Forum Index > Trip Reports > Scout Patrol/Bear Scout peak failure 14 Nov 2020
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kitya
Fortune Cookie



Joined: 15 Mar 2010
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Location: Duvall, WA
kitya
Fortune Cookie
PostSun Nov 15, 2020 9:09 am 
It was snowing at the Snoqualmie Pass in the morning and they required chains on all vehicles starting at milepost 57, so instead we exited on exit 57 and drove on snowy, but still drivable tinkham road. Soon we turned left to NF-5510 where the snow quickly got deeper. We parked at a little pullout off the road just above the intersection with the state park and started walking from there. I expected this hike to be very easy because most of it on roads, but somehow it was not. The snow was very wet, deep and unconsolidated. Perhaps after the long summer I forgot how to break trail. Often I was falling through waist deep, even though I put extenders on my snowshoes. I am not even sure if extenders made it better or worse, they still didn't provide enough traction, but made getting out of snow holes a lot harder. Anyway, we slogged along the roads all the way to the steep short open/clear cut slope just below Scout Patrol. From there it was easy to the summit of Scout Patrol and if we stopped there, it would have been a good easy day. But instead me and Cookie decided to continue following the ridge to Bear Scout. As we did that the snow got deeper and deeper and in the afternoon another storm came, blowing wind was very high, cold and dumping more snow. I had to turn around literally 200 feet below the summit of Bear Scout, because the wind was just too much for Cookie (and me). From Bear Scout we dropped cross country to the old road and the trailhead to scout lake. It is only .5 miles in a straight line and should be easy. But it was not. While the forest on the ridge is nice, it gets very dense and messy on the slopes. It was logged many times over creating a mess of rocks, blowdowns and brush. Even the old road spur 210 is not nice either. It has many places where it completely disappears under slide alder. Somewhere along the way, either going down cross-country or on the old road 210 I lost my nikon D7200 dslr camera with my favorite 18-400mm tamron lens frown.gif It was attached to my peak design clip, but maybe some branches pushed the buttons on the clip or maybe when I fell into snow, camera dropped somewhere. It was too dark and I was too exhausted to come back and search for it and Cookie was cold and miserable too. The snow turned to rain too. Sad. If you ever find my camera this way, please let me know. It has two high speed SD cards with lots of photos of Cookie on them, so it would be pretty easy to recognize. Because of that I also no longer have pictures except for a few mobile phone shots.
Interestingly on the way back we saw a big group of jeeps and trucks slowly driving/off roading on the snow on road 5510. At least this made walking back easier, because they compacted the snow a lot.

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neek
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neek
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PostSun Nov 15, 2020 9:48 am 
oh no! did you get a gps track? seems worth going back for.

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kitya
Fortune Cookie



Joined: 15 Mar 2010
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Location: Duvall, WA
kitya
Fortune Cookie
PostSun Nov 15, 2020 10:16 am 
neek wrote:
oh no! did you get a gps track? seems worth going back for.
Thanks neek. Yeah, I have the track, but I have no hope frown.gif Since camera is so heavy, it probably sunk into the snow when it fell and now with more snow overnight it is probably invisible under lots of snow. Maybe I will try a memorial for the camera trip next year when it melts out. Also I'm sorry for leaving my trash in the forest this way, it was an accident frown.gif

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FredV
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PostSun Nov 15, 2020 6:56 pm 
I lost a camera (point and shoot type) in a thick bushwhack and it was found four years later. Memory stick and the camera still worked good. If you have the gps track it is worth going back to look for it.

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MangyMarmot
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PostSun Nov 15, 2020 9:01 pm 
Bummer. I lost a camera on a PCT hike last year along with all the photos from the first half of the hike. It's probably at the bottom of the Suiattle River. Hope your camera does turn up when the snow melts.

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pcg
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pcg
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PostSun Nov 15, 2020 10:14 pm 
Metal detector.

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NBL
West Seattle Based



Joined: 08 Sep 2020
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Location: 98126
NBL
West Seattle Based
PostMon Nov 16, 2020 11:43 am 
I was hiking in the middle fork area yesterday and poked my head up the rainy creek trail to see how far one could towards Preacher Mountain get before the snow line. In the rain, the foot or so of snow around 2000' was slippery slush that wasn't snowshoeable or grippable with any kind of traction. I was halfway up a talus field before I decided everything was too slippery and I didn't want to break something a couple hours from the car. Will wait for more cold, more snow, or less rain. Sorry about your camera, what a bummer!

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RossJames
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RossJames
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PostTue Nov 17, 2020 12:24 am 
Oh! Thanks for your report, I was wondering about Tinkham and NFD5510 for this coming weekend. Looks like Granite, McClellan Butte, or something like Red Mnt may be a more realistic option for getting to the TH. I'm guessing the snow might be a little more manageable in snowshoes this weekend with some time to sit.. ?

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kitya
Fortune Cookie



Joined: 15 Mar 2010
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Location: Duvall, WA
kitya
Fortune Cookie
PostTue Nov 17, 2020 10:21 am 
FredV wrote:
I lost a camera (point and shoot type) in a thick bushwhack and it was found four years later. Memory stick and the camera still worked good. If you have the gps track it is worth going back to look for it.
How did you find it 4 years later? You are lucky. Thanks everyone. I'm sad for my camera, but at least it is just a camera and not a bigger accident, camera is not that big of a deal. Maybe it will be good for me to not take photos for a while now smile.gif Snow was very unmanageable. It is hard to say if it will get better this weekend, the weather is kind of weird. It is quite warm, so snow is very wet/mixed with rain. Maybe it settled down, but avy danger starts getting higher too.

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Cyclopath
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Joined: 20 Mar 2012
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Cyclopath
Faster than light
PostSun Nov 22, 2020 9:35 am 
I'm so sorry to hear about your camera. I think we need to organize a rescue party, you keep bringing us fantastic pictures, we don't want to miss out on your adventures.

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mosey
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PostSun Nov 22, 2020 10:41 am 
My condolences you lost your camera. I very much enjoyed cookies dusting.

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zephyr
aka friendly hiker



Joined: 21 Jun 2009
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zephyr
aka friendly hiker
PostMon Nov 23, 2020 12:33 pm 
Cyclopath wrote:
I think we need to organize a rescue party
I have been thinking this since this story broke. We have some excellent trackers on this forum (ahem) and the location is fairly convenient to anyone along the I-90 corridor east or west. People could meet at Hyak where the school bus arrives and go from there. All y'all need is one of those metal detectors. wink.gif I didn't call or dig deep but here's a rental outfit that has them in Bellevue and North Bend. Might want to do it before the really deep snows occur. I would volunteer but I would be too slow. Just observe the pandemic protocols of course. ~z

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kitya
Fortune Cookie



Joined: 15 Mar 2010
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Location: Duvall, WA
kitya
Fortune Cookie
PostMon Nov 23, 2020 3:31 pm 
Thank you everyone. You are all very kind. I have some experience with metal detectors for search and rescue, but they are super useful when the area to search is small. Once it gets larger, it is very tough unless you have a LOT of people. I loved my camera, but it is still just a camera, not something irreplaceable, thankfully. And yes, snow dusted cookie is always fun smile.gif Nice to see how Scout lake looks like, because I have not seen it!

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Bryan K
Shameless Peakbagger



Joined: 29 Sep 2005
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Bryan K
Shameless Peakbagger
PostThu Nov 26, 2020 10:09 pm 
Sorry to hear about your DSLR. I get nervous bringing mine out into the wilderness too for this very reason. Hope you're able to retrieve it at some point.

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Brucester
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Brucester
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PostWed Dec 02, 2020 2:39 pm 
That's a real bummer! Do you have ideas on where you may have left it? Maybe I should go look, a month ago I found Subaru/ Toyota keys/ house keys and a brand new GoPro Hero7 at Lake Keechelus. Luckily I found the owner of the Hero7 but the keys, not yet. Cyclopath you wanna join?

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