Mt Thomas

 

Mount Thomas lies on a ridge just east of Kachess Ridge above Lake Cle Elum.  The trail starts climbing up at the Kachess Trailhead and has great views of Kachess Lake

I’m a little distressed that there was snow when I hiked here in early June and now the foliage is already starting to show fall colors. You can see the ridge where Mary, Richie and I ate lunch when we hiked Kachess Ridge in July. Our plan was to hike along the ridge on the right, drop down to the valley , link up with the Kachess Ridge trail and follow the trail back to our car.  It was a good plan.

 

We had been climbing for about two hours and gained 2500 feet of elevation and I thought we were approaching the top, until I turned the corner and saw the final 500 feet up heart break hill to the top of the ridge

Little did I know that we would climb another 3000 feet before the hike was over.  But once on top, we got great views of Lake Cle Elum and could see the power windmills in Ellensburg.

  The trail was hard to follow in a lot of places because the wind hand snapped off the trees and  obliterated parts of the trail.

We,  kept hiking for several more hours along the ridge.  The views were always tremendous, but there were a lot of ups and downs.

Late in the afternoon, we figured out that we would run out of time before we completed the loop, so we turned around and headed back to our car.

Photos of Hike

Kendall Catwalk

 

The three prettiest parts of the 2600 mile pacific Crest are the area North of Snoqualmie Pass, Goat rocks area just south of White Pass and the John Muir trail in California.  I’ve hiked portions of all three and can’t say one is better than the other, they are all magnificent. This is to just let you know there is world class hiking with in a one hour drive of Seattle.  The catwalk is blasted out of the top of an 800 foot cliff above gold creek.

I have hiked down the grand canyon, but personally consider the catwalk scarier.  Though the trail is  wide, it seems really narrow once you step on it. Some people have been known to crawl along it.

But the entrance to the catwalk is very inviting.  It kind of sucks you out into the middle where it is best to keep on walking and not think too much about where you are.

The views from it are some of the best in that Cascades.

The hike up to the catwalk gives you fair warning of what is to come, but is worth it for its own delights.

and did I mention that the views are magnificent?

Catwalk and views

The first half of the hike is in the trees with its cool shade and occasional stream

 

and then you break out into the Kendall Gardens which is a mile walk through wild flowers and rocks with sunning teen age marmots whistling at all of the young girls who walk by.  It was here that I saw a tiger lily.

flowers from the hike

And then there is an hour hike with views of mountains upon mountains.

 

It is a truly exceptional hike

Rattle snake ledge

 

Monday, my niece had the day off and so we went for a hike.  Normally a Monday in the second week of August is a safe time to plan a hike, but this being the northwest, it rained on us.  Made for some great misty shots and it is very tranquil when hiking along a trail in the rain.  My niece has a lot of faith in my ability to choose a safe hike, despite the rather alarming signs put up by Seattle Public Utilities. (This water shed flows into the Cedar River which is the source of Seattle’s water.  Interestingly enough, Rattlesnake Lake which lies at the start of the hike does not, due to a fifty foot high berm.  I say fortunately because of the large number of people and dogs swimming in it.)

 

There are several places along the hike to stop and enjoy the view.  Even in the rain on a Monday, there were fifteen people at the ledge.  We moved on up to our own private viewing area about ten minutes further up the trail.

 

Here is a view of Chester Morse Lake which is the source of the water. As I said earlier, it was a very peaceful hike except for the occasional were-chipmunk. Shape shifters, you know they can be anything.  Especially in the mist.

We made it safely back to our car for to hot tea to warm up after the hike.

Snow Lake

 

Went back to Snow Lake to see if it had finally melted out enough to get down to the lake.  It had, but everything was just recovering from the heavy snow cover and was looking anemic. The picture below is actually a little tarn above snow lake.  Snow Lake is one of the most heavily used trails in the state.  There will be 800 to 1000 people there on a week end, but I usually get this tarn to myself on the account of it being 200 feet off to the side of the trail.

I did find a great little stream that was gurgling along making brook sounds and bubbling.

 

 

 

The only plants that had started to bloom were the bear grass, but in another four weeks it should look pretty good.  It’ll be just in time for the winter cold snap. It’s tough on flowers, but great for those of us happy to see the bugs go.

A gentle stroll up to the ridge and a pleasant walk out to the car.  I didn’t take any additional pictures because at last count, I had 764 pictures of Snow, Gem Lakes and I didn’t need any more mediocre shots of it.  But I did like the little brook.

Pictures of hike

Team Advil Returns from the North Cascades

 

Team Advil, Gherry Bender, Jim Seeks, and Jacob Engelstein did their annual marathon  hike in the North cascades this year.  They were hosted by Jacob at his cabin in the Methow Valley and joined by Ed Bernbaum, the leader for Jacob’s Himalaya trek earlier in the year.  The first day was a short hike to Blue lake

It was sunny and the mosquitoes apparently satiated on the blood of Jacob’s son David who had hiked their a week ago.  They gave us very little trouble.  The hike is short, but we didn’t get there until 3:00 and we had food and wine waiting.

Blue Lake Hike

The next day we headed to Hart’s Pass which is a beautiful ridge hike preceded by 10 miles of road that will make you repent and return to church. It is one car wide, has 1000 foot drop offs at the sides and no guard rails.  But the hike is lovely once your legs stop shaking.

 

It goes along the top of the ridge.  The snow was recently melted from the meadows and the flowers were blooming. There were no mosquitoes, but the black flies were thick. But they are slow and not a problem if you keep moving. However, because of them we did not get our usual post lunch meditation time.

Harts Pass Hike

The last day we hiked Maple Pass.  Due to the constraint of a wine tasting invitation, we had to be back early to clean up, so we stopped before we reached the top of the pass. But there was a pass before the pass named Heather with a lovely meadow where we stopped and ate lunch. As you can see, we had rain and the threat of thunder storms and we did turn around once, but nothing stops the rain like putting on your rain gear.  So we took put it on, took it off, turned around a couple of times and headed back up. Kind of like a dog circling before settling into a nap spot.

We could see Lewis Lake from the pass and Ann Lake on the way up.

A bear was seen just off of the trail by the hikers behind us.  We looked for it on the way down, but all we saw was a Pica.  It did not attack us.

 

There was the usual assortment of wild flowers and a good time was had by all.

 

Maple Pass Hike

Each night we would return to Jacob’s cabin which is located at the head of the Methow valley.  It has a beautiful meadow that he planted in native grasses and we would return in the evening, set on the porch, drink a little beer and watch the sun go across the meadow.

 

There is a large hay barn on the place where Jill and Loren held the reception after their wedding.

 

Jacobs meadow

All in all, the time was too short, but a great time was had by all.