[Walkinaround]

[cascadeclimber]

[Just_Some_Hiker]

[cascadeclimber]

[cascadeclimber]

[Nancyann]

"You haven't seen the sun for 35 days?" The young college student asked incredulously as we sat atop Manashtash Ridge basking in the sun. "You must feel like a prison inmate escaping from prison!" I nodded in agreement, "Yes, that is EXACTLY what it feels like!" Earlier in the morning my Southsound hiking pal of 45 years had met me in North Bend with high hopes of heading east in search of some much-needed sunshine. We stopped by the Cle Elum Ranger Station where a helpful gal suggested Manashtash Ridge from the end of Cole Road in Thorp. Two miles to the top with an elevation gain of 1800 feet and great views everywhere. Despite some very icy patches and a little slippery mud to negotiate, this turned out to be a great mid-week destination. We only saw a few other people on the trail that day, mostly friendly college students, and the sun felt so WARM! Some slick spots and lots of mud approaching the top, a little challenging for my Chacos, but doable.

Manashtash Ridge 2/8/18

Cloud drama looking towards the Cascades.

Manashtash Ridge 2/8/18

Manashtash Ridge 2/8/18

Manashtash Ridge 2/8/18

Manashtash Ridge 2/8/18

Nice views of the Yakima Hills

Manashtash Ridge 2/8/18

The evening shadows were beautiful at the end of the day!

Manashtash Ridge 2/8/18

Manashtash Ridge 2/8/18

Does anyone know what kind of birds the bird houses are for?

[RichP]

[MattP.]

Marten Lake yesterday. Should have brought snowshoes... Route is easy to follow.

[rubywrangler]

Had to be back in town early yesterday so went to Cave Ridge via Commonwealth Basin. Well, our intended destination was Guye Peak but we hit the saddle a bit more toward Cave Ridge and decided to go there instead since it's higher. The trail to/through CB is a well-packed snowshoe highway/skin track; I didn't put on snowshoes until ~4000', well after we left the basin. There is one steep slope to traverse between the saddle and the top of Cave Ridge, ice axe recommended. Also recommend remembering to flip down the heel elevators on your snowshoes before attempting to cross, which I did not do Gorgeous day!

lundin to red

chimney rock, thomson, lemah

cloudy guye from cave ridge

cloudy s. fork snoq valley

she ran circles around us all day

snow pillows and ruby tracks in commonwealth basin

[kiliki]

Lovely day on the Carbon River trail but dear God, the gunfire! Target shooters on FS land across the river never let up and we hiked to the sound of semi automatic gunfire. Is it always like that? No joke, it wad nice to get back to my house in the city where it was quiet. Except for that, this is a great easy winter hike and we saw folks of all ages and abilities. ETA: Rubywrangler I love that photo of your dog. Attachment deleted by Admin. How to post an image.

[Nancyann]

For some dumb reason, Hiking Partner and I chose to spend a rare gorgeous sunny February day in the freezing cold shadow of Mt. Baring. I was just curious to see if the bootpath from Barclay to Eagle Lake still existed, because I don't like the gnarly road from the Beckler side, and I want to explore that area this year. It actually turned out to be a good day to locate the trail, because the underbrush hasn't grown up yet and there was surprisingly little snow. Icy conditions on the Barclay trail, ready for some luge action!

2/12/18

The bridge was slicker than s***!

2/12/18

Hiking Partner's Plotthound sniffed out the trail in a big mess of blowdowns as we headed up the ridge.

2/12/18

It's all about the adventure!

2/12/18

The path was vague, but we found some cairns to be helpful. Looking back at the way we came shows a surprising lack of snow.

2/12/18

We made good progress up the ridge to a nice waterfall crossing below the talus slope, which looked to have several feet of snow on it. This seemed like a good spot to turn around, as the shadows deepened. Late afternoon light on Merchant.

2/12/18

Obligatory photo of Baring.

Mt. Baring 2/12/18

[Just_Some_Hiker]

Mailbox Peak - 2/17/18 It actually felt like winter up on Mailbox today. The trailhead was quiet and I only encountered a few people on the mountain. Lots of fresh snow. VERY WINDY. Consistent snow coverage starts around 2,500 ft., I'd guess. Falling branches and limbs everywhere. Decent boot pack for a while but then it stops dead at the talus field. I didn't have gaiters or snowshoes so I turned around there. Summit area was entirely socked in.

[kitya]

Thompson lake (attempt) 19 Feb 2018. My time to be lazy. Had not much time, so tried to go to Thompson lake via Granite creek/Lakes. I failed to reach the destination. Apparently it snowed overnight in North Bend and when I drove in the morning all roads had a inch or two of fresh white powder, including middle fork road and the new granite creek trail parking lot. Everything is white, so pretty! New trail is really well made, like an interstate of trails. Well, until it joins the 'granite creek connector' trail, when it becomes just an abandoned logging road. Scrawny matchstick like second growth trees are around the trail. It is a bit sad. Because so many people use this trail to Granite lakes no snowshoes were needed, there was a packed tench under a few inches of fresh powder. Now after turning to Thompson lake conditions change immediately. It is a lot of very deep and very soft powder. I had to put on not only snowshoes, but even add flotation tails. They helped a lot, though I wish I figured it out sooner, without trying snowshoes with no tails first. Once there is a lot of ice stuck to the snowshoes, putting on flotation tails becomes a real hassle. Finally logging road ends and trail enters real forest with big trees. It is really pretty (and really cold). Eventually we stopped just about 300 feet before reaching the ridge top, where trail goes over and down to Thompson. Just a few feet But it was simply too steep and my snowshoes were not cutting it. Somehow around 4000 feet in the forest conditions changed again and instead of soft snow it became an inch of powder over very hard ice. I was sliding and I forgot to take my ice axe and crampons. I did take my microspikes though. Maybe I should have tried them? Don't know. It was just too cold and miserable at that point. Also we had to get back to North Bend before 4pm. This is why everyone should hike with the dog. You can always blame turn around on the dog and she can't deny it. Well, 4pm is the closing time for Geogia's bakery in North Bend. If you don't know, they bake THE ABSOLUTELY BEST DOG COOKIES IN THE ENTIRE STATE OF WASHINGTON. Seriously. My dog loves them. Highly recommended. We got the cookies just in time.

~14 miles round trip to the turn around point with 4000 feet gain https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2509276446 If you want to try, we left a pretty good trail almost up to the ridge and with an ice axe it will be a breeze getting over to the ridge and to Thompson the next few days before new snow.

[Just_Some_Hiker]

Mailbox Peak - 2/25/18 Old trail. For some reason the gate was closed so the lower parking area was packed. There was snow all the way down to the trailhead, and it was snowing when I started and when I finished. There was a good bootpack up until the talus field but then it turns into a post-hole mess. People were going directly up the talus field instead of following the trail. No snowshoes needed even though one guy said to me, quite emphatically, that they were required. No views but I thought the conditions were fun. As I was heading up to the summit with sixteen layers on, a woman -- who seems to be a Sunday regular -- ran passed me in running shorts. Hardcore.

[cascadeclimber]

I thought maybe that was you. I saw that woman in shorts on my way down. She said something about putting on pants...I had severe shrinkage just thinking about how cold I'd have been in shorts. Yeah, man, that snow was DEEP up there today. I took the old route to the boulders and ended up waist deep in a couple deep drifts. Excellent workout. No crowds. Trees were pretty with rime. I'll take this any day over the summer nonsense. Rimey trees have endured some unpleasant weather recently.

Butt-arse (leg?) cold, windy, and deep snow 20 feet away, but these rocks in the boulder field are wet. Picard? Are you in there observing us, Picard?

Nope, no one in here observing you idiots. No one.

My new YakTrax self-destructed on the way down. They lasted for parts of three hikes. Sigh. Edit to add: I decided to give myself a break and come down the new switchbacky trail in the boulders. It was a turd-festival of floundering. The old route with the kicked steps is much easier right now.