Previous :: Next Topic |
Author |
Message |
Sadie's Driver Sadie's Driver
Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Posts: 1763 | TRs | Pics Location: Welcome Pass |
You do the math - this is a quiz. 3 - 1 = 7!! Yes, it's the NW Hikers new math! Somehow, hikers seem to appear! At first, it was Jim K, Middle E and the driver who were on for today; then, poof, Opus appeared; then viola, Trail Pair; then OMG Dicey needed a diversion today; then there was the loss of Middle E due to an attack by vicious XC skis on a downhill at (Cold) Clear Creek; soon would appear Type E to possibly fill in; but then our "early hour" (8:30 a.m. at the trailhead?) meant we would lose an "E" But, who should show up, but Joe! He would be only a partial companion - veering off at Olallie Lake, due to a prior commitment and needing to get back early. So, friends, this is how NW Hikers do math! Now, on to the trip report. (P.S. with Bob and the driver back from their respective journeys, a summit would be possible after last week's aimless miss on North Mountain without them! ) Today was not supposed to be the better weather day of the weekend, but we thought we would take our chances and plan a trip close to home so if we got soaking wet, we wouldn't have far to go. Dicey, Logan, Opus, Jim K, the driver and Gusto met up at the 65th Park & Ride at 7:30 a.m. The weather was ok in Seattle - but it didn't sound so promising heading east. Two dogs and four people wouldn't work in one vehicle, so we split up into two and off we headed for a trailhead time of 8:30 a.m. where Joe and Trail Pair were waiting. But wait, Logan was impatient and wanted to get started.Logan impatient with Gusto!
Pushy little runt. But she had Gusto soundly under control! The weather was so-so, as you can see from this picture there was a mix of rain and snow falling - supposedly the snow level was 2000', so we should see more snow than rain today.Assembling for the ascent
The good thing is that the first 4 miles of this hike are primarily in trees, so we shouldn't get too wet. Our route (David will probably post the GPS track) would take us from the Granite Mountain trailhead - as far as the Pratt Lake turn-off - to just past the Olallie Lake turn-off and then pretty much straight up to the ridge and all the way to the summit of W. Granite.
Creek crossing Hint of blue above
Just before we headed up (and before Joe split off) we stopped for a snack break (Gusto likes hiking with Trail Pair - they have their priorities firmly in place - they take snack breaks every two hours!)He's going to give me some of that! Come on, Bob - hurry up! Another victim
Soon, we needed to put our snowshoes on, as the fresh snow was deep and made traction difficult - this was at about mile 4. Joe would head down toward Olallie; and in a few hundred yards, we ran into the solo snowshoer who was ahead of us - a woman who wasn't quite sure where she was headed, but was following the track that was still evident. We passed her at this point and suggested she could follow our track if she wanted to. Meanwhile, we started up the ridge and the weather had changed again, we actually began to see some blue sky above and a "few" views.Glimpse of Bandera from ridge Talapus Lake from ridge Peek-a-boo of Pratt Mountain
There was an interesting snow creature that appeared . . .Snow mole - there seems to be a theme!
We made our way to the first bump - Carla referred to it as Red2 - the visibility wasn't so great at this point, so no real views except this one . .Jim on summit of Red 2
As we made our way farther up the ridge away from Red2 and toward the summit of W. Granite, we looked back and could see two more snowshoers coming up behind.Two snowshoers coming off Red 2 towards W. Granite
Meanwhile, our band of merry hikers continued on toward the summit - about 350' left to go.Bob and Jim heading up towards W. Granite - with a touch of blue sky behind Switchbacking to summit of W. Granite Heading to summit of W. Granite Looking back to Red 2 as clouds move in
The snow actually was in very good condition - plenty of "grip" - unlike the hapless hikers on Arrowhead last week. There were a few areas of windblown snow/hard pack, but nothing that changed our course.Hmm - windy?
Meanwhile, the two snowshoers below us, caught up to us just below the summit of W. Granite. It turns out, this was the first snowshoe trip for one of the guys and his first snowshoe summit!Success on the first snowshoe trip. Guys on the first snowshoe summit!
It was time for another snack . . .Logan checking for snacks
and the wind had picked up and the clouds moved inOlallie Lake from ridge
Seeking refuge from the wind, our group headed for some trees . . .Group heading to trees to get out of wind
but this area turned out to be a virtual wind tunnel!Spring?
So, Bob and I headed to the other side of the summit, where the wind was less and we could grab our lunch without freezing. It was about 12:30 p.m. (took us just under 4 hours to get to the summit). We left the summit about 1:10 p.m. Carla was whining about doing Granite/lookout, but just about that time, we got hit with a wind-whipped snow storm and the visibility dropped to almost nothing (wait 15 minutes and the weather will change - which it did! ) - so down we headed - and, of course, as we made our way down the ridge and back towards Red2, the weather began clearing.Carla and Logan heading back to top of Red2 Granite with lookout from Red 2 Close-up of Granite summit with lookout Jim K with W. Granite summit in clearing skies
We met a skier headed up who was going to head for W. Granite and Granite - but by now, we missed our "window" for a Granite ascent and continued down, catching a few more views on our way.Humpback Mountain from W. Granite ridge
We took our snowshoes off at about the same location where we put them on - but, by now the temperature had warmed some and the snow had softened considerably - making it slippery on our way down in several places. It doesn't sound like it's going to get really cold during the next week, so it might not ice up too badly, but it could be sloppy. We made it back to the cars in about 2 hours. A total of about 9 or 10 miles and probably 3900' of total gain. We really lucked out with the weather - because as we were heading back towards Seattle, we got hit with a deluge of rain - stopped by the time we got to North Bend for our Starbucks fix - and then back in Seattle to some sunbreaks. Great trip and a good group.
Four-paw buddy lets me tag along!
Four-paw buddy lets me tag along!
|
Back to top |
|
|
Opus Wannabe
Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 3700 | TRs | Pics Location: The big rock candy mountain |
|
Opus
Wannabe
|
Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:20 pm
|
|
|
Great trip! And better weather than the forecast called for. Nice to be above the rain. I've attached the GPS tracks though my Garmin is still having issues. At least it got the interesting parts of the route.
Full trip photos here.
GPS tracks Creek crossing Snowy trees Nearing the top Ridgetop On the ridge Cones Shades of gray Summit Distant Granite Ridge Red-2 ridge Spikey monster
|
Back to top |
|
|
Coasty I like Salmon!
Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 762 | TRs | Pics Location: Kodiak, AK |
|
Coasty
I like Salmon!
|
Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:21 pm
|
|
|
Looks like it was a great trip.. sorry I missed out on it... the slog up Si wasn't very exciting...
Jason B
|
Back to top |
|
|
Type E Member
Joined: 19 Aug 2006 Posts: 1381 | TRs | Pics
|
|
Type E
Member
|
Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:29 pm
|
|
|
Glad you had a great trip. Although the 8:30 start isn't early it does make it hard when you don't get off work until 2 AM. Keep me in mind if I know ahead of time I can switch to get off earlier.
E!
|
Back to top |
|
|
Joe Member
Joined: 29 Jun 2002 Posts: 819 | TRs | Pics Location: Kent |
|
Joe
Member
|
Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:29 pm
|
|
|
A few more photos
bob Kolleen-dicey-and-logan dicey-and-gusto rest-of-the-gang Suzanne-and-Jim Opus Spring time in the mountains Olallie-Lake2 Olallie-Lake-outlet Olallie-Lake3
|
Back to top |
|
|
GeoTom Member
Joined: 19 May 2005 Posts: 3215 | TRs | Pics Location: Earth |
|
GeoTom
Member
|
Sun Apr 06, 2008 10:30 pm
|
|
|
Nice job all, but even Jasper questions your math...
He does say hi to Gusto, but has yet to meet Logan.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Matt Tea, Earl Grey, Hot
Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 4307 | TRs | Pics Location: Shoreline |
|
Matt
Tea, Earl Grey, Hot
|
Sun Apr 06, 2008 10:38 pm
|
|
|
Sounds like a great group.
If an unleashed dog holds the leash of a leashed dog, do they cancel each other out, or is it synergistic, or antithetic, or synthetic, or what?
“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien
“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien
|
Back to top |
|
|
goats gone wild Mr. Goat
Joined: 19 Aug 2007 Posts: 2524 | TRs | Pics Location: Vampireville |
Looks like that trail-snack-robbing-bandit is on the loose again. No doubt he's licking his lips before he goes in for the kill.
Glad you all had a good time.
.....leaving me wanting to return over and over in what ever capacity that may be, even if one day my knees are too old and I can only see the mountains from my porch.
Jason Hummel
.....leaving me wanting to return over and over in what ever capacity that may be, even if one day my knees are too old and I can only see the mountains from my porch.
Jason Hummel
|
Back to top |
|
|
EastKing Surfing and Hiking
Joined: 28 Mar 2007 Posts: 2082 | TRs | Pics Location: 77 miles from Seattle! |
|
EastKing
Surfing and Hiking
|
Sun Apr 06, 2008 11:01 pm
|
|
|
Great trip report and photos.
YouTube | SummitPost
Saw the depths of despair. Now I am salvaging what time I have left on Earth.
YouTube | SummitPost
Saw the depths of despair. Now I am salvaging what time I have left on Earth.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Middle E no more moustache
Joined: 10 Feb 2008 Posts: 432 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle, WA |
|
Middle E
no more moustache
|
Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:57 am
|
|
|
Sadies Driver wrote: | ...then there was the loss of Middle E due to an attack by vicious XC skis on a downhill at Clear Creek... |
Dang, I'm envious of you all making the summit! Actually, it turns out you guys took a different route from the one Brewmaster and I did in February -- we stayed pretty low until past Ollalie lake and then went up the WNW ridge. I imagine the two are of similar difficulty. My hobble is diminishing and hopefully I'll be OK for the weekend. (BTW it was Cold Creek trail that got me).
pithy yet insightful signature
pithy yet insightful signature
|
Back to top |
|
|
TrailPair Member
Joined: 17 Apr 2005 Posts: 1699 | TRs | Pics
|
Another beautiful ridge walk, lacking blue skies. Here are some of our photos.
Dicey, Bob and Pratt Mt. Granite Mt. from West Granite Two snowshoers joined us at the summit Small patch of blue Opus on the summit Hoar frost on icicles Driver, Dicey, Opus, Jim K, and Trail Pair Two snowshoers joined us at the summit Ridge to Red 2. descending
This thing called work is interfering with my play
This thing called work is interfering with my play
|
Back to top |
|
|
don b Member
Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 369 | TRs | Pics
|
|
don b
Member
|
Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:34 am
|
|
|
Seems this was the trip to do. I skied it on Thursday and Randy and Beave did it on Saturday. Did you see any evidence of prior visits? I went directly up the ridge after crossing the major drainage from the Granite basin and descended the face north of your route from the summit to above the lake. Great days out there.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Sadie's Driver Sadie's Driver
Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Posts: 1763 | TRs | Pics Location: Welcome Pass |
Matt wrote: | Sounds like a great group.
If an unleashed dog holds the leash of a leashed dog, do they cancel each other out, or is it synergistic, or antithetic, or synthetic, or what? |
Matt - it's probably more like "pathetic" - that little female had Gusto firmly under control!!! s.d.
Four-paw buddy lets me tag along!
Four-paw buddy lets me tag along!
|
Back to top |
|
|
Opus Wannabe
Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 3700 | TRs | Pics Location: The big rock candy mountain |
|
Opus
Wannabe
|
Mon Apr 07, 2008 11:28 am
|
|
|
Middle E wrote: | Sadies Driver wrote: | ...then there was the loss of Middle E due to an attack by vicious XC skis on a downhill at Clear Creek... |
Dang, I'm envious of you all making the summit! Actually, it turns out you guys took a different route from the one Brewmaster and I did in February -- we stayed pretty low until past Ollalie lake and then went up the WNW ridge. I imagine the two are of similar difficulty. My hobble is diminishing and hopefully I'll be OK for the weekend. (BTW it was Cold Creek trail that got me). |
It's a very nice ridge route. Never too steep in any place but still enough to make you work for it. The ridge run from the top of Red-2 (named for the red 2 on the map) to West Granite is very nice.
I managed to pick up a hobble myself. Hopped over a little creek crossing and rolled my ankle on a rock. We should have a hobbling race. It could be a league event - foot hobblers vs knee hobblers from the other thread.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Sadie's Driver Sadie's Driver
Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Posts: 1763 | TRs | Pics Location: Welcome Pass |
Middle E wrote: | Sadies Driver wrote: | ...then there was the loss of Middle E due to an attack by vicious XC skis on a downhill at Clear Creek... |
My hobble is diminishing and hopefully I'll be OK for the weekend. (BTW it was Cold Creek trail that got me). |
Cold? Clear? It was a Cold, Clear Creek - that you and Opus should probably stick your feet into to take down the swelling!!! New name for the group - The Hobbling Hikers! s.d.
Four-paw buddy lets me tag along!
Four-paw buddy lets me tag along!
|
Back to top |
|
|
|