Saturday, July 27, 2019

2019.7.27. Burough Mountains in Rainier

7/27, Saturday. Rain forecast 50% before 2pm. So we met late, at 8:30am at Green Lake P&R. We didn't leave until 20 minutes later after realizing that the 5th guy went to the wrong P&R. Very cloudy when we arrived at Sunrise. Filled water, used restroom. Eric, the organizer, inquired the ranger about the snow condition to Burroughs. We were told to bring traction device and ice axe, which is totally unnecessary. Boots are good enough. Only tiny snow patches, easy to walk on.

Frozen Lake still had a little bit of snow on. Quite pretty. Instead of waiting at the crowded junction, Elyse and I headed to Fremont Lookout. I ran back to the junction when I saw Eric and Justin below, so they didn't have to wait. Elyse continued to the lookout. Eric was getting over some illness, so he was very slow.

Justin and I waited at 2nd Burrough for the rest. Great view here. Clouds moved in and out, made Rainier a bit mystic. There's this big round seating dome, quite interesting. Elyse arrived before Eric.

After another long rest so Eric had time to recuperate, we headed forward (down to the saddle) and continued to the 3rd Burrough. All the while, the scenery is excellent. However, open terrain. I had to hike quite a bit off trail for a bio break. There was some snow here (over 7000'). But the slope is gentle, totally easy. At 3rd Burrough (7828'), so close to Rainier, the view is grand. We wandered around the rocky, but flat top. Cannot continue much further, precipitous drops, very jagged. Look down for Wonderland Trail going over the river created by Winthrop Glacier, now dark and dusty. By the time Eric arrived, Rainier was obscured by the clouds. Some yellow and deep blue (littleflower penstemon.

After coming back to 2nd Burrough, we took to Shadow Lake. Eventually the cloud cleared. More flowers on this stretch. Quite a bit of heather (both white and pink). Can see the green lake that hugs Glacier Basin trail. No snow on this trail. Shadow Lake has an backcountry camping area with an outhouse. Low enough to be very green. Nice flowers. More people.

We left the parking lot at 7pm. Still quite a few cars left. The sky was clear now. Justin dropped off everyone home. The rest of us have no cars.

Didn't see any bugs. No rain. Cool and pleasant weather. Easy pace. A perfect day.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

2019.7.20-21 Coldwater Peak + Truman Trail at Mt. St. Helens

Based on last weekend's experience, I decided to head to Mt. St. Helens again. This time start at Johnston Ridge Observatory TH.

7/20, Saturday. After a late lunch at Johnston Ridge Observatory's amphitheater (less crowd, more benches), we started Coldwater Peak almost at 3pm. Very warm. A lot of people. Flowers were past prime here: half of paintbrush were withered. Still quite nice. You loose most people once past the junction of Harry's Ridge. This section of Boundary Trail has changed since last July when I hiked this. It went lower, and longer.

Continue on Boundary Trail, zigzag up the first slope. The view gets better and better. Passed the stone arch, ignore the junction of Coldwater Trail, take the short spur trail left and up to Coldwater Peak. The view going up and on the top is always spectacular, except for the cell towers. The last section had tons of mariposa lily, and a few blooming beargrass left. 360° view. Had the whole place to ourselves. Lingered here for 20 minutes before going down.

Hiking back along Johnston Ridge around 8pm is a delight. Cooler, better lighting. Quite a few of folks waiting for sunset with their tripods and big cameras. We waited at the top of the butte for the sun to set, which was ~9pm.

The visitor center closes at 6pm with the bathroom inside. Drove down to Coldwater Lake to cook dinner and use the bathroom. A lot of moths, a few mosquitoes here. The night sky wasn't very dark, because the 3/4 moon was about to rise ~11pm. Quite a few stars reflecting in the lake, dancing to the breeze. Heard fish jumping. We were not the only ones enjoying this view tonight.

7/21, Sunday. Another warm day. Breezy. Not a shred of cloud.
Walked the wheelchair accessible Birth of a Lake trail. Pleasant, nice panels, benches to sit by the lake at multiple locations. Coldwater Lake was formed after the eruption debris blocked the outlet in 1980. By 7am, already more than one families have arrived with their fishing rods and ice boxes.

Truman Trail shared the first 2.5 miles with yesterday's hike on Boundary Trail. Breezy. Nobody:) Nice morning light. The crater of St. Helens had dust clouds, looking like an imminent eruption.

At the Boundary - Truman junction, take a right, and drop down to the pumice field. Still some shade to be had here, a couple of tiny streams, more yellow flowers. Walked by this cute pond to your right (west). Continue with minor ups and downs. Flowers intensified as you continue.

We took Willow Springs trail for a mile or half, until where I had lunch last Sunday. Took a long break. Headed back out, and gaining all the elevation back. Temperature rising. Saw only 2 small parties of hikers in the pumice field, more once we hit Boundary Trail. By the time we reached our car, it was bustling, a long line in front of the hotdog stand in the relentless sun. Almost 1pm.

Driving back had 3 sections of traffic jam :(

Sunday, July 14, 2019

2019.7.13-14. Norway Pass + Windy Ridge at Mt. St. Helens

I posted this weekend hiking trip (Mt. Margaret + Loowit Falls) on meetup, because the two trailheads are close to each other, but offer different views. 2 showed interest, but none committed. This turns out to be good. After reviewing the topo map Friday night, I decided to do a slightly different route on both days.

7/13, Saturday, overcast with 20% chance of thunderstorm (same prediction for Sunday). I picked up a rental car at 8am. Didn't leave until 9am. Arrived at Norway Pass TH at noon, due to the winding road, and often get stuck behind slow moving RVs and once a caravan of 10+ cars. All paved except for a brief section after on FR26. A privy at the large parking lot, a pump for portable water. Along the drive, scarlet paintbrush, white daisy, purple penstemon are all over. I picked this weekend to come here because of the flowers.

I did the lollipop Whittier Ridge - Lakes loop clockwise. The first 2.9 miles is the stem of the lollipop, out of which the very first mile gains most of the elevation Saw tons of Naked Buckwheat, and ripe wild strawberry - a bit sandy though. At the trail junction, keep straight to stay on Boundary Trail. The right turn is for Lakes Trail, which I hiked back on. At mile 4.1, is Bear Camp. I filled my water bottle with snow. From here on is quite pretty. Lots of buttercup and phlox. At mile 4.7, the next junction, instead of going forward for Mt. Margaret (less than 1 mile away), turn right here. Immediately the trail becomes a bit bushy and narrower. I strapped my umbrella on my pack.

The next ~2 miles took me ~2 hours, following the spine of Whittier Ridge, to the top of Whittier Mt (just one of the many rock pile you'd walk on), and down. Mostly stay truly on the top with vertical drops on both sides, rather than skirting around. Not for the faint of heart. But if you like scrambling, this is fun. Follow the boot track, sometimes more than one, or pick your own. View is splendid. Unfortunately the storm was brewing, and all the mountains were covered. I met only one hiker going the opposite direction, while I was taking pictures at the summit. Plenty bright pink penstemon on the rocks. Good view of Holmstedt Lake. Quite some goat hair & scat. After the ridge traverse, the trail drops down quickly towards the lakes basin. At one snow patch, I missed the almost 180° turn, and went up-slope to Snow Lake (quite ugly). I corrected myself, and got on Lakes Trail.

The Lakes Trail is less interesting, but a good change of pace. I can relax, and pick up the speed. Flowers now made it quite pleasant. Bugs were not an issue. A couple of small creek crossings. One muddy spot. Trail is well used, and well maintained. Shovel and Panhandle Lakes are bigger, prettier than Obscurity Lake. Towards the end is Grizzly Lake, which is quite small and ugly. The trail now goes up to Bear Pass. Finally, I was done with the loop.

Bear Pass has good view of Spirit Lake. By then, both St. Helens and Rainier had cleared up a bit. At the junction to Independence Pass, saw two people waiting for sunset with their tripods. I was back to the TH @8:07pm, exactly 8 hours. Seems longer than 14.3 miles. My phone registered 40K steps.

After filling my water bottle at the pump, drove to Windy Ridge View Point, at the end of Hwy-99, hoping for a good sunset. But the western sky was too cloudy. Hood, Adams, and St. Helens were out. The restroom here has no water :( Good that I brought a gallon of water.

7/14, Sunday. Partly sunny. Set my alarm at 5am, clouds were too thick, went back to sleep. When I finally got up, I walked up the stairs of Windy Ridge. Counted about 400 stairs. The top is gentle, gravel like, with plenty flowers. Great view of Spirit Lake. I went up for ~1 mile. Up and down in an hour.

The next is this big loop. About 12 miles, half of those are a stroll in the paradise. Flowers were amazing.

After walking on the wide gravel road (gate closed to general public) for 1.7 miles, I headed up Abraham Trail. The first mile is a delight on a ridge towards Alpine Butte, with red and purple covering the slopes on both sides. The next mile circled east flank of Alpine Butte, also full of paintbrush and penstemon. Met a topless runner on this section.

At Plain of Abraham I stayed close to the butte to cut to Loowit Trail. Shorter, may not be faster. Getting up and down to Windy Pass on the north side used to be a bit sketchy. Now a breeze. A zigzag was fashioned out of the loose rocks.

Once down to the north blast zone, everywhere was blue: little dwarf lupine was covering all the pumice slopes. Except at Willow Springs, where pink monkey flower dominates in the shade of trees. The water here is clean enough to drink. West of the springs had less flowers. The 1/4 mile detour to Loowit Falls, is not as interesting, unless you haven't been here before. I was hoping to find some shade for lunch, but none. Returned to Loowit Trail, and continued west. Met more people on this trail, a group of loop hikers, and folks from Johnston Ridge Observatory.

Flowers intensified near the junction with Willow Springs Trail. I took to Willow Springs Trail towards Spirit Lake. The next 0.8 miles was a flower la-la land, so is on Truman Trail, which I took to the right to go back to my car. The blue eventually gave away to yellow and then to red. Had a long lunch break here. Met 3 hikers here until the road.

There were 3 privileged cars parked at the road end. I had to walk back to Windy Ridge Viewpoint. Saw more people on the road, one couple with dogs carried nothing (not even water). I'm not sure dogs are even allowed on the trails here. Back at TH at 15:18. No incident driving home.

Monday, July 08, 2019

2019.7.4-8 Kodiak Island, AK

Summary - a very enjoyable trip!
1. The main goal of coming here is to see the largest bear. We were too early for the main salmon run. Saw many grizzlies, none very large, none catching fish. Saw a few baby grizzlies, extremely cute. Bald Eagle is common.
2. Flowers were very good, especially on Heiman Mountain. ~2-3 weeks too early for fireweed (everywhere), ~1 week too late for lupine. Profusion of various asters and Partridge Foot.
3. Fishing is a major pass time here. Many road accessible creeks. I'm terrible at it. Caught 0.
4. Got sunburned (heat wave? + long sun exposure). Too hazy (forest fire on Kenai Peninsular).
5. Packing: I brought too much warm clothing and rain protection. Headlamp is totally unnecessary as the sun only sets for ~6 hours, and even then, the sky is bright enough to make out your surroundings. Bugs were not bad. Never used bug spray, did use head net morning and dusk around camp.
6. Drove ~170 miles (including repeated spots). Gas ~$3.85/gallon. All the roads are on the northeast of the island. Kodiak NWR occupies most of the land, but inaccessible other than pricey boat/plane.
7. Food price is about 1/3 higher than mainland.

7/4, Thursday. My flights for Kodiak to/from Portland have long layovers at Anchorage. I bought the ticket about 3 months ago with only 25k miles. The flight into Anchorage is always spectacular with glaciers, peaks, fjords gliding under. Not sure why Alaska Airline booked me on Ravn Air, as it also flies to Kodiak. These small airlines have their gates outside of security, odd, but easy. Ravn checked in my backpack for free.

Another surprise is the temperature forecast: Anchorage is 10°F warmer than Seattle during this trip. Thankfully, Kodiak is slightly cooler. However, it turned out to be too warm. Maybe due to this Swan Lake Fire. I shall say we are lucky with the weather: sunny all 5 days. I left my umbrella and pack cover behind in my office. However, umbrella would be nice to have.

Flying over Kenai Peninsula again, this time in a smaller plane (Dash 8-100), a bit lower, much louder, the view is again spectacular. So many frozen rivers. Saw some forest fire smoke. When we landed on the emerald island, Kodiak, most people in the one room terminal were wearing flip-flops. No snow here. Felt like Hawaii without the palm trees.

Budget-rent-a-car has only 5 cars, Avis about 13. The cheapest car runs $65/day + tax. Our car looks quite beat-up with over 77K miles.

Checked out downtown, drank a beer by the harbor with many boats. There's a whale sculpture made by plastic trash. You would think people here were meticulously keeping their island clean. No. Throughout our trip, we found trash everywhere.

After finding where tomorrow's bear-watching office is, we headed to Sargent Creek and Russian Creek to look for bears (I read someone's comment online). Didn't see any (every time). But saw people fishing at Russian Creek. So gave it a try. I'm just hopelessly bad. My partner hooked 2 small fish, one got away. The scenery of Woman's Bay is quite pretty. 2 bald eagles waited for potential fish scrap. More gulls near the water edge. Large flat area, covered with grass, some pea flowers, and silverweed.

Dinner is fish soup with whatever leftover veggies from my fridge. Only salt. Not bad. Already 10pm. Still bright outside.


7/5, Friday. 8am Sea Hawk bear viewing flight was cancelled due to heavy fog. We were instructed to be available nearby. Went to Russian River again, but didn't catch any fish. We were called back for a possible 10am departure. But fog thickened again. Now all the clients (including the neighbor Andrew Air) were hanging out at the pier, fitted with hip waders (I got a man's size 6). A bald eagle waiting on the lamppost, a sea otter scratching his back on the dock.

At noon, finally we took off. 4 paying customers. Jo Murphy, the guide, spoke occasionally during the one hour flight, about the landmarks (on the way back, she fell asleep). She said that we were going to Katmai instead of Kodiak NWR, is that the refuge allows bear hunting, so bears are not as easy to observe here on the island. We were told that the only evergreen on the island is Sitka Spruce, and deer and elk were introduced, failed moose planting. The flight is quite scenic, but very loud. We were all wearing a big ear muffler with a speaking mike. We flew over Raspberry Strait, with many sea otters, to the north side of the island - all sunny. Then over emptiness of Shelikof Strait, where Roland, the pilot, reported seeing whales last week, towards Katmai National Park and Preserve. We landed in Hallo Bay, at the foot of glacier clad volcanoes. Breathtaking.

First bear we saw was digging clams, out on the sand flat. Tide was coming in, and she was having hard time abandoning potential clam bed.

The next was a mom with 3 new born cubs. They are just adorable. They are my favorite. We watched them from different angles for a long time, staying fairly close.

Then we saw a female bear running across the river to chase another female away, because her mate looked at that girl, when she came to the shore to drink. I didn't know bears get this jealous. We saw multiple single males, a mom with 2 one-year-old cubs. All of them look cuddly. The grassy shore has many yellow silverweed and some purple iris. Jo showed us the two types of grass bears like to eat. We also saw a grey wolf, some moose footprints.

Time flies. In about 3 hours, we walked slowly from the north of the bay to the south, where Roland waited for us. Once onboard the plane, we were given a picnic lunch (a sandwich, a cookie with M&M, and Twix), and a bottle of chilled soft drink. 4pm, I was hungry.

Drove to Fossil Beach for the night. Winding road, sometimes have good view of the coast. Google Map pointed to a road that's locked by the space shuttle facility. Need to follow the sign, and take the gravel road to the right. It's a short but pretty bad. There was a family gathering to the right of the road, with a large picnic canopy and 2 tents. We camped to the left, by the pond that's suspiciously warm. Lots of Seaside Ragwort (look like balsamroot with wrong leaves), some lupines. Plenty of trash!

7/6, Saturday. Heavy fog. One Golden Crown Sparrow kept singing his 3 notes. There are really a lot of fossil here. Quite interesting. We also picked some mussel and seaweed, made a tasty lunch. The mussels are small, but fat for their size.

Tired of waiting for the fog to lift, I collected some trash, we drove off ~2pm. I didn't want to drink the water from the "nuclear pond". Stopped at American River to filter water.

First hike is Heitman Mountain, my favorite. It's strenuous due to the heat. We started around 1pm. The first mile is bushy, rutted at times. Quite a few people crowded the small landing of Heiman Lake. Followed a lake side boot track, bushwhacking to another spot, where my partner went for a swim. No place to sit, I tried to go up the slope and hope to get to the north end of the lake. However, bushwhacking up the hill is difficult, I abandoned going down to the lake, just continued on the trail, and waited under a small tree - not much shade. Once the trail gets out of the thick bush, the view is quite nice. You can see the coast line, the lake, and tons of flowers. Notably Kamchatka Rhododendron, bright fuchsia. Lots of Partridge Foot, yellow paintbrush (never saw red ones on the island), arnica, aster. The last mile is just a delight, a ridge walk with great views all-around and flowers under your feet: snowy peaks of the interior and blue shoreline. At the very top, there're two cairns, and a rock painted blue written "I cannot believe nobody bothered to put me up". Only at the saddle, the trail was faint. It had tons of flowers, a little muddy, but may make a good camp. Back at the lake around 9pm. No more people. Went for a swim. Refreshing. The air cooled a bit, but still warm. I underestimated the heat. 3L water was not enough for 2 people for this 8.7 mile hike.

Camped near American River, on the coast. Very pretty. There was one other car. No tent. There's a small pond here too. Not the cleanest. I didn't use the water here. Ate a late dinner with mosquito headnet on ~11pm. Bug time.


7/7, Sunday. Bugs in the morning. Around 9-10am, they dissipated. Filed water again at American River. This time 4L. Tried a bit fishing too. No luck.

Hiked Old Women's Mountain near the airport. There's, again, no trailhead sign. This trail is well troden. Wide like a logging road (seems you can access here from the west side in a jeep). Lots of Cow Pasnip. You want long sleeve and long pants. Its oil causes skin rash. Lots of salmonberry too, which I snacked on, even though not my favorite. After the first mile, the view opens up. There's an American flag on top of the first hill. Again a long ridge walk, not as spectacular as yesterday, still very pretty: broad with views all around, enough flowers at your footstep. It might be better in a couple of weeks, as I saw so many fireweeds still budding. At various points, you can see the airport very well. Near the flat top, you could see the lake below. Headed down for a wash. The lake is smaller, but has dirt/sand bottom, so my feet don't hurt. There are two families with toddlers and a baby in carrier at the east end of the lake. After a good rest, we headed back to the car. I believe we did less than 6 miles, but close.

Went to downtown to restock beer. Then to Fort Abercrombie State Park. On the way, stop by Miller Bay for lunch. There're picnic tables in the shade. However, quite a bit of trash.

The historic museum at the fort is worth the $5 donation. It's very small, inside the former ammunition hill. The volunteer there turned on whichever apparatus you are interested in. For example, you can type morse code on this gadget, dress in army outfit and gas mask, play with the old telephone switch. There's a photo of the underground nuclear test chamber on Amchitka island. Two guns with mount blasted broken. The coastal view is nice. Walked the trails and to Gertrude Lake, not worth a photo. There're military structures here and there. A few vault toilets. There's a large campground in the park, not sure if it has portable water.

Drove all the way north to Anton Larsen Bay. The road turns to gravel right at the golf course. The Larsen Pass is so flat, that I couldn't determin where it is exactly. There's a very large parking lot, pressumably at the pass. Looks dry. Saw a campground north of the pass. Looks depressing. At the bay, there's a boat launch, seems quite popular: lots of cars. Continued the drive to the road end. A few cars parked there. There's a trailhead, and a small boatlaunch. The bay looks more like a lake: surrounded by green islands.

We decided to drive back to the esturay to camp. However, on the way, saw a mom bear with 3 cubs there. I don't think I want to sleep in their home. The cubs put on a good show, fighting with each other. The scenary is also very pretty. Good view of Pyramid Mountain which I plan to hike tomorrow morning, too warm for today.

Back to the end of the spur road. Settled in an campsite in the woods by the small boat lauch, with a fire ring, and log to sit on. Walked to Small Creek down the short rutted mud road, is a nice meadow. A few wooden crates making good seats, quite a few trash scattered about and in the big fire pile. Why people think that they can burn their beer cans? We cooked dinner there. Some mosquitoes. Not too bad.

7/8, Monday. Same weather: warm and hazy. We rose earlier, so to hike in the cooler morning and allow enough time to pack for the airport.
Pyramid Moutain trailhead has a large parking lot. There's a trail sign here, but not at the trailhead, but quite a few steps in. It's really a warning sign stating that it's "undevelopped". There's also a strange iron structure. After the first 5 minutes of easy and open trail, it gets steep, a little bushy. Then it reaches a nice meadow. The grade is gentle here, and meadow continues for ~0.5 miles. The last 1/4 mile is straight up. Needs hands at times. The good thing is that the trail is on the west side of the mountain, so in the shade in the morning. The rocky top also has plenty of flowers, and views to both sides of the island. On a clear day, you ought to see the glaciated peaks on Kenai. Too hazy today. On the way down, saw a group of hunters in the meadow. Until then, we were completely alone. Near the trailhead, saw 2 small parties coming up the trail. Back to the car ~11:15am.

Now back to downtown. Inquired about local restaurants at Discover Kodiak. Saw an audobun hiking list posted here. They meet regularly outside of this office. Visited the Kodiak NWR Vistor Center. As many visitors as employees. The guy I talked to was very nice. He took out a flower book and looked for the 3 flowers on my phone. Clean restroom. A relief of the island. Went to Henry's for lunch, a bar recommended by the guy at Discover Kodiak. Food is so-so. Service is friendly. Still have a couple of hours to waste, so went to Russian Lake again to try fishing.

My flight is at 7:30pm. The small waiting area gets crowded when a plane arrives, and deserted otherwise. My connection in Anchorage is long, so I fell asleep near the gate, and missed my flight. I actually saw the plane taxi-ing out of the gate. The Alaska Airline gate agent was very nice, helped me re-book on the next flight, but in 4.5 hours. By the time I arrived at Portland, it was almost noon! Otherwise, all is good. I took ~400 photos. In the end, kept half.