2021.10.31. Silver - Abiel - Tinkham (SAT)

O emailed me and V about climbing these 3 peaks south of Snoqualmie Pass earlier in the week. I expressed my interest. However, I wasn't sure if I had energy to go after a long hike (a potential climb/scramble) on Saturday, so I told them maybe. O stayed at V's house after a day hike to Defiance on Saturday. Saturday night, when I contacted them, V said he was expecting me, and there were 4 others joining us.

10/31, Sunday. I walked to Ar's building to catch a ride with him. 3rd time I met him, 3rd home. He broke one leg this spring skiing. Seems fully recovered. Being in his 20's, everything heals fast. The 7 of us met at Issaquah at 8am, and Ar and I rode in Q.L.'s car with M.C. We started at the Silver Peak TH on PCT. About 6 miles rugged FR-9070 from Hyak. Already windy at the trail head (quite open and flat). M.C. and I wore helmet on top of our caps, so the caps don't get blown away.

PCT is flat. After getting into the trees, wind wasn't an issue. Silver Peak is the longest of the three, but with established trail, and quite a few hikers. Some of them turned around due to the wind. It was ferocious when trudging along the ridge. We huddled behind the top rocks for the first snack break (see the first picture). Wind was from the north. Blue sky, clear view all around. But I wasn't steady enough to take panorama photos. Snow is thickest along the flat stretch between the two ridges. Mostly dusty on the rock. I brought ice axe, but never took it off. Did put on a puffy when stop.

We didn't stay long due to the wind, and continued down. The next is Abiel Peak. There's a boot track before the junction to PCT. This one has a couple of icy rocks to manouver over (I took to the trees on the way down). But nothing too difficult. The top is more wooded than Silver, so not as windy. We were the only group to/from Abiel. We took a second short food stop, and back down to PCT.

Walk PCT for a bit, and we found the boot track to Tinkham. The trail in the trees is mostly snow free, so easy to follow. It is pretty steep. Every once awhile, a no-trespassing sign nailed on a tree. This makes me think that the trail was built to put up these no-trespassing signs. The top most 100' is rocky, and had a few icy spots. A group of 3 Russians in Holloween costumes stopped here. Ar also waited here for the rest of us. He didn't feel comfortable due to icy rocks. I took a different route up than everyone else. Made to the top right after R. On the way down, I followed the group. This scramble should be easy without snow/ice. They signed summit registry and took many photos. Less wind now.

Unevenful on the way out. Very efficient outing today. Both Q.L. and V drove fast. I got home still in daylight. This stat is from V's iphone. Various people's phone recorded different numbers.

More photos from my group.

2021.10.30. Twin Peaks via Monte Cristo

Holloween hike: visiting the ghost town of Monte Cristo. One guy overslept, so starting later than expected. We all wanted to see aurora (forecast was strong this weekend), so coming back later is good. 6 of us in 2 cars started hiking ~7:30am. One of them had helmet on from the beginning. It was quite chilly.

First mile is road, fit to drive. It's gated, so walk/bike around the gate. Then it becomes a trail for a bit, to a large river crossing (South Fork Sauk River). Going a bit further to a very big log. It was a bit slippery because it was wet, so walk very slowly. On the way back, DP dumped some rocks over the wide shallow part, and two of us tiptoed over. I got a bit wet. There, you can see the original broken bridge. A bald eagle perched here. We only saw it because it stirred upon our arrival. It flew a bit futher and flew back. A treat. There's then a good bridge to walk across more water. After the river, it's road again, flat and wide. Good view occasionally (obscured by trees most of the time) to the mountains in front and behind.

Before you reach Monte Cristo town site, there is already abandonned cabins by the water. The town is 4 miles in, great setting, good view of surrounding mountains.Abandonned train track, foundation of Monte Cristo Lodge, even a bed frame, and all sorts of junk. Quite a few nice looking red cabins. Still chilly, frost on vegetation. Elevation ~2800'.

Continue straight through the town, over a little bridge, (a piece of paper with "Silver Lake" taped on the cabin at the east side of the bridge) and take Poodle Dog Pass trail. We couldn't find the other trail on the map (didn't look too hard). Now it's the real hike. It goes up steadily. Total snow cover above 4000', and views got better. 2 miles to the junction for the spur to go down to Silver Lake. Elevation ~4400'. Couldn't see the lake here. We didn't bother to go down. Took a break to put on micro-spikes and refuel. The trail was a bit icy at times. 10am.

Continued up towards Twin Lakes. On the way, we could see Silver Lake below. As we were closer to the ridge, the wind hit us. The trail leveled off. We all made to a saddle to cross the ridge. Took a longer photo break, great view here. Once on the north side, the wind was so fierce, standing steady took effort. Powdery snow covered everything, couldn't see the trail. Di put on snowshoes to break the trail. We still postholed behind him. It was tough going. 2 of us (in the other car) decided to turn back after crossing a steep slope. I took out ice axe just to help me steady myself, because I only use one hiking pole. The axe doesn't really bite, because the snow was too fluffy.

Finally we made over the south ridge under the east peak of Twin Peaks, where we could see the bright green Twin Lakes. Very pretty. Could see Rainier's faint head. Initially Di wanted to try to climb Columbia Peak. Of course with this wind and snow, he abandonned the idea. Even here, we need to hide behind trees from the wind. Taking a photo requires me to sit or kneel down. I punched my ice axe in the middle and tied myself to it, whenever I stood. Di tied his pack to his ice axe, and left it where we were hiding. He went down to the saddle and came back.

After the lunch, I asked Di when did he plan to turn back. He said ~2pm. So I went down to the saddle too hoping for a better view of the lake. All the way windy and postholing. Then I continued up to the west peak of Twin Peaks. Going up on the north side of the slope, more sheltered from the wind, and the snow was compact, much easier walking. The rest of the group also came. We took many photos here. Excellent 360° view. We headed down ~2pm.

The wind died down in the afternoon. We had no problem following our own track going back. I lost my Nalgene bottle gain (thankfully I always have spares). I brought a thermal bottle for this trip, so I didn't run out of water. Got back to the ghost town ~5:15pm. Saw another group of people there, about 6-8. On the way Gr noticed this hollowed tree with "teeth" throughout. The sun was setting as we walked the last few flat miles out. Had to use headlamp.

We were hoping to see dancing northern lights on our way home, because the road was pretty dark until Granite Falls. We saw nothing. They stopped at Monroe got some food, and Di dropped all 3 of us next to REI. It happened that all of us live close to downtown.

A long day, a long hike, but not much elevation gain (maybe 3000'-3500'). I felt fine, so on the drive back, I contacted O and V to join their climb on Sunday.

More photos from others in my group.

2021.10.23. Pike Place Market celebrates its new-born 50th birthday

10/23 Saturday. Stuck in town due to wet weather. It turns out Saturday wasn't too bad. Went to Pike Place Market before noon to sign up for a guided tour for 50th Anniversary of Keeping the Market Celebration. I was surprised to see how busy the market was. Tours at noon and 1pm were full. So I had to come back for the 2pm tour.

Our guide is Nick, who's on the board of PPM Foundation. He's super enthusiastic. It was loud everywhere. The poor guy was losing his voice. He also knows all the stall owners, saying hi to everyone. We walked by some nice art installations. Apart from the history, old photos, the remodeling, the resurfacing of the brick of Pike Place, some future plans (a shark tank!), we learned many tidbits about the market:

• the oldest continuous running comic store in the world;
• Jacob the ghost boy;
• award winny Philipino eatery Oriental Mart;
• when Pike Place was turned to pedestrian street once, the shops in the bowel of the market lost foot traffic;
• the senior low income housing and community center;
• only a couple of buildings are privately owned, most are owned by the foundation;
• every night, vendors clear their stall. At 7am the next day, they grab a stall, which could change.

Around 6pm, I went to Benaroya Hall (the ticket office only opens right before a performance, even though Seattle Symphony website and the door here advertise normal office hours), and bought some concert tickets using my credit (from last year's canceled performances). They were having a sale, and today is the last day.

Market Theatre was screening a documentary movie about Pike Place Market. They require vaccination proof for entry, so I didn't go. The next day, Sunday night, I went for Unexpected Production' 6pm student improv performance and 8pm improv comedy show. The students did well. The 8pm show was quite clever. 3 brief stories from the audience, re-acted by the improvisers, ends with a poem that mentioned all 3.

2021.10.17. Carne Mountain traverse

10/17 Sunday. Woke up very early, finished laundry. Checked weather, and signed up for a day hike to Carne Mountain with Ank. I know that he's slow, so packed 2 books!

Only 4 met at the designated P&R in Seattle. Another 4 carpooled from the eastside. Ank drove his BMW SUV, more careful than Di on the gravel road last weekend. Less than 10 cars at the parking lot. We didn't start hiking until almost 11am.

Carne Mountain trail branches off Phelps Creek trail very early on. It was somewhat steep all the way to the meadow. I warmed up quickly, and stripped down to base layer. At the get-go, Ank and Pi were lagging behind. At the turn of the first zigzag, we regrouped, and decided that we'll meet again at the summit. Here, we also met a young hunter. He said he saw many doe, but they are illegal to shoot. I gathered in WA, buck only, 3 points minimun. H and I stayed together until this lovely meadow. The creek still has water. H took her time taking photos, so I continued on alone, because I wanted to explore a bit extra before the group arrives.

At the first junction above the meadow, I turned right to Old Gib trail, which goes up a saddle and continued behind a butte. I went up the butte, it's easy going. No one bothered to come here, so I had privacy for a bio-break. I went back down to the same junction (instead of scrambling up south Peak, because it looks too steep.)

Continued Carne Mt trail, at the 2nd junction, I turned right again on a faint trail (marked on the map). Followed it to its end, then scrambled up the south ridge of the south peak. Not bad. There isn't much remained of the 1930 Carne Mountain Lookout: only a few bend iron rods.

Instead of going back down as I came, I decided to traverse the ridge -- not a good idea, given that there was a fine dust of snow here and there, making the traction difficult. The traverse from the south peak down looks gentle on the map, but in reality it has many mini peaks. Had to rely on veggie belay sometimes. This took me a long time, and I had to put on my fleece vest to stay warm. Once down to the saddle where I met the trail, all is easy. A tent pitched at the saddle (no water).

Quite a few hikers on the summit of Carne. Pi was there, but no Ank. Chatted with MS from the Bellevue car. He looks a bit funny: an Iranian in a Mexican sombrero. He hiked down to catch his group, in case they abandonned the summit. Pi and I waited for Ank. Surprisingly we got into a long conversation and I didn't open either of my books. The view is superb, a fine place to wait. We put on a down jacket as well as a rain jacket. The sun peeked out of the clouds once awhile.

After an hour, we hiked down. Met Ank halfway to the saddle, so three of us hiked back up the summit together, this time slowly. Ank calpsed on the rock. He got cold because of the sweat. I gave him a mylar blanket to wrap around. After some rest, he changed to a dry T-shirt, and they signed the already-full registry and took photos of it. Then, we hiked down together. By then, some snow on the trail had melted, making the going a bit muddy.

Going down was also very slow, Ank's legs were tired by then. We had to use headlamps half way. Reached the car ~7:40pm. H had been waiting in the car since 4:30! Thankfully, we didn't stop for dinner. Back at the P&R ~11pm. Pi dropped me off a block from home. She lives only 3 blocks away.

This year, I'm pleasantly surprised to enjoy larch for such a long time (4 weekends). Usually a winter storm will blow the needles off quickly.

2021.10.16. Goat Peak - Pleasant Valley loop off Chinook Pass

10/16, Saturday. 8 of us + 1 dog met at South Renton P&R. Drove in 2 cars towards Hwy 410 east of Chinook Pass. Once east of the pass, we could see golden western larch. They are bigger, and in the early stage of turning color. Our hike leader N drove quite slowly. By the time we arrived, the occupants of the other car were cold. The TH parking is a large pullout opposite of Hells Crossing C.G. Elevation ~3300'.

Two trails here. The Goat Peak trail goes up left fairly steeply at the get-go. Almost relentless. J and I were ahead. I waited for the group at the first viewpoint marked on the map: an open ridge at ~4300, ~1 mile in. I ate an apple, then offered the core to the dog, but she refused it. ~15 minutes later, a spur trail leads to this rock. Fun to scramble to the top. Half an hour later is a spur to the 3rd viewpoint. Another short ridge. Took some photos but didn't stop here. 0.3 mile before the summit, at the junction with American Ridge trail, J was waiting. Another open ridge. We waited for the rest of the group. I ate lunch, dried my socks.

The summit (6375') is an easy scramble, which you can attempt from all directions. There's a summit registry. Total maybe 3 miles. Good view all around: Bumping Lake, Mt Adams to the south, Rainier to the west, quite lots of yellow larch amidst green conifers below. One ham radio enthusiast arrived while we were there. He setup his gadget and made calls.

Instead of go down the same way, we continued west. The first half mile is not well established. There's supposed to be a longer better trail (0.7 mile) which we didn't see. MJ didn't have a map, and got a bit lost. She blew her whistle and yelled. I was not far, and yelled back which direction for her to turn. We waited for the rest at the junction of American Ridge and Pleasant Valley. Took the right trail down to Pleasant Valley, about 2 some miles. At the bottom we turned right along American River. Flat, 2.3 miles. The "river" is creek-size. The water is very clear, gravel bottom. Some of my group saw salmon here. We were back at the car ~4:30pm. Waited for an hour for the last 5 people. I finished my book, and started going through it again.

On the drive back, the other car decided to wait for sunset at the highway pullout here. Not the best sunset. That's about 40 minutes. Then we all drove to Enumclaw for dinner. In N's car, the 3 passengers wanted to go home earlier. N obliged. The restaurant looked very busy, likely a long wait.

Reached P&R around 8pm. J gave me a ride to downtown, on his way to Fremont. I fell asleep early today before laundry was finished.

A new area for me. I never knew there are so many western larches here.

2021.10.9. Attempt of Seven Fingered Jack

10/9, Saturday. Almost 30 people gathered at the P&R at 5:30am. A different group joined this one due to low participants. About 15 decided to try Seven Fingered Jack as well as Maude (an unrealistic goal of one of the hike leaders, Diy, who's never been to this area, like pretty much everyone else). The rest would go to Carne Mt. I had to leave at 4:30am in order to catch a ride with Di to the P&R. With such a large group, lots of waiting is expected. We didn't start hiking until ~9am. However, I was pleasantly surprised that all of them are in good shape, even the slowest could keep up without causing too much delay. But scramble is new to most of the group.

The first ~3 mile on the Phelps Creek trail is flat. A couple of easy creek crossings. Once turned right onto Leroy Basin trail, it was steep: ~2100' in 1.5 miles, especially the lower half. I was overtaken by 4 boys and a Husky named Cola. Strange that I didn't remember it being so steep: last time when I climbed Maude on the same approach, we had the slowest hiker in front, so the pace was so comfortable that I didn't notice the incline.

Leroy Basin is at ~6300'. Quite a lot of small larches here. We camped here 2 years ago. Today, only saw one tent. A long break here. I ate 2 apples and dried my feet.

Continue the trail towards Carne High Traverse, and followed it for a short distance among larches to a creek crossing. There, turn left (north) and go up a trail towards Seven Finger Jack. Now yellow gave away to red, and then brown, last, larches, all rocks.

I only downloaded Gaia Map, which is a mistake, since no one in the group has ever climbed 7FJ. It's a straight line to the summit on my map. Practically useless. Jack has too many fingers, and I had no idea which one to scale. I attempted one, and it got too sketchy that I backed down, only to realize that it was a wrong finger. By then, the group had diminished to only about 3-4 still on the scramble. Light snow started to fall. Now everyone turned back. Di made it to the summit, so I headed to his direction, which is a lot more to the north than the track on the map. I made to a gap between two fingers. Saw Entiat Glacier on the north slope of Maude. Took care going over a short overhang ledge, and decided to back down as well. I was getting too slow negotiating the rocks. Also, it was almost whiteout, and I couldn't really tell where to go next. It was cold up there, with wind and snow. Yes, minor snow accumulation in the cracks. On the way down, Di said there's a better approach further to my left. Oh, well, next time.

I'm surprised that I caught up 4 others hiking down, so I was not the last person to reach the group that was waiting down at the trail. I reached the parking lot ~8pm. They wanted to eat at Cole's Corner, so we drove off, leaving 2 more cars still not filled, because the restaurant closes at 9:30. Turns out the last 2 cars didn't make it before the kitchen was closed, and the group moved to another restaurant. The girl temporarily swapped in "my" car bought hot tea and sipped in the car. Just two of us don't like eating indoors. I brought enough food and a book, so we waited in the car.

I was dropped of at 12:30am off I-5. Walked a mile home in light rain. A long day!

More photos from others in my group.

2021.10.2-4 Star + Oval Lakes: more larches

O and I had planned to climb in Chelan Sawtooth this weekend. After some negotiation, we agreed on camping at West Oval Lake for 2 nights so we can climb on day 2 with just a day pack.

10/2, Saturday. Partly sunny. O arrived Friday night, she forgot her sleeping pad. Luckily I have an extra insulated pad. We decided to share stove. I just brought a small gas can. We drove out to Oval/Eagle Creek TH ~7:30am. Arrived a little after noon. Already 13 cars in the parking lot. According to the registry at TH, many groups are doing Eagle/Oval loop, even though I cannot find any map that shows the connection between the 2 trails. It turns out that all the maps (maybe except for Green Map) have many mistakes and omissions in this area.

This area was burned a few years back. Right now, millions of fireweed are sending their fluffy seed. I wonder what it would be like when they are in bloom. But summer here will be a sizzling infernal.

It's about 7.7 miles from the TH (~3000') to West Oval Lake (~6800'). Larches don't show up until almost at the turn to the lake. About 1.5 in, we entered Sawtooth-Chelan Wilderness. There's a fork about 2 miles in (Caltop, Gaia, FStopo are all wrong), where you can take Eagle Creek trail to make a loop (my preference). We stayed on Oval Creek trail all the way (in and out). The creek is not always accessible, but enough to refill if needed. 1L of water is enough today as it was cloudy and I was cold.

A short spur trail goes down to West Oval Lake (~6860'). There were 2 camps already when we arrived ~4pm. After pitching our tents, cleaned up, ~5pm, we headed back on to Oval Creek trail towards the other 2 Oval Lakes. There's a good creek (not sure where the water is from) not far up the trail. More and more larches. Then it thinned out as we walked along a talus slope (good trail) over a ridge of ~7700', then down to the basin with Middle and East Oval Lakes. Along the way, we passed two trail junctions. The first one is not on my map, which goes up the ridge down to Horseshoe Basin (to make to Eagle Creek trail), the 2nd is to ridge between Gray and Courtney. The meadow above Middle Oval Lake is beautiful with tons of larches. But I didn't see good water source. Middle Oval is 6695'. A group of people were sitting at the shore waiting for the nightfall. It was already 6pm, O turned back. I ventured towards East Oval, but changed my mind soon and also returned. Filtered water at the creek in headlamp. The camp was already very dark when I arrived. O cooked dinner sitting inside her tent. Getting chilly quickly.

Water didn't freeze. So not too cold overnight. But my feet were cold.

10/3, Sunday. Sunny. O left before dawn, because she wanted to climb all 3 Bulger peaks in this area (Oval, Star, Courtney). I headed out a little past 8am. . I took the 2nd junction to Gray Peak. As the trail dropped a bit towards the ridge, I took right straight up to Gray, so not to lose elevation. This is a bad idea. The slope got steeper as I got higher. I was uncomfortable enough to put on helmet. I made to the 8082' summit after some struggle. Saw a girl walking over from Gray's west ridge. I continued down Gray's east ridge, which is very gentle. Excellent view all around. The long east ridge is exceedingly pleasant to ramble. Saw 2 trail runners here. At the end of the ridge, before the rocky slope of Courtney, a trail (not on map) goes along the north slope of Courtney. As the elevation lowers, I hesitated to continue on it. At one cairn, I took off the keep my elevation, and scrambling over boulders, faint path here and there. Eventually I lost any track.

The west ridge of Courtney is very jagged. I tried to keep close to the ridge, but had to drop down quite a few times to cross scary edges like this. The scrambling took too long. By the time I reached the 8392' summit, it was almost noon. An hour behind my imagined schedule. Also excellent view all around.

Courtney's east ridge is straightforward. Quite easy. Multiple trails going on both side of the east ridge, but you can keep the ridge itself. Down to Fish Creek Pass (~7600'). From here, north to West Fork Buttermilk TH in ~7 miles, south to Star Lake in ~0.5 mile.

I like Star Lake the most among the lakes I visited this weekend. It's high at 7173'. A lot of larches all around. Had lunch break here, and cooled off my socks. Then I headed up to Star Peak. After about 20 minutes, I decided to turn back. I need to turn around ~2pm. I need maybe 2-3 hours to go to Star Peak and back. So I relaxed by the lake, read until 2pm, then left. Met a couple coming to camp here. I think I'll camp here next time.

Followed Summit Trail west, crossing the large lovely meadow at the outlet of the lake. The mountain above Star Lake is not Star Peak. Star Peak is just behind it. Summit Trail goes more or less along Fish Creek, dropping down to 6700'. A few burnt trees. The trail I left where the 2 trail runners went stayed higher on the slope. It is not on any map. Summit Trail is well established. Horse droppings. 1 small creek crossing. About 2 miles to the next trail junction under a talus slope.

A nice meadow, Trail Camp on FStopo map, at the junction. Tiny creek still has water. Here, I turned right towards Horseshoe Basin. The trail stays on the west side of the basin all the way to Tuckaway Lake's east shore. The lake doesn't exist on Gaia map. It's high, ~7350'. A good camp option if doing Eagle-Oval loop.

I continued up its NW ridge. A scree field, but not hard to scale. I was hoping to find a passage to Eagle Pass. It looks too sketchy to go down here. Back to Tuckaway, and then followed the trail around Horseshoe Basin's north end, and up the west ridge of Gray. There, connected to a trail downn to Oval Lake trail, and back to camp at 6pm after filling water at the creek. O returned soon after, very happy to have completed her goal.

10/4, Monday. A lazy morning. I read in the tent before packing up. Back at the car just after 1pm. Ate a can of squash. I drove home, ate my 2nd sandwich while driving. O napped. Slow traffic on Hwy97 in Wenatchee before getting on to Hwy2. Filled gas at Cle Elum. I got home ~6pm. O continued driving south.

Methow Valley is truely the best larch destination. Less people (longer drive). Oval and Star Lakes area has no motorcycle, which makes it quieter and nicer than Hoodoo area (Foggy Dew and Crater Lake THs, which I visited before). The road condition is also better.