A couple of Week's ago I had an interesting trip in the Cabin Creek area. Although it didn't result in any summits it did provide and enjoyable outing. Recently the weather has disrupted my trip plans and today was no exception. When I got up it was dry but imposing and by the time I got out the door the heavy rain had already arrived. As I made my way up I-90 the rain stopped but I was sure it was right behind me. When I saw blue sky East of the pass I shifted gears and decided to head East. I was running low on ideas so I thought it best to try a rematch with Cabin Mt. Looking at my maps it appeared that one could access my previous route from an exit earlier but that proved less than fruitful when the road ended in a snow berm preventing any further travel. I still am suspect about this route working since I don't remember encountering a bridge to cross over the Yakima River. At any rate I backtracked to I-90 and made my way to my previous parking spot on Cabin Creek Road going through Easton.
The weather was dry and foggy but seemed likely to improve as the sun made it's way higher into the sky.I traced my steps of my previous trip but further up I headed further West finding smooth sailing in the clearcut. The snow was fairly consolidated and I was only sinking in 6" with my snowshoes on. I saw some flagging on a tree and I entered the trees following the line of flagging. The going got steep but the snow in the trees was very grippy giving the pace a distinct lift. Soon I popped out on a road and I had a tough time remembering if it was the same road as my previous trip. I followed for a short ways and the road dead ended and I angled to rejoin the trees because the snow was much quicker. I quickly ran into another road and I stepped over this road climbing steeply in less consolidated snow. Soon I found myself in some sort of rock garden with immense rocks to circumvent. I was I was worried about voids in the snow. I had visions of a recent trip report where the skier fell into a hole and had a very tough time extricating himself. That report had the luxury of having some onlookers who could have helped. Not having that luxury I tredded gingerly. Not finding any easy way I decided to bag the rest of the climb. I headed back down, when I hit the road I had crossed over I decided to continue heading West. Soon I found a nice stand of more mature trees with a nice angled slope. Even though my legs were crying to stop the easy going in the trees was more than I could resist. I plodded on switchbacking in the nice snow with a manageable grade. Soon I found myself in a small basin with some views. I could see 250' of climb above me with open deep snow and then a small short portion to reach the summit ridge. I had already passed by turn around time and the tank was very much on empty. I decided to head back and hopefully to miss the impending rain. I was very surprised to make it as far as I had since the going was much tougher than expected. I followed my tracks most of the way back to the car. The rain hit on the lower slopes but I was close enough to the car for it to be of little bother.
Approx 6 miles 2200' of climb 4:30 car to car.
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