Mount Finn 5280' 10.26.10

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With the heavy snows in the mountains I was eager to get out and see it for myself.  Since I knew the weather would more than likely be rainy I wanted to avoid hitting the worst of it by driving through it. The Tonga Ridge Road is a good way to get up high without getting out of the car. The goal was Mount Finn which is a play on it's taller neighbor Mount Sawyer. Although Finn would be tall enough to be included in the Home Court 100 it lacks 100' of prominence to be included. I thought I might be able to drive all the way to the Tonga Ridge Trailhead but I was only able to make the spur to the trailhead before snow became deeper than I felt like the Subaru could handle. There were some tracks of some bigger rigs but the center portion of the road was too deep. I slowly backed down to the intersection but began sliding and couldn't stop until I had firmly planted my passenger side wheels securely in the ditch. For those of you that follow my escapade this sounds eerily similar to two weeks ago when I did something just as disconcerting. I quickly got out to survey the situation and again only gave myself a 10 percent of actually making it out under my own power. With my trusty snow shovel in hand I dug a quick bare spot under the two wheels still on the road. I got it and tried moving forward with no luck. I rocked the car back and than forward with the pedal to the metal and was able to regain the road. I again backed down the road turned and thankfully parked.

Morpheous 5432' ( attempt )

With another stellar day forecasted I hoped to push the limits of what one might expect to do in mid October. I picked up Onelove1 in issaquah and we were off. The North Fork road was in great shape and we parked at the end of the road just past the Bare Mt trail in short order. It still was cold so we layered up and since it was going to be brushy we added full rain gear. It was cold enough that I wished I would have added gloves. The cold was short lived as the sun quickly warmed things. After 1.5 miles we hit a split in the road and headed right. Soon the road turns into the Lennox Creek Trail. I use the word trail loosely since this trail was never very good and now sees very little use making it unpleasant at times. The trail is muddy, rooty and very narrow and extremely slippery in places. This made the going quite slow. Thankfully the climb isn't steep and isn't very long.

Squak Mt South Access Road 10.12.10

  After yesterday's escapades I had a day to spend with the little ones. I swapped places with my wife and I had the kids for this Tuesday. I had to ferry the youngest to school and then ran some errands with the eldest child. I then returned to pick up the little one and we all had a nice picnic in the warm sun. After taking the oldest to school I asked the little one what she wanted to do. " I want to go on a hike" was her reply. Since we had to go by Squak Mt. on the way home I thought that would be a good test for the 3 year old. When we reached the access road I gave her the option of doing the Pretzel Tree Trail, the trail or the South Access Road. She chose the access road because she wanted to see the princess towers ( the kids name for the microwave towers) on the summit. I really didn't expect too much but the little one was intent on making it to the top. We were able to make it to the 1.5 mile mark before time became an issue. We had a nice talk as we wound our way up the road. The sun was out and fall was definitely in the air. My little one managed to walk most of the way down before deciding that she would be happier perched on my shoulders. I was very proud of my little girl and had a great time today spending some extra time with my girls. It certainly gave me a bigger appreciation of what my wife does on a daily basis.

Approx 3 miles 900' of  climb 1:30 car to car

!!!!!! 5000 Hits. !!!!!!!

After 6 weeks another milestone! I will be curious to see how long it will take to get to 25,000 page views. Looking forward to making the trips that will provide the impetus. I hope that people are finding this blog entertaining as well as informative.

Thanks for reading

Eric

North Fork Snoqualmie wanderings and other misadventures 10.11.10

     Well I try not to take myself too seriously and today is among the many reasons why. I added this map first because this day might have been more productive had I looked at it at some point. I usually am fortunate enough to get out on Tuesdays but this week I wouldn't be afforded that luxury. I work Sunday nights and have a hard time going home and going straight to bed enabling an early Monday morning start. I wanted to be available to the family in the late afternoon and as I stated didn't want to get up early. I needed something close and short. I have been meaning to make my way up Phelps for some time. It is a distinctive looking peak that can be clearly seen from Seattle. There is some confusion about the naming of the peak because most maps mislabel the peak McClain Peak which shares the same saddle but is to the SW. I have read enough reports of Phelps that I felt like I could make the round trip somewhere around 3 hours. The route is steep but it very direct. The plan was to do a variation of the Blackhawk mine route. I wanted to avoid the clear cut which I would expect slow wet and slippery going. The intent was to drive to the end of the spur road instead of heading to the mine. It is reported that the old growth starts there and there is far less brush. Well I had a plan..........

Atrium Peak 5359' Big Heart Lake 10.5.10

With an expected stellar weather day on tap I wanted to make the most of it. ONELUV1 signed up for a long trail day. I had been to Big Heart Lake 10 years ago when my wife and I made the jaunt to an overlook of Angeline lake where I proposed, so needless to say I many fond memories of the area. The goal was to climb the high point between Angeline and Big Heart Lakes at 5359' Atrium ranks #73 on the Home Court list. While there is a way trail that nearly goes overtop Atrium, the distance from the Trout Lake Trailhead is a worthy defense.