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boot up Old Not Bold Hiker
Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 4745 | TRs | Pics Location: Bend Oregon |
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boot up
Old Not Bold Hiker
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Sun Jan 18, 2009 12:29 am
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The meandering, relaxing, just dinking around and exploring and photographing route. Just 5.32miles, max elevation 4019 feet, about 1390feet total elevation gain. and a nice soak in the sun for lunch. pace was relaxed.
A LAZY day, getting out of the gray (which turned out to scrub out of the lowlands too, for the first time in AGES). Working on getting back into the swing of hiking after storms and flooding kept us down low for too long.
What was up with EVERYONE using telemark skis on that trail? Used to be mainly snowshoers but this time it was a stream of telemark skiers with only a couple of us old farts using snowshoes. It just didn't look like good conditions for skiing to me. One HUGE group of snowshoers started in right behind us, but we never saw them again.
Stats:
Mileage: Not much.
time: Lots.
Elevation gain: just a tiny bit.
Max altitude, about 4019feet.
I REALLY like this route for getting lots of photos of pretty amazing icicles on the network of creeks that you cross. And there were a lot more obvious crossings than usual. In fact the ice bridges were starting to get a bit thin and we kept as light as possible crossing most of them.
biggest challenge was getting down to and up from the creek with steep and deep banks of snow.
I switched back and forth between trying my new cheapo but effective MSR denali snowshoes which worked MUCH better than my cheapo tubular frame snowshoes I was using. But the snow was so hard and crusty that I switched to Kahtoola MicroSpikes for most of the day.
I was personally quite happy to NOT be on skis on that trail.
We found a sunny sheltered place to bask in the sun and have lunch at our turnaround spot. Stayed there way to long soaking up the rays and munching lunch.
The photos pretty much tell the story.....
My new snowshoes, Cheap but effective. Dicey crossing. Hardest part was getting down to and out of the creek with the walls of snow. Thom in front of mini waterfall Lots of ice bridges like this, and some seemed a bit sketchy. One possible crossing. ...naw..... Deep in the mini-glacier exploring the small glaciers Creek flow with ice brush Alien hatchery....they are out there Ice brush over the creek dangly ice over flowing creek LOTS of skiers this day. One of the major creek crossings Snoqualmie Pass, CommonWealth Basin water fall Ice goose bumps V-groove in ice v-groove.....Groovy. framed small waterfall Ice branches and small waterfall Snoqualmie Pass, CommonWealth Basin Ice Nubbles Still in the fog in the early morning Snow mounds Udderly amazing icicles Icey crossing....thank gawd for MicroSpikes Red Mountain with waterfall in the foreground Red mountain with clear sky climbing out of the fog Well hung ice Blue ice clouds Snoqualmie Pass, CommonWealth Basin snow clouds Creek Icicle frame Ice fringe Snoqualmie Pass, CommonWealth Basin ice covered branches Snoqualmie Pass, CommonWealth Basin Waterfall 1/17/09
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bleeper Member
Joined: 15 Oct 2008 Posts: 41 | TRs | Pics Location: East of Eden |
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bleeper
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Sun Jan 18, 2009 5:48 am
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Awesome pictures, dude! And it is much better that you are near all that ice rather than me - it looks cold!
And you got above the clouds, proving, if only to yourself, that the large yellow ball in the sky is still extant - well done.
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boot up Old Not Bold Hiker
Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 4745 | TRs | Pics Location: Bend Oregon |
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boot up
Old Not Bold Hiker
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Sun Jan 18, 2009 9:30 pm
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bleeper wrote: | Awesome pictures, dude! And it is much better that you are near all that ice rather than me - it looks cold!
And you got above the clouds, proving, if only to yourself, that the large yellow ball in the sky is still extant - well done. |
twas a bit on the coolish side
It certainly wasn't the 40 degree temps predicted for the upper elevations, due to the inversion layer. It was definitely below 30degrees for most of the hike. We tried denial for awhile, then I decided putting on a fleece was a better way to get warm.
Not sure what happened to the inversion layer and lowland cold and fog. I got back to the flatlands and it was sunny and warm and good weather for washing the car to find out what color it was.....blue....who knew?
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Bedivere Why Do Witches Burn?
Joined: 25 Jul 2008 Posts: 7464 | TRs | Pics Location: The Hermitage |
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Bedivere
Why Do Witches Burn?
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Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:31 pm
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Neat pictures! I really like the ice covered branches over the creek.
I think you probably had to get up higher to experience the inversion layer. I can tell you that it was balmy and warm at about 5800 feet down by Mt. Rainier on Saturday but got colder as you descended.
It's also possible that Snoqualmie Pass area was kept colder by cold air flowing out of Eastern WA. I wasn't anywhere near a pass so wouldn't have been affected by that.
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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 Jan 19, 2009 12:51 am
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Cool pictures of all the ice shapes.
“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien
“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien
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boot up Old Not Bold Hiker
Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 4745 | TRs | Pics Location: Bend Oregon |
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boot up
Old Not Bold Hiker
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Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:37 pm
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Chainsaw_Willie wrote: | Neat pictures! I really like the ice covered branches over the creek.
I think you probably had to get up higher to experience the inversion layer. I can tell you that it was balmy and warm at about 5800 feet down by Mt. Rainier on Saturday but got colder as you descended.
It's also possible that Snoqualmie Pass area was kept colder by cold air flowing out of Eastern WA. I wasn't anywhere near a pass so wouldn't have been affected by that. |
I think there is a cold pocket on Snoqualmie Pass. I noticed the ski area up there seemed to be the only place around that was socked in with fog, lower or higher. Reading other trip reports from the weekend shows the same localized trend in that general area. Cold and foggy right at the Pass, and beautiful weather everywhere else.
At least we didn't get the wind that Pratt did! It was almost dead calm the whole day, which really helped the comfort level.
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DIYSteve seeking hygge
Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 12655 | TRs | Pics Location: here now |
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DIYSteve
seeking hygge
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Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:47 pm
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boot up wrote: | What was up with EVERYONE using telemark skis on that trail? Used to be mainly snowshoers but this time it was a stream of telemark skiers with only a couple of us old farts using snowshoes. |
Hey, those are great pics, some good candidates for the 2010 calendar!
We've been skiing in Commonwealth Basin -- usually en route to Red, Lundin or Snoqualmie Mtn. -- for years. Sometimes we see more skiers than snowshoers, sometimes vice versa. I cannot imagine why anyone would ski the frozen snowpack this past weekend.
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Sabahsboy Member
Joined: 18 Jul 2006 Posts: 2484 | TRs | Pics Location: SW Sno County |
Love the waterfall photos....fascinating. The other worldly snow/ice shots (in a glacier?) are amazing.
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