[gabrielx]

The plan: a loop trip to Hurricane Peak, Boulder BM, and Huckleberry Mountain starting at the Boulder Lake trail head on the Tenas Creek road.

What we actually did.

Yana, Dicey, Iron, and I hit the trail at 7:30 AM and made good time until we entered the talus fields. Talus covered in powder is tedious and slow-going. Our detours out of the talus into steep duff covered in powder provided an even slipperier kind of slow-going.

A brief respite from the talus field.

At 9:40 we arrived at the outlet of Boulder Lake and left the talus behind us for the day. From there we headed up the Boulder BM's pleasant NW ridge. Before reaching Boulder's summit, we traversed across the side of Boulder to its NE ridge in order to position ourselves for Hurricane Peak.

Hurricane Peak over Boulder Lake.

Boulder BM's NW ridge.

Iron breaking trail way ahead of the rest of us (as usual), summit of Boulder BM in the distance.

Hurricane Peak over Pear Lake.

By the time we gained Boulder's NE ridge it was 11:40 and we had to do a reality check. Hurricane Peak seemed so close, but could we get there and back in the remaining 5.5 hours of daylight? We decided not to risk it, which turned out to be a good decision.

On Boulder's NE ridge.

On Boulder's NE ridge.

I said, "It would be a better photo op if someone was up there". Iron said, "OK, I'll run up.". Then he did.

We headed up to the summit of Boulder BM and spent half an hour enjoying 360 degree views.

Iron, Dicey, and Yana on the summit of Boulder BM.

Leaving the summit of Boulder BM.

From Boulder BM we headed south toward point 5856. For much of this section it would have been easier to traverse on the moderate east side of the ridge rather than stick to the top of the ridge. We arrived at point 5856 at 1:48 PM.

Iron and Dicey on point 5856.

From point 5856 we tried to follow the trail south toward point 5483. "Tried", but only occasionally succeeded since snow hid the faint trail. We learned that the ridge itself doesn't go, you have to drop down and traverse the east side like the trail does.

Where's the trail? Slipping and sliding down a wet, grassy slope covered in a bit of snow.

At 3 PM at the 5,240'+ pass north of point 5856 we stopped for a second reality check, decided we were short on time, and made beeline west toward the trail. Steep, brushy slopes with a thin layer of snow (read SLIPPERY) made this challenging for a while. We left a few body-slide tracks. We had our headlamps on by the time we crossed Tenas Creek and we were very happy to see the trail on the other side of the creek. We were back at the car at 5:05 PM.

This is becoming a pattern.

9.5 hours round trip, one summit, and lots of good views and fun. On the drive back, we played the "not me" game. I lost before I even knew there was a game going. Dicey then informed me that the loser writes the trip report.

[puzzlr]

I think real losers actually have day jobs. What is it with these hikes on every sunny day? Nice to see someone is having fun.

[Guiran]

Very nice. UWCC tried to do this a number of years ago as an early season snowshoe trip and a number of us ended up doing full body post-holes in the talus field. I have fond memories.

[Yana]

Wow, Gabriel, I can't believe you actually wrote the trip report. This was a beautiful trip, but an exercise in very tenuous footing almost the entire way. It didn't take much of an incline at all to go slithering once you lost your footing. In short - a typical November outing that makes you wish there was either more snow or less snow, but certainly not the amount of snow present. It was also quite chilly, especially when we were out of the sun. Favorite quote by Iron: "Isn't it interesting how my ice axe freezes to my body?" Then he demonstrated by touching it to his pant leg. Here are some photos:

[dicey]

Puzzler: I'll let you in on our secret to sunny day hikes : Wednesdays! Guiran: I sort of remember that TR, so I looked it up. You guys had at least twice as much snow as we did. We didn't really need or use snowshoes very much at all! Gabriel: I didn't expect you to take that game seriously, but nice TR! Ah November, why do you taunt me so? It was hard to give up Hurricane, but I'm a bit of a loopaholic, so there you go. Views were superb, an inch to a foot of powder over whatever happens to be on the ground (grass, rocks, bigger rocks, sticks, duff, logs, branches, etc.) - not so nice.

Yana in the powder covered boulders

1 label

more boulder field 'fun'

Hurricane Peak

Mike and Gabriel on the slippery traverse above boulder lake

Playing in the snow

tracks

[Tom]

Looks like a fun loop. Any shots of the puddle at 5520? I've never bothered to wander over that way but always wondered what it might look like.

[Backpacker Joe]

I have a picture of that somewhere. I was there once on my way around to Toketie.

[seattlehikertoo]

Looks like you had great weather even if the snow was a slip-fest. I was actually going to do this exact route (maybe not exactly) on Wed, but did not finish my work in time. Tomorrow I am doing a solo trip - still debating on where.

[Magellan]

Gorgeous pictures. What a pretty area.

[Lindsay]

Nicely written gabrielx. So lovely to read one of your TRs and get to enjoy your photos, too. Dicey, I believe the day is referred to as Wednesaturday! For some reason it is a consistently better day to be out, I think I'll be adjusting my work schedule once I'm back from the swamp lands. I do believe we found the UWCC "plow" on one of those early season trips when winter comes to the Cascades in November. May hikers need less wallowing expertese when chasing after Iron.

[iron]

a great trip indeed. many thanks to gabriel and his most excellent navigation. that snow was slick! i've never been on 10-20* slopes and been worried about slipping before.

fresh snow and blue skies await

walking through slick talus

boulder lake creek

looking down valley

beauty

white boulder lake

slick goodness

love it!

gotta love november

sky reflecting in the lake below

glass

perfect

splashes of white

texture

boulder benchmark

swirly

hurricane peak

like someone has made some turns

parting clouds

ahh, better

all smiles

gabriel on ridge

rising clouds

winter is here, we hope

nearing boulder's summit

won't see these trees much longer

woot!

mini snowballs

gabriel, enjoying it

the ladies

yep!

patches of red

treed ridgeline

gorgeous views

snowy trees

walking the ridge of huckleberry

caked

fading light

awesome dark lakes!

[Mtn Man]

Nice TR...but who is this Gabrielx character???? Good to see you back on the grid, we have to tour again soon! B)

[loper]

Great photos! Wednesdays Rock! L