[Foist]

Crawled, clambered, gasped and groaned my way up to Kindy Ridge on Friday with two cousins and a cousin-in-law. Without question, the approach "trail" lived up (down?) to its reputation. I still can't believe this hike was in the old 100 Hikes in WA book. Our reward was two perfectly glorious days roaming the Cyclone Lake area and summiting Snowking (followed by the grunt back down on Monday). Perfect weather, no bugs, world-class mountain scenery. We followed the slabs and boulders all the way to the top of Snowking, then plunged and glissaded down the upper, more harmless portion of the glacier on the way back down. There are a couple spots involving downclimbing and a little exposure, especially crossing the last little notch before the final 100 foot summit block. But not death-defying. No snow crossing required at this point. We had heard there was a summit register, but we couldn't find it. The perfection was marred by only two things, both involving inconsiderate and illegal conduct by other hikers. First, upon arriving at the Cyclone Lake basin on Friday around sunset, we saw a wisp of smoke coming out of a clump of trees on a rise on the far side of the tarn just above Cyclone Lake. We found this odd, because ours was the only car at the trailhead (a handful of other parties showed up at various times over the weekend). We called out to see if anyone was tending this fire; no one answered. We went to check it out and discovered a smoldering pit of ash about 6 feet in diameter. The edges of the pit had bits of burning pine needles glowing red in a few spots. Essentially, this patch of dirt -- which was really collected tree duff from the clump of trees -- had been very slowly smoldering over a period of time, maybe since the prior weekend (definitely before they lifted the burn ban on August 30). The roots of the trees surrounding the pit were exposed, charred and covered with ash. There was no sign of a tree struck by lightning. That, plus the close proximity to an established campsite and fire ring, seemed to confirm that this fire was started by an ember jumping or being tossed into the clump of trees. Fortunately, our itinerary was rather leisurely, so we used some of our spare time to make repeated trips to the lake with bags and bottles in an attempt to douse the fire. We got help from a kind group of seasonal Park Service employees on their weekend off. Our efforts seemed to improve the situation significantly, and by Sunday there was no sign of any smoke. But then on Monday, as we were getting ready to leave, we saw a little bit of smoke starting to come out of one corner of the pit again. The problem was that the smoldering was occurring underneath the surface of the ground surrounding the pit, so we could not directly pour water on everything that was hot. After our trip, I alerted the ranger station, but I'm sure they will do nothing except *maybe* include it on the fire monitoring helicopter route. All this to say: if anyone is headed up there soon, watch out for this and maybe thrown some water on the hot spots if there is still any smoke. Hopefully the rain forecasted for this weekend will put this thing completely out before it starts really burning. I stupidly forgot to take a photo of the smoldering pit, but my cousin did, so I will post once I get it from her. Second, a young guy who arrived on Friday immediately began flying a loud, buzzing drone all around the basin. I advised him that drones are not allowed in wilderness areas. He told me, "OK, I'll end it." He finally landed it about 15 minutes after that, but then flew it several more times over the weekend from his campsite farther up the ridge. Not the biggest travesty in the world (certainly not as bad as leaving behind an out-of-control fire). Limited battery power meant the buzzing was only sporadic, and the group was otherwise quiet. But given that he actually knew that flying the drone was a) against the rules, and b) annoying other people, we thought it was pretty obnoxious. Obligatory photos:

Snowking Reflection

[Bootpathguy]

Great images. Thanks for sharing

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I've been wanting to head up there, but the approach has me intimidated. Thanks for dousing the fire. I've done that a few times in the back country. So careless, and so easy to take care of by the perps. Sigh. Beautiful pictures, looks like a great trip.

[Foist]

[pula58]

Good on you for putting out the fire! Thank you for being a good citizen/caretaker! Drones in the mountains, man do I hate that, and cell phones squawking, speakers on peoples backpacks, is there to be no escape, no peace?

[silence]

[Foist]

I was thinking on the way up how horrible and slippery that trail would have been if it was rainy because it's all dirt, which would turn into mud. I'm impressed.

[silence]

It was not only muddy but totally socked in. By the time we set up the tent we were soaked. But, the good thing was it cleared up for the climb and for the way out .... we got to see EVERYTHING we had missed, including some bears.

[pjhorst]

re: fire. Similar experience at Lower Jordan lake a few days prior to your trip - Tue 28th. Day hiked in, no other vehicles at the end of Illabot Creek rd. Had been wet/raining the weekend before (I day hiked Slide on Sat 25th and the woods were WET). Arrived at Lower Jordan lake around 1pm and found the fire pit at the large site by the outlet smoking and hot to the touch, a lantern base and rod (?) had been discarded in the fire pit and garbage (freeze dried bags) had been burned. Ashy remains were fully intact. I'm no CSI but couldn't piece it together.