A Vacation's Silver Lining 7.23.13

 After last year's wonderful time at Lake Pend Oreille all the same cast was eager for a repeat visit

We had a wonderful addition this year with  a bayliner, giving us more fun options. We spent a wonderful 6 days enjoying the lake and each other. But as it usually goes time goes way too fast. Before I knew it we were sadly packing up for the long drive home. Sunday was an emotionally draining day coupled with the 6 hour drive home I was spent by the time I unloaded in the wee hours of Monday morning. I had hoped to do an overnighter with the balance of my time off but with such a taxing day I wasn't eager to make it out. I instead ran up Cougar and called it good. My wife had planned a family swim party for Tuesday and it is sometimes better If I take the dog out alleviating some potential problems. With an unexpected window I quickly made plans for a return attempt of Silver Peak. I had made it up the climber's trail a couple of weeks ago but had to turn back due to various reasons.
   I was able to make it to my starting point at a reasonable hour and shortly thereafter I was heading South on The PCT.  It seemed like the climbers trail was much further along the trail on my last visit and I completely walked by it without noticing it. By the time I realized my mistake I was nearly to Mirror Lake. Since I hadn't been before I decided to descend to the lake to check it out. The bugs were out and even a stiff breeze couldn't keep them at bay. I decided to get moving and backtrack to the climber's trail. The climber's trail was much different than a few week's back since most of the snow has now melted out. Soon I found myself on the ridge at a junction, I decided to head towars Silver since I was a bit behind and didn't feel like I had enough time to do a multiple peak day.  The trail along the ridge had some short class 3 sections and I  again found myself at a junction which I headed right. Soon Silver came into view. The first portion of the climb is on loose talus which was a bit tedious with trail running shoes on. I had forgotten to bring my boots so I was forced into using something less desirable. The trail was easy to follow and without any issues I found myself on the summit. There was  a nice couple on the summit that despite the stiff breeze was home to plenty of annoying bugs. I dropped pack for a short time and surveyed the North Ridge which I had hoped to use for my descent route. Feeling it best not to attempt without my boots I decided to instead retrace my route for the descent. Once off the loose talus I enjoyed the nice stroll back to the car.
Approx 9 miles 3400ft of climb

Silver Peak Remix 7.8.13

Last week's goal of Bandera was left unmet when the trailhead was closed for a SAR rescue. I was able to make the best of it my instead heading to Talapus and Ollalie lake and continuing on to the overlook. It was my first time out with Jeff one of my coworkers. With the heat and it being Jeff's first time out in some time, a more prudent choice. Jeff seemed eager to have a repeat. Always glad to have some tag along with me I was excited. I saw some recent reports of Abiel, Tinkham and Silver. I was eager to give the loop a go.
   Thanks to some good beta I was able to get us to where we needed with only minimal side tracks.  Jeff had asked if he could bring his dog, of course the more the merrier. I didn't kinow what to expect, I knew the dog was smaller. Well I will just say Remix doesn't have much ground clearance. To the little guys credit he appeared to have a great day and did himself proud.  After some discussion we decided to reverse the loop  by heading up the logging road instead of starting on the PCT. The road in good shape and soon we found ourselves at the end of the road. There was a good bootpath that led to a large boulder field. I was able to see the route but Remix wasn't able to negotiate the larger rocks. Jeff carried Remix for a short ways before I decided that I didn't feel good about having to carry the dog over difficult terrain. I decided it best to retreat and head back to the PCT. Thankfully there was some nice running water before the PCT so the dogs could tank up. The sun had burned through and walking the road was a bit hot so I was thankul when the PCT exited the clearcut into the shade. I was surprised that for the balnce of the day there was still plenty of running water. Just after entering the woods there is a campsite that is right in the middle of a former wind event. There are quite a few impressive sized trees blown over. We stayed on the PCT until reaching the climber's trail that reaches the ridge between Tinkham and Silver. The trail is a mild grade and only needs a quick 400' to reach the ridge. The upper portions had steeper consistent snow. The snow was receptive and I made quick work of the snow portion. Once cresting the ridge I decided to quickly retreat back down to keep Jeff from coming up. I was unclear of his level of snow travel and it didn't seem like a good idea to find out for such a limited reward.  We retreated back to the PCT to have lunch. We had lunch in a jumble of trees that had been hit with an avalanche some time ago.
   The bugs were starting to find us so we cut lunch short and headed back.
Approx 7 miles 1700' of climb

Note the climbers trail is cairned and quite hard to miss.

Navaho Pass, Wrong Way Peak 6656' 6/25/13

As usual spring time is tough for me to get out. My wife is immersed in her busy season and I have much added responsiblities. In addition this year I revisted my golf swing taking even more time away from my true passion. After realizing that as much as I enjoyed getting out with my friends on the golf course it was not progressing as quckly as I had hoped. Instead of forcing a square peg in a round hole I decided to revisit the one thing that I enjoy to the fullest no matter what the outcome. While I did try to keep my fitness up by taking the dog on some long walks through the neighborhood I feared that I had lost my edge. I thought I would run the dog around the Issaquah Alps on Monday climbing Cougar and West Squak. While I felt reasonably well I could see the dog was struggling since he had been lacking on the vertical of late.



The weather looked gloomy for Tuesday so I decided to fall back on the Teanaway effect hoping for somewhat dry weather. What to do? I have done most everything in the area. I was surprised to see recent reports of Wrong Way, it seemed to fit the bill, longish, good trail, reasonable grade and a non technical summit. The stage was set, I reached the end of the road at a reasonable hour giving myself penty of time to get back to Snoqualmie Pass BEFORE the road closure for blasting. The crux of this trip was to get both myself and the dog over the locked gate just before the Stafford Creek Trailhead. I managed to get over without too much bother but lifting the dog over the gate proved arduous. Thankfully I was able to get it done on the first try. The weather was pleasant but threatening to rain at any moment. The Stafford Creek Trail was much longer than I had remembered but soon I was just below Navaho Pass. Where the trail switchbacks backs to the pass I continued to the left on a faint trail going directly towards my summit. The going was low angled and open. I crossed the creek and continued climbing until I was able to find easy access to the East Ridge. I was able to see tracks of the recent traffic. If you stay on the South side of the ridge you can avoid the snow alltogether. I instead stayed on snow satisfying my urge to kick steps. I was able to make the summit without any difficulties, I am sure they views are great but the cloud cover prevented me from seeing much of anything. I looked for a resgister but was unable to find one. The descent was spent dodging the sporadic heavy rain showerers. Thankfully I reached the trailhead and I was even more thankful I was able to coax the dog through the gate instead of over it. It was nice to reconnect with my passion.

Approx 13 miles 3700' of climb 5:45 car to car

 

4235' 615' Via Tucker Creek (Easton)

With my last day of my mini vacation upon me I wanted to get out. The weather had been unsettled of late and judging by the fresh snow visible on Tiger Mt. from my house I decided again to keep my outing low key. I needed to find something with lower elevation and with plenty of trees. I had some concern for both the weather and for a heightened avalanche threat. I have made some recent attempts of Goat Mt. Near Easton and I was hoping for the right conditons for an attempt.


I had my annual fishing derby this weekend in preparation for the party I had a full week of yard maintennce. For fun I wore my GPS watch for the three day fun fest of spreading bark. I logged 15 miles and 7000' of climb in those 3 days without leaving the yard. This effort combined with the actual party and the rest of my hectic life I was pooped when I reached Tucker Creek. I parked and promptly fell asleep for an hour. Feeling much better when I awoke I suited up. I had some debate about what to wear. It did seem rather late in the year to wear snow pants and my shell but it was rather cool and judging by the clouds and weather racing by the summit of Goat Peak I thought it was a wise choice. Once reaching the shelter of the Tucker Creek valley there was fresh snow on the ground. The first creek crossing I chose to cross on the bridge which was partially covered in very slippery snow. There are many of the cross members missing which made for a very unnerving crossing. Thankfully I made it to the other side without dropping the 10 feet into the creek. The next 2 crossings where just a jump and one foot in and on to the other side.


Once crossing the third creek the pitch increases along with the depth of the snow. In short order I reached the junction on the mainline road coming from the West. The snow was much more consistent on this road and I forgo snowshoes. Soon the heavy wet snow became a burden to make my way through via boot only. I relented and put the snowshoes on. I followed the road until the road splits instead of heading South to access Goat Mt. I instead headed West for a short ways until I was below 4235' which I hadn't climbed. I left the road for a pleasant low angle jaunt through the well spaced trees. Soon I reached the West Ridge and was able to have some views of Easton below me. I followed the ridge finding denser trees along with sparser snow coverage. I debated on taking the snowhoes off but decided to keep them on. Soon I was the Western high point. It looked like there was a higher Eastern Point so I descended a short ways and climbed to the point which was indeed higher. Once reaching the summit I could see a massive squall heading my way so I decided to descend quickly. Thankfully I was only on the edge of the squall so I missed most of what I would guess was some intense weather.


The descent went quickly and I was surprised on how much snow had melted out in the short time since I had passed. Not paying close enough attention I passed my Tucker Creek turn off which added and additional mile of walking to back track. Not wanting to tempt fate and since my boots were quite wet I walked accross each of the creek crossings. It was nice to get out and stretch the legs a bit albeit a quite lowly objective.

Approx 9 miles 2500' of climb 4:15 car to car