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Opus Wannabe
Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 3700 | TRs | Pics Location: The big rock candy mountain |
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Opus
Wannabe
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Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:14 am
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We bailed on our original plans to chance the passes and went up to the Mountainloop to stretch our legs. I've never driven that road with so much snow! The walls on the sides were almost taller than my Outback and in places the road was barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass. Thankfully we arrived at the end just as the plow finished clearing and there was plentiful parking.
The road was so well packed that we didn't put on our snowshoes for several miles. Of course one foot out of the trench and we'd sink more than thigh deep. The views were surprisingly good with high clouds. At the clearing along the road we could see well down the valley to neighboring peaks - and their many avalanches. Nearly all the steep slopes on Long and Bald mountain had thick fracture lines from slab avalanches letting go.
When we reached the end of the road there was no sign of the summer trail; the snow was so deep the sign was completely buried! Thankfully someone had continued on and saved us breaking trail in the powder. They wove a nice track through the trees and we popped out at the lake to an interesting sight. On the far side of the lake a recent major avalanche had come down, scattering debris and broken trees more than halfway across the lake. The chute it rode down was all chewed up and many trees looked damaged.
But the weirdest part was the lake itself. Surrounding the whole perimeter of the bowl there was a large crevasse-like crack, maybe a foot wide and at least two feet deep. Many smaller cracks radiated out from that. Someone had walked out onto the lake surface but we stayed well back. I haven't seen anything like this before. Our best guess was the force of the avalanche slamming onto the frozen lake fractured or shifted the ice, cracking the frozen snow around the edges. Either way it was weird and interesting.
Kelcema lake trip photos
Curly Breaking clouds Distant peaks Soft snow On the trail Tree eruption Mushrooms Bottomless pit Fracture line Avalanche debris Cracks So many cracks Rolling cracks Heading out Cloud break Kelcema panorama
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JimK Member
Joined: 07 Feb 2002 Posts: 5606 | TRs | Pics Location: Ballard |
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JimK
Member
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Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:39 am
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Opus, your description of the cracks reminds me of a visit I made to Kelcema. We were sitting by the outlet when an avalanche came down on the far end of the lake. A moment later a huge plume of water was shot out at the outlet. Scared the heck out of us. It was big and loud. Push down on one end and the water has to be shot out somewhere else.
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Matt Tea, Earl Grey, Hot
Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 4307 | TRs | Pics Location: Shoreline |
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Matt
Tea, Earl Grey, Hot
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Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:48 am
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That's interesting about the cracks on the lake. I haven't heard of that before.
Your photo of the snow piled atop the fungi on the tree trunk is also unique.
“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien
“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien
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Opus Wannabe
Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 3700 | TRs | Pics Location: The big rock candy mountain |
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Opus
Wannabe
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Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:59 am
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I wish I could have captured the cracks better. The panorama here shows the scale a bit better.
Jim, that sounds about right to me. It looks like the entire lake surface sunk down a foot or two, cracking the slopes around it. It must have been one heck of a pounding. The entire thing looked like a giant round footprint. At first I thought it was just a snowshoer trench circling the lake, but up close they look very jagged and blue inside. We weren't sure how deep the cracks went so we stayed back.
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Gabigabs Trail Breaker
Joined: 07 Nov 2007 Posts: 841 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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Gabigabs
Trail Breaker
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Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:17 am
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Thanks for the report. We're heading there next Saturday. Hopefully the crack will still be visible. Sounds like a cool thing to check out.
Was the road OK enough for 2 WD vehicles?
Life is simple... Eat, Sleep, Hike!
Life is simple... Eat, Sleep, Hike!
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Opus Wannabe
Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 3700 | TRs | Pics Location: The big rock candy mountain |
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Opus
Wannabe
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Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:31 am
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Yep, the road was well plowed. Icy in spots but nothing major, any car should make it fine.
I kept an eye out on the other trailheads as we went for future trips. There is a huge snow wall at the start of the Ashland lakes road, parking for a few vehicles. The Lake22 lot either wasn't plowed or just inaccessible, people were parking in the driveway. Pilchuck road looked nicely plowed. There's nowhere to park right at the Martin Creek trailhead, but there is a construction site nearby the ranger suggested, or about a quarter mile up the road there is a plowed clearing big enough for several cars.
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Pin Toe Hiking Did That 2 Me
Joined: 29 Sep 2003 Posts: 55 | TRs | Pics
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Pin Toe
Hiking Did That 2 Me
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Wed Feb 06, 2008 8:38 am
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Gabigabs, look forward to your trip report. I'm heading up there with seven Scouts on Feb 15-16. Thanks.
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Magellan Brutally Handsome
Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 13116 | TRs | Pics Location: Inexorable descent |
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Magellan
Brutally Handsome
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Wed Feb 06, 2008 11:17 pm
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Great photos Opus. Very interesting with all the fracture lines on the lake.
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