2015.10.11. Sedum Point

10/11 Sunday. Foggy in the morning, but soon burnt out. Driving along Columbia River in the morning is always a treat: low clouds clinging to the green hills, pleasant light and temperature. 8 of us started at the Trout Creek trail head (NW of the Work Center W of Stabler on  Wind River road), following the PCT south for about 4.5 miles until Lookout Mtn Rd, a wide road abandoned by the Forest Service. Head east (sharp left) on this abandon road for about half a mile and then right to the ridge bushwhack the last 500 feet to Sedum Point. The small rocky outcrop does have sedum, and some flowing flax. Had lunch there. Barely fit all of us. Today, we saw Three Corners Rock, Mt Hood, Mt Adams, and even Mount Raniner, but not at the same time: blocked by the trees.

Found my first ever 2 Matsutake and a couple of Chanterelle today, thanks to the rain yesterday? Haven't met any other hikers all day, except for Benson, a Korean hiker who knew that we'd come, arrived before we did and raided mushrooms.

2015.10.10. Upper Salmonberry River

10/10, Saturday, rain. 8 of us walked part of Upper Salmonberry Rail trail. I'm very glad that I went, even though I got quite drenched. A very pleasant flat trail with many historical viewpoints, canyon and creeks, tunnels and rail bridges. Got to play with the track switching bar.

A detailed mileage and features can be found at this log, which covers the entire trail.

* Mile 0.3, Cochran Pond. Quite big for a pond. Saw 2 small salamanders.
* Mile 1, walk on rail track, Tunnel 26 spur, no railing, a couple of short segments. Saw optic cable line exposed due to landslide.
* Mile 1.8, Tunnel 26 is just long enough that I used headlamp. Rain started.
* Mile 2.7, the aptly named Big Baldwin Trestle. Maybe 200' tall, wide, long and straight. Very impressive. Just before it, is a big wagon, supposed to hold water.
* Mile 3.6, Tunnel 27, short enough that you can get away without a lamp.
* Mile 4, on the west side of this tunnel is Wolf Creek Trestle. This is my favorite. Not much railing. But wide and stable. It curves gracefully to the right. You can see the other side: almost a U turn. By then, the rain has increased intensity. Despite of my umbrella and raincoat, my pants and boots got soaking wet hiking through the under bushes.
* Mile 5.6, Tunnel 28. Just before that a railway carriage, dubbed as B&B Shack 4. I wouldn't be surprised that there are 3 other "shacks" spread across the forest. Here it's more canyon like. A creek running along the track. We had lunch in the short tunnel, its front has collapsed a bit. Even though we were out of the rain, any small breeze over my wet clothes gave me a chill. We voted not to continue because that the immediate next is the broken Kinney Creek Bridge, which requires going down to the creek and ford.
Return the way we came, but much faster: no one bothered to stop for photos in the pouring rain.

2015.10.7. Steven Pinter speaks at Powell's

Wednesday evening at Powell's City of Books, Steven Pinker on book tour for his Sense of Style. Very enjoyable, well presented examples of badly used English sentences from major newspapers and famous personnels. One topic is the abuse of passive tense, and when it should be used.

2015.10.5. William Thompson speaks at REI

Monday evening, former National Geographic photographer William Thompson talks about the vanishing cultures and landmarks in the high Himalaya, especially around Indian Kashmir Lahakh and Zanskar, either because of habitat loss (water source disappeared and disappearing due to glacier retreat), or new access (road and TV). His photos are exceptional, often captures the scale of the landscape, and emotions of people. The best event this REI has hosted.

2015.10.3-4 Ingalls Lake

Last weekend's splendid color made me want to see larch again this year. So I contacted Julie for her upcoming trip to Lake Ingalls, as there is a healthy population at Ingalls Pass and basin. A slow start, as always with a large group (we have 9). One lady was 45 minutes late because she misread the time. We all weighed our packs using Julie's spring scale. Varied from 21-35 lb. Mine was ~27-28 lb, including a bottle of champagne and a big candle. Jenny started a group messaging inside meetup to arrange a surprise celebration. Friday was Julie's birthday. After a long stop at a busy Starbucks (lines at bathroom and counter) in North Bend (misty and chilly then at 11am), and dilly dally at TH, by the time we started hiking, it was sunny but already past 1pm. Considering we met at 7am, this is quite ridiculous. The good thing is that Pryanka lives very close to me. I walked to her house, and we drive to the meeting spot, so I could sleep an extra 40 minutes.

Parking lot complete full, and cars align the road. It's like a parade going both up and down. Tons of people. Natalie, Jenny and I were ahead of our group. Paused for a couple of times for photo. Some red, mostly brown on the way up. Only at Ingalls Pass (2:55), you start to see larch. We set up our camp by a creek in the higher Headlight Basin. Plenty space here. However, quite busy with other groups, especially a Korean group who got probably drunk, sang and talked well into the night.

At 4pm, still no sight of last 3 of our group. Didn't want to wait any longer. Natalie and I took off to Lake Ingalls, and arrive in less than 30 minutes. A couple of pictures later, we walked along the eastern shore to the north side of the lake. At 2 points, had to scale rocks without good footing. But we made it. There, saw a goat right on trail. As we walked closer (within 10'), he ran away. We walked a bit further north towards Stuart Pass. We scrambled up a small butte, saw more peaks, and maybe Glacier Peak. As it was getting late, we didn't go all the way to Stuart Pass (maybe only 1 mile away). On the way back, met a ranger with a big shovel. He told us that the western shore is easier, so we took his advice. Back to the camps at 6:15.

Shortly before 7pm (dark already), we started wine and chocolate. Presented Julie a card we all signed along the drive in the cars, and sang happy birthday. By 8pm, the night sky was brilliant. We didn't manage to stay out until the moon rise: getting chilly. My candle shined nicely in the dark. Saw a bright shooting star.

Sunday 10/4. Got up when the sun was already on my tent, ~7:15. The larches are more golden in the morning sun. Frost on ground. Almost some ice on my rain fly. But soon melted. Someone chewed a bit of my sandwich in the night. A family of 3 goats at the camping area. Women chat a lot, well into 9am. Julie showed us hiking options. We all headed towards Lake Ingalls. A few went to Stuart Pass. Natalie and I tried to climb Ingalls Peak. The higher you are, the more extended view there is. At some point, I could see Mt Rainier! Pretty straightforward at first. We saw 5 guys in front of us climbing, so we followed. By the time we reached a straight gully, it got a bit tricky. Also we were close enough to see that they had helmets and ropes. I gave up. Natalie went to a saddle NE of the gully, but I don't see the point going there. I retraced my steps, went up to the south ridge where the terrain is reasonable. It's an excellent choice. The view to the west is splendid. Saw many snowy peaks. There is a better and higher top I should have gone to, more to the south. It has a flat top that you can sit. I headed down at 12:30, hoping to get to our camp by 1:30, our agreed meeting time. Met more climbers going up, all carrying ropes, not all had helmets. I took the higher boulders for awhile. However, when I reached the trail, it was the lower trail. It still baffles me how I could have missed the higher trail. I got confused for quite awhile, going back and forth looking for the camp, even got a few hikers concerned after seeing me a few times. Eventually, it dawned on me to check my GPS location. All ended well, except that I felt guilty of letting people wait for me.

Arrived at home ~10pm. Not bad. My phone recorded about 23000 steps each day, so maybe 15-16 miles total.