Bill's Peak 9.7.10

 The weather hasn't been my friend of late, the last two outings resulted in no summits and very wet gear. I monitored the weather all week and it looked like once again I was in for a wet outing. I tried to make the best of it by doing something in Teanaway and hoped for the "Teanaway Effect" that has served me well in the past. Since Bill's Peak is one of the few remaining victims in the area, I thought I would roll the dice and see if the weather gods would afford me a break.

Icicle Creek, Frosty-Whitepine 8.31.10

After being drowned on last week's trip and not summitting anything I felt like I had to have a big day to make up for last week's lack of success. I was drawing near to the close of my vacation and the weather didn't look like it would cooperate. Since Monday evening was nice I thought maybe I could out run the weather by hiking thru the night. I usually try to do one long trip per year and I felt like by leaving during the night 30 miles and 10,000ft of climb could be done. The plan was to do a loop from the washout on the Icicle Road going over Frosty Peak, Snowgrass, Ladies Peak and Cape Horn and coming out Chatter Creek. My first thought was to do it going up Chatter Creek first but leaving during the night I felt like walking the Icicle Road and Icicle Trail would be better done with the headlamp.

Chain Lakes 8.26.10

When I was much younger my family would go to a special beach every year and every year it was a soaker. I would wonder why we would put ourselves through it each year. Finally one year the weather was perfect and the answer was apparent. I feel like Chain Lakes is my new soaker. I had been watching the weather closely and it seemed less than ideal but I felt like being East of the crest maybe the weather gods would be kind to me. It is amazing what a difference a day can make, yesterday it was 92 degrees when we crested Snoqualmie Pass on the way home from Cooper lake and today it was in the mid 40's at Chain Lakes. I had a leisurely start and still made it to my jump off point on the Upper Mill Creek Road at 1pm a full hour faster than what I was hoping for. I had already packed so I just donned the rain gear. There was on car at the parking spot and the man chatted me up. He was waiting for his wife to meet him for supplies as she is doing the PCT thru Washington. Since he planned on meeting her a Lake Susan Jane I suggested the shortcut that I was to use. I walked him to where it starts and then we parted ways. From the onset I felt great, the legs felt strong and the pack seemed light. I was able to reach the small pass above LSJ in 35 minutes and quickly

Cooper Lake 8.25.10

With my vacation finally arriving I thought a night out camping with the family was in order. I pondered a long time before settling on Cooper Lake. I wanted something that we didn't have walk too far and with some improvements. The kids are still a little too young to appreciate the true nature of backpacking. After what seemed like a million stops we were finally on our way. Thankfully there wasn't too many campers so we had our pick of sites. As we found out later we weren't even on an improved site. After making what seemed like a million trips to the car and back we finally had set to our liking. The weather was ideal warm, sunny, light breeze and best yet NO bugs. The views from camp of Lemah and Chimney Rock were outstanding and it was fun to point out the peaks to the family who did there best to seem interested. I set up the poles for the kids to try for the numerous fish that were feeding. The grew more interested in playing in the water so I shifted gears to beer tanning as I sat in my chair next to the water and did my best to support local breweries.