Cedar Butte 7.19.10

With a day to watch the kids I thought it would be a good chance to stretch their legs. A couple at work wanted to tag along with their 4 year old so we again had a plan. We met at the Iron Horse Park trailhead under cool and cloudy skies. I hadn't done much research on the route but I felt like even just walking the Iron Horse would make for a good day. From the outset the two year old made it apparent she wasn't going to walk anywhere. If I had been alone with the kids I may have pushed the issue but I certainly didn't want to expose the rest of the gang with a hysterical child. So on my shoulders she went and remained that way for the entirety of the trip. We were able to find the trail to Cedar Butte without issue. The trail is in good shape and reaches a junction in short order. The arrow points the way and we followed. The grade eases and meanders for way too long. The trail has ups and downs and one doesn't net much of the needed gain. Finally we reached a saddle and another junction. The signage is most confusing and we ended up heading down the wrong branch. After the trail starts a steep descent I had us turn around and take the trail that even the 4 year old was sure was the right one. The trail starts switchbacking and finally gaining some elevation. Finally we reached the summit bench and famous "Cedar Butt" benchmark. We had a hasty lunch due to the hordes of mosquitoes. I had made the mistake of telling the group that this has been the best bug year ever. I hadn't even seen a mosquito before today. For the descent we used the trail that we had mistakenly taken earlier which thankfully was much shorter way back to the first junction. Soon we were back to the Iron Horse and the short ways back to the car. I again am most proud of my 4 year old who led the way the entire way. It was fun for me to see her passing on her knowledge to the other 4 year old in the group. Note to self carrying a 2 year old on your shoulders for 3:30 doesn't do much for ones neck.

Davis Peak 7.13.10

I had climbed to the Davis Peak Lookout many years ago but I didn't make my way to the true summit further West. I had read some reports about traversing to Goat Mt which is included in the HC/100 and thus needed to be climbed. I felt like it would make a good combo. I had some plans in the evening and my cousin inlaw Scott was in town so I had a plan and some company. In order to make it fit into the time frame I had him spend the night avoiding my having to pick him up in Downtown Seattle. We were out the door shortly after 5am and after a few stops we were heading over Snoqualmie Pass to some blue skies. I had some concern that Scott didn't have any gear and bought trail running shoes the night before. I was concerned that there would probably be some lingering snow patches that wouldn't be passable with trail running shoes. I was able to drive the Subaru all the way to the trailhead only after we moved a large log blocking the road. I was very surprised that we were able to move it at all, I guess it was the big breakfast I had. We travelled light and made good time up the many switchbacks. I remebered that there wasn't any water so I had brought plenty extra for myself and the pups. A small squall blew in and we layered up only to take the layers off a short time later. Soon enough the enormous windbreak came into view. We had a short rest and soon thereafter we headed on the easy to follow boot tread heading West. The route cleverly avoids many of the obstacles on the ridge and we had no problem topping out on 6490'. There was a point to the North that was a little higher but I believe the point we were on is considered the true summit. I scouted for a short time to find a way to make my way below us in order to traverse to the notch in the North ridge. I found a safe way down but the notch was guarded by some low angle snow slopes. I felt like this wasn't a prudent move to continue so I climbed back up to the ridge. There was an inviting unmapped pond just West and below the summit. We retraced our route and dropped very quickly to the valley below. We passed a group of five who were waiting for their sixth member to catch up and later we passed a solo climber that had made it to the lookout while we on the true summit. It was nice to get out with Scott again and I very much look forward to doing it again next time he is visiting from Indiana.




Approx 11 miles 4300' of climb 5:45 car to car

Grindstone 7.7.10

Well this one didn't go as planned but I made the best of it. I managed to get out of bed at 4am hoping to beat the expected high heat. It took me a bit longer than expected to reach the washout on the Icicle Creek Road due to many of my stops involving stores that were yet to open. Thankfully it was cool as I geared up. I made it about a .25 mile before realizing that I had left my trekking pole in the car. I felt it would be useful higher up so I turned around to get it. As I made it back to the car a truck with two dogs in it was just pulling in. In an effort to unlock the car I dropped the leash. The shepard decided to say high by jumping up on the side of the bed of the truck making some deep scratches. I wasted some time giving the unhappy driver my personal information so that I can fix it. Now after getting up early with not nearly enough sleep was a bit more than I could handle. Thankfully I was able to channel my immense displeasure for my dog into pounding out the mileage to the Chattter Creek Trailhead somewhat faster. I reached the trail and began my way up. The first portion meanders a little before crossing Chatter Creek and then the work begins. This steepness arrived with full sunlight and much warmer temperatures. As is the case the first warm hike of the year takes it's toll on me. I pushed on thankfully reaching the cool shady area of the recrossing of Chatter Creek. I was pleased that the water was lower than other trips making it much easier to get all three of us across. After the creek crossing there is some more climbing before the grade eases off when reaching the wonderful basin at around 5100'. This is where my fix job on the dogs pack came apart making it useless to me. Since I had no room to stow anything else in my pack and the idea of throwing it over my pack didn't appeal to me I wasn't certain what my next move would be. I found a nice sheltered spot to drop pack and weigh my options. I decided it would be best to stash most of my gear and go light with just what I needed to bivy. It amazed me after off loading a few pounds how much better my legs felt. In short order I was at the basin before the trail makes it's final push to the pass. Here the snow started and was mostly continuous to the summit. I had reports of staying on the ridge until 7400' but that didn't look appealing because of the massive cornice that overhung that route. I could see someone had kicked steps directly underneath it and skirted it's side. I am sure the condition might have been better when this was done but I don't think I would try that no matter what the circumstances were. I put on crampons and kicked steps the short steep portion to reach the ridge at 7000'. Here I had to try to find a way down the other side. I removed my crampons and was able to find some dirt and trees that gave my some security to reach the more mellow slopes below. Once again on snow I had to traverse some ways before I could make the last push to the summit. I was thankful that this portion was under the cover of snow because I am sure that this traverse is mostly loose rock and would be very tedious. With the worst past I now had to try to determine which of the many summits was the true summit. I remembered some pictures from a previous trip that looked like the way so I followed. I was able to see some footprints coming down of the ridge from the 7400' level and I made my way towards them hoping they might have an idea of the best route. When I intersected the track I surprised to find that it was laid my mountain goat. I followed until I broke out on the summit ridge where I traversed to the small saddle and then switchbacked to the summit. The views were tremedous as I sat among the hordes of ladybugs. I thumbed through the register which was placed in 1994 and saw many familiar names. I was shocked to see so many entries, I wouldn't have thought it would see so many visitors. I had the honor of being the first entry for this year, although I thought there were signs of skiers up on the higher slopes.


Some of the many pictures I took. It seems that none really came out well



I debated on what to do next. I saw a gap on the North tending ridge that leads to Cape Horn which was the next stop on my itinerary. There was small pass with easy slopes on the West and it appeared mellow on the East as well. I gave much thought of going through the gap and traversing to Lake Edna. In the end I decided that it would be best to head back to my stowed belongings. I chose a more direct descent of a nice snow filled gully. The beagle found something to investigate and lingered and I was able to shoot some interesting pictures of his descent.



Once back on my uptrack I followed in footprints until just before I reached the way I had come down. Here I angled a little further East and reached bare dirt that lead me easily to the ridge. I made quick work back to my makeshift camp. Once back I realized I still had plenty of time to make it out since I had only 2 hours to get back to the car. I debated while making dinner and sometime after until finally deciding to stay the night. I had a great night sleep and finally got out of the sack around 8:30 and made some coffee and hit the road. When I reached the car there were plenty of official vehicles so I inquired on what the issue was. I had a tough time to get anyone to acknowledge me. Finally one man told me that someone possibly needed help on Jack Ridge. I know that they were trying to formulate a plan but since it was apparent that I had been on more than a day hike I would have thought they might be at least interested on where I had come from. Granted I don't know all the particulars but if I had seen something it could have proved valuable to their efforts. All in all it was another satisfying trip.

Approx 14 miles 5500' of climb 27 hours car to car

Little Bulger 6.29.10

As is my pattern I don't always do things the way things are normally done. Little Bulger is one of the rarer visited summits of the Home Court 100. While I don't have any concrete information to prove this but I would be willing to bet it doesn't see many summits. The standard approach is via Dingford Creek and leave from between the two Myrtle Lakes. I wasn't thrilled about doing that route and last year I set out from Dorothy Lake to Bear/Deer Lakes. I ran out of enthusiasm without mustering an attempt. Today with ONELUV1 signing on for another outing I had more hope for success. We managed good time to the Dorothy Lake Trailhead and soon we were underway under mostly cloudy skies. The trail is great shape all the way to inlet crossing. The bridge is still out so we switched to sandals to manage the crossing. The trail to Bear/Deer Lakes is in great shape and we easily made it to the saddle above the lakes. Here we left trail and traversed above the East Shore of Bear Lake. I had used this route from return from my trip late last year. We finally made it to the meadow area on the SE side of the lake. Here we had a short lunch and plotted our next move. I thought I had remembered a nice gully that would take us to the upper slopes, but this gully was mostly melted out and had quite a bit of moving water. This didn't appeal to me so I led us across a creek that had some healthy flow. Once on the West side of the creek we headed mostly due South until we reached an East/West tending ridge at 4200'. This portion was rather brushy greatly slowing our progress. Once on the ridge we turned East and the brush abated. I was able to follow something similar to a trail. I am guessing long ago there was some mining up high. After a short boulder field we were stymied by some rock outcroppings so we traversed on some sketchy snow until we were a able to take a nice ramp that led to some open snow slopes. The snow was great for kicking steps and we made good time to reach the what I thought was the summit area. I was hugely dismayed to see an impressive pinnacle that looked nearly unclimbable that was certainly higher than where we stood. Further along the ridge I saw an area that looked to be 100' higher. We had to drop some elevation to make the snow slopes that led us thankfully to the true summit. Once on the summit I was quite surprised by how steeply the ridge dropped to the potholes below us. The vantage of the pinnacle was also striking showing that the slope was actually more than 90 degrees. While the views of Big Snow and the surrounding peaks was impressive it lost some of impact due to cloud cover. We had some discussion about our return but I felt the known was better than the appealing more direct line. The descent went very quickly. I erred on the last 200' and we ended up in the next bay to the West. We decided to head along the West shore for the SHORT ways to the trail on the North side of the lake. Well the way was very brushy and thankfully we made back on trail without too much bloodletting. Once on trail we made much better time. On the descent to Dorothy the beagle fell through some rotten snow and completely disappeared only to reappear 15' further downhill from underneath the snow. He didn't seem bothered in the least and we had a good laugh over the episode. We reached the inlet and reapplied sandals which we both kept on for the rest of the way to the car. While I am not sure I would recommend this route it went and it was a very rewarding day. I was thankful for another day with great company.




Approx 14 miles 4300' of climb 9 hours car to car