2020.12.27. Snoqualmie Mountain

12/27. Sunday. Rain -> partly sunny. Not sure why we had to meet at 6am, especially when the weather is supposed to clear later in the day. However, thanks to the rainy clouds, the temperature was not too cold. 45°F when we left the city. 33°F at Snoqualmie Pass. 8 of us (in 5 cars in an otherwise empty parking lot) started from Alpental ski area (Snow Lake TH) ~7:30am, for Snoqualmie Mountain. Light snow was falling. Yellow lights were on the lifts. It looked like Thomas Kinkade's paintings.

We saddled into snowshoes right from the parking lot. The first 5 minutes were flat-ish. Soon, the grade picks up and we had to stop to take layers off. I kept on my rain jacket. Light fluffy snow. Soon, no more tracks. Going up treed slope, very steep. At one point, one by one, we started to slide down. D slipped down to W, and W slipped after the impact, and stopped by my arm. H slid farther down, was caught by a tree. There, K decide to turn around. Her husband M went down to her, on the way, slipped to a tree. Seeing all this, A decided to bail. But she came with C, so C had to downclimb to give her car key. But she didn't come back up. Only one hour in, we lost half of the group. The rest of us took off snowshoes, put on micro-spikes and ice-axes. D put on crampons. Too bad, I brought a helmet, but not crampons :(

The trail goes east side of the creek. Many icicles, water was still running. We had to drop down to cross the creek. Then go straight up again. Once left the trees, the view was very good. We were above the clouds. The slope is relentlessly steep. But I didn't sweat much (my progress is slow - I was the slowest of the 4), nor drinking much (my water bottle was inside my backpack, hard to reach). Many times, without proper foodhold, I had to punch the ice axe down, and pull myself up. My arms got very sore.

The upper ridge was quite windy. When the gust was blowing, the snow was kicked up and hit my face like bullets. At one point, D sat down and not wanting to move, saying that he couldn't see anything (his sunglasses were fogged up). It was cold. I put on a fleece inside my rain jacket. The fingers of my ski gloves were frozen hard, so was the strap of my hiking pole. My pole was frozen, so difficult to shorten or lengthen (one tip: do not use ski brasket on steep hills, use smaller brasket on your pole. Ski brasket makes your pole slip). I had to take off my knee strap, because it couldn't stick any more. There, we met a couple coming up in crampons.

12:30pm when I got to the top. 5 hours to do less than 2 miles! H was heading down. W went down earlier. The view at the top is, of course, fabulous. It's a twin top. The farther one is slightly higher. Be careful to stay off the edge. D and I went to the true summit. Took a few photos and headed down shortly before 1pm. No place to hide from the wind.

On soft snow, going down was easy, can just slide. The snow balls up under your butt which halts your slide. On icy slopes, it was frightening without crampons. Every step took me forever. I slipped multiple times, none far (either held by my ice axe, or by a tree). Last, I slipped right at the TH: snow packed hard by many people. H and D waited for me. It was ~3:15pm. All still under the clouds. The (now) half empty parking lot was also icy. Drive and walk carefully here.

I was dropped off downtown. Walking home, eating my sandwich (didn't have time to eat lunch on the trail), holding on a semi-disintegrating paper bag (my wet boots), a large backpack (snowshoes inside), semi-wet clothes and hair, I sure looked like a homeless person. I was cold, wet, tired, but energized.

2020.12.24. Hall Creek - Change Creek loop

12/24, Thursday. Sunny with increasing clouds. I slept though my alarm, and forgot my sandwich. Accidentally had the tracking on my phone last night, and drained battery over the night to 60%. By the time I got to the car rental office, it was past 10am. There were 5 people ahead of me. I picked a closer trail by Mount Washington (many recent reports) at I-90 exit 38.

First, I paid a brief visit to Weeks Falls in the Olallie State Park. The falls is made by the hydrolic project. There's a small concrete viewing platform. But you cannot get to the water. ~8 cars in the spacious picnic area, linked to the platform by a short walk/drive. I saw one car and one couple walking.

I parked at Zigzag Trail's TH, an obscured small pullout area, just opposite of the road from the picnic area. The flat gravel trail goes directly from here. 4 cars there. I was able to squeez in. There're other larger pullouts within 10 minute walk.

Being on the northern slope, the trail was in the shade. At the bottom of the Hall Creek Trestle, you start to go up. The trestle looks impressive with snow.

Cross the bridge, going up hill. Soon the trail bifurcates. I took the right fork on Hall Creek Trail (well marked). It offers 2 short side trails (not well marked, not on my GPS map) to the waterfront. Both are very nice, well worth the effort. Water was rushing, falling.

The trail continues with the creek not far, nor close. I saw an old couple sitting by the creek crossing. When they saw me and understood that I intended to go though where they were, they slowly got up. Picked up their large backpacks, and told me to go back farther to allow them more space to pass me. Here, 3 small sections of tree branches laid across rocks. I put on microspikes, gingerly crossed the first 2 on very slippery icy logs. The 3rd one, I was able to step over rocks. The trail will cross a tributory of Hall Creek shortly after. This time, I was able to cross over rocks, without using the slippery logs. After this 2nd creek crossing, the trail gets a little steeper, especially after the next junction.

Due to my late start, slow progress and low battery power (I initially wanted to go to Greenway Mountain, which may involve some off-trail), I picked the shortest loop. Turned right at road NFDR-9023. Here had the most accumulated snow. The road is flat, but couldn't go fast. A little bushy here and there. I could see footsteps, but they were just holes in up to 1' snow. I didn't put on snowshoes. The road passed Hall Creek again, but the creek was tiny at the side of the road.

At the end of the road, the bend on the ridge, a trail goes down. It's a narrow ridge, steep at time. Even though nothing risky, you need to be not afraid of height. Soon in to the woods, to J's Landing. Weather forecast is correct: more cloudy now.

Here, a flat trail connects to Change Creek Trail. The rest of the trail is familiar. I was here this past June, on the way back from Mt Washington and Change Peak. Yes, took the short spur to Hall Point - probably should be called Change Point. Already 3:30pm. I rushed downhill, only to realize that I forgot my spikes at the connection trail. Went back to look for them. Wasted at least half an hour.

Back to my car at 5pm. Aleady very dark. Still 3 more cars. Not sure where the passengers are. The old couple I met are the only people I saw on the trail today. Filled gas at Snoqualmie Casino. Drove back to town. Westlake Center had many people walking around the holiday lights. I walked by here 5 days ago.

Dropped my pack at home, changed to a clean T-shirt, picked up a bag of Christmas present, and headed to a Christmas dinner. Returned the car at 9:10pm, before going home.

2020.12.21. The Great Junction of Jupiter and Saturn

12/21. Great conjunction happens every ~20 years. But this year, their distance is the closest to each other since 1623. The cloest moment is supposed to be in the middle of the day for us. Being winter solstice, the dark sky arrives early, so good viewing opportunity only a few hours after here. However, the weather is lousy in Seattle on 12/21 (it poured and then snowed).

12/22, Tuesday. Sunny with some clouds to the south. I headed out ~5:30pm up to Kerry Park. Passing Space Needle, decorated with a white Christmas tree, as usual. A few people at Kerry Park.

Initially, I thought this bright dot in the southern sky was Jupiter and Saturn. But they didn't go down much during the half an hour I was there. After checking the set time, I finally settled down to another dot to the SW, a bit dimmer. Through my 10x50 binocular, I can see one brighter dot with a fainter and slightly hued neighbor to its west. This dimmer enssemble did move lower to the horizon as night deepened.

When I arrived home, I couldn't warm myself up. Even a hot shower didn't help much. I was even shivering. Every muscle was in pain. Filled a hot thermal bladder and tried to sleep. The fever and cold went away in the middle of the night. The soreness lessened, and went away after another day. I had Zoster vaccine (for Shingles) this morning. I guess I'm one of those 16% of people who have ill reaction. Not sure if I want the 2nd shot.

12/23, Wednesay. I downloaded Skyview app on my phone, and headed to Olympic Sculpture Park. The sky was clearer tonight. However, the two planets were visually apart now without any optical zoom. The Mars next to the 2/3 moon was very bright.

2020.12.12. Pratt Mountain

12/12 Saturday. An unexpected sunny day. 7 of us met at Eastgate at 7am, and drove to Talapus Lake TH in 4 cars! We started out in thick fog. Soon, the rising sun was burning the mist off, and the mountains along I-90 corridor were bathing in the glow, quite pretty. The small lot was filling up fast. Some snow on the road (was quite rainy the past week). D, the leader of today's scramble, requested micro-spikes, snowshoes and ice-axe. The description talked about a "sketchy section" which may need ice-axe.

The first 2 miles are easy, yes, compact snow on trail. About half way in, I put on micro-spikes. Not necessary, but it made walking a breeze. Talapus lake (~3200') is beautiful in winter when covered with snow. After a couple of pictures, I went up to the "toilet" -- there's actually a sign. When I came back to the trail, I couldn't see anyone by the lake. So marched ahead in quickened steps. It turned out that they were still waiting for me at the lake. Any how, we convened at the next trail junction before Olallie Lake (~3800').

From here, the scramble commense. The hill was gentle at first, then it got somewhat steep. Snow wasn't deep enough to need snowshoes. Once crossed the trail linking Ollalie/Pratt lakes to Island/Mason lakes, soon we were on the proper ridge (~4400'). Still very forested. But you start to get a glimpse of views through the trees on both sides.
~4800', the tree thinned. A very short section to avoid a big rock could be sketchy if icy. Now all was soft snow. We actually met a couple coming down. Above that, it's a flat ridge walk to the summit proper. Didn't bother to use snowshoes. The view is grand. To your left: South to Rainier, Olympics between Island Lake SW, Bandera MT to the west. To your right: Pratt Lake, Kaleetan stands out in the Cascades to the N, NW, and West Granite and Granite close by to the east. The summit (~5100) offers better view to the north, but trees blocking the views to the east. Quite windy on the ridge and the summit. I hid behind some trees eating my sandwich, but the wind was blowing the snow from the tree limbs onto me. We moved to a lower slop for a 2nd lunch break. It was just 11am. While we were there, two groups (2 and 3) came to the summit.

On our way down, met more and more people. One guy asked "which one of you is D?" I was quite surprised to see these many hikers off trail. On previous hikes with D, we never saw anyone else, other than on the trails. Of course, once we reached Olallie (~noon), there were even more people. M and H played on a log, and one couple brought a beer. Some people ventured into the middle of the lake to take photos. I wouldn't trust the ice now.

Hiking out from Olallie is like walking in a city park. Hords of people, dogs and toddlers. To avoid some of them, we took to the snowy slopes. Sun shone through falling snow. I was wondering how the small parking lot could accommodate so many people. Sure enough, cars were lining the forest road for half a mile.

M and D always want to stop for meal after the hike. We stopped at North Bend's Rio Bravo for taco and burrito. But the little Mexico join's outdoor seating is on the north side, it was in shade. We pulled wicker chairs from behind the restaurant to the sunny side. M and K unpacked their camping table. Too bad, Y ordered a beer, so he had to sit by himself in the shady but proper outdoor seating area. Sun dipped behind the ridges ~3pm. It was getting cold. So we said goodbye there, instead of at the P&R.

2020.12.5 Amabilis Mountain loop

12/5 Saturday. Sunny and warm. I dropped off from an overnight meetup for a solo trek, because my right foot still hurts. I wanted to be able to bailout any time. Amabilis may be my most stupid choice of a hike/snowshoe. From the most recent trip report on WTA (of 3 days ago), the road wasn't plowed, and there was very few people. But today, the entire loop was groomed, and it was busy. A 10 mile walk on a crowded ROAD is a bad choice. However, it's ideal for ski newbies: flat, wide, groomed. I was able to walk past a lady on x-country skis on the way down!

Couldn't get up when my alarm clock sounded. By the time I picked up the rental car, it was almost 10am. Got to Cabin Creek Snowpark at 11. The lot was almost full. I was surprised to see so many people, based on the last report. I guess the plower and weekend brought more people. 4 Honey Buckets at the big parking lot. Since I was wearing normal walking shoes (softer), I put on gaiters (they don't fit well). Snow on the road was packed down. So I put on microspikes, and strapped snowshoes over my pack.

Walk across the highway first before you gear up! Based on the map I downloaded, I cut a couple of corners of the zigzag. The lower two were a bit bushy, so slow-going. The slope was only half covered by crusty snow. The last one before the junction is better. I didn't even see the junction (~3400') when going up. I cut off one more corner afterwards, there, I put on snowshoes. Not sure if I saved much time, but certainly avoided everyone, and it was more fun. The last mile, I followed the road. This viewpoint is only 15 min from the top. The last ~100' is snowshoe only. Excellent view of Lake Kachess. Can see Rainier, but the south side is too much treed. Today was very windy. Saw a couple arrived and took off right away. Put on my softshell jacket. Took a few photos from different points, and headed down without eating my sandwich.

I snowshoed down the east side on ~0.3 mile unplowed stretch. Once I reached the groomed road, saw only one skier until the junction. Don't know why everyone stayed on the west side - no view at all. There's one stretch of open road with good southern view on the east section just above the junction. I decided to take it easy and stay on the road, while chewing my sandwich. So, packed away snowshoes. Took off the gaiter as well. Walked back down in my Ecco shoes without problem. The only slippery place is the parking lot. It was 3:15pm. No time for my 2nd snowshoe option.

Heard from Y that Snoqualmie Falls was lit at night. After filling gas in North Bend by exit 34, I drove to the falls, figured that I'd arrive at sun down. The town of Snoqualmie was full of holiday lights along Railroad ave. But no light on the waterfall. Maybe I arrived too early (~4:30pm). On the way, saw this herd of elks ‐ a nice finish of a sunny wintery day. I walked to the elk side of the road, fairly close to a couple of them. They didn't stir much. Is the rut season over?

Bought some grocery, and picked up some library material before returning the car. Forgot my hiking pole in the trunk, had to walk there Sunday morning to pick it up. It stayed where I left it.