[williswall]

I wanted to scout the snow levels above 5000' for an upcoming trip up the Puyallup Cleaver, plus see how the West Side Road was faring. There were a few short sections of snow before Round Pass (4000') that required pushing the bike, but these were easily managed. Thanks to the person or people who place the flags at the Marine Memorial, very nice display this year right before Memorial Day. I paid my respects, then continued on bike up the West Side road to St Andrews. The park has placed some nice log bike racks at each of the trail heads. I was obviously wrong in my prediction last year that the extensive improvements to the WSR meant that shuttle service would begin this year. Although I didn't continue on the road to Klapatche Point, the road is in good condition with the usual branches and twigs and detritus with only one fallen tree to carry over; however, there is a substantial washout about half a mile from St Andrews that will require shoring up to keep the road open after this season (still enough room to drive around it). I stashed the bike in the rack and proceeded up the St Andrews trail, not encountering any snow until 5100'. Not my favorite for navigation, dirty forest snow, but the section was short and the trail emerged somewhat to deposit me on the snow covered meadow leading to Klapatche Park. Looks like this level at 5500' will be cleared out with continuing melt by the middle of June, which bodes well for Wonderland hikers from July onward.

Tahoma Creek:West Side Road

Tidied up Tahoma Vista circle

WSR more improvements ahead

WSR washout before St Andrews

Snow just below round Pass

New bike racks on WSR at trailheads

Narrow passage

Marine Memorial before Memorial Day

bike rack at St Andrews

I lolligagged for a bit but the forecast called for thunderstorms in the afternoon and I could see some developing in the distance, so exited the area, regained the trail proper and beat feet back to my bike. By the time I hit Round Pass again at 4000' the thunder was starting to peal in the distance, and I let the bike loose on the downhill. Talk about timing, after I put the bike on the rack and changed, it started to rain. I had reconfigured my Avalanche for stealth camping so had dinner at the Inn and spent the night in the parking lot. Totals for the day, 23 miles and 4100'

St Andrews patrol cabin

St Andrews trail below 5100'

Snow levels Klapatche Park (5500')

Navigation nightmare

Melt circles

Klapatche Park loo

Footprints

Tahoma Glacier, "sickle" visible left

Sunset Amphitheatre

Nature's march

Nighttime at the Inn

Munchin' by the road

Spring has sprung

Aurora Lake

Approaching Klapatche Park (5500')

Chimney

Cabin door

The next day I wanted a mild workout so parked at Paradise and proceeded lazily up the Muir snowfield, telling myself to go until I felt like I was working too much, which happened at 8900'. That weekend I was running a half marathon with my niece in Boston so had to take it easy, so turned around and tried not to tweak the legs on the sloppy snow in the descent. Parts of the summer trail are appearing around Pan Point. This day was under 6 miles and 3,000', making for a very pleasant two day outing.

Meltoff

Above Pan Point

Above the parking lot

Above the cloud sea

Nisqually Glacier

Pebble Creek

Perspective

Tricky spot

Of note, I've been slowly resurrecting my running this year, spurred on by my daughter, doing a half and a 15K with her, then committing to the Boston half with my niece. I haven't done any running of note since 2002, so the process of picking it up again at age 63 has been a bit of a hoot; however, one must be careful and meticulous in mileage increases to avoid injury at this age; I've had to quell the ego and pride and accept my slow times compared to years of yore, but it is getting slowly better. Hoping for continued success and luck as I venture back into perhaps marathons and ultras.

[hermes]

Meticulous reports as usual! Very informative. Thank you WW!

[RichP]

I'm planning to wander up that way with my bike for the first time this season. Thanks for the update.

[Brian R]

I hiked the road and Tahoma Creek to the suspension bridge a couple weeks ago and noticed all the WSR improvements and staging too. New bridge, even! Hopefully they're planning to reopen the road at some point. I would hate to think NPS is doing all this work for themselves only. They're two years past public input on their Wilderness Management Plan--and they've gone quiet. Very large brown-colored black bear just off the road. Not aggressive--but more curious than most.

[Brushbuffalo]

Quite the contrast in snow cover from 5100 to 5500. Nice to see the work being done around the West Side Road access.

[kitya]

Deer eats dandelions. Nice and tasty!