Summer solstice weekend. I had planned to go to Teanaway last weekend for shooting stars, but the manhunt had closed the area for almost a month. Finally, the murder suspect was caught last Sunday, and the roads were re-opened. So I have to go now. I left my itinerary to 3 people (one of whom was thinking of coming with me), wore bright colors. But I was too late for the full glory of shooting stars. Still a lot of flowers. The most abundant now is cutleaf anemone and douglasia on rocky slopes (5-6000') and balsamroot on grassy slopes about the same elevation. Snow level ~6000'. The road is better than I remembered.
6/20, Saturday. Forecast calls for 60% rain, and up to 20mph wind. When I went to pick up the rental car (~8am), it was just cloudy. But later, it rained and rained:( A lot more snow on the north side of the passes than I expected. Instead of the lollipop loop as planned (shown in blue on the map, shorter, but more elevation gain), I ended doing two in-and-out hikes + walking around the lake (shown in red on the map).
Saw a deer right by the road as I turned onto Teanaway Rd. ~15 cars at the trail head. Thanks to the lousy weather, I was able to park in the lot ~10:30am. I headed first to
Longs Pass. Light drizzle, still could see the mountains on the other side (SW) of N. Fork Teanaway River. Flowers were good. At the trail junction, I left most people. Oops, forgot the sandwich in the car!
Going up to Longs Pass is straightforward. Zigzag up the rocky slope. Saw a goat at the pass. Weather deteriorated. Mt. Stuart is supposed to be right up against my nose, but I couldn't see it. All snowy on the north side. Quite steep. You can see the 4 climbers going down. I followed. After a little struggle, I gave up. Unknown what's lay ahead, plus the lousy weather, I wasn't looking forward to the route finding (there's a log to cross Ingalls Creek) and a 1000' drop.
Back down to the trail junction. Walked towards
Lake Ingalls. Now there were more hikers, a large family with young kids. However, most turned around when hitting the snow. It was a bit wet. Raining and melting. Saw a cluster of shooting star.
At Ingalls Pass, couldn't see anything, nor where the trail is. Going down is not too steep. Saw a faint ski track for some time, some old snowshoe prints, one orange tent. No people. I dropped down too much (towards the tent). Had to consult my GPS map often. Fortunately my phone is supposed to be waterproof, didn't fail on me. When I was close to the saddle above the lake, saw a group heading out.
I decided to walk around the lake, hoping that the rain would let up, so I could see Ingalls Peak and Mount Stuart. No, only more rain. Quite miserable. This is the valley of Ingalls Creek, the blue track on my planned route, towards Longs Pass. With the snow, the lake's east shore is easier to walk by. In the summer/fall, the west side is better. On the way back to Ingalls Pass, I stayed high. Was able to follow the track made by that group most of the time. When I was close to the pass, saw two people high on the rocky ridge.
Rain had finally stopped, as I crossed Ingalls Pass. Even some blue sky as I descended.
Saw this porcelain duck by the N. Fork Teanaway River. The water was running swiftly. Still about ~a dozen cars in the parking lot. I ate my sandwich for dinner, and some more. Washed off sweat. Drove to my next TH, 10 miles away. Many tents and RVs along the way.
About 30 cars at Stafford Creek TH, still, 8pm! Good that I arrived now. Took the last spot in the small-ish parking lot. A few cars strang along the road. Didn't rain at night. Even some stars.
6/21, Sunday, mostly sunny. My destination was
Navaho Peak. But I ended up hiking a bit too much, because of the crowds on the main trail, and the long day light.
Navaho Pass is straightforward. I started ~6:40am with a fleece, a rain jacket and gaiters, but soon down to just one layer. At some point, lost one glove, and had to walk back to find it. (This happened to me 3 times today. Every time, it was the right glove. Fortunately I realized the lost quickly.) In half an hour, already 2 runners passed me. In another half an hour, backpackers started coming out. The trail follows the creek on and off. Quite lush (maybe for another 2-3 weeks), lots of vegetation and place to refill water. At the trail junction, the left fork goes to Earl Peak. I was looking for a more direct route, but couldn't see it clearly. The creek was a bit deep to cross without wetting my shoes. So I continued straight. More open now. At mile 5, a large meadow ringed with tents. Not a lot of shooting star left. I refilled water, and continued towards the pass, passing more tents.
Soon, the trail gets more barren with low lying flowers (lomatium cuspidatum, douglasia nivalis,
Greyer's twinpod) and rocks. 2 more tents at the pass! ~6000'. Snow just down below to the north. Quite a lot of people, all heading to and coming back from Navaho Peak. It was still early (~9:40am), so I figured I'd head west to the no-name peak first, letting this first wave of hikers from the meadow finish their day hike.
I was alone until I reached the 6658' top, passing two more tents. A little bit of snow. There is a clear boot track, easy to follow. This peak is closer to the snowy mountains, so an excellent view. However, the small rocky top had already ~5 people there. After a quick photo, I headed back down to the pass, passing 2 groups of people. Now joining the crowd, I dredged up east, slowly and steadily gaining elevation. Took a break in one rare shade, and ate a sandwich, sunned my socks. Quite some small flowers low on ground.
From the trail up, you can see clearly where you came from (see the blue highlight in this photo) and the tents at the pass. It got a bit steeper and dustier the higher you go. Nothing difficult. Soon you can see Rainier. Finally, I arrived. Already ~20 people scattered around.
At 7162', excellent 360° view. I took a short break, wondering what to do next. Only 12pm. Ate a meat bar. Ventured to the SE ridge to find a good resting space to myself. There's a campsite with some tree protection here. A guy was very loud on the phone for awhile. The view here is not as good as the very top, but it's good to be alone, with partial shade. I scouped snow into my water bottle.
It was still early to return, even after a long break. Around 12:30, I decided to loop to Miller Peak to avoid the crowd. The loop is on my Gaia map, and I read a trip report on Friday, so I knew it's feasible. Until Old County Line trail, it is easy. I didn't really see the Old County Line trail, but there is a structure around where the junction is. Then it's a flat stretch, beckoning me to go ahead. As for trail? None! Yes, boot tracks now and then.
The most sketchy part is here, right after this flat stretch ends. It went down steep on loose rocks. I didn't like this part. Took my time slowly edging down.
I was wearing bright green, so at least I would be visible in case something happened. South of this is a gentler black slope with volcanic-like glittering gravel. Lots of low lying flowers, even saw some bitterroot. Really liked this stretch. I was taking photos left and right. Then suddenly 4 young men ran down that black slope. They regrouped at the saddle below (~6000'), where I caught up them. I inquired about the trail condition ahead, because by now, I was a bit worried. I certainly don't want to go back to that slippery section. One of them told me, that he heard that the rest would be easier or the same.
Going up to Freedom Peak (6447') is rock scramble. Somewhat steep, but solid, so not difficult. On the way, I saw one runner coming down, so I inquired about the trail condition again. He said it's too subjective a question. There's no trail, but to him, it's not bad. I was huffing and puffing when I reached the top of Freedom Peak. Saw a hiker sitting there with earbus in. Probably didn't wish to be bothered. I ask anyway about the trail condition to the south, and which direction he was heading to. He took off his earbud and said he came down from Navaho Peak, and was debating what to do next. He did the loop many years ago, and from what he remembered, we had passed the most difficult section. The next somewhat tricky part is a black butte which we could see not far ahead. We both agreed that the best bailout is going back down to the saddle. Cutting down from there towards Stafford Creek trail looks doable - which matches my impression when I consulted Google map's 3D view on Friday. As we were contemplating of cutting the loop short, another runner came up from the south. I asked him which side he walked by that black butte. He said left (east) side. My map shows the track on the right (west) side. My fellow hiker said he remember going right (west) side, and he didn't like it then.
It was only 2:40pm, so I continued south. When I reached the bottom, I saw the hiker also continued. I walked around the black butte on the left (east) side - which wasn't too bad. Later, when he caught up on me, I asked which side he walked around it. He took the other side. From then on, just two of us, didn't see anyone until Miller Peak. I was lagging behind often by quite a bit. I was only able to catch up on flat surface. More easy scrambles, lots of side slopes, sometime fait foot paths. A couple times, he waited for my safe passage. So I gave up of consulting my phone all the time, just followed him. Along the way, a lot of balsamroot, open vista. Rainier and Adams were clear. No water, no snow.
Saw this hunter's camp somewhere along the route. Chopped wood nicely stacked. No one around, nor tents or tools. We hit the trail for
Miller Peak a bit lower than needed. But following a real trail is easy, even if going up the hill. Met 2 hikers coming down from Miller. I was quite tired and slow by now. Finally, almost 3 hours after I left Freedom Peak (less than 3 miles away according to Gaia's map), we reached Miller Peak! I remembered being here last June, also remembered scrambing on to the same wrong rock, as well as a ham radio enthusiast with a large antenna talking incessantly. Nice and quiet today at 5:30pm. Good 360° view. Can see the wind mills to the south, as well as Rainier and Adams.
There, we exchanged our first names. I still had 1L water in my squeeze bag (fetched from the meadow, ~8 hours ago. Unpleasantly warm by now.), so I oftered some to Patrick from Redmond. He practically ran out of water.
Going down Miller via regular trail is easy. Higher slopes were painted yellow with Balsamroot. Nothing can compare with Dog Mountain, but still really pretty. I filtered water at the first creek crossing and washed a bit at the second. It was cool and refreshing. I offered Patrick water twice, but he declined both. That would be the last time we spoke. I don't know how he is able to hike for 8+ hours with only 1L of water on such a warm and sunny trail. There are a couple of wide creek crossings at lower level (hiking poles help), some minor muddy parts. I was faster going on easy trails (not taking photos any more), so went ahead of him far enough that we could have a sense of solitude. Saw a few rock clemantis.
It was just past 8pm when I walked back on the road. Still bright, thanks to the solstice sun. Another ~1 mile to my car. Total step count 53K! Definitely longer than what the map says, maybe 20 miles, 6000'. Highest this year - a record I don't wish to break. There were still cars parked quite far away along the road. At least a dozen cars left. Only 2 in the parking lot. Patrick probably parked far, closer to Miller Peak's TH. Saw him driving away, when I was changing my shoes/socks. A couple of mosquitoes here.
Driving out, most campers have gone. Filled gas in Cle Elum. $2.25/Gl! Stopped at WSDOT restroom at Snoqualmie Pass. I was surprised that it was open ~10pm. Quite clean. The rental office doesn't have after-hour drop, so I could only return the car on Monday morning. Bus is more frequent on weekdays. This concludes my weekend outing. Enough challenge and solitude, excellent views, plenty flowers, serendipitous hiking companion, 1 deer, 1 goat -> all made it memorable.
6/27, Saturday. Left Seattle in light rain. Road-side flowers were going strong. Blue by I-5, and yellow + white on the peninsular. Some clear cut areas on the peninsular were filled with pink fox-gloves. Nice to be out this time of the year.
On the way to our TH, stopped at Wynoochee Dam. A campground by the lake front, lots of kids swimming in the water. At one parking lot, a nice veranda with picnic tables and a clean restroom. Old photos of the dam construction are on display, as well as an area map. The dam hosts public tour regularly. Closed now for COVID-19. The reservoir is quite large. What we could see is only ~20% of the lake.
We took Pete's Creek trail to Colonel Bob. The trail head goes both uphill (north towards Colonel Bob) and downhill (south towards Humptulip River). The trail starts in lush forest. Lots of fringecup, salmonberry, yellow monkeyflower, and fern. Some purple trillion, bleeding heart still in bloom. Big devils club. Trees are not very big. Once emerged out of the trees, there's this slope covered with columbine. I've never seen so many. Oddly, the slope looked dry to me. Some wallflower, paintbrush mixed in. Then the trail levels off and goes into the woods to meet with Colonel Bob trail (from Lake Quinault) just shy of 2 mile, 3000'. Then, it goes back zigzag besides the columbine slope, with open views to the west.
The trail then goes down to Moonshine Flat at ~3 mile. Lots of avalanche lily, and purple shooting stars. A few muddy ponds. Saw 3 tents. We found a small site by Fletcher Creek. A few mosquitoes. The flat is not flat. Not a big meadow, it has ups and downs, with small pockets of muddy meadow, some filled with avalanche lily.
6/28, Sunday. Mostly sunny. Relaxed morning. I read inside the tent, waiting for the sun to dry it off a bit. Hiked up to Colonel Bob peak. More avalanche lily along the way. 
The top rock has plenty purple penstemon and white phlox. Still lots of cloud, covering some peaks in the Olympic NP. Waited for the two girls (wearing surgical masks) to leave. Had the whole place to ourselves for ~half an hour, until the next hiker came.
Detoured to Grays Harbor NWR in Hoquiam before coming home. Stopped on the beach by Moon Island Road next to the airport. It smells a bit because there's a sewage plant here. Right at the breach, there's always a marine breeze, smells sea. Had an early (~5pm) dinner sitting on the drift log, watching birds picking in the mud.
