Green Ridge Lake 5.8.12

     

    It looked like most of the week the stellar weather was going to hold until Tuesday so I wanted to get out and knock off a few peaks. I put out some feelers for partners in hopes that it would  allow for a better chance of success. I was dismayed when avalanche warnings went up for Sunday thru Tuesday. I hoped that the incoming clouds would filter enough sun on Tuesday to give me a reasonable chance at a safe summit bid. Originally I wanted to do both Floating Rock and Galleon Peaks which are unnamed summits overlooking the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie Valley. I especially wanted to do Galleon since it is rumored to be one of the finest perches in all of the Alpine Lakes area.                                                                                                                                        

Johnny Peak 6294' 5.1.12

 As has been the pattern lately the weekend weather was pleasant and my day to hike was not. I tried to mitigate the poor weather by heading East. Fletcher was up to join me and had suggested the Icicle Ridge Highpoint that a group had done over the weekend. I was interested because it was about the amount of climb I was looking for and route finding would be very easy. The downside was that I had already done the climb. When I was looking at the map it made me remember a route that I had wanted to try many years ago and never got around to it. I still needed to climb Big Lou and I wanted to try a route that is very seldom travelled. In fact in my research I could only find one report where a couple of guys had skied the route and then descended the Cabin Creek drainage. I wasn't about to try that descent route.

10-4 Mountain NE Ridge

  After last week's washout I was enthused with the recent nice weather. As it has been lately the weather didn't hold until I could get out. I have been working a lot lately and I finally had a day off and I wanted to get out regardless of the less than stellar weather forecasted. I had hoped on getting up early and attacking a Home Court Peak I hadn't done yet but I wasn't able to get up early enough for that. I thought I could squeeze a rematch of last week's attempt at 10-4 Mountain. I quickly made it up Forest Road #62 and parked at the junction just past the concrete bridge just past the 4 mile mark. It was very foggy/cloudy but at least it was not raining. I knew I had to keep a tidy pace to ensure making it home in time. I did the best to push the pace. Just after crossing Duffy Creek on a nice new bridge I hit snow. Thankfully the snow was firm enough to forgo snowshoes.

Duffy Creek a Gortex test 4.18.12

   I have been getting the short stick on weather of late but last week was a nice day. Unfortunately I was saddled with a cold bad enough to make me watch 8 episodes of Deadliest Catch in a row..... on a sunny day. I decided to try to work on Wednesday only because I was leaving the next day for a family vacation/memorial in the Spring Break hot spot of Minnesota. I barely made it through my shift without killing someone and awoke a few short hours later to shuttle the family to the airport before the sun was even up. This didn't exactly help my cold but at least I wasn't at work. Thankfully the flight with the kids went well and we efficiently were picked up and taken to our spacious abode for the next 4 nights. I am glad that the rooms were spacious since I spent most of the time in either in bed or the bathroom. In addition to my cold which was improving I added the  pleasure of  a gastoral issue that added to my joy.  Despite the bi-polar weather we all had a great time and were able to make it back into one piece. I had one more day of vacation on Tuesday which of course was the better weather day but I didn't want to get up early and I had evening plans. I put off my hike until Wednesday despite the weather forecast and that I had to work in the evening.


    I was able to get up well before my alarm that was set for 0600 and was off shortly thereafter. I wasn't looking for an overly challenging day since I did have to work and I was still a bit dehydrated from my weekend. I had some good beta for 10-4 mountain and some tracks to follow so I thought it a worthy pursuit for this day. I was able to make it to my jump off point just as the rain started. I suited up and started down the logging road towards my objective. I had been up this road twice this year and I could hardly recognize it despite being on it only a few weeks ago. Logging operations are in full effect and since I don't hike on the weekend I was force to dodge numerous logging truck and other assorted machinery. The rain only increased as I made my way to the saddle between 10-4 and Haystack Mountain. Once I reached the snow at around 2500' I really started to lose my enthusiasm. I pushed on .  I resisted the idea of putting my snowshoes on since the snow wasn't real consistent. When I reached the bridge over Duffey Creek I stopped and assessed my options. The rain was relentless and I didn't have the will to spend 4 more hours slogging through it. As I debated the sun started to burn through the clouds which curiously only made the rain increase. This dance continued as the sun grew in strength in tandem with the intensity of the rain. I thought this surely was a sign that the sun would win and I slapped my snowshoes on. A scant half mile later the snow ran out and the rain increased and was paired with a biting wind. I took this as a sign that this wasn't in my best interest to continue. The weather continued to deteriorate until I had safely passed the point of changing my mind and then the sun came out and I had a pleasant walk back to the car. I was thankful to have some time to spend with the family and to take care of some pressing issues on the home front. I had a stellar night at work making me think that I had made some good decisions on this day.