Mount Tenneriffe 1.14.04

With one of the dogs nursing a reinjured knee and not wanting to be unfair and bring his little brother, I snuck out of the house. I had to laugh at having to be so stealthy, but the dogs would have gone nuts if they even sensed that I was going with out them. I decided that Mt Teneriffe would be today's objective. I used the logging road at the end of Mt. Si Rd. The area seems to have received quite a bit of snow in last week's snowstorm. It seems like the cold was trapped near the ground leaving a inversion of snow. As I climbed the snow grew more and more sparse. I donned snowshoes near the 3000ft level. Despite leaving with a purposeful drizzle the day warmed with some filtered sunlight and grew quite warm. The road has a well worn snowshoe track that I followed to the saddle that overlooks Ranchor Lake at the 4100ft level. I stopped to eat lunch and enjoyed the views. I then followed the snowshoe track that continues to Teneriffe's summit. After about climbing 100ft of elevation on the easy to follow trail my will left me. I didn't really want to finish in the dark and I was running low on time due to my somewhat slow pace on the climb. I decided that since I had already climbed Teneriffe on two previous trips there wasn't really enough to motivate me further. I was a little crest fallen that I had not achieved today's goal, but that melted quickly as I enjoyed the balmy weather and nice views on the way down.

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.