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kitya Fortune Cookie
Joined: 15 Mar 2010 Posts: 842 | TRs | Pics Location: Duvall, WA |
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kitya
Fortune Cookie
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Sun Nov 01, 2020 12:36 pm
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These two are not officially named peaks along Lost Creek Ridge, near to Round Lake inside Glacier Peak Wilderness.
The name 'Breccia' comes from the type of volcanic rock Breccia peak is made of, since this mountain is an eroded remains of an ancient stratovolcano.
It is told that 'Zi-iob' is the Sauk Indian name for the area (surrounding Round Lake) meaning 'mysterious people'. According to USGS (see: https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=GNISPQ:3:::NO::P3_FID:1530274) 'Zi-iob' name was originally approved by Washington State Names Authority in October 1986 for the highest point above Round Lake (now called Breccia by most people), but later in October 1988 US Board on Geographic Names rejected the name, basically saying that it is not needed.
Somehow now both names ended up being unofficially applied to two different peaks: the highest point is called Breccia, while the lower isolated high point about a mile east of it is called Zi-iob.
Saturday morning we woke up to a very cold, but clear day and after our poop-walk in the neighborhood, jumped into the car and drove to Darrington. It was very cold and getting colder. As we got to the Lost Creek ridge trailhead there was already one car parked and two more cars parked right after us. To my surprise I recognized newly arrived hikers as two women who also sometimes post on this very forum. And they planned on going to Breccia too!
While I hoped for a snowshoe trip, the women didn't take snowshoes at all and said they don't expect much snow at all. I should have believed them, but as I was still holding up hope, I took snowshoes anyway. Sadly, I was completely wrong. To my great surprise there was very little snow even above 6000 ft. and a lot of ice. I ended up never puting the snowshoes on.
We started at the same time, but soon me and Cookie passed everyone else. The trail is very easy going and completely snow free all the way to the ridge. At the ridge even though there is some ocassional snow and ice, there was already a boothpath all the way to Sunup lake. We took the ridge on the west side of the lake and scrambled it up. It was very icy in places and very hard to get any grip. At one point on the ridge there are small cliffs, you can probably traverse around them, but Cookie was leading the way, and she scrambled up a small frozen waterfall and I had to follow her. This was also the last time we saw our friends, as we were approaching the summit we spotted them just coming to the Sinup lake.
Summit of Breccia is an easy walk from the ridge, but it was cold and windy. We didn't stay for long and instead dropped down north into the snowy basin on the other side of the mountain. This was the favorite part of the trip for me - no tracks, lots of icy snow, pure fun. We curved around the basin and walked easy ridge to Zi-iob peak. From Zi-iob we dropped down south back to the Lost Ridge trail and followed as it curved around the ridge back to the Sinup lake. That section of the trail is less defined and had no tracks to follow, but it was not hard to follow the general direction.
On Zi-iob there is a strange structure. I don't know what it does. Different people seem to think differently. Volcanic monitoring? Snow monitoring? Radio re-transmitter?
Surprisingly there is still a lot of frozen blueberries, snow melted around them and they are still very tasty and Cookie ate a few dozens of them.
And we even found a frozen hericium mushroom and took it home for dinner. Tasty!
We had great views of Sloan, Dakobed, Da Klagwats and White Chuck. The day was sunny and cold in the morning, but became warm in the afternoon, creating almost late spring like weather. It was fun, though Cookie and I feel a bit betrayed by the lack of fresh snow.
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Malachai Constant Member
Joined: 13 Jan 2002 Posts: 16092 | TRs | Pics Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny |
I have had a virtual geocache on Zi-ion for years, the radio repeater has been there since the 80’s. It is one of my favorite peaks, easy but remote. Camped near Breccia once when picking up a traveling summit register. Great views from both. Nice job!
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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kitya Fortune Cookie
Joined: 15 Mar 2010 Posts: 842 | TRs | Pics Location: Duvall, WA |
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kitya
Fortune Cookie
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Sun Nov 01, 2020 3:11 pm
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Malachai Constant wrote: | I have had a virtual geocache on Zi-ion for years, the radio repeater has been there since the 80’s. It is one of my favorite peaks, easy but remote. Camped near Breccia once when picking up a traveling summit register. Great views from both. Nice job! |
Why is radio repeater there? What is it for? Isn't it a violation of Wilderness Act to have radio repeater installed there?
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Malachai Constant Member
Joined: 13 Jan 2002 Posts: 16092 | TRs | Pics Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny |
Forest Service repeater
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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KascadeFlat Member
Joined: 06 Jul 2020 Posts: 314 | TRs | Pics Location: Eating peanut M&Ms under my blue tarp |
Glad to see you got to take advantage of the awesome weather too! The high country is so beautiful right now with the fresh snow.
Carrying snowshoes and never needing them? That's training weight.
For a good time call: 1-800-SLD-ALDR.
For a good time call: 1-800-SLD-ALDR.
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RichP Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 5633 | TRs | Pics Location: here |
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RichP
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Mon Nov 02, 2020 8:22 am
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The old repeater looked much more monolithic.
Zi iob Peak 6343'
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kitya Fortune Cookie
Joined: 15 Mar 2010 Posts: 842 | TRs | Pics Location: Duvall, WA |
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kitya
Fortune Cookie
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Mon Nov 02, 2020 8:42 am
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RichP wrote: | The old repeater looked much more monolithic. |
It also looked a lot more green
KascadeFlat wrote: | Carrying snowshoes and never needing them? That's training weight. |
That is true, but breaking trail is even more fun!
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Malachai Constant Member
Joined: 13 Jan 2002 Posts: 16092 | TRs | Pics Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny |
RichP wrote: | The old repeater looked much more monolithic.
Zi iob Peak 6343' |
Yeah we called it “The Pyramid” looked like it was built to withstand armored assault.
The were also remnants of a triangular antenna on the true summit.
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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kitya Fortune Cookie
Joined: 15 Mar 2010 Posts: 842 | TRs | Pics Location: Duvall, WA |
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kitya
Fortune Cookie
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Mon Nov 02, 2020 10:31 am
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Malachai Constant wrote: | The were also remnants of a triangular antenna on the true summit. |
I saw a little metal pipe sticking out of the ground/snow on the true summit too.
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Seattle_Wayne Member
Joined: 12 Nov 2019 Posts: 104 | TRs | Pics Location: Greater Snohomish County |
Malachai Constant wrote: | I have had a virtual geocache on Zi-ion for years, the radio repeater has been there since the 80’s. It is one of my favorite peaks, easy but remote. Camped near Breccia once when picking up a traveling summit register. Great views from both. Nice job! |
Ever since I started geocaching I have had my sights set on that Virtual for about five years. I can't wait to grab it next year.
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MangyMarmot Member
Joined: 06 Apr 2012 Posts: 474 | TRs | Pics
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Nice trip. Cool photos! I don't remember seeing that repeater on Breccia. Is it at the main summit or somewhere else?
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Malachai Constant Member
Joined: 13 Jan 2002 Posts: 16092 | TRs | Pics Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny |
It is on Zi-ion just east of Brecca on a ledgen50’ down from the top.
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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kitya Fortune Cookie
Joined: 15 Mar 2010 Posts: 842 | TRs | Pics Location: Duvall, WA |
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kitya
Fortune Cookie
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Mon Nov 02, 2020 10:51 pm
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MangyMarmot wrote: | Nice trip. Cool photos! I don't remember seeing that repeater on Breccia. Is it at the main summit or somewhere else? |
Yes, repeater is not on Breccia. Repeater is on Zi-iob peak, same ridge, but about a mile eat of Breccia main summit.
Both Breccia and Zi-iob peak are not official names, Zi-iob was originally proposed as the name for what peakbagger/summitpost etc. call Breccia now, so this is a bit confusing. Anyway, if you really want to find that repeater here are the exact wgs84 coordinates from google maps:
48.12252,-121.286092
It is visible from satellite images, so very easy to see. Anyway, it is just a metal thingy, not sure why it is worth seeing!
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