[Allison]

This look back from the 1974 edition of 100 hikes for the Alpine Lakes Wilderness:

[Snowbrushy]

Mary Lou, Thank's for the memories. We did those trail's (troop 186) in 67/68 before it was changed. I was just a kid ..

[Timber Cruiser]

I did the reverse of that route (alternate included) in 67. I don't have that version of the "Hikes" books, but in my 1971 "102 Hikes..." a couple of passages from Ira about the Commonwealth Basin trail are; " Those who have watched the accelerating degradation of Snoqualmie Pass over the past 25 years can barely stand the pain of a visit." And after describing the first mile or so that passed through clearcuts and up a logging road he writes: "Now the outrage and sorrow can be submerged in pleasure,..". In his 1968 "100 Hikes in Western Washington" he wrote: "The next 1/2 mile climbss bleak logging shambles and roads.." Did he tone down the rhetoric in his latter books? I get a kick out of these passages now. I don't think I even noticed logging activities when I was hiking back then. Even after hiking down the Middle Fork road. I do remember hippies at Goldmeyer and garbage at Snow Lake!

[Sawyer]

There is definitely entertainment value out of old books. My copy of the original 100 Hikes in Western Washington (Louise Marshall, RIP) describes some interesting hikes that no longer work very well. Evergreen Mt, where the lookout exists, is a trip from Rapid River up some roads and much more trail than now. Enchantment Lakes was a scramble route from Snow Lakes. She complains about the slimy crossing of the dammed lake. Mt Pilchuck was climbed from the ski lodge. Kennedy Hotsprings still existed... oh yeah, that was only a few years ago. There was a shelter at Image Lake. An old trail drops down to Hwy 20 from Sauk Mtn. There is a photo of 25 Mountaineers hiking the Olympic coastline. The definitive guide to the CCT is "High Trails, A Guide to the Cascade Crest Trail", Robert H. Wills, 1962. Some day I'm gonna hike it from Snoqualmie to Stevens Passes.

[Allison]

I was up the MfK this weekend before the weather sent me home. Did a bit of hiking toward DMG and was commenting to Tom while we were hiking that the area had been logged once before. When I got home I was looking at the Goldmyer newsletter which says the upper valley had never been logged. I'm no expert, but was pretty sure the area had seen logging activity, and was glad to see that I'm not completely blind, and that the area had been logged before. The above account mentions active logging in the upper valley at the time of publication, 1971 for the first edition and 1974 for the reprint or the second edition. I would not say that human incursions before the area was made Wilderness are significant, but they are there. I also think that some sections of the trail were once an old roadbed, and would be interested to know if that is accurate. The area was logged once, possibly not all that long ago. Does anyone know the logging history of the area now included in the ALW, and part of the Upper Middle Fork River area?

[Quark]

I have copies of many of WTA's old Signpost magazines. I pulled out the Fall, 1974 one last night, and it was interesting to note that the same issues we're dealing with about now were a concern then as well: The avvy danger at Source Lake and how to make people aware in general (2 girls were buried by snow at Source Lake that year, and the magazine interviewed a FS ranger). Dogs on leashes. Wilderness management issues and questions. In General: The Mid Fk road closure was at issue. as far back as the first magazine, 1969 or so (I'll have to double-check). Image Lake: was completely overrrun and torn up - pre-Wilderness there were no limit rules and up to 50 boyscouts at a time were camped at the shore at any given weekend.

[#19]

[Quark]

yeah, you're right. my mistake. I have copies of the old Signpost magazines.

[Quark]

yeah, you're right. my mistake. I have copies of the old Signpost magazines.

[Brian Curtis]

I can remember work being done at the end of the midFork road in 1973. We were forced to park down the road a ways and walk the rest of the way. They were working above us. I heard some guy yell "Fire in the hole!" We started running but still ended up having rocks falling around us. I don't know what they were doing. Building road, probably. There's a log loader laying derelict in the old road that you use to get up to the Hardscrabble Lakes. That being there would indicate there was probably some logging going on and, if I remember correctly, the area that old road runs through has been logged.

[Allison]

[Tom]

Yes, I'm pretty sure it's been logged. I recall several stumps like this one.

[Backpacker Joe]

So where's the trip report? Hmm.

[Allison]

[Randy]

No, no. Perhaps this one from Tom's peakbagging collection.