2024.10.6. Sculpture Rock + Leavenworth OctoberFest

10/6, Sunday. I got picked up at 9:30am. Not early, but I only slept for ~4 hours. Same last few days. Totally lack of sleep. We were heading to Leavenworth. I have reserved a 2bd condo for Sunday night for an early morning hike on Monday.

We took I-90. Checked out Sculpture Rock on the way, off Hwy-97. Swauk Campground is already closed for the season. Unable to drive in. I'm worried of potential break-in, so we took turns. I walked ~1 mile to the end of the campground, got the trail to the rock. Instead of the loop, I took the same way out (shorter), so I could explorer a possible closer access. Found a highway pull-out closer to the TH. Walked back to the car on Hwy-97, drove to this pull-out, and waited for my partner visiting the rock.

The short trail is half flat, half going up a treed hill. Then suddenly, you see this large eroded sandstone jutting out of the ridge. Quite interesting.

Continued towards Leavenworth. Stopped at a farm stand, bought a box of apples+pears, $23.

Checked into Worldmark Leavenworth. Large ground. Older style. Not only 2 bedrooms, there's another wall bed in the living room. Walked to town via Waterfront Park along Wenatchee River. Shared a litre October Fest beer and a Schweinshaxe at Ludwig's. The skin is a bit tough to chew. Meat is cooked right. Quite a lot for 2 people.

October Fest here seems only for Friday and Saturday. The beer garden was deserted on this Sunday. Checked out the art vendors before return. Drove to Dan's market for some meat, cheese and bread, to make sandwiches for tomorrow. Went to sleep early, set alarm for 5:30am.

2024.8.29. Glacier Basin at Mt Rainier NP

8/29 Sunday. Temperature has cooled significantly (compared to yesterday). Supposed to be high 41°F today at Bourough Mt, our intended destination in Mt. Rainier National Park.

9am pick up. The entrance to Sunrise had a line, but not too long. We were informed that there'd be an hour delay to Sunrise due to an accident. At the turn to the White Rock campground, the road is barricaded ahead. We didn't even see the accident. No one was able to go to Sunrise. Parked at the far-end of the campground (this half of the campground is closed for the season, so are the bathrooms). Headed to Glacier Basin instead. We were here only once before, had a fond memory of the trip. In fact, we camped at Glacier Basin. It was earlier in the season, the campsites were all covered by snow, so had to camp outside. Walked up to Camp Schurman in crampons and a glissade back.

The trail starts in the trees, passing the turn to the morain, and then the turn to Sunrise Camp. A woman was posing for Instagram shots at one of the openings between trees. Some pearly-everlasting, thistles, the last of asters and fireweed. Not many. Not much of fall color here. Passed and being passed by some hikers, including one Becky-like gentleman with a giant backpack. Once we continued after "end of maintained trail" sign at Glacier Basin camp, we were the only people. The view is very getting better and better, however, Mount Rainier was blocked mostly.

The trail for Camp Schuman is clearly visible. We followed it into a grassy meadow (very pretty), and then into pile of rocks. There, multiple tracks, all leading to the glacier. I decided to climb up to the ridge, and the slope was getting quite steep. I stick to areas that have plants here and there. At some point, I decided to turn around. Here, I saw quite some gentium and yarrow still blooming. My partner turned around earlier to check out a track we could see earlier. Later, I was told that it leads to some mining structure, and then the track disappeared. Coming down from there is dangerous, more loose ground and steep. An adventure in this rocky amphitheater.

Hikign out, started to see people again. Back on the road, it was cleared, so cars were driving up to Sunrise.

Some traffic on the drive back. Got back to Seattle ~7pm.

2024.9.28. Alta Mountain from Rampart Ridge Backdoor

9/28, Saturday. 3 of us met ~6:30am, heading to Rampart Ridge backdoor. Reached the TH ~8am. The last few miles are brushy, some potholes.

There were already some color at the TH. Thick fog hanging in the valley. Quite pretty. The trail is rugged. Half an hour later we reached the junction to Lake Laura. I took the short spur to snap this photo. It's very small.

Continue on, reached Lake Lillian in 20 minutes. Found a couple of tents here. Circling the lake has some problem. These's a faint trail going up into the trees to get around a large boulder. We actually scrambled over on its surface. Needs care. On the way back, we took the long detour in the trees to avoid this sketchy boulder.

At the north end of Lake Lillian, zigzag up a steep hill. Good trail, so no problem. As we got higher, great view of the lake below and Mount Rainier in the distance. Once reached the ridge, need to head left. Somewhat faint trail, but it'll become obvious later. Saw a grouse here. S.W. went over and down the ridge. Me and Aiden followed the main trail. Took us sometime to regroup. S.W. claimed that he found a great campsites. While waiting for S.W. to scramble back up, Aiden coached his g.f. on some of her homework on the phone! Here, huckleberry galore.

Continued on, we met a group of 4 people at a creek crossing. Didn't even notice the trail fork, took the left track into another small lake basin with nice fall color. Would be a nice camp spot. Getting over and steeply down to Rampart Lakes basin. Started seeing many backpackers. Plenty lakes to choose for the night. So many side trails: need a GPS map here.

Passing all these lakes, continue into the trees. A major trail junction (no signs) to Rachel Lake. We stayed straight gaining elevation. Soon can see Rachel Lake below. At the next junction, didn't even see the junction, almost went down to more lakes. Back tracked, going up aggressively for a short while.

From now on, it's on a ridge with lovely fall color, view to both sides. The peak looming head is not Alta Mountain. After this peak, it is a fun, easy scramble. Maybe 0.5 miles. Saw quite a few people both ways.

The summit has plenty space to spread out. Great view, so many peaks, and yes, I-90! Interesting to see where I hiked last weekend. You can see PCT cutting into the slopes to our west. S.W. stretched his Swaraj flag. It took some time. He completely ignored his earlier demand of turning around at 12:30. We left at 1pm.

On our way back, we took the eastern route south of Rampart Lakes. It is quite different, more open, better track. More cloudy though. One section, the color was especially good.

Back to TH ~4:30pm. They decided to stop at North Bend for ice cream. Some traffic on I-90. Back to Belltown ~6:30pm.

This is a keeper. Fabulous color. Not too many people. Plenty tarns and huckleberries. Maybe I'll come backpacking here next fall!

2024.9.27. The Skin of Our Teeth at Seattle Rep

9/27 Friday. The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder staged at Seattle Repertory Theater. A three-part allegory about the life of mankind. Mr and Mrs Antrobus (from Greek: άνθρωπος - anthropos) have been married for 5,000 years, raised a couple of kids, survived the ice age, the great flood, and the war.

There are some stylistic complexity of occasional interruption of the narrative by actors directly addressing the audience. One I don't like is in the 3rd act, Mr. Antrobus announces that several actors have taken ill, asking the audience to indulge them while the "stage manager" of the play conducts a rehearsal with the replacements. Why?

Nice stage sets, good acting.

2024.9.22. Kendall Katwalk

9/22 Sunday. Cloudy.
I was picked up before ~9:45am, heading to Kendall Katwalk. I've been to Kendall Peak twice, Red Mountain once, but never hiked all the way to the catwalk. So looking forward to it.

We took Commonwealth Basin trail, instead of PCT north, 1.4 miles instead of 2.4 each way. Less people, more rugged. Saw a lot of amanitas. In the basin, saw a Russian couple with shopping bags, picking mushrooms. Need to cross Commonwealth Creek twice. Once on a big log covered in metal mesh, the other requires skipingp rocks (now super easy). Saw

Once it joins PCT (at the junction to Red Mountain), it zigzags gently for another 2 miles in the forest. Nice trail, quite some big trees, more people (quite a few are camping). Found more boletes, so slow going. Once out of forest, it's another mile to reach the junction to Kendall Peak boot track. Views are pretty good now, Rainier looming behind. 1/3 mile later, it reaches a ridge. Took a lunch break here. My stomach was troubling me.

Continued on. The trail loses elevation a little bit along a forested ridge (not on top of the ridge, not much view). In another 1/3 mile, it crosses another gap. Here, the view is super. Can see Stuart, Lemah, Chikamin, Chair, Lundin, Three Queens (? only saw one peak), Four Brothers?

Continued another ~0.7 miles to a flat-ish area (crosscrossed with tracks to different camp sites), where we could peek down to Ridge Lake. I really like this site, a bit tucked away from the main drag. But, no water here. Saw Pika. We didn't go down to Ridge Lake. Took me awhile to resolve my stomach issue.

Back the same way. Encountered 3 PCT thru-hikers among other backpackers and a few runners. The first we met said he has 10 days left. Quite fast: 244 miles from Ridge Lake to Canadian border. The second one is a lady from Germany with a bear spray and a teddy bear. She seems willing to chat, but I forgot to ask her favorite sections. The 3rd one carries a really large pack, looks grumpy.

No traffic on I-90 today. Temperature rose to above 70°F as we drove back. Very lucky and nice cool air while hiking. Got dropped off a little after 6pm. My partner kindly gave me all the good baby boletes. Still, it took effort to clean and process. I made a jar with 2 bigger mushrooms cooked in vinegar and bunch of spices, sealed. Sauteed the rest.