2009.7.27. Goat Lake

Goat Lake off Mount Loop Highway. ~2 hr drive from Seattle (3.5 mile dirt road after Monte Cristo, turn right on Elliot Creek Road #4080 to the end for ~ 1 mile). 10 miles/RT. 1400 ft gain. 2 hr up and 1:45 hr down.

10 min into the well laid out trail, we took the upper trail (flat logging road on the left) going in, and the lower trail (up and down along the creek) on the way out. Two trails join again at ~ 1.5 miles before the lake. Mostly shaded. The last mile is steep. Shortly before the lake, a brief side trip to McIntosh falls is a must. Cooler air, large volume. Goat Lake is calm and clear. Blue-green, with the beautiful reflection of Cadet Peak. Heather took a plunge. I only let the water reach my knee. Darren stayed at the shore, throwing rocks at Heather. Water is rather warm near the edge, but much colder one foot below surface.

2009.7.25-26. Lake Ann - Heather Pass - Maple Pass - Rainy Lake

A counter clockwise loop with a difficult but worthwhile side trip to Wing Lake. Ever changing weather. Clouds rolled in and out. Thunder storm in both afternoons. Lots of mosquitoes. Abundant flowers at the passes (more to come), especially on the slope right after Maple Pass.

First mile is in the woods. With starting elevation ~4850 ft, the trail quickly emerges above tree line. Zigzag up and around half of Lake Ann, at 2.5 miles, reaching Heather Pass (6200 ft). Gorgeous view of Glacier Peak and other snow draped cliffs to the right (south?), open meadows (huckleberry + heather), breezy (less bugs).

Retracting 3/4 mile, a side trail leads west to the green/yellow cloudy glacial Lewis Lake (5800 ft). ~1 mile on loose boulder. Rain started and made the progress precarious and visibility severely reduced. Reached Lewis after ~1 hour, drenched. Luckily rain stopped, made cooking possible, and the lake reappeared. A large camping site next to the lake was occupied by 3 tents.

Sunny Sunday morning. At 10am headed up towards Wing Lake (~7000 ft) at the foot of Black Peak. 1 hr later, reached the beautiful blue lake: clear, deep, ice floating on the surface. 4 very nice camp sites in the vicinity, only 1 tent. Equally swamped with mosquitoes. Many larch trees standing in boulders.

Maple Pass is one mile + 400 ft above of Heather Pass. Windy. Thunder rolled in. Here is the most pleasant ridge walk, among flowers. At some points, can see both Rainy Lake and Lake Ann. Rainy Lake is prettier and bigger, has a nice waterfall.

The last mile or 2 are steeper and mostly in woods. Highway noise. Once reaching the board walk, turn left for the parking lot. 5:30pm.

3.5 hrs from Seattle. Hwy 20 at Rainy Pass (37 miles east of Newhalem). Total ~11 miles, ~4000 ft, ~30 mosquito bites.

2009.7.23. Trail work at Source Lake

Snow Lake trail off I-90. WTA work party. Building trail this time. Digging and moving rocks mainly, and waiting around. 3 high school kids. Most of the group are retired men and they hiked twice as slow. 8:30am - 3:30pm. Actually working barely 3 hrs. Was a bad idea joining them for breakfast -- another 1.5 hr precious sleeping time was deprived. Was fun overall, different muscles got used.
Beautiful day. Fog persisted in the valley for better part of the day, clear sky on the cliff side. Many small waterfalls. Some flowers.

2009.7.18-19. Rail Road Grade + Park Butte in Baker Lake area

Railroad Grade + Scott Paul loop in Mt Baker area. View is stupendous, especially around high camp and along the western slope of Railroad ridge. Flowers were coming in full force, would be in peak in ~a week. Well located and designed camping sites. 7 at ~ 2.5 miles in Morovitz meadow, best would be the 4 at High Camp (~3.75 miles in), with easy access to snow and more expansive view. Mt Rainier appeared to be small and hazy. Glacier Peak and other Cascade peaks were clear, can even see San Juan and Olympics. Tons of huckleberry bushes and heather. Quite a lot of strawberry at low elevation. At least 3 large climbing groups were at base camp Saturday afternoon, practicing. Sunday when I arised, they were already half way to the peak.

Park Butte (1 mile from the meadow) has a wonderful fire lookout with a queen bed, stove, maps and binocular inside. A "clean out" instruction for any user when he/she leaves.
Scott Paul trail goes around south of Baker east of the moraine, goes around several ravines for ~4 miles. The first mile had the best flower and a fun swing bridge. More boulders and rocks, and many more lupines were coming. Get to see Shuksan. The last 2 miles are in the woods.
Minor snow on trail, no mosquitoes, some flies.

2009.7.15. Mt Pilchuck

2009.7.13. Tiger conditioning hike. About 1hr 10 minutes to go up.

2009.7.15. Mt Pilchuck Lookout. Perfect day for the climb. Not too warm, clear sky for the 360° view. ~ 1 hr 45 to go up, and 1 hr 30 min to go down. Snow on trail about 1 hr in, but didn't pose any problem. Lots of hikers: when we left, 29 cars at trail head.

Direction: Verlot east 1 mile, Pilchuck Rd 7 miles (first 6 gravel) to the end (saw 2 deer on road).

2009.7.11. Mount Rainier Summerland

8 miles R/T, 2100 ft to Summerland. Absolutely beautiful. No space to park. Well maintained trail with solid wood creek crossings. First 2 miles are relatively flat, until the waterfall. Then trees give away to lush verdure. Avalanche lily filled the slopes before reaching Summerland area. Quite a number camping spots. Open vista, Little Tahoma, Rainier are too close to shoot a nicely composed photo. A not-too-small creek rushing down. 1+ mile further up, more rubbles and ice, until Panhandle Gap.

2009.7.6. Barclay Lake

Barclay Lake. Pleasant alpine lake. 4.2 miles RT. Almost flat. Drizzle turned to rain. Fog obscured the Barring Mountain.
Direction: Hwy 2 to Baring, milepost 41. Turn North on FS Road #6024, gravel, 4.6 miles to the road end.