Shriner Peak

If you like wild berries, this hike is for you!! I have never enjoyed berry picking so much on any hike. Its a medium 8 mile - 3400ft hike. This late in the season with all the practice behind us it was easy. The hill sides are full of huckleberries and some blueberries, we just could not eat enough. There is a lot of fall colour. Views on a clear day are just breathtaking. With 3500ft elevation gain, its a workout, but totally worth it. At this point, the trail is very well maintained, but there is no water on the trail. We took about 3 hrs to hike up, plus more than 30 min berry ticking, and 2 hrs to come down.
http://picasaweb.google.com/hiking.glory/ShrinerPeak#

Half Dome

Thursday September 3, 2009, phone call to talk about my trip to CA. 5 minutes later, deciding to do the half dome hike. Next 30 min endless calling to ask others if they want to join. In 2 hrs all plans made, all flights booked! That was the beginning of Half Dome hike in Yosemite National Park.

I have been to Yosemite many times. But I have never camped or hiked in there. Most of my visits were like just tourists. So the trip up Half Dome was long pending. It is of course a scary trip. I did not worry about the mileage or about the elevation gain. The cable rope climb in the last section was the major worry, can I do it? Secretly I knew I can do it, but its like marathon, you know you can do it, but still its not truly true unless you actually do it. So finally all stars aligned and the trip was decided. We were going to fly to CA on Saturday 12th, drive to Yosemite, stay in a hotel and do the grueling 14 - 16 mile hike and drive back. Yeah, it was as hectic as it sounds.

The flight to CA was at 6:50am, meaning had to wake up really early Saturday morning. I am lucky that I can sleep well on the flight. I slept the moment I sat on my seat. Do not remember the take off also. I woke up when we were almost over the bay bridge. It gave me the much needed 90 min of sleep. We had nice home made parathas for brunch and then started for Yosemite close to 12:40pm. It proved to be a longer drive than we thought becaue we were all so tired from the flight.

Once in Yosemite, we decided to skip the Galcier Point and head straight to the campsite. The plan was to enjoy Bridal Veil falls, El Capitan and Yosemite Falls on the way. The first surprise came in front of El Capitan. The rock is impossible to miss, but the surprising part was missing Bridal Veil falls. There was almost no water in the fall. It was like a small stream of water dripping, being throwing from one side to other by wind. It looked like no water was hitting the ground as most of it was just getting blown away by wind. Quite a sad situation. But wait, we thought this was sad. When we reached Yosemite Falls, it was even harder to believe. There was not even a drop of water on this fall, the Yosemite Falls were dry, both upper and lower.

St Helens climb

I cannot believe that I did it! Finally, on top of St Helens.There was never a question of 'can do', but would all the stars line up with permit, weather, time and would I be able to do it. And that happened this Thursday as I had planned. Got the permit from someone, packed my bags on Wednesday night, camped at Lone Fir Resort and finished the hike on Thursday! awesome! My fascination with St Helens is because of its volcanic status, its an active volcano with marks of eruption are so visible around it. I have been wanting to climb it since I heard that its possible to climb.

We started from Seattle on Friday night to camp at Lone Fir Resort. The plan was to get a good night sleep, get up early and start climbing early and then drive back home after the climb. We reached the report at around 8:00 after a 3 hr drive from Seattle. It was like a city there, resort cabins, restaurant, proper restrooms with showers, and even a entertainment room with TV and stuff. It was mainly a RV campsite. Among all this there was some open ground to setup tent. There was only one other tent in the area and my guess would be that they were also camping for the night to climb Helens. We quickly setup the tent, went out to watch some stars and then went to sleep.

Thursday morning, we got up early according to the plan, quickly packed up and had a breakfast of maggie. There is a climber's registration that you have to sign in and out. I guess in case of emergency they want to keep track of who is still on the mountain and stuff. We signed the register and started for the trailhead around 7:00. It was a nice 30 min drive, mostly paved road. Last 3 miles was gravel and I hated driving buckbeak on it, but well, no choice. Luckily the road was not bad, no potholes, he handled it pretty well and did not complain at all. The trailhead, Climber's Bivouac has a pit toilet which was surprisingly clean and non-smelly. There were couple of people camped there, but the place has no water. In fact there is absolutely no water on the whole trail.

We started our hike at around 8:00am. It was a very clear day, just some hanging clouds in horizon. The trail starts in a jungle. Its a nice green jungle from where its hard to imagine just few miles away a mountain erupted with such force. The jungle trail is about 2 miles and I was totally doubting myself if I am on the right trail! After about 45 min, we saw a wall of rocks. There was no sign of mountain from the trail. Soon the trail climbs steeply with a couple of switchbacks, till you emerge in an open area from where the rock scrambles start. There is also a toilet here, and we saw a couple of other trails forking from here - lowit or something.

We could see Mt Hood from the trail once it opened up on one side, and Mt Adams also appeared soon. Adams really looks like Rainier from here, but it was clear that its not because little Rainier was missing. The rocky part is where permit area also starts. You can hike upto here without a permit, but I don't see what is the point! There is no trail in the rocky part. Its just a wall of rocks and you scramble your way through. There were some wooden poles to guide you. Its not a difficult scramble, just keep your eyes open for the next pole. It was a good idea to keep eyes open and make sure that you don't get yourself stuck among a great pile, as some parts are hard to navigate especially since lot of rocks are loose. This is where we first experienced the high wind we kept hearing about. Sometimes wind was so strong that it felt it will throw you off the rocks!

 The first rocky section is small and ends soon. Its well marked with poles. After that there is a flatish portion, less rocks. The actial trail takes you over the rocks, but we chose a way on the side, a bit lower than the main trail. It is lot of scree, but I found that easier to navigate than rocks. There was also much less wind here than on the top. From here you reach another rocky debris which is harder to navigate and there are less poles here. If you look carefully, you can still find a sort of trail among the rocks. There are flatter scree parts in between rocks, clear sign that the rocks have been deposited here by some force. From here you also start seeing the final summit which is like a beach in middle of mountains!! We could clearly see the wind blowing up there and all the ash and sand flying around. After this final rocky section which I hated the most, we reached the final scree slope. From here you can see the train of people going up the summit, it looks so far far away! The scree is really hard to go up, you take a step and slide back half the step. Poles were definitely useful here, espeially for me since I was getting quite tired here. Still we must be making good speed as we did not stop at all and overtook a bunch of people on the way up.

 

Almost an hr of hard work on that scree slope and we finally reached the summit of St Helens. I almost don't want to call it a summit as its so short, still its the highest point you can go on the mountain. Then we looked down at the crater and its huge! You see the 3 sides of mountain and then a open area on one side. It almost appears that this is not one mountain, but a range. In the middle is the lava dome. And then you look up and there is Mt Rainier, just standing there beyond spirit lake. It was definitely a sight to behold. We were lucky that among the high windy times, there were short low wind times when we could take out our camera and take some pictures. Most of the pictures are quite washed out though because there was so much sand suspended on the air. The activity on the dome has almost stopped, so we did not see much smoke or anything.

We were at summit at about 12:30, and spend about 30 min there, did not feel like eating because of all the sand that was blowing. Then began the long way down. I thought I am going to hate descending that scree, but surprisingly not! I actually quite enjoyed it once I figured out that once you step sideways, how much ever you try, you won't skid all the way, the scree just makes a step for you. And of course there were lot of already made steps by other people that I could walk on. So getting down that was quite fun and fast, most of the time I was just skidding around and letting graity do its job. We stopped just before the rocky part to grab a quick lunch. This rocky part which I found hard while coming up was easlier this time. We caught a trail that lead through the flatter sandy sections among rock and came to the middle part. This was again lot of scree and skidding as we were taking the trail which is below the rocks. Even then it did take us quite a while to navigate the whole thing. We were down at the edge of forest by 3:45. The walk into forest was easy, took us less than an hour for the 2 mile stretch. It was a nice change to walk on flat surface with shade of trees.

More Photos - https://picasaweb.google.com/103561338002909087861/StHelens_08_27?authkey=Gv1sRgCKyqlrC0iq3huAE

We were back on trailhead and ready to start driving by 5:00. A quick stop at Lone Fir Resort to sign out at climber's register and freshen up, and then straight drive home. On the way, as the tradition goes (or I hope it becomes a tradition), we stopped at Denney's for a Oreo Sunday!

Lake Serene and Bridal Veil Falls

This is quite a easy hike to the lake. On the way there is a short detour to Bridal Veil falls, a nice multi-level waterfall.

Enchantment Lakes backpacking

Aug 12th - 16th

One of the best backpacking trips into rightly named enchantments area.

http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Leavenworth/blog-844739.html

3rd Beach to Toleak Point backpack

An easy 2-day backpack from 3rd beach to Toleak point in Olympic National Park. We camped at a really awesome place right on the beach. Water was sort of cold to swim, so we had to be content with just dipping feet in. The coast is famous and known for its rock formations, including the rocks jutting out in the ocean which look really mystical in morning. We had to cross some inlets during low tide, saw a lot of star fish. It was all very relaxed. The highlight was also some rope ladders that we had to climb to cross some parts.
Pics - https://picasaweb.google.com/103561338002909087861/ThirdBeachToleakPoint_08_01?authkey=Gv1sRgCKLClsL4p7ix_QE

Burroughs Mountain - 3rd burrough

This is one of the best trails to see Rainier. It appears to close that you can stretch your hand and touch it, or just walk down that ridge and start climbing the mountain. The trail did not disappoint this time also.

It starts at Sunrise point and gains elevation quickly to Frozen lake. The lake still has quite a bit of snow around it and its fun to sit down and watch the small icebergs floating in it. From the lake, its about 0.7 mile to the first Burrough. View are good at first Burrough, but its in no way the final destination. Another 0.7 mile is Second Burrough. There is still a small snow patch on the trail, but nothing to worry about, can be crossed easily even without poles. Views from Second Burrough are just awesome, you will probably never see Rainier so close, or so I thought!

After taking a good break here, we decided to go up to the third Burrough also. The trail is not maintained and does not appear anywhere. But I think that is a huge injustice. Its about 1.5 mile and 800ft elevation gain. But before that you have to lose about 400ft of elevation, which means the way back also has a uphill stretch. Trail just goes straight up the hill, its steep in places. We saw a lot of mountain goats. View from top of 3rd Burrough is truly breathtaking. You can see whole Rainier from top to end of glaciers. Its just amazing and a definite must do. It adds about 3 miles and total 1200 ft (800 + 400) of elevation gain to your hike, but its worth it.

Its all snow free now and wild flowers are in full bloom. Its suggested to take wonderland trail on the way back, though it has couple of snow patches, but lots of flowers. 
More photos - http://picasaweb.google.com/hiking.glory/BurroughsMtn

Big 4 Ice caves

This are the ice caves which are formed at bottom of Mt Index every year. As the name states, the snow on the mountain drops down and packs into caves. Its a very short 1.5mile hike on mostly flat accessible trail. On the way we saw the huge destruction caused by flood. You could really see the power of water there, it had downed huge trees, leaving a trail of destruction. The caves were nice, we walked along and a bit into them.

Navaho pass and peak

A perfect weekend. What more can you ask then a perfectly sunny cloudless day, 14 miles of hike, breathtaking  360 deg views of all sort of mountains and a beautiful never seen before pink and blue sunset to top it all off! That was how my hike to Navaho Pass and Navaho Peak turned out to be. Its a grueling 14 mile 4100 ft hike up to the peak, and the drive is more than 2 hrs from Seattle. This means that we had to start early, and hike fast. Early start, no problem for me. Hike fast, yes a little problem. I am a marathon run, I hike at a slow and steady pace!

We started from Redmond at abour 8:30am. The Teanway River Road which we take from Cle Elum is surprisingly nice and paved. Only the last 3.5 mile of unpaved forest road with lots of potholes. Still the camary made it pass them easily. We were at the ready to start hiking by 10:40. The trail is actually called Stafford Creek Trail and the name Navaho does not appear anywhere.

First part of the trail is easier. It has lot of 'rolling hills', but the grade is gentle. We made it to a nice spot with campsite in 1 hr 40 min. We found a group of backpacking resting there. So decided to grab a quick bite before starting further. From that point it was a quick climb to 4.5 mile mark. Here the trail forks. The trail on left goes to Standup Creek and the one on right goes up to Navaho Pass. It still does not mention Navaho on the sign!

After mile 4.5, the trail climbs more steadily. We also left the creek behind at this point, and the nice forest cover also disappered. It was a hot sunny day, temperature hovering around 80. This section though only about a mile or so, felt very very long. It has a bunch of switchbacks and every few feet it feels like we are almost there! Luckily there were some wild flowers to keep us entertained. We saw a couple of people returning and could not help but ask them, how much further! Finally we hit this place called 'moonscape'. It does look like out of the world, barren land in the middle of green mountains. I can bet its volcanically active, or is a site of meteor crash!

From the moonscape its another half a mile or so, gentle uphill. But it just felt very very long. The views were good though. And then finally, we reached the pass! As soon as you climb that last few feet to the pass, its like a new world has opened in front of you. The beautiful unexpected enchantments are right in front of you, hanging like a painting. As soon as I saw that sight, all tiredness was gone! It was all about how can I see more of it, where is a even better view. Before starting the hike, we had a doubt if we will make it to the Peak. The Peak is another 1200ft from Pass and trail is very steep.

Once we got there, no one even asked the question. It was sure that we are going somewhere higher to get a even better view. The question was left one or right one! Someone told us that if you go left, you can hike to a nice ridge line and there is closeup view of Mt Stuart, and can see Ingalls Lake, Ingalls Peak etc. On the right was Navaho Peak with its 360 deg view and view of Mt Rainier. So we decided to head up Navaho only instead of going to unknows.

It is indeed a very grueling climb up. I think it was one degree up Buckhorn. Very steep and somewhat slippery slope. Still nothing that good hiking shoes cannot handle. It seemed very unsafe and while going up, I could not imagine how I am ever going to make it back down this slippery slope safely. Still, we kept going and finally made it to the top. It was worth every pain, and it might even be worth any fall I could take on the way back, of course if it did not involve broken bones! From the top, there is a true complete 360 degree view. I have hardly seem such true unobstructed view. It really had a feel of true summit. This time I also found the summit register and signed it. I felt like we should never get down from this point. I should confess that part of it was because I was scared to go down!

We spent about 30 min at the summit. Taking photos, eating lunch, though I could not eat anything. Then it was time to do the long 7 mile descend. From the Pass, it took us about 1 hr to come up and 1 hr to go down. I was very happy that I made it down safely. A combination of good shoes and hiking pole helped and I guess I am getting more confident now. On the way down we saw a group of backpackers looking for campsite. I was really sad to tell them that there are not good campsites up there, its all rocky and slopy.

Once down at the Pass, I could finally relax. From there it was just another 5.5 miles and 2900ft to go. It was a slight race against time also since we did not get headlamps this time. As usual the 5 mile felt like 10 miles. We could not belive how we hiked up so fast while going down is taking for ever. It was really really hot by now, so after the moonscape, we stopped at a small stream to freshen up. From there it was straight walk down to trailhead. We finally made it in 8 hr car - car. Probably 7hrs of hiking time.

Marmot Pass and Buckhorn Mt. backpack

July 3 - July 5, 2009

This July 4th long weekend we decided to backpack to Marmot pass and beyond. Marmot pass is in heart of Olympics, one of the few high elevation trails which are snow free at this point.

We started from Kirkland in a somewhat timely fashion. Headed up to Edmonds to catch the ferry. Being a perfectly sunny weekend, there was a 90min wait for the ferry! There we decided that its not worth it and we should just drive around the sound. It was a long drive, and probably took us an extra 90min, so not sure if it was worth it! We reached the small town of Quilcene around noon. There we found a nice cafe to have a good lunch.  The cafe was so good that we will come back to it!

We started on the trail around 2:00, quite usual for us. We had only 4.5 mile of hike that day before setting up camp, though there was a 3000ft elevation gain also. The hike starts in the forest and immediately starts to go up. With backpacks, it was difficult from the beginning. We reached Shelter Rock, where we wanted to have food and take a break. The site is not marked and a 'gadget' told us that Shelter Rock should be further.

So we marched on. The trail is still in the forest, which was nice because sun was hot up there. Soon we were really tired and felt like can't go any further. The trail becomes really steep after Shelter Rock. So we stopped at a point and had food. Some nice people told us that just a little way up and this will become the most beautiful hike you have ever been on! That was very encouraging. We did find a very beautiful display of wild flowers on the trail.

 It also opens up a little bit with views of some surrounding mountains. Since the distance was only 4.5 mile, our desitination Mystery Camp was not far. We were really tired by this time, 3000ft is not a small distance. Views were getting better, so that was encouraging. Mystery Camp was a colony! literally! There was a really large group from Mountaineers Club and about 200 (ok 10) other people. We had hard time finding a campsite. Mystery Camp is also in middle of lots of trees so there are virtually no views from here.

We were so tired by this point that we did not have the energy or the time to go up and camp at Marmot Pass. It would definitely have been a 10 times better campsite. So we found some place after lot of going back and forth and settled camp. This was also the last point to get water, after that it was all melting snow.

Next day, usual style, we got up late and started hike late. But there was not a lot of distance to cover so it was ok. We reached Marmot Pass quite quickly, it was awesome. The views were totally worth it, and I could imagine how awesome it would have been to camp there. Anyway, its meeting of 3 trails also. From here, we had a choice to either go over to Buckhorn Lake, a longish trail, or go up to Buckhorn Mountain, an unmaintained steep steep trail. We walked a little bit towards Buckhorn lake. We met a nice group of people on the way and they told us that the lake is not worth it. So Buckhorn Mountain it was.

Eagle Creek backpacking

Eagle Creek canyon in Columbia river gorge is an easy and interesting backpacking trip from Seattle in early season. The highlight of this trail is a waterfall that you can walk behind. The trail hugs a deep canyon.