Naches Peak Loop Hike

29 July 2014

Mt. Rainier from Naches Peak Loop Trail

Last year when C.J. and I were returning from our hike to Bear Creek Mountain in the Goat Rocks, we stopped at Chinook Pass and ate lunch in a meadow that was bursting with wild flowers. We were already aware of the relatively easy hike around Naches Peak, half in the William O. Douglas Wilderness Area and half in Mt. Rainier National Park, but we were short of energy that day and made a note to return. As the wild flower season approached this year, C.J. kept an eye on trail reports on the WTA.org site. On the 20th a hiker reported the trail was mostly snow-free and the flowers were starting to look good, especially the beargrass. On the 28th another hiker said that the flowers were peaking but the bugs were as well. We decided to go for it.

Avalanche Fawn Lily

To avoid the worst of the bugs we left later than we had originally planned, around 0830, got gas at Covington Costco (367.9) and parked at Tipsoo Lakes by 1045 or so, after some road construction delays. There were plenty of cars in the parking lot (and probably more at the other lots just beyond Chinook Pass) but, except for a couple of large family parties, the trail never felt crowded. It took very little time to climb through forest and meadows to the pedestrian footbridge over Hwy 410 at the 5400-ft pass. The bright-red Indian Paintbrush were abundant, and this time there were many white

Beargrass and the Snuffbear

Avalanche Fawn Lilies where snowbanks had recently melted. The pink heather was in bloom on the east side slopes of Naches. We passed a shallow tarn and reached a view of Dewey Lake, 700 ft below, shortly after noon and stopped for lunch at a scenic overlook just off the trail. Fortunately there was a breeze (or, maybe thermal cycles) which kept the worst of the bugs away. Continuing around to the south of the peak we passed the trail to Dewey Lake (a detour here would have added 2.2 miles to the 4.5 mi of the loop trail) and entered Mt. Rainier NP. In a short distance we had a full view of The Mountain. Taking the trail in a clockwise direction was the right thing to do to keep Mt Rainier in sight for much of the last half of the hike. We passed another shallow tarn. At a stream I filled my water bottle with cold water so we could mix up some Crystal Light. Unfortunately the batteries were low on my SteriPen and I couldn't purify the water so we were out of luck for cold lemonade. However, we were on the downhill grade and were soon crossing 410 below Upper Tipsoo Lake. We followed the trail around one side of Lower Tipsoo and were once again back to the parking lot (around 1400).

Selfie along the trail

On the road we were both feeling sleepy so we stopped in Greenwater at Wapiti Woolies. In addition to their stock-in-trade of Nepali knit hats ($28-$48) they had a coffee shop/ice cream counter in the back. I got a mud slide mocha - an iced mocha latte, not blended, with chocolate whipped cream, while C.J. got a cone. We enjoyed our treats in (plastic) Adirondack chairs on the lawn behind the store. Then we went back in and purchased a 12 oz jar of "mountain berry" honey, mostly because it came in a bear-shaped glass jar. Back on the road we only went a few miles before stopping to see what the Federation Forest State Park might have in their visitor center. Unfortunately, it was closed for renovation and we skipped the chance to walk the short interpretive trails. 

G at the Flaming Geyser

Since we had never been to Flaming Geyser State Park on the Green River, we drove down into the park and walked a short distance to the small flame which was burning methane gas generated by a thin coal seam nearly a thousand feet underground. We also walked up a second trail to a spot where another exploratory drilling had reached a different layer of coal and allowed methane to bubble up through a stream. Afterward we walked along a trail with informational signs about salmon migration. We got as far as the put-in point for many of the folks who were here for the day to float down to the end of the park on various inflatable gizmos. The water was cold but the river looked mellow enough - maybe we should bring our Sevylor inflatable kayak down there some time.

We stopped one last time in Covington to get some groceries at Costco and Fred Meyer. We were home around 1700 or so.

Snow Lake Hike

 17 July 2014

C.J. and I have not done any hiking for a while so we thought we would start with something that was not too challenging. I thought it was a five-mile round trip but it turned out to be almost seven miles. The last several days have had temperatures in the 90's, much hotter than normal for the west side of the Cascades. [The east side is even hotter and getting hammered by wildfires.] Today was the first day forecast to have highs in the 70's.

C.J. and blooming beargrass on switchback

We got a reasonably early (for us) start from the trailhead at Alpental (3100 ft) at 0915. No snow along the steadily ascending trail until we reached the pass at 4400 ft. But the beargrass was blooming along with a small assortment of other wildflowers. From a boulder above the trail there was a great view of the lake with some ice and snow on the far end. We crossed several short, snowy sections of trail before reaching the toilet (a box with a cutout toiletseat-shaped cover over a deep hole) and several campsites near the lakeshore. At a trail junction (main trail / lake access) we walked down to the lake and then bumbled around trying to find our way back to the main trail on the maze of herd paths. Back on the main trail we found a good rock outcrop that jutted into the lake (4000 ft) and took a break for lunch (about 1215). After enjoying the sun and a cooling breeze, we continued on the trail up a short climb to the junction with the Gem Lake trail where the main trail continues way down  to the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River (1482 ft) That was our turnaround point and we began to retrace our route. So far we had met (or usually, been passed by) about a dozen day hikers, not bad for this very popular trail; now we began to encounter several small parties of backpackers, some with young children, heading in to find one of the few campsites near

Snow Lake and the pass

Snow Lake. Once we climbed back up to the pass, it was all downhill on the rocky trail. We were back at the parking lot around 1530 - six hours to do seven miles - we've definitely slowed down over the years. [Despite C.J.'s foot pain she sets a pace that I'm happy not to exceed.] On the way home we drove down the old "wagon trail" passing the trailhead for the Franklin Falls trail and Denny Creek campground. A stop at Swirl in North Bend for frozen yogurt helped us cool off, but we were both more than ready for a shower.

Map on kiosk at trailhead

Chelan Cross-country Classic 2014

 July 2-6, 2014

Quinn Dickenson's design for the meet t-shirt

 Just back from the Rat Race, we spent a few days cleaning up and caring for the garden, then headed out to Chelan to help Meet Director Lenny Baron with the launch. There were only two days left in the XC Classic and then the Chelan Flats PG National Championship competition began - a whole different operation with 117 competitors compared to the two dozen or so signed up for the Classic.

2 July, Wed - After completing my annual dermatology exam at Seattle VA (six minor growths frozen off) I picked up gas at Costco and hurried home so we could make a late start (1600) over the passes to Chelan. We encountered little traffic (the I-90 widening east of Snoq. Pass appears to be mostly completed) and stopped only to buy some $1.69/lb cherries at Lone Pine and eat a picnic dinner at Beebe Bridge park. We stopped again to visit with Susan, Debbie and Julie at Mom's Motel.  Lori and Tom let us stay in their house as volunteers (I think a room was available because Lenny was staying in his new RMC, Rolling Man Cave, parked in the driveway); Scorekeeper Aaron Rinn, his wife, Maria, Lenny's two sons, Kevin and Andrew, and Lori Baron were also staying with Tom and Lori.

3 July, Thu - We drove up to launch around 1000 for the 1115 (postponed to 1130) pilot meeting. Conditions were "windy from the SW" and few people flew. Later we spent a little time checking out the Thursday evening Farmers Market in Riverwalk Park without buying anything. Around 2000 we had a salmon dinner at Tom and Lori's with roast veggies along with C.J.'s fresh bread and her queen cake. C.J. and I passed on a chance to go to the Vogue for a performance by Val because we were worn out from the sun and wind.

4 July, Fri - Last day of the Classic. Conditions were better and there were a bunch of paragliders who wanted a flight before the official practice day. Most launched before 1400 when the majority of Classic competitors took off. Zac Majors had already sewn up the topless hang glider class and Len Szafryn the same for the PG open class with long flights earlier in the week. After getting everyone launched, even a couple of people who came vack up to do a second flight, C.J. and I went back to help Lori B load up her car with the food and drinks for the closing BBQ at the Chelan Falls soccer field LZ. People were already gathering for the 1900 BBQ although it was just after 1800. There as a little tension because Lenny had invited everyone who was flying on the 4th to the BBQ, but there really wouldn't have been enough food if a hundred of the PG Nats folks had shown up. But they didn't and we had a very good 4th of July picnic of handmade burgers, Johnsonville brats, Debbie's potato salad recipe, other salads, watermelon and condiments. Danny Uchytil and his new bride, Angie McMinn, brought a big tub of drinks left over from their recent wedding party. Following the dinner, Lenny awarded the trophies (lasered glass beer mugs) to the winners (and to Aaron R, Lori L, and himself, in addition to his second-place trophy). Julie Spiegler introduced herself and described some of the projects she is working on as the new USHPA programs manager. [Julie was staying in her trailer at Mom's Montlake Motel along with Debbie Vosevich and Susan Kent, as well as Rick Ray and Sam Crocker from the RVHPA, plus several more pilots.]

5 July, Sat - We packed up our stuff and moved it all to the car so that Tom and Lori's house would be ready for a bachelorette party that Kelly was hosting for six or eight of her friends. To explore some new trails we took a hike from a trailhead located near the top of the road up from Chelan Falls. This gave us a view down to the Columbia and up to the Butte and the lake. We detoured to check out a flag on a pole and later found it was Buck's wind flag just above his house. Today was the practice day for the PG Nats. Kimberly Phinney, meet organizer, Kari Castle, meet director, and some of the safety officials like Pete "Reaper" Michaelmore and Dave "Preacher" Norwood held a meeting on the Butte and then a few folks flew in the windy, Green Monster conditions. C.J. and I watched for a while and then went downtown to get an ice cream at Sojourners. Later we walked up to Mom's and hung out with Rick Ray, Deb and Susan for a while until it was time for them to register (1800) at the Stehekin Rm in Campbell's Resort. Then we got back together for a dinner of Local Myth pizza at a sidewalk table. Just to see how the organization was going to work for the Nats, we sat in on the mandatory pilots meeting at 2000. Right afterward we took Chris Ammondson and Susan, C.J. Brockway's mother, to the house that Chris and Patricia were renting along with almost a dozen other pilots. It had a great view of the Chelan fireworks which were launched from a barge in the bay about 1000 ft out from the Don Morse City Park. It must have been close to 2300 before we got out of Chelan with Susan who had invited us to stay with her, C.J.B. and Derek at her 1200 sq ft summer house on the Columbia just S of Orondo.

6 July, Sun - We got up round 0700. C.J. B. and Derek needed to get to the meet HQ early because Derek was the driver coordinator and C.J. was competing; Susan could go later as her volunteer job was to receive and answer retrieval texts. We had hot chocolate from her Keurig machine and a scone and then got on the road. We were home around 1111 so there was time to do laundry, always necessary after a summer Chelan trip.



The rest of the meet - On the first two days tasks of over 100 km were called, then,on the next day, a 204 lm task was set all the way to St. John west of Odessa. Even Chris A and Preacher who landed twelve km short of goal flew for eight hours and did not get back to Chelan until 0100. Another day there was an out-and-return task to Sims corner, and the last day a 103 km task that resembled a cross centered at the McNeil-Mansfield junction (?), extending as far as Mansfield, and going equally as far north and south.

Results: Nick Greece is the new National Champion, with Josh Cohn and Eric Reed second and third. In the women's division, Seiko Fukuoka, the Japanese pilot flying an Ozone R12, was far away the winner. However, open class gliders were not scored so the women's winners were Nicole McLearn, Meredyth, and Debbie Vosevich. That makes Mer the US Women's National Champion!