Silver Peak
Oct. 23rd, 2004 10:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eubLast Sunday, went with Megan and Heidi on a hike, to Silver Peak near Snoqualmie Pass. We were intending to meet at 9, but I was twenty minutes late doing last-minute pants repair -- tried rubber-cementing a patch on over the knee. Heidi had been up at 6:30, and she made and brought a huge stash of food -- egg sandwiches and hash browns in foil for breakfast, and a garbage sack full of bananas and granola bars and grapes the size of Italian prune plums and donuts later found fused together.
You get off 90 at Hyak, and go into a ski area parking lot, through a housing development (no sign of life -- ski season only?), and along a powerfully washboarded dirt (and jagged rubble) road. Drove through an area signed "WASTEWATER SPRAYFIELD / KEEP OUT". We passed by the other side of the lake you can see from 90, low showing stumps -- Spirit Lake?
A few cars around the trailhead. The only people we ended up seeing was a Boy Scout troupe, on a hike from Mirror Lake and back.
The hike started on a section of the Pacific Coast Trail. We set a GPS waypoint just in case, since it was cloudy down to the ground, and drizzling. I had waxed my boots under heat, and this appeared to waterproof the leather quite well, though my toes were squishy by the end -- through the sole-seam, I think. Right near the beginning of the trail, saw a lovely Hericium on the butt of a log, probably conifer so probably abietis. Then, just a bit further along, another.
The trail crossed many streams, and then became a stream. Saw baaaby salal, vine-maple leaves turned scarlet, and huge soggy mushrooms. We missed the turnoff to the disused Gardiner trail that Heidi's book claimed was unmissable. Reached the small pond, and took the upward trail marked by a small cairn. It was a bit steep, and slippery with mud, up to the saddle of the ridge. We turned right and went up the ridge, through mixed alpine meadow. Heidi showed me mountain hemlock, which I think is what this tree I wondered about on Granite Mountain was.
One nice little hands-and-feet bit, then through more meadow to what in the cloud looked like an infinite upward slope of talus. The track of feet was well pressed into it. Soon we could see the top, it looked like. Megan didn't like the bare steep slope, especially not in gusty wind, so some ways up, she decided she'd rather stop. Anyway we figured we wouldn't see anything from the top besides the intestines of a cloud, which we had right where we were too. I went ahead to tell Heidi, who had gone ahead to the patch of trees and found that it was a false summit and the path went on, and we headed down. Down in the meadow again we stood under a group of trees and ate sandwiches.
On the way down, heavy rain with small hail fell. My coat was soaking through wherever the backpack touched it, and my jeans (fool!) wicking water upwards. We were giving each other updates on the encroachment of wetness into our remaining parts of dryness. Then I slipped on a log and fell on my hip and arm, soaking my left leg with mud. After the rain, the fog cleared away a bit, and we could see some of our surroundings. The view must be quite something on a clear day. We could see downslope now as we walked.
At a stream with a waterfall (now that's a unique identifier) we deviated from the way we'd come up, took what we think was the Gardiner down to the PCT, and saw why we'd missed it on the way up -- it's just a small stream. We passed dozens of those. It didn't seem like any better a trail than the other way up, but if you'd like to try it, when you find a rock on the PCT that's a rough cube a foot or so in size, head up that streambed.
By the time we got back, we were all wet through, dirty, and cold, with hands that would hardly work. Megan's wouldn't open the backpack pocket with the car keys. I'd just had mine tucked up each other's sleeves, so I did it, fumblingly and weakly. Had a devil of a time getting my socks off with those fingers. I changed into my dry sweatshirt but stayed in my muddy wet pants.
We came out of the I-90 tunnel to Seattle, and found a rainbow behind us, and beside us on I-5. Home was in bright sun. Sheesh.
You get off 90 at Hyak, and go into a ski area parking lot, through a housing development (no sign of life -- ski season only?), and along a powerfully washboarded dirt (and jagged rubble) road. Drove through an area signed "WASTEWATER SPRAYFIELD / KEEP OUT". We passed by the other side of the lake you can see from 90, low showing stumps -- Spirit Lake?
A few cars around the trailhead. The only people we ended up seeing was a Boy Scout troupe, on a hike from Mirror Lake and back.
The hike started on a section of the Pacific Coast Trail. We set a GPS waypoint just in case, since it was cloudy down to the ground, and drizzling. I had waxed my boots under heat, and this appeared to waterproof the leather quite well, though my toes were squishy by the end -- through the sole-seam, I think. Right near the beginning of the trail, saw a lovely Hericium on the butt of a log, probably conifer so probably abietis. Then, just a bit further along, another.
The trail crossed many streams, and then became a stream. Saw baaaby salal, vine-maple leaves turned scarlet, and huge soggy mushrooms. We missed the turnoff to the disused Gardiner trail that Heidi's book claimed was unmissable. Reached the small pond, and took the upward trail marked by a small cairn. It was a bit steep, and slippery with mud, up to the saddle of the ridge. We turned right and went up the ridge, through mixed alpine meadow. Heidi showed me mountain hemlock, which I think is what this tree I wondered about on Granite Mountain was.
One nice little hands-and-feet bit, then through more meadow to what in the cloud looked like an infinite upward slope of talus. The track of feet was well pressed into it. Soon we could see the top, it looked like. Megan didn't like the bare steep slope, especially not in gusty wind, so some ways up, she decided she'd rather stop. Anyway we figured we wouldn't see anything from the top besides the intestines of a cloud, which we had right where we were too. I went ahead to tell Heidi, who had gone ahead to the patch of trees and found that it was a false summit and the path went on, and we headed down. Down in the meadow again we stood under a group of trees and ate sandwiches.
On the way down, heavy rain with small hail fell. My coat was soaking through wherever the backpack touched it, and my jeans (fool!) wicking water upwards. We were giving each other updates on the encroachment of wetness into our remaining parts of dryness. Then I slipped on a log and fell on my hip and arm, soaking my left leg with mud. After the rain, the fog cleared away a bit, and we could see some of our surroundings. The view must be quite something on a clear day. We could see downslope now as we walked.
At a stream with a waterfall (now that's a unique identifier) we deviated from the way we'd come up, took what we think was the Gardiner down to the PCT, and saw why we'd missed it on the way up -- it's just a small stream. We passed dozens of those. It didn't seem like any better a trail than the other way up, but if you'd like to try it, when you find a rock on the PCT that's a rough cube a foot or so in size, head up that streambed.
By the time we got back, we were all wet through, dirty, and cold, with hands that would hardly work. Megan's wouldn't open the backpack pocket with the car keys. I'd just had mine tucked up each other's sleeves, so I did it, fumblingly and weakly. Had a devil of a time getting my socks off with those fingers. I changed into my dry sweatshirt but stayed in my muddy wet pants.
We came out of the I-90 tunnel to Seattle, and found a rainbow behind us, and beside us on I-5. Home was in bright sun. Sheesh.
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-24 12:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-24 01:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-25 10:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-25 10:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-25 11:03 am (UTC)sigh.
ah well - i'm sure i'll get there eventually.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-25 02:02 pm (UTC)I can view them on my pc. My pc can't download matlab from the ee dept., but it can see your pictures. My pc is on the same network as this computer is.
I'm pissed off that computers dont' work, but that unproductive, so i'll just say,
YAY, Cool pictures. I really loved all that fog, and i think it looks nice and mystical in the pictures. thanks for putting them up. =)