spring & Manning called it the last wild volcano.  I suppose that has something to do with it: unlike Mt. Baker or Mt. Rainier, you ain’t parking your Subaru on the side of Glacier Peak.  You gotta hike to get anywhere near it, man.  So when, a week or two prior, I saw a post on NWHikers about Sloan Creek Road re-opening, it stuck with me.  Sloan Creek Road (aka Road #49) had been closed for some time (forever, as far as it concerns me, since I wasn’t going anywhere near it before this summer) and it’s one of the nearest access points to GPW.  So it seemed predetermined that this trip would utilize the opportunity.

Old-growth along the Sauk River.

I decided I’d hike the North Fork Sauk River Trail (#649) on Sunday and spend the evening at or near Mackinaw Shelter, then get up Monday morning and hike until I reached the Pacific Crest Trail (#2000) and take that to Red Pass.  If I could, I’d investigate White Chuck Glacier or climb Portal Peak, spending the second night in the area.  Tuesday morning I’d hike all the way back out and get home sometime in the afternoon.  Since I was leaving the where-and-when with Nicole, I figured it best to stick as close to the plan as possible, and act conservatively.

Spider Meadow & Spider Gap, 09/07/08-09/08/08

When the weekend neared and Nicole brought home a recommendation of Spider Meadow, I immediately and enthusiastically agreed, having seen a number of trip reports earlier this summer about that very location.  A Sunday-night backpack it was.

Spider Meadow panorama.

Spider Meadow sits in the Phelps Creek basin some 25 miles north of Lake Wenatchee, within Glacier Peak Wilderness.  We planned on camping at the far end of the meadow, setting up a base camp, and–if energy permitted–exploring the area up to and including Spider Glacier and Spider Gap.  We took our time rolling out of bed on Sunday morning, and pulled out of West Seattle at 06:18.  Driving over to and along US-2 is approaching autopilot status, and before we knew it we were turning north towards Lake Wenatchee.  It’s just a few more miles before the turnoff up Chiwawa River Road, and then a long ~25 miles to the trailhead.  (We timed this portion of the drive on the way out, and it took ~45 minutes.)

On the way in, only a few miles down the road, we saw two backpackers on the side of the road, and picked up our first hitchhikers.  They were completing the Washington portion of the Pacific Crest Trail, which they’d had to abandon earlier due to injury.  We took them up to Trinity and the Buck Creek Pass trailhead, saving them a whole lot of road-walking.  (Though with the popularity of the trails in the area, they probably wouldn’t have had to wait long for another ride.)  After dropping them off, we turned around and drove up to our trailhead, which sits at the end of Road #6211.  It was 09:30 by that time, putting the drive time just over three hours (including a stop for gasoline and the hitchers).

West Fork Foss River Lakes, 08/23/08-08/24/08

So far this summer Nicole and I have gone on six hikes together; the first three were all either one- or two-night backpacks; hikes four, five, and six were all day hikes.  So as the weekend approached and trip-planning began, like, for real, we knew we wanted to spend a night [tossing and turning within our sleeping bags].  Backpacking it would be, but since we only had Saturday night available, and I had to work Saturday morning, it couldn’t be a long drive or that long of a hike.  We also had to keep in mind that we’d probably be pitching our tent somewhere early Saturday evening, crux of the weekend populous.   I had my hands wrapped around a pair of Green Trails Maps (#175 & #176) and prior reports and pictures in my head.  Elimination claimed trails we hypothesized as too long, too difficult, too buggy, and too busy; those trips requiring off-trail travel were sadly stricken from the slate.

In the end, we decided to try our luck up the West Fork of the Foss River, along Trail #1064.  With four lakes sitting around the 4000’ mark, and all seemingly within reach from the 1600’ trailhead–the farthest being ~6.8 miles in–we were confident we’d find a place so settle down before the sun set.  This trail sits entirely within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness of Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, and is easily reached off of US-2 via the Foss River Road (Road 68/6835).  Don’t ask me how–actually, I think it’s because I already had map in hand and read a recent report and therefore felt like I knew what to expect–but I neglected to check the USFS site until just now.  It calls the trail “severely flood damaged,” characterizes the difficulty as “Easiest/Most Difficult,” and states that visitor use is “Extra Heavy.”  I’ll try to elaborate on all that throughout the rest of this trip report, but let me preemptively say it isn’t quite so bad as that.

Mt Aix, 06/29/08-06/30/08

After a good week or so of searching guidebooks and websites for a high-altitude trail that maybe–just maybe–wasn’t completely covered in snow, I finally came across a few different references¹ of the Mt Aix trail. Most were at least a year old, and therefore the conditions they described weren’t really applicable to this Spring’s stubborn snows and late melt; but there was a trip report from the end of May at NWHikers.net that was quite detailed. I decided that a month’s worth of southwestern exposure–including the three or four 80-90° days leading up to the day(s) of our hike–would’ve had a significant impact on the snow level, and that if we were lucky, we’d be able to make it prett’ near to the top. With the weather clear and hot, we’d also be able to fully appreciate the views that everyone assured would be there if it weren’t for those darn clouds. So: good weather, good views, and a hike with a difficulty rating I’d have to hide from Nicole. I stopped at REI and bought myself the Bumping Lake #271 Green Trails Map.

Since this weekend was our first wedding anniversary, we decided to elongate the trip by car-camping somewhere near Bumping Lake on Saturday night.

I have to take time out here to mention that this was our first time driving along WA-410, and it definitely will not be the last. It’s a great drive with amazing views. At one point, just after entering Mount Rainier National Park, I believe, there’s a great reveal of The Mountain, which led Nicole to exclaim: “Mother of God!” I don’t think she was very far off.

Mt Rainier from WA-410.

Once off of Highway 410, there seemed to be dozens of side-of-the-road sites along Bumping River, but since it was a beautiful Saturday, almost all were occupied, and we didn’t even bother turning into the Forest Service pay-sites. Just before Bumping Lake there’s a no-fee Forest Service campground called Bumping River Crossing, and that’s where we pulled in for the evening. It had an outhouse and we brought two bottles of Cristalino that we weren’t going to carry up Mt Aix the next day, so it was more than adequate. The campground was populated, but still nearly half-empty, and we settled into a quiet site away from the river and collected twigs and branches for a small but necessary campfire–for the S’mores, of course.