Forum Index > Trip Reports > Church on a Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012
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joker
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joker
seeker
PostTue Oct 09, 2012 11:20 pm 
We were interested in seeing some color. But most of the larch destinations seemed to be at decent risk of smoke/haze, and to be frank, I'm still a bit of a foliage snob after 18 years away from New England, and Larch is nice and all but I don't get nearly as excited about it as some of y'all do. It's so monochromatic compared to a mix of maple, birch, and evergreens on a New Hampshire hillside in peak fall glory. I miss the red hillsides. But we have red hillsides here, and some of them are up in the NW corner of the Cascades which seemed to hold a good chance of avoiding much haze in the NE winds that were predicted for Saturday. Having never done Church, and wanting a half decent workout, I suggested it and Skip agreed that it would be a good new one to try. There were three cars at the TH when we arrived at around 10:30AM. We saw all those parties and two more, but it still felt very uncrowded compared to other hikes in the area tend to be (YAB, Winchester, the stuff up near the ski area, Skyline Divide...). Perhaps it is due to the amount of vertical and how much of it is on switchbacks in forest. But most of it is quailty forest! And soon enough we emerged from forest into a nice open basin with, sure enough, a nice mix of reds and yellows and oranges and greens.
church mountain-1
church mountain-1
From here on up, the vertical was easy to gain - we were pulled up by the increasingly open and distant views.
church mountain-8
church mountain-8
church mountain-7
church mountain-7
The trail is mostly a well-built highway sort of trail, presumably built for accessing the lookout that used to be up top. But there is a brief bit of steep exposed hiking at the very end. No place for vertigo (in fact one of the parties on the hill on Saturday chose to make the spot on the ridge just before this steep bit their high point).
church mountain-6
church mountain-6
We got to enjoy the airy location of the former lookout (not the summit, which was nearby and which involves an apparently chossy and exposed scramble that held little interest for us) by ourselves for over an hour in the warm afternoon, watching the shadows grow longer. We particularly enjoyed spotting a bald eagle that was riding thermals up toward us from the Nooksack far below, and then it used that gained vertical to pop over the ridge we'd just hiked up and it sailed miles up the valley in a minute or so. I wonder if the moms teach their chicks where the various "elevators" are. There was modest haze of course, but nothing thick nearby, though we could see a layer of smoke over in front of what we assume was Glacier Peak, and there was either a strong marine layer or else smoke from the Shelton fire blocking all but the tips of the Olympics. And of course, we played "name that peak."
church mountain-5
church mountain-5
Finally we headed down, lingering a bit by where the creek crosses the trail in the middle of the meadow. The sun was starting to angle steeply across the meadow, mesmerizing us with shadows and translucent colors.
church mountain-3
church mountain-3
church mountain-2
church mountain-2
church mountain-4
church mountain-4
The trip back down the forest switchbacks reminded us of how much we'd climbed to get up to the meadows, but soon enough we were back at the car. A stop in Bham for dinner at Pepper Sisters for some good draft and chow rounded out the day (thought about the N. Fork Beer Shrine and Wedding Chapel but it looked crowded when we drove by - I'll try that place one of these years...).

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watsonskipsmith
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watsonskipsmith
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PostWed Oct 10, 2012 1:38 pm 
I myself did miss the special alpiney POWAH of da larch! But they will be ready for a visit another day... heres a link to few more photos from the day! http://www.flickr.com/photos/11723786@N06/sets/72157631735424959/

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