[Just_Some_Hiker]

[cascadeclimber]

[treeswarper]

Meanwhile on the other side of the Cascade Divide...the sun was shining and it was springlike for the second day in a row! A friend picked me up and we drove a whole half hour to reach the sno park. I don't have many pictures as it was hard to get out my camera--very hard. I've moved but haven't moved all my stuff and all day packs are 300 miles away. We skied a couple hours on the South Summit of Loup Loup pass. We were the first to arrive and saw one other person on our way back, but there were half a dozen vehicles parked when we came out. The trails had been groomed overnight. The wind was picking up when we left. We stopped for lunch at a taco wagon in downtown Okanogan and ate outside in the warm sun. I'm kinda glad I moved back. I only have my slow, but safe, fat skis here. The others are........300 miles away.

[Jake Robinson]

About six inches of slop on the higher elevations of Tiger today.

[whitebark]

Recently did a nice five mile hike on Tiger. Parked at the Tiger Summit trailhead, headed over to the NW Timber trail, which I followed for a short distance to the start of the Master Link trail, designed for climbing by bicycles. Followed the Master Link as it ascended at a easy grade through pleasant forest. Higher up, the trail was covered by snow and ice. At the next junction, I followed the brand new Inside Passage trail, which gradually descended to a nice viewpoint in a recent clearcut:

The snow-covered trail eventually joined up with the Joyride trail. I turned right and followed that trail downhill toward the NW Timber Trail. Midway, I diverted onto a maintenance access trail, which soon connected with a service road - easier hiking than Joyride, which features numerous "fun" dips and bumps that are tedious to hike over. I then followed the Timber Trail back to the trailhead. Pleasant, easy hiking with sunny spots and tumbling brooks. I would not hike these trails on weekends due to heavy bike traffic. Master Link may be o.k. for hikers (slow uphill traffic only) but Inside Passage could have high speed riders. The snow deterred the few weekday bikers when I was there.

[Jake Robinson]

Cable Line is snow free and the summit of WT3 is bare as of 3/13. I can't speak for the WT3 trail itself but I'd assume it's also snow free.

[NorDub]

There was some snow on the last stretch of the trail up to Middle Tiger this past weekend (3/10). I'd guess the last 0.75 miles or so were snow covered. All compact and at the time, was soft enough to avoid the need of spikes or poles for stability. Several inches of snow at the top of Middle Tiger which sits at ~2,600 feet. Was surprised that the trail wasn't really crowded at all, even on a nice Saturday. I took the trail that parallels West Side Road off of 18, and then hooked up with TMT. I looked, but there was no signage on the wooded summit. Maybe I missed it? I had seen signs on the West Tiger summits, so I was thinking there would be some here as well. Perhaps there would be some sort of geo metal marker on the ground if there was no snow?

[Jake Robinson]

Poked around the Lena Lake area today. I really lucked out with the weather, it was sunny and in the 50s and seemed to be crappy everywhere else in the Olympics. Trail to lower Lena Lake is essentially snow free. I started up the Upper Lena Lake trail and quickly hit continuous snow. Knee deep postholing started at 2300'. At 2500', about 1.5 miles from the lower lake, there was avy debris across the trail. I took a break here. While I was stopped, I saw a small avalanche come down across the valley. Decided to turn around and come back on a safer day. Next I went up the Valley of the Silent Men. I hadn't been here since I climbed The Brothers in 2010. I forgot how beautiful it is. Sparse snow up to the bridge crossing, becoming deeper after that. At 2500' the ski and boot tracks I was following disappeared. I wallowed around in deep, wet snow for a bit, occasionally postholing up to my waist, before I decided to bail.

Views from Upper Lena Lake trail

Upper Lena Lake Trail

Lena Lake

VOTSM

VOTSM

VOTSM

VOTSM

Peakaboo views from VOTSM

Lots of fresh blowdown in VOTSM

VOTSM

Almost like summer

Lena Lake

Lena Lake and VOTSM

[Just_Some_Hiker]

Mailbox Peak (Old Trail) - 3/15/18 It was a very nice day up at the Mailbox. The trail is dry until about 1.5 miles in. After that there are patches of ice which become continuous around 1.8 miles. Microspikes highly recommended. Above treeline there is a good bootpack to the summit. I wore boots expecting muddy conditions down low and sloppy snow up high, but I definitely could have got away with trail runners. There was enough snow on the talus field to glissade down.

[FungiFan]

Mt Walker ONF Spring Training. Quick hike up and down Mt Walker with packs to start getting ready for the new season.

Mt Baker, Quilcene, WA in foreground

Constance, Warrior, Buckhorn and Iron

Had the place to ourselves on the way up, ran into a handful of people on the way down. Small patches of ice at the very top, probably gone after yesterdays sunny day. FF

[Jake Robinson]

Beautiful day in NCNP with *trace.

[cascadeclimber]

Skinned up the Commonwealth, up toward Guye, across Cave, and up toward Snoqualmie. A localized low cloud deck that reduced viz to a very flat 20 feet and some crazy north and south facing cornices on the same ridge turned us around about 20 minutes below the summit. Skied back down, skinned back across Cave, and followed a good boot track up Guye. Skied from the north summit down to the Commonwealth and back to the car. Snowpack is decidedly WEIRD right now, but thanks to the afternoon clouds it was very stable. Nothing more than surface cracking in a shallow 1" light wind slab noted, and that rarely. I do think this snowpack is going to result in some big wet slides later this spring; it's quite a bit less dense than normal. I haven't been up the Commonwealth in a LONG time in winter. Man, that area gets way more winter use than in the late 90s/early 2000s. Creek crossings were not an issue. Feeling too lazy to upload pics with FTP to post links. Think snowy with broken morning sun followed by clouds, whiteout, and then some skiing under the cloud deck.

[bobbi]

last day of winter hike to the New Dungeness Lighthouse, Sequim

[kitya]

[Just_Some_Hiker]

Mailbox Peak (Old Trail) - 3/20/18 The trail is bare and dry for the first 1.5 miles. After that patches of ice start showing up. Compacted snow/ice becomes continuous around 1.7 miles. Microspikes recommended. Good bootpack to the summit. Trail runners were fine.