[RichP]

A little hike up to Fuller Mtn on the North Fork. This is the second year I've been taking my daughter up to clean the trail a bit on Thanksgiving. We took out some trees on the lower end and walked up to the top. Some of the larger trees that were across the upper end of the trail have been sawn out. It takes a little nose work to reach the summit once the trail crests the ridge but it's not too bad. We skipped the nice viewpoint just beyond as low clouds and fog shrouded the area.

In the beginning..

Typical stuff over the trail

Cleaned up

Popping out of the forest in the lower section to the quarry area

On the rocky traverse along the western side of the peak

Arriving to just below the summit where the tread disappears under sword fern

clouds on the summit

Ten Creek log crossing is getting spongy

[timberghost]

Thanks for sharing

[zimmertr]

Acadia National Park

South ridge of Cadillac

Shoreline

Freeze/Thaw Cycles

Islands

More Islands

Icy conditions

Thought it was a moose at first

Enormous mansion just outside the park boundary

The Featherbed

Dorr and Cadillac

Beehive?

Tiny woodpecker

Spooky Roadwalk

[klar]

spent last weekend in the glorious weather on the coast exploring the Quinault and other areas. Autofocus in the fog can be problematic :]

[klar]

walked up Buck creek "trail" off the Suiattle yesterday morning early in the am wearing full raingear from the car.

[markh752]

This is how the photo showed up, no photoshop...

[Comma]

I really just wanted to share a picture of this snowman I made on top of Bald Eagle on Saturday. It's my favorite snowman so far this season. Crappy snow conditions, amazing views.

He looks like he's dancing!

[br]

Lots of glide cracks and rain runnels

Short but super airy snow traverse

<3

[klar]

Drove up to Newhalem last weekend looking for dawn shots of the Pickets. Cloud cover instead sent to me to the ponds across from the Thornton creek turn off from 20. Short hike and some wet brush bashing led to some views from the ponds. The spawners were a pleasant surprise so late in the year.

[Cyclopath]

[Sky Hiker]

Follow the yellow brick road, follow the yellow brick. Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow brick road.

[Now I Fly]

Defiance Ramble, Spooky how little snow there is.

Spikes, Snowshoes, Crampons, Axe.

[zimmertr]

The Middle Fork is basically snow free and the flowers are blooming in Issy. Laid around in the sun for an hour with Mosey and it felt like it was April more than February.

[catsp]

Bluebird conditions today. Well, maybe not bluebird...

[themountainwhispers]

wed, 2/7/24: eagle creek trail to tunnel falls, back to eagle-benson ridge route to benson plateau, pct to cascade locks and return. 26 miles, 6000' up (and down) normally i'd do this trip report at oregonhikers.org, but it has been down for a few days -- anyone know why? conditions update: there was a crew working on the eagle creek trail on wed; much of the snow could be cleared soon. when i was there, there were a few snowpack sections where spikeless shoes might might slide if the snow was icy (on cold morning), but runout was tolerable. on the most dangerous cliffs, there was clear tread on the outside edge; and boot track everywhere you had to cross snow. i passed 3 people, not including the work crew, on this high-popularity trail. several folks have described the eagle-benson as a "lost trail". it's true that there's a good amount of poison oak, brush, and blowdown, but there's also a lot of elk trails. going in winter is helpful, as much easier to see the topography and the elk spoor, etc. i also avoided the initial tread up the face of the ridge, as with wet soil seemed it could slide and runout is dire; traction was better going directly up and over the first ridge before the waterfall. after crossing the creek, i recommend staying directly on the ridgeline (much less blowdown for obvious reasons). snow began at around 3000' and got steadily thicker till at the top of the plateau it was full enough to cover pretty much all blowdown. this made walking easy on the compact snow, but staying on the pct a bit tricky. paying close attention to topography helped a lot. there was no sign of prior (human) foot traffic since the last storms. i had planned to cross the plateau and take the "lost" ruckel ridge route back, but was losing light so bailed via the pct instead. as one descends the pct and snow gets thinner (but still near the plateau) there are some large patches of blowdown to navigate. but once the trail drops below 3600' or so and begins the big descent there's not too much and it's pretty fast. a gorgeous and rewarding hike!

[Comma]

Second failed attempt at Garfield, this time I made a real go at it. Not enough snow cover for the north gully route. I turned around at the exposed slab. If you're a real climber, you might be able to get past this steep icy slab, but I'm just a scrambler. The way things are looking, I'm not convinced this route will go for us mortals this season

spectacular campsite

where I turned around

campsite is that dot by the trees in the upper right corner