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.
