First, NW Hikers is great! You can always tap some fabulous resources for good information! We were looking for a hike/snowshoe none of us had done - one more I-90 jaunt was more than we cared to do on what was to be a glorious day! Soooo - I asked John Morrow for a good near-eastside trip and he came up with a trip in the Iron Creek area. Thank you, John! It was fabulous! Of course, if we had followed your directions, it might have been even better!!! More on that later.
Snow Dog (Elle) joined Trail Pair, Jim K and me for her first adventure with this sorry cast of miscreants. Hopefully, it won't be her last! It was definitely early! Left Queen Anne Hill at 6:00 a.m. - Trail Pair called on the cell and said they were hitting ice before Denny Creek. Which was weird, because we had passed by there about 5 minutes earlier and it didn't seem icy at all. But we made Iron Creek at 8:00 a.m. - sun was out in its full glory. We were the only two cars there. It was a balmy 22 when we started. Since none of us had been on this route before, we weren't quite sure of the specifics. Does it tell you anything when about 1 hour into the hike, Elle said, "I think I'll check out the route before we go out next time"? Well, off we went, blissfully ignorant.
Iron Creek/Hovey Creek Trailhead
Heading out
Reaching Hovey Creek XC trail
Hovey Creek trail start
You actually head up towards Hovey Creek. It's a well-tracked snowmobile and XC skier route. In about a mile, you are to take a spur - well, we had a bit of a premature release on the route trajectory!
The wrong turn (onto 606)
Do NOT take the route marked "606" - you need to go about another quarter mile farther and find the "116" marker - if it's still visible.
Road 116 - that we should have taken!
Just know that the obvious right turn is not the one you want - it's the next one! However, not a group to be daunted by a little route finding error, off we went towards somewhere! Soon, we started up a very steep slope, towards what we thought was going to be a ridge . . .
Up the hill to meet a road
Turns out, it was a road . . .
Bob on Road
We're right here
I think we're here
Where?
Where are we?
More map consultation (looking west toward Teanaway Ridge
However, one in our group really didn't care, because all he wanted to do was "snow dive!"
Looking for buried treasure
This is the rescue part - you see, many of you know that I lost my precious Sadie last summer - well, this guy
Gus' first hike with the Driver - he was sooo happy being in snow.
was a service dog for a wonderful place called Summit Assistance dogs and the human he was with for the past couple of years died a few months ago and Summit decided not to place him back into service. They knew about Sadie and contacted me to see if I would be willing to take Gusto - a 4+ year old male, who, like me, was rather a lost soul. So, Gusto has joined the group and he performed spectacularly for his first snowshoe trip ever. He quickly learned about not stepping on the back of your shoes! He is quite well-behaved. I think he was as ecstatic to be out with us as we were to have him along! You will be hearing more about Gusto. I can't thank Summit enough for being so caring for me and Gusto.
But, on with our trip. At this point, we realized we weren't even close to where John had given us directions so, we decided to improvise and do what we could to come close to Point 4002 and Teanaway Ridge.
Bob, Elle and Gusto heading up a ridge
It was such a great day, we really didn't care. The ridges are so open on the east side, it's pretty easy to just amble along.
Glorious sun - looking East
Bob on yet another nob on another ridge
About 10:30, Trail Pair and Elle stopped for a quick bite to eat, while Jim, Gusto and I forged ahead to what looked like a likely ridge (we were soon to discover, there are lots of "likely" ridges!)
Elle taking a break
Bob heading up another nob on the ridge
Well, that lead us to this big ol' hunk of rock that seemed to dead end as we skirted along it's east side. So, we turned around. But Jim was pretty sure that the road we should have been on all along was really close - - - so, if we just went over this one hump - well, sure enough, down below was the road. The only thing is, it was a steeeeeep down below of about 70' . .
Coming down the steep hill - sorta'
Looking back to the steep hillside we came down
But, we were on the road
Road toward Pt. 4002
and so we knew we were getting close to at least Point 4002 - and sure enough, we contoured around it to the west and it was behind us!
Pt. 4002
By now, it had warmed considerably from our start of 22 degrees and the snow was getting soft. So soft, that it was balling up terribly on Gusto's belly and legs, making it hard for him to climb and plow through the deep stuff. We decided that with another 900' of gain to make Teanaway Ridge, we would call it good. Besides, we had probably already come a good 4 miles and with a decent amount of gain and this was Gusto's first snowshoe. I didn't want him exiting quite this soon! So, Jim, Elle and the driver turned around while Bob and Kolleen kept going. They wouldn't make Teanaway Ridge either, because after they left us, they reached another, lesser ridge, and saw that to make Teanaway, they would have to cross a wide open slope that had been basking in the sun all day - and they were uncertain how stable it would be, so they turned around, too - about 45 minutes behind us. On our way out, we found out that we were on another spur - that actually was fairly plainly marked
Another branch to Teanaway Ridge
so, just some beta for you out there. This actually was a great location to do a lot of wandering. We happened to run into some cross-country skiers not far from the cars (there were now three additional cars at Iron Creek). They had come across I-90 and found every sno-park full and over-flowing with cars - so made their way to Iron Creek - it was 1:00 p.m. and they wanted to get some where! They kept heading up the Hovey Creek road - don't know how far it goes - it doesn't appear on our maps. All-in-all, a great day in the mountains. It had "warmed" up to 35 back at the car. Someone had a good day!
Dog tired after his first snowshoe trip
No reliable stats to share - but probably about 7 miles and 1700' of gain or so. Worth the extra drive for a change of scenery!
John Morrow, John Morrow, John Morrow.
John Morrow's photo trumped me as the "hiker" atop Thorpe Mtn in the new hiking book by Nelson/Bauer.
Not that it bothers me or anything.
What a wonderful Gusto pooch you have there!
"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate."
Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
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"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate."
Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
A short bit of the Iron Creek Road is plowed. Just enough for 4 or 5 cars. We were the first cars there but when we came back all the spaces were taken. Be early to be sure of a spot.
Well, so I thought, but when we got home, he found some nasty ol' tennis balls in the back yard and immediately wanted to do the "toss it" thing and wouldn't take no for an answer!!!
Tazz wrote:
for you and gusto!! We will have to all get together out there soon! Great report and day you all.
Have 'shoes, will travel! Now that we know you're back in the game, well get you out there to break some trail, too!!!
This is such a nice area for exploring...miles and miles of untracked snow.
We turned back when we felt that the snow was not stable enough on an open slope. However, it looks like we could have traversed further north and gone up in the trees, although the slope appeared to be steeper there. Next time!
View of Red Top Lookout
Traversing rocks
K on the ridge
Deep, soft, unconsolidated snow
Bob returning to where the ridge meets road 116.
We turned back on the open slope of the distant high point.
This thing called work is interfering with my play
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This thing called work is interfering with my play
Awesome! Wish I could have joined you guys. I'll have to check that area out. We braved the XC ski area at Hyak and fought the massive crowds. When we left the Kendall lakes SnoPark was overflowing - cars parked everywhere along the road, in the interchange, even on the off/on ramps!
Good to hear the happy story for both you and Gusto.
Awesome! Wish I could have joined you guys. I'll have to check that area out. We braved the XC ski area at Hyak and fought the massive crowds. When we left the Kendall lakes SnoPark was overflowing - cars parked everywhere along the road, in the interchange, even on the off/on ramps!
Good to hear the happy story for both you and Gusto.
You can redeem yourself, Opus, you can help us trek over to
Another shot of Red Top Lookout
A vigorous little jaunt! Gusto is waiting to meet you. Looks like some good weather (sometime) this week! the driver
When we left the Kendall lakes SnoPark was overflowing - cars parked everywhere along the road, in the interchange, even on the off/on ramps!
Definitely not enough places to park for fun in the snow. All those spaces between Hyak and the Gold Creek Sno-Park are posted "No Parking" and they will ticket you. Here is a look back to 1-15-06.
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