Easton Ridge 1.8.10

After a massive work week I was in the mood for something on the shorter side. I wasn't in the mood for plodding uphill in deep snow so I thought I would give the skis another try. I thought another trip to Easton would be perfect. I was surprised to awaken to a downpour in the morning, I hadn't seen that in the forecast I had read before going to bed. I was actually happy because I was optimistic that the rain would be snow in Easton. True to my hopes I had snow and a lot of it. I had hoped to ski the road that climbs to the East Side of Easton Ridge. I had some issues finding the road I wanted to use and when I finally did it was gated and wouldn't go. I backtracked and somehow had lost my phone in the car. I stopped to look for it just as a work truck pulled up beside me. Since I was fully in the way I hastily got back in the car and had to drive a mile before I could find a suitable parking spot. After turning the car upside down and not finding my phone I surmised that it had somehow fallen out of the car when I had stopped. How could I have not noticed this, surely this couldn't be the case. After backtracking and this time finding a parking place out of the way I started my search. Right in the middle of the road was my phone just laying in the snow. Surely it had been run over or wouldn't work. I picked it up and it was intact and fully functioning. This wasn't the start I was hoping for. As I went to get back on the free way I hit an ice patch and promptly slammed into the guardrail


Fully expecting the car to be smashed I got out to survey the damage. Other than a foglight that was already half broken and the bumper slightly askew you couldn't tell anything had happened. I popped the bumper back into place and continued on my way. I went all the way back to Sparks and headed East from there and was able to find Easton Ridge Road. There is considerable logging activity on this road so be wary. It plays peak a boo with the powerlines for about 4 miles. I found a spur road that branched off and parked.



I skinned a short ways up the road until I reached a junction where only snowmobiles had gone. The way was narrow so it looks like it could be a trail but I was unsure. I found the going easier in ski than it would have been in snowshoes because of the new deep snow. The snow was only growing in intensity and it was sure nice to see. I followed the path a short ways after it started to descend. Now for the interesting part the descent back to the car. I decided it best to leave the skins on and try to get a feel for what I needed to do at slower speeds. I was able to slide at a manageable speed and managed to make some small turns. Much like a baby taking it's first steps I was learning. Since I hadn't gone too far I was back to the car quickly. I was able to make my way home without running into any immovable objects. When I got home I took my other car to get my tire leaky tire fixed. True to form for the day the tire was not repairable and I was forced to get 4 new tires. I am comforted that tomorrow will have to go better.

Kachess Dam Road

The last couple years I have had a growing interest in trying something new. I tried some cross country ski trips but wasn't sold on being able to master the telemark turn. Last year I decided that I would look into a Randonee setup and started my search for something that would work on the cheap. I never quite pulled the trigger on anything but when I recently saw a complete setup with boots in my size I thought I would make an offer. It was obvious to me that the seller just wanted to get rid of the skis so I offered much less than the asking price. To my surprise he accepted and I went to pick them up before work on Sunday. I put off going until Tuesday with the hope of some new snow that I was sure would be helpful. I am not a skier so I thought it best that I try something where I didn't have to dodge any pesky trees. I still wanted to try and climb something that I hadn't been on top of before. I also wanted something that was less travelled because I knew I would have my hands full and didn't want any added distractions. My initial plan was to try for Easton Ridge from the East where I could use logging roads to get high on the ridge and boot the remainder. I was a little unsure about the area and when I got off in Easton I thought it might be better to see how far I could drive the Kachess Dam Road. The road was packed from heavy snowmobile traffic making it more difficult than my previous trip 2 weeks ago. I passed the tree that nearly hit my car which thankfully had a portion cut out. Where the car tracks had stopped last week now continued so I thought I would give it a go. I drove nearly to the Kachess Large Party Camp and parked. I could have gone further but I didn't want to push the issue.




I had skied this road a few years back and did Spring trips to some of the area peaks in the past so I knew the way. What I didn't know was how to use my new gear. After a couple of tries I was able to get the skins on and my boots locked up. The bindings took me a little longer to figure out but soon I was eating up some miles. Once I reached road 4824 I started to climb. I was quite happy with my progress and I climbed steadily on the hard packed road. Once I had climbed 1500' I thought I had better see how I was going to respond to the descent. I have a very low tolerance for speed coupled with my total lack of skiing ablilty I knew I might have ISSUES. As soon as I took off the skins I knew I was in trouble. The skis were more frictionless than I thought possible. I vainly tried to snowplow to decrease my exponential increase in speed. My first run ended in a jumble of gear. I decided to boot lower to a more benign spot, granted my first choice wasn't steep at all. Finding a grade that was more to my liking I gave it another go. I promptly lost one pole and distinclty remember thinking " Oh sh## now what". This run ended in another fall much less graceful than my first. I tweaked my leg pretty good and decided that proceeding in this fashion was not prudent in the least. Not overjoyed with the thought of booting 4 miles in my ski boots, I reapplied my skins hoping that they would slow me down enough to make is safe. Too bad for me they slowed me down to the point of not sliding hardly at all. It was faster to proceed this way than booting it, so I continued. Soon after I started having foot issues so I had to stop and remove my socks and just use my liner socks which thankfully solved that issue. I thankfully made it back to the car without any further issues. I really didn't expect it to go well and I was right..... anyone want a cheap randonee set up?





Approx 10 miles 1500' of climb 5.5 hours car to car

Kachess Beacon

I had hoped to try for a Home Court peak closer to home but the weather didn't look inspiring. I thought I would have a better chance heading further East. I met LiketoThruHike at Preston and we were off. Going up the pass the snow wasn't the issue but rather freezing rain. The road was in descent shape and soon we found ourselves in Easton. After sliding through the off ramp stop sign due to my lack of paying attention, I turned toward Kachess Dam Road. I was unsure if the road was plowed and as we went past Silver Creek Road there was a plow working. Since there are some homes on the Kachess Dam Road I thought there was a good chance they would plow that next. As I turned onto the KDR the snow was MUCH deeper than expected. There was recent travel leaving ruts but the center portion was putting the Subaru clearance to the test. I was sure it was deeper than my clearance would allow but the snow was so light that the bumper just skimmed it off the top and threw it on the windshield. I remembered the acess to the Silver Creek Road had been re-routed from the power line approach that I had used on my last trip. The ruts abrubltly changed direction down to the lake and there were none going any further. I turned around a parked. I thankfully always carry a snow shovel so I was able to clear out a space allowing an easy exit, or so I thought. The snow was the lightest I have ever seen it was deep but it was almost like walking without snow at all. Thankfully I had loaded the trail head on a previous trip and I noticed that we had passed the turnoff. I had rembered the road as being signed on my last vist. Since we were already geared up we decided to just walk to the trailhead and not risk getting the car stuck trying to park.




LTTH decided on putting snowshoes on from the beginning while I stayed in boots. I had planned on using the ridge directly to approach the beacon but when I saw that the Southern exposure had melted out the seasons earlier snow and what was remaining was surely the least consolidated snow possible. The Silver Creek Trail approach seemed like a better alternative. The trail was suprisingly easy to follow and was steeper than I remembered. Thankfully I was able to get a internet signal on my phone and I was able to read a report from Joey regarding the jump off point for the scramble trail to the beacon. I left the trail where he said the trail was. I was unable to see any sign of a trail but just merely headed up. There was defineltly not much bonding between the very crusty old snow layer and the light new layer. I stayed in the trees until reaching a spur ridge that we rode higher until reaching a more defined ridge. The going was mostly open and a very pleasant ascent. Soon I crested a small false summit and was surprised to not see any tower. I continued on until the tower came into view. The last portion had the deepest snow of the day and really got the heart going. I ducked out of the wind and snow and waited for LTTH who arrived soon after. We had a quick snack and I started to get cold so we beat a hasty retreat. The descent went very quickly and was quite fun sliding on the crusty old layer. Soon we were pack for the long road walk back to the car. Just as I rounded the last corner I was dismayed to see a tree had fallen narrowly missing the car. The branches were not actually touching the car but there wasn't enough room to walk in front of the car. The tree was much to big to move WTF..... what the hell are we going to do now? I was able to take the snow shovel and sheer off the branches far enough up the tree to give me some hope. We then dug as much snow out from under the tree and gave my self a landing area past the tree. I was able to have LTTH stand on the tree as I punched it and made it over without issue. Getting back into the ruts took some inspired driving but I made it and parked. Now it was time to see if we could make it back to I-90. Besides having to dodge some snowmobilers who were parked in the middle of the road and wouldn't move we had no issues. Snoqualmie Pass was challenging to cross but I took it slow and had no issues. I still can't believe a random tree would fall so close to the car without any wind and the lightest snow possible. I couldn't help but think the tree had been cut down on purpose we both looked and didn't see any tracks going into the woods. I would highly recommend this route provided you can drive close enough to the trailhead.



Approx 8 miles 2500' of climb 4:30 car to car

Kachess Dam Road

I had hoped to try for a Home Court peak closer to home but the weather didn't look inspiring. I thought I would have a better chance heading further East. I met LiketoThruHike at Preston and we were off. Going up the pass the snow wasn't the issue but rather freezing rain. The road was in descent shape and soon we found ourselves in Easton. After sliding through the off ramp stop sign due to my lack of paying attention, I turned toward Kachess Dam Road. I was unsure if the road was plowed and as we went past Silver Creek Road there was a plow working. Since there are some homes on the Kachess Dam Road I thought there was a good chance they would plow that next. As I turned onto the KDR the snow was MUCH deeper than expected. There was recent travel leaving ruts but the center portion was putting the Subaru clearance to the test. I was sure it was deeper than my clearance would allow but the snow was so light that the bumper just skimmed it off the top and threw it on the windshield. I remembered the acess to the Silver Creek Road had been re-routed from the power line approach that I had used on my last trip. The ruts abrubltly changed direction down to the lake and there were none going any further. I turned around a parked. I thankfully always carry a snow shovel so I was able to clear out a space allowing an easy exit, or so I thought. The snow was the lightest I have ever seen it was deep but it was almost like walking without snow at all. Thankfully I had loaded the trail head on a previous trip and I noticed that we had passed the turnoff. I had rembered the road as being signed on my last vist. Since we were already geared up we decided to just walk to the trailhead and not risk getting the car stuck trying to park.




LTTH decided on putting snowshoes on from the beginning while I stayed in boots. I had planned on using the ridge directly to approach the beacon but when I saw that the Southern exposure had melted out the seasons earlier snow and what was remaining was surely the least consolidated snow possible. The Silver Creek Trail approach seemed like a better alternative. The trail was suprisingly easy to follow and was steeper than I remembered. Thankfully I was able to get a internet signal on my phone and I was able to read a report from Joey regarding the jump off point for the scramble trail to the beacon. I left the trail where he said the trail was. I was unable to see any sign of a trail but just merely headed up. There was defineltly not much bonding between the very crusty old snow layer and the light new layer. I stayed in the trees until reaching a spur ridge that we rode higher until reaching a more defined ridge. The going was mostly open and a very pleasant ascent. Soon I crested a small false summit and was surprised to not see any tower. I continued on until the tower came into view. The last portion had the deepest snow of the day and really got the heart going. I ducked out of the wind and snow and waited for LTTH who arrived soon after. We had a quick snack and I started to get cold so we beat a hasty retreat. The descent went very quickly and was quite fun sliding on the crusty old layer. Soon we were pack for the long road walk back to the car. Just as I rounded the last corner I was dismayed to see a tree had fallen narrowly missing the car. The branches were not actually touching the car but there wasn't enough room to walk in front of the car. The tree was much to big to move WTF..... what the hell are we going to do now? I was able to take the snow shovel and sheer off the branches far enough up the tree to give me some hope. We then dug as much snow out from under the tree and gave my self a landing area past the tree. I was able to have LTTH stand on the tree as I punched it and made it over without issue. Getting back into the ruts took some inspired driving but I made it and parked. Now it was time to see if we could make it back to I-90. Besides having to dodge some snowmobilers who were parked in the middle of the road and wouldn't move we had no issues. Snoqualmie Pass was challenging to cross but I took it slow and had no issues. I still can't believe a random tree would fall so close to the car without any wind and the lightest snow possible. I couldn't help but think the tree had been cut down on purpose we both looked and didn't see any tracks going into the woods. I would highly recommend this route provided you can drive close enough to the trailhead.



Approx 8 miles 2500' of climb 4:30 car to car



Sorry no pictures the camera crapped out on me