2011.10.23. Lake Ingalls

After a week of rain, finally one day of less percipitation. 9 miles RT, 2500' gain. Easy grade. The pass has a lot of larch trees in a basin, good view. Mt Rainier was shrouded with clouds. Packed snow on trail after pass, muddy at time. The lake is reached maybe 1 hour later over some very rocky terrain. Total: ~3 hours up, 2:15 hour down.

All the way along I-90 east of the pass and Teanaway road are very scenic. Many golden aspen and maples.

Direction to Lake Ingalls: I-90 to 97 north. Teanaway north fork, all the way to the end, same trail head as Esmeralda Basin.

2011.10.17. Winchester Mountain

A sunny Monday afternoon, on my way down from Canada. Parked at Yellow Aster Butte trail head (~5 cars), walked up the 2.5 miles of the remaining gravel road to Twin Lakes. Good view all along, and never stops. 1 hour later reached the first lake. A couple of camp sites next to the lake.

Continued around the first lake, Winchester Mt trail starts in between the two lakes. Another ~5 cars here. Just 2 miles to the lookout, but took me 1:20 hr up and almost an hour down. Easy grade, but after the first mile, walked on snow, and then on ice. A bit tricky at some points without hiking poles. Close to the top, it's possible to see Canadian peaks. A couple and a dog occupied the lookout equipped with a table and benches. Their bulky camera was sitting on a tripod waiting for the sunset. Excellent 360° view.

Some huckleberry trees. The color cannot match Yellow Aster Butte. No berries. Caught a ride back down from four chatty local girls, who told me that the road condition has greatly improved due to the reopenning of gold mining further up the road.
Direction: Mt Baker Hwy 12.6 miles east of Glacier ranger station. Left on Twin Lakes Rd next to the DOT garage. 4.5 miles to Yellow Aster Butte @3600', another 2.5 miles to the lakes @5200'.

Border crossing at Sumas 11:35-11:58. Estimate on the LED board: 10 minutes (vs. 80 minutes at Peace Arch). ~1:10 hour from the border, or 30 minutes from the ranger station (closed M-Th).

2011.10.14. Poco Trail

Traboulay PoCo Trail is a community trail. Flat but long:25km.

A sunny and crispy Friday afternoon. The entire loop is 25km. I had to cut it short, due to the 3 hour parking limit at Lions Park (ok, I parked for ~4 hours). The problem with any loop is, if I quit, I had to find a way to connect two points. For this loop, there are many, but all regular streets, some with heavy traffic. I probably walked ~20km, from Lions Park in Poco downtown, south along Coquitlam River (a small creek), down through Colony Farm (Wilson Farm Dyke Trail), to Fraser River, up to Pitt River. I returned via Dominion Ave. Biking along this loop would be a better choice, if you don't have 5 hours to spare. The best sections are in Colony Farm (more wild and least people), and north of Lougheed Bridge along Pitt River (more scenic). Along Coquitlam River is nice too: very well planned, with displays of city history, markers on pavement of connecting streets. Many strollers, bikers. The connections between sections are not ideal. Often requires crossing a 4 lane street with a lot of traffic. Crossing the Lougheed Bridge involves detour.

Saw one heron by the road behind an industrial compound, one bald eagle next to Pitt River, one tiny snake at the north end of the Colony Farm, one guy fishing in Coquitlam River, one homeless dwelling next to Coquitlam River.

2011.10.9. Yak Peak

5.5 km, 825 m gain. ~4 hours. This is a scramble, not an ordinary hike. See topo map
First 10 minutes at the beginning is swampy and almost flat. Then STEEP trail in the forest over roots and rocks, maybe 30 minutes. After ascending ~10 minutes of talus slope, reaches the base of the granite wall. Now turn right along the base with running water (often require hands) for ~20 minutes. Then the trail leaves the wall, scrambles straight up (most require hands, one short section a rope was fixed), for ~30 minutes. When this ends, you reach an open basin covered with heather, yellow grass and huckleberry bushes. I chowed down my lunch quickly here and ate some mud dusted berries. Follow the cairn for ~20 minutes. Then the trail veers to the left. Had to walk on a small snow field (last year's?), and reached an obvious peak (but looks to me now like the sub peak). Cold.

The weather looked promising on the way east. But reached rain before Hope, and stayed in it. The rain tapered off before we arrived in the meadow. A very nice area. Even on this cloudy day, I can still imagine the scenery and color. By the time we started towards the peak, the visibility was less than 10 meters. Couldn't see a thing on the top! Of course, when we returned to the base of the granite wall, it cleared out a little. By the time we reached the car, patches of blue sky could be found. When we were in a friendly cafe with lukewarm chowder in Hope, the sun was streaming through the window.
3 cars, ~10 people. Stupid us couldn't find the trailhead for over an hour. Interesting mixture of people. At least 3 PhD's, 4 nationalities.

Direction: Highway 5 (Coquihalla Highway) from Hope to Zopkios Rest Area exit #217. Left to go under the highway and park. A rest room with running water. Walk north along the road. Count power poles starting at the beginning of the concrete road barrier. About 130ft (40m) past the fifth power pole, there's a cairn with a yellow pole with an orange ribbon on your left, marking a narrow trail obscured by bushes.

2011.9.30. Sugarloaf

in Anacortes on my way to Canada. 30 min up, 20 min down. Waited for sunset on top of Sugarloaf for an hour, hoping to evade the rush hour traffic. Not the best weather, rained a bit on the way. However, it was still clear enough to see Olympic mountains peeking above clouds, and the Cascades to the east. Many islands to the west.

Border wait around 8pm this Friday was faster than I thought: only 2 cars ahead of me.

Direction: Hwy 20 towards Deception Pass. 1.8 miles fter the turn off with Hwy 20 bis, right on Campbell Lake Rd. 1.5 miles later, bear righ to Heart Lake Rd. 1.4 miles later, right at a sign for Mt Erie. Parking, a kiosk with a topo map.
Hike trail #215, (left on #226,) right on #238.