Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Thompson point 12.28.04

With just perfect weather I headed up the Granite Lakes Jeep road on mountain bike. There is a fair amount of blowdowns over the road in the first couple of miles. Nothing that you can't drag a mountain bike through. I kept a good pace until I reached the creek crossing where I dumped the bike and started the long walk to the ridgeline. I had heavy legs today so I wasn't too happy with the time I was making. I didn't hit sustained snow until 3400 feet and then it was mostly patchy. I followed the logging road that takes you directly towards Revolution Peak. The road dead ends at about 4700ft, I just climbed straight up in the somewhat soft snow until I reached the saddle between Pts 5124 and 5454. at around 5000ft. The weather became quite windy and very cold as I contemplated what to do next. As much as I wanted the summit to reward myself for all my hard work, I found my self drawn towards Pt 5124 instead. I just wasn't sure on how the dogs would react to the last push to the summit. I do wish however that I would have pressed on. I did enjoy some nice views of the Lower Middle Fork Valley. I could see the Columbia Tower just poking out of the fog in Seattle. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself when I thought about how my co-workers didn't even realize how nice it was today. I found a sheltered area to eat my lunch and do a little peak counting from my somewhat lofty perch. I decided to use the snowshoes for the descent, which seemed a bit easier. I reached the bike in less than 2 hours and the coast out was easily less than a half an hour. Total time 4hrs to the saddle and 2:15 out.

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Mount Si 12.21.04

I was hoping to something a bit more exotic on the shortest day of the year, but time became it's usual impedance. I decided to stick close while still getting some sort of work out. Today's goal was to mountain bike as far on the Mount Teneriffe logging road as I could and then hike the rest of the way to Tenriffe's summit. I made great time the first 3 miles where I decided just to leave the bike for the coast home. I hit sustained snow near 2400ft but not nearly enough for snowshoes. I continued climbing until I reached a juction near 3100ft. I decided to follow the right fork that I knew took me towards Mount Si. It was much farther to Si's summit than I remembered but I made the top before I lost sunlight. I only stayed long enough to open something to drink and put on my headlamp for the long run back to the bike. I enjoyed the nice cushion of snow beneath my feet as I made my way down. I was thankful that the weather had improved the whole day and I missed any rain. The coast out was made more interesting due to the fading light. By the time I reached the truck it was quite dark.

Tuesday, December 7, 2004

Granite Lake Road 12.7.04

With the snow level flirting with 1500ft I decided to mountain bike until I reached the snow line. I have never used a bike for this purpose. I made it much easier than I expected to the snow line. It was now snowing quite hard as I changed into my boots. I had not really expected so much new snow I could have used my snowshoes above 2000ft. I had an appointment that I needed to be back early for so I turned back at 2800ft. It was quite fun watching the dogs dealing with the heavy wet snow. Soon I was back to my bike for the much easier coast to the truck.

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