Squak Mt. 1.1.04

With just a little time to dedicate for a hike I chose something as close to home as possible. I left the Squak Mt. parking lot with a light snow just starting. The snow grew in intensity as the hike wore on. There was around six inches at the top which I am sure has doubled by now. I stayed on the access road and made the top in just less than an hour. I ran the the upper portion on the way down, the snow making a perfect cushion on my feet. I saw 4 other hikers on today's trip, and saw signs of a few more. I was glad to see the area gets some use.

Grantie Lakes Road 12.15.03

With decent weather today I thought some good leg stretching was in order. I parked just off the Middle Fork Rd. at the second logging Rd in ( about a half mile from where the pavement ends). I knew because of the low elevation start that I would have to carry my snowshoes for at least the first hour. There is consistent snow just past where the road crosses Granite Lakes Creek. There is a well broken snowshoe trail that continues on until the road splits and continues on towards Mailbox Pk.. The portion of the trail that crosses the many forks of the creek is rather unpleasant. There are at least 12 forks and you must drop 3-6 feet and reclimb that on the other side of each of these forks. The trail ends after crossing most of the creeks, I continued on, the unbroken trail was even more unpleasant. I had to stop when the beagle couldn't cope with the very deep snow of the unbroken trail. The jog out went much quicker than expected and I was soon at the truck. There was some storm damage but most had been chainsawed out and was quite passable. This route will probably be even more unpleasant when the snow deepens. I think it would be much more enjoyable to continue on the road that moves towards Granite Lks and beyond.

Kendall Peak Road 11.28.03

Today was a day were I should have just stayed home. I left home with warm and heavy rains, I was sure I could make it to the Hyak snow park without too much difficulty. When I reached the snow park there were at least 20 cars parked, so I had to go a quarter mile and turn around. Much to my dismay the truck didn't take to the slushy road and I was stuck sideways in the middle of the road. Lucky for me someone hooked a tie strap to my front end and managed to get me turned around. My first instinct was to just go home not wanting to get stuck again. I noticed that there was ample parking underneath the overpass and the road was free of snow, so I parked. I mostly climb during the week so I was a little unprepared for the sheer amount of people along the way. About 20 minutes in I noticed that Baxter had shed his sweater, so I had to descend about 5 minutes to retieve it. I then returned to the climb until about 20 minutes later when I realized that somewhere along the way I had lost Baxter. Last week I lost the other dog Tanner, so this was something I really didn't want to go through again. I dropped about 5 minutes to point where Tanner was waiting. I could see tracks that left the road and where Baxter couldn't make it back up to the road. I was now faced with tracking my dog through the snow. Baxter is small and light enough to weave his way among the heavy brush that lines the logging road. I however, am not I had much difficulty in following in his footsteps. After floundering in chest deep snow for about 10 minutes I noticed a couple who were on the road and asked them to keep an eye out for the beagle. Lucky for me, they noticed Baxter just making it out onto the road. I then tried to make my way the 30 or so feet to regain the road. Every step I sunk until the snow was at eye level, I was forced to crawl the remaining distance. My heart was now not beating it was just a straight tone. I am sure the couple was amused with my escapades. To make things worse Baxter was so scared that he wouldn't come and would run away any time I made move in his direction. I prodded Tanner ahead until he made contact with Baxter and finally they both returned. Not wanting to tempt fate any further I returned to the truck and made my way home.

Mount Tenneriffe 11.18.03

The dogs were literally bouncing off the wall today, so I thought it would be best to get some sort of climb in despite the very heavy rains today. Looking for a open brushless climb that was close to home, I chose to climb Tenerife via the logging road that nearly takes you all the way to the summit. The rain stayed steady and very heavy for the entire time of this trip. At approx 2800ft I decided that I had enough of the rain and retreated. On the return trip the dogs caught a scent and disappeared. This is not an unusual event but when the beagle was the first to return I began to worry. The beagle is the one I am always trying to fetch. After calling Tanner's name for what seemed like an eternity, I was faced with the what to do next. I decided that maybe he had become lost and would head back to the car so I continued the descent after marking where we had parted ways. I then started back calling Tanner's name as loud and as often as I could, all the while trying to think of how I was going to explain how I lost one of our babies to the wife. After about 5 minutes of descent Tanner thankfully returned. The rest of the way out seemed to go quite a bit faster. There is running water nearly everywhere and there were spots on Mt Si Rd that were under water.