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.

Island Lake

 

Well, Thursday I picked the only non-sunny day this week to go hiking, but the weather was comfortable  Except when I laid down to rest.  Then I got cold and that shouldn’t happen at the end of July.  My goal was Island Lake which goes by three other lakes and has side routes to half a dozen more.  Here is a picture of Talapus lake, the first in the chain.

Island Lake is at the top of that ridge you see in the back ground.  In fact, it is really a hanging valley with a whole lot of lakes, lake lets, bogs, and otherwise squishy
ground. Here is a picture of Talapus lake from Island Lake.

There are a bunch of steps up from one to the other.  Between the two,  in a little bowl is Ollolie Lake.  It has great camp sights and lots of reeds if you are into making baskets.

But once into the hanging valley are a series of bogs, which on a cool day  are devoid of mosquitoes.  The cool weather is not all bad

And Island Lake, which is named for all of the little islands in it. (Any where else they would be called rocks.)

With in a mile of Island Lake, is Rainbow Lake. You can see the clouds pouring over the ridge to protect my skin from the harsh sun slight. Had there been a little more sun, I might have seen a rainbow over the lake.

 

And on the way out were some four foot tall mutant lettuce like things that I am attributing to radiation leakage into the air from Hanford in the 1950’s.

 

Even with the weather, it was a great hike, though a little long.  I was down to my last Oreo when I got back to the car.

Photos from Island lake hike

Common Wealth Basin

 

I was originally going to hike up to Annette Lake, but when I got there at 10:00, the parking lot was already full.  so, I decided to do some cross country up into common Wealth Basin.  My plan was to photograph the light reflecting off of common wealth creek. I was able to get some nice green

 

and blue reflections

And I continued my journey of learning the name of a new flower every week.  Except for this one which doesn’t seem to be in my book.

 

 

But I did find Canadian dogwood

 

And I was able to identify the wild life that I saw.  This is a fish

It was a most pleasant hike, but I am still concerned that I continually run into flowers that are not in my the “150 most common flowers of the cascades” book.  I must be a most un-common hiker.

Photos of Common Wealth Basin

Snow Lake

 

I’ve been waiting for the snow to clear at the ever so appropriately named Snow Lake so I could hike there.  I arrived at the parking lot and was about the two hundredth car there and that was on a Thursday.

But because of the snow on the trail and steep drop offs, I decided not to hike down.  On my way out, I ran into mountain search and rescue who were coming up to help some people who disagreed with my assessment.  So I worked my way back cross country, still running into a lot of snow, but not the steep dangerous kind.  Here is a waterfall where I have pictures of friends and family cooling off on a warm summer day, but that is when there is no snow and a lot less water.

 

But since there was all of that snow, there were also some great waterfalls. I counted seven coming down the cliffs just above source lake. You can also cool off by standing at the base of a waterfall and looking up to photograph it, but be very selective in the water falls that you choose.

 

 

Looking out over the Alpental Valley, the water falls are at my back, you can see Adam’s condominium. It is the white dot in the center of the picture.

And I am constantly amazed that as soon as the snow gives an inch, the flowers start colonizing.

 

 

Pictures of Snow lake hike

Hiking with Rich and Mary

 

Rich, Mary and I, though  went hiking up Kachess Ridge.  It was a sunny day though Rich said it was just like a lovely winter day in Arizona.

 

The stonecrop was in bloom

and it was a great hike along Silver Creek.  There were waterfalls, lookouts with views where we ate out lunch and beautiful meadows.

It was a beautiful day for a pleasant stroll through the woods, with a stream to cool your feet off at the end.

Pictures of Kachess ridge Hike

Mason Lake

 

I’m a little behind on my postings.  Last week I headed up to Mason Lake and it was so clear that you could see the Olympics. This view is looking out along the south fork of the Snoqualmie River, I-90 to the rest of you,

Even Mt Rainier poked its head above the lower peaks.

The bear grass was out, but as you can see, it is a steep trail up to Bandera Peak.

 

But eventually I reached Mason Lake.  It was beautiful and for this time of the year, there were amazingly few bugs.

 

I spent about an hour setting here and relaxing and then headed to Island Lake, but I ran into snow before I got there and stopped and headed back home.  It was a a beautiful day and a cool hike in the shade.  Of course it was kind of hot in the open slopes with the bear grass, but there were a lot of places along the trail to relax.

 

Pictures of hike