Thompson point 12.28.04

With just perfect weather I headed up the Granite Lakes Jeep road on mountain bike. There is a fair amount of blowdowns over the road in the first couple of miles. Nothing that you can't drag a mountain bike through. I kept a good pace until I reached the creek crossing where I dumped the bike and started the long walk to the ridgeline. I had heavy legs today so I wasn't too happy with the time I was making. I didn't hit sustained snow until 3400 feet and then it was mostly patchy. I followed the logging road that takes you directly towards Revolution Peak. The road dead ends at about 4700ft, I just climbed straight up in the somewhat soft snow until I reached the saddle between Pts 5124 and 5454. at around 5000ft. The weather became quite windy and very cold as I contemplated what to do next. As much as I wanted the summit to reward myself for all my hard work, I found my self drawn towards Pt 5124 instead. I just wasn't sure on how the dogs would react to the last push to the summit. I do wish however that I would have pressed on. I did enjoy some nice views of the Lower Middle Fork Valley. I could see the Columbia Tower just poking out of the fog in Seattle. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself when I thought about how my co-workers didn't even realize how nice it was today. I found a sheltered area to eat my lunch and do a little peak counting from my somewhat lofty perch. I decided to use the snowshoes for the descent, which seemed a bit easier. I reached the bike in less than 2 hours and the coast out was easily less than a half an hour. Total time 4hrs to the saddle and 2:15 out.

Mount Si 12.21.04

I was hoping to something a bit more exotic on the shortest day of the year, but time became it's usual impedance. I decided to stick close while still getting some sort of work out. Today's goal was to mountain bike as far on the Mount Teneriffe logging road as I could and then hike the rest of the way to Tenriffe's summit. I made great time the first 3 miles where I decided just to leave the bike for the coast home. I hit sustained snow near 2400ft but not nearly enough for snowshoes. I continued climbing until I reached a juction near 3100ft. I decided to follow the right fork that I knew took me towards Mount Si. It was much farther to Si's summit than I remembered but I made the top before I lost sunlight. I only stayed long enough to open something to drink and put on my headlamp for the long run back to the bike. I enjoyed the nice cushion of snow beneath my feet as I made my way down. I was thankful that the weather had improved the whole day and I missed any rain. The coast out was made more interesting due to the fading light. By the time I reached the truck it was quite dark.

Granite Lake Road 12.7.04

With the snow level flirting with 1500ft I decided to mountain bike until I reached the snow line. I have never used a bike for this purpose. I made it much easier than I expected to the snow line. It was now snowing quite hard as I changed into my boots. I had not really expected so much new snow I could have used my snowshoes above 2000ft. I had an appointment that I needed to be back early for so I turned back at 2800ft. It was quite fun watching the dogs dealing with the heavy wet snow. Soon I was back to my bike for the much easier coast to the truck.

Squak Mt 11.10.04

Finally Tanner's knee could withstand some hiking. I started him 3 weeks ago on leash walking the south side access road for just for about a mile. Last week I decided to do the West Summit and Central Summits. He was doing so well I decided to unleash him for the road walk out. This wasn't a bright idea because not more than a quarter mile into the descent both dogs sited a deer and were chasing the deer down the road at warp 6. Just what his knee needed an all out run steeply downhill. Thankfully no damage was done and Tanner recovered with only minimal soreness the next day. For this week I deemed him fit to be off leash for a real hike. I decided to take Phil's creek trail unil it passes below the East Peak. Here I left trail and bushwhacked to the East Peak's summit. This route is mostly unpleasant with meddling nettles in season. After summitting I was sure I would find trail down the north side. I found bits and pieces leading me more westerly. I dropped to Phil's creek and found this even more unpleasant travel I did a long traverse in a se tack until I found somewhat easier travel. After a much longer descent than I would have liked I rejoined the trail and was back to the car. Be wary very few of the junctions in this system are signed and many do loops which makes route finding quite confusing.