Friday, September 28, 2012

2012.9.28. Goat Mountain

Sept. 28th, Friday, cloudy, rain. Goat Mountain. 3 miles to the trail end.

A late start. I didn't start hiking until 3pm. The trail head is about 2.5 miles left of SR542 on Hannegan Pass Rd (decent gravel/dirt road, mile 46, 13 miles east of Glacier Ranger Station). Mine was the only car parked at the lot before the trail head. 20 minutes in, met 2 young dudes in camouflage outfits, chatting, one if whom carried a gun. That got me a bit worried. The trail is in good shape. Not steep, mostly soft along the zigzags. 1.5 hours later, emerged from the forest. Met one hiker on his way down. Blueberry galore, the best I saw this year. Still some Indian Paintbrush left. Mountain ash's red berries are everywhere. The mountain slopes here were all red! At this time, it started raining! I pulled out my rain jacket and continued, hoping for the rain to abate, and it did, when I reached the old fire lookout, ~25 minutes later. Excellent view, also a good place to pitch a small tent (however, no water source, exposed). There's another tent site closer by the trail. Shuksan is staring right at you. Baker was in the clouds. It was not yet 5pm, so I continued on in the endless blueberry field (but drier and smaller) to see more distant North Cascade mountains. The trail disappeared more or less an hour later. I scrambled on a bit along some water seepage among yellow grass. It was steep and slippery. I was creating erosion, so I turned back soon enough without seeing any more reasonable trail ahead. Also it was getting late: 5:45. I can imagine the view at the top promised in the guide.

Picking more blueberries on my way down. Got back at car at 7:20, too dark to see the trail. As always, I stopped at the ranger station to wash up. There was just one other car there. Crossing the border at Sumas at 9pm was quick and smooth: the officer didn't even check my duty free beer purchase. Pouring rain on Hwy 1.

From Seattle to Glacier, I took Hwy 9 from Hwy 20. Along Hwy 9, between Doran Rd and Saxon Rd. has great view to the east: Twin Sisters. Often I fill gas at the Texaco at the junction of SR 542 and SR 547 (~mile 23), 15 minutes west of Glacier Ranger Station (~mile 34), or ~107 miles from Seattle, or ~60 miles from my sister's home.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

2012.9.23 Ptamigan Ridge at Mt Baker

Sunday, cloudy -> sunny but a bit hazy. Ptarmigan Ridge at Artist Point, above Mt Baker ski area, and above the clouds. The clouds shrouding the lower ridges, quite pretty. View starts from the parking lot, and never stops. Not just the up close Shuksan and Baker, but many distant North Cascade peaks which I cannot name. Elevation doesn't change much. Perfect for strolling. Some soft snow patches, which doesn't pose any problem. Few flowers were left. Fireweed added some color. Paintbrush here is creamy yellow. About 1 hour into the hike is a short ridge with gentle slope covered with blueberry bushes, now turning red. Berries were a bit dry and small, but tasty, much more than other places this year. Another hour later is more snow, and a side trail going down to 2 ponds. The small pond is deeper, hence beautifully turquoise. A far snow patch has 3 goats and a baby. We stopped up on a ridge for lunch. On the way back, Nicolas spotted some ptarmigans. Not enough high clouds. Sunset wasn't as colorful as I hoped. The half moon was bright as early as 6pm.

Friday, September 21, 2012

2012.9.20. Seattle Symphony

Ludovic Morlot, conductor
Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture, Op. 9   
Martinů: Symphony No. 6, "Fantaisies symphoniques," H. 343   
Debussy: Nuages and Fêtes from Nocturnes   
Respighi: Pines of Rome
    I pini di Villa Borghese (The Pines of Villa Borghese) Pini presso una catacomba (Pines near a catacomb) I pini del Gianicolo (The Pines of the Janiculum) I pini della Via Appia (The Pines of the Appian Way)
Martinů's is a lot of noise. No baby will be able to fall asleep with Debussy's Nocturne Fete. I like Berlioz' overture and Respighi's Pines, especially the 2nd and 4th. Don't know how they made the insect and bird calls in the 2nd. The crescendo in the 4th is absolutely invigorating.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

2012.9.17-19 Klapatche Park

Unusually prolonged warm weather in Seattle. Decided to do Klapatche Park trail during the weekday.

Monday, 9/17, a late start. By the time I reached Longmire wilderness center, it was already 4pm. 77°. I405 exit to 167 was very slow, and 161 at Puyallop was slow. Had to wait after a couple who inquired trails at Paradise in detail, undeterred by my waiting. All backcountry sites are available today on the bulletin board. Since I was 3 hours behind my plan, I asked for Lake George for the first night and Klapatche Park for the 2nd. The ranger told me water was still available at Aurora Lake, but it was dirty. Called to report my itinerary change at the Longmire Inn: there is a single payphone next to the restaurant. $1. ~5 seniors sitting on the porch watching Mt Rainier. By then, the late afternoon sun has finally made it visible. On my way here, it was too hazy to see the mountain at all. I had my late lunch, washed fruits. Headed back to Westside road. Wide, gravel, but in good shape except some big potholes once awhile. Met 1 car coming out, passed 2 cars. At the road block ~3 miles later, ~4 cars parked. No view on the road.

5pm, I finally started my hike with a bike. My bike ride lasted less than 5 minutes to a washout. A single thin log is placed for foot passengers. I had to wade in the shallow water pushing the bike. At least it was short. However, I was such a lousy biker, that I wasn't able to peddle faster than I walk or even mount the bike. It tired me more than just walking. So pretty much I pushed the bike all the way for 1.5 hours (3.8 miles). The road is along Tahoma Creek, full of rocks and logs, wide, not much water. Occasionally you can see part of Rainier, but not at the old Tahoma Vista parking area.

Locked my lone bike on the rack at the wide Round Pass (signed 4000'). Lake George trail is behind the rack. Walked up there in ~25 minutes (signed 0.9 mile, and 2 miles to Goat Lake trail).
5 big sites on the left side of the trail, on the hill next to the green lake, but no view of the lake. 1 group site on the right side of the trail. A good size open shelter, a locked ranger's cabin, a bear pole. 2 toilets. Mt Rainier was getting really red and pretty, but too many trees blocking the view. I put up my tent first at a flat place near water. Quite a lot of insects huddling in the air, but they didn't bother me. Considering I was the only one for miles around, I later decided to move uphill to a camp site, in case an animal decides to pass my tent to have a drink. It's a pity that I arrived one hour too late to watch sunset from Gobblers Knob. It gets quite dark by 8.

9/18, Tuesday. Up at 6:30. Hiked to Gobblers Knob before breakfast. Signed 1.6 miles. Passed a small meadow of Corn Lilly, a pond, many dead avalanche lilies. At 1.2 miles, junction to Goat Lake trail (another 1.1 miles to the lake). The sun rose as I walked. By the time I reached the locked lookout, the sun was as high as the summit of Rainier. The 360° view is still grand: layers and layers of light blue distant ranges with a pink tint. Mt Ste Helens was faint. Mt Rainier was already too bright for a photo. Sunset here should be prettier. The fire lookout was built in 1933 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. After WWII, aerial surveillance became the primary method of spotting fire. These lookouts are still used occasionally. Mt Rainier currently has 4. I was back at the camp at 8:40. Cooked a pack of Korean instant noodle and sweet oat meal. I added salt instead of all of the spicy soup base. Interesting combined flavor. Packed and headed out at 10:00.

Back at Round Pass, I tied some garbage and rain fly to the bike to shed a couple of pounds. There's a Marine Memorial site here, with small flags and a big sign listing all 32 died in plane crash on Tahoma Glacier. Met 2 day hikers here. Headed down to the South Puyallup River trail. At 0.6 mile, it reconnects to Westside road. Turn right and continue on South Puyallup River trail towards Wonderland Trail (in another 1.6 miles) and regain elevation.

1:10 hour (~2 miles) after leaving Round Pass, I hit the Colonnades to the right. The ~hexagon columns run for a bit until the South Puyallup camp sites. Andesite? They go straight up. Quite interesting. The river water is quite muddy here. This entire trail is in the woods, with cool breeze. My GPS took forever to lock.

Joined Wonderland trail 2.2 miles from Round Pass. (Signed: Left: St Andrews Lake 3.2, Klapatche Park Camp 4.0, Right: Emrald Ridge 1.8, Devil's Dream Camp 6.7.) Crossed the big bridge over the river, with a partial view of Rainier. Overgrown in parts. Took me over 2 hours to get to the lake. As the high noon sun shined on the dry trail, I was getting tired. In an hour, caught the first glance of St Andrews Park and Mt Rainier. Flowers were all dead by now. Blueberry leaves were turning red, but almost no berries. Met 2 backpackers coming down from North Puyallup camp, who told me there was no water at Klapatche Park. Continued up to a ridge and Rainier disappeared behind hills. Then walking downhill. Slopes of dead lupines. At 2pm, I reached St Andrews Lake, shallow, small but clear, with the reflection of Rainier. There were still 2 small patches of snow left, but hard as ice. Had lunch with melting pate and vegetables that were starting to smell in the heat. I decided to rest here until sunset and cook my dinner here (cook my veggies) before heading to Klapatche Park for the night. 1 backpacker went by the lake at 4. At 4:20, I followed a trail on the opposite dried shore, up to a slope. Found a place for tent with nice view. All along the short and steep trail was withered lupine. Started cooking dinner at 6pm, then had a bar of chocolate, brushed my teeth, before packing all up and waited for the photo moment at 7pm: the mountain was beautifully lit.

Now hurried down to Klapatche Park, 0.8 mile further. There is a ledge a bit north of St Andrews Lake to take good photos of Rainier and a deep rocky valley draped with thin waterfalls. The withered densely flowered slope. Klapatche Park is small and flat. Almost dried Aurora Lake still offered a bit of unclear reflection of Rainier. 4 big sites on the west side of the lake/trail, reasonably obscured from each other. 2 were already taken. At ~8:30pm, I went out sat at one of the logs by the trail next to the camp, trying to take a photo of the fading Rainier against the starry night. Failed. Absolutely beautiful though. Not a single cloud. Myriad of stars, clear milky way and all. The other 2 campers also came out: old buddies out hiking for 5 days. They go backpacking every September for 13 years. They told me that at South Puyallup Camp, there's a creek towards Emerald Ridge ~1/4 miles away. The creek that fed to Aurora Lake was bone dry at the moment. And last night all sites were taken. So the board at Longmire's wilderness office wasn't updated during the day.

9/19 Wednesday. Same, warm and hazy. Packed, retraced, dropped my backpack behind the Wonderland sign and started my dash to Aurora Peak shortly before 7am. Only 0.3 miles, but 500' gain, overgrown trail. By 7:10 I was at the top of Aurora Peak, out of breath. Mt Adams and Mt St Helens were clearly visible. Layers upon layers of silhouette. Didn't need to rush, the sun didn't reach the southern ridge until 7:30, then only at 7:45 did it shine upon me. Klapatche Park was in the shadow until 8am.

Cooked a big breakfast at St Andrews Lake. Left ~10:20. reached my bike ~13:30. A group of noisy junior high students came out of Lake George trail with 2 chaperons. I'm glad that I wasn't camping next to them last night.

Repacked, road the bike back out. This time, gravity did all the work. Took only ~20 minutes to the car which was baking in the sun. Drove back to shade at the turn off, rest and drank. It was 79°. Heading back to Seattle at 3, hitting all the traffic:(

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

2012.9.4. Wolfgang Season Kickoff Party at Columbia Tower

Tuesday 6pm. Sunny and warm. Seattle Symphony's young patron club Wolfgang had an open party (no membership required), sponsored by Columbia Tower Club. Hors d'ouevres and open bar. Two violinists performed after 7:15pm as I was about to leave. A questionnaire was handed out. A free pair of tickets will be drawn if you answered right. At the 74th floor of Columbia Tower, this is arguably the best view in town: Mt Rainier, Elliot Bay and the islands beyond, downtown buildings and the harbor. Food was acceptable, but limited: bread (ran out), cheese, cold cut meat (ran out), cold grilled vegetable, and some warm small bites. As for the crowds, hard to say, as I only talked to my guest and a member she was chatting with when I arrived (late). Plenty people over 40 (no longer eligible to be a member of Wolfgang).

These events used to be member only, each can invite one guest. A very good deal if you go to 5 or more concerts in a season. Easy ticket exchange program. I guess Wolfgang is trying hard to enlist more people, and Columbia Tower Club is also, even offering half price initiation fee ($250, including next season's Wolfgang membership, which is $40 now).

Monday, September 03, 2012

2012.9.2. Mt Dickerman

Sunday. Mount Dickerman. ~3800', 8.6 miles RT. 2:45 hour to get up, and 2 hours to go down. The first 1.5 hours are in the woods. Good trail, endless zigzag but not steep, big trees that get thinner as you go up. The next 30 minutes are flatter among blueberry shrubs, partial view of the southern mountains. The sun made the leaves bright yellowish green. Lots of little rocks. Another 15 minutes lead to a flat area with lots of lupines and velarian. A side trail to a butte. The last 30 minutes are a delight. Slopes dense with flowers, view opened up on both sides. At the very top, some trees block the view to the south. Continue a bit further along a short ridge of flower carpet to another butte for a fantastic 360° unobstructed view:

Mt Baker to the north (didn't see Shuksan) in the far background, closer peaks are Mt Forgotten, White Chuck, Mt Pugh over the Perry Creek valley. To the east Glacier Peak is towering over others. To the southeast, jagged peaks of Alpine Lake wilderness. No Rainier today due to the clouds. The immediate south is Pilchuck, Three Fingers. Well worth the effort.

Sat down to eat my cake. 3 grey jay fought for my food. One flew 3 times almost to my face.

Direction: ~17 miles east of Verlot on Mt Loop Hwy, or 2 miles further east from Big Four turn off. ~1:50 hours from Seattle. ~30 cars in the road side parking lot, shared with Mt Forgotten trail. A lot of camping possibilities along Mt Loop Hwy. Saw a few tents on the riverbed.