[meck]

Hike: Tunnel Creek Trail #841 from the Dosewallips side to the ridge line between Dosewallips and Tunnel Creek, Olympic National Forest Date: 17 December 2011 Elevation Gain: 750ft to 5050ft = 4300 ft Weather: Perfect! Pictures to be added later. One word to describe the weather conditions: Warm! Left the trail head on the Dosewallips side of trail #841 at 8am. It was pretty chilly and damp (probably around 30-35 degrees) along the river but once above about 2,000 feet it got pretty warm pretty quick (and not just because of the trail's relentless grade). Snow first started showing up on the trail at ~3,800 feet, by 4,400 feet it was continuous. Trail hard to follow beyond that, thankfully a hiker's tracks from earlier in the week lead the way almost all the way to the ridge line.

Snowy trail

The snow conditions felt more like mid June or early July then December. Snowshoes helped prevent post-holing and are recommended, didn't really need them until about 4,800 feet. Microspikes or something similar might be a good idea if you get an early morning start before the compact snow/ice on portions of the trail has softened up. Skies were blue, the air temperature must have been in the upper 50s or 60s (temperature inversion?). I only needed the fleece jacket in the shadows, in the sun it was too warm! Views of the north side of Mt. Jupiter were great, and Mt. Constance was a sight to behold. Rainier was even visible to the south east.

Mt Jupiter

Mt Constance

Mt Jupiter and Mt Rainier

The Camp Robbers were out and about, snooping for crumbs from my bagel. Also spotted some other birds (not robins) with red breast/chin feathers. They were all twittering away quite loudly.

Had I not known better (and the sun not been so dang low) I would have thought it was July up there. Left the ridge line at 1210, back at the TH by 2pm (knew I was close when the temperature felt like it had dropped by 10-20 degrees and was damp again). Beautiful trip on a beautiful day (not bad for December).

[IanB]

Nice hike for December! Someday I must give the Dosewallips half of that trail a try. Your mystery birds are Pine Grosbeaks - two males and a female.

[silence]

that's a great shot of mt constance .. i hope you don't mind me downloading it to my desktop for future reference

[trestle]

[halffull]

The "other birds" are Pine Grosbeaks. Nice photo of males and a female.