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kitya
Fortune Cookie
Joined: 15 Mar 2010
Posts: 842 | TRs | Pics
Location: Duvall, WA |
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kitya
Fortune Cookie
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 Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:40 pm |
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9!
Little baby Cookie is 9!
It was her birthday yesterday and we scrambled Kyes peak, highest peak in the Monte Cristo group. On the summit I gave her the birthday gift, the new hedgehog, but she was not impressed. She is a serious lady now, she doesn't play with baby toys! Also she wanted food instead 
We arrived to the Blanca lake trailhead at 7:30 am and it was almost full already with more cars coming in. On the trail it was just a constant stream of people. Last time I was to Blanca was June 16th 2013. At that time Blanca was still snowed over and I still used snowshoes and the trail was not visible. Me and Cookie were completely alone at the lake. Things sure have changed now. This is the June 16th 2013 photo of Blanca.
But Columbia glacier is still majestic. Columbia is the female personification of the USA. With the name like Columbia you have to be majestic.
Wildfire smoke made the views a bit hazy, but we could still see the 3 volcanoes.
The way back was actually more peaceful. There were at least 15 tents at Virgin lake, so looks like most people stayed overnight instead of coming down.
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snoholic
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Joined: 07 Sep 2012
Posts: 29 | TRs | Pics
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snoholic
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Sun Aug 02, 2020 4:22 pm |
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I went up Kyes Friday and was surprised at the lack of hikers (and tents) I saw between the TH and Virgin. I thought it would be over run with grammers but maybe that was a last year thing and the tic tocs have yet to discover?
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neek
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Joined: 12 Sep 2011
Posts: 2338 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle, WA |
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neek
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Sun Aug 02, 2020 5:14 pm |
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Summit looks as scary as I remember. Nothing to grab onto if you slip! Again I'm amazed at what that doggie can do.
| snoholic wrote: | | I went up Kyes Friday and was surprised at the lack of hikers (and tents) I saw between the TH and Virgin. I thought it would be over run with grammers but maybe that was a last year thing and the tic tocs have yet to discover? |
They tried, but someone replied "Blanca Lake was sooo last year" and humiliation ensued. (ok not really.)
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Chief Joseph
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Joined: 10 Nov 2007
Posts: 7709 | TRs | Pics
Location: Verlot-Priest Lake |
Great photos and really jealous of your Uber cool hiking partner!
Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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kitya
Fortune Cookie
Joined: 15 Mar 2010
Posts: 842 | TRs | Pics
Location: Duvall, WA |
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kitya
Fortune Cookie
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Sun Aug 02, 2020 8:06 pm |
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| snoholic wrote: | | I went up Kyes Friday and was surprised at the lack of hikers (and tents) I saw between the TH and Virgin. I thought it would be over run with grammers but maybe that was a last year thing and the tic tocs have yet to discover? |
I have seen your entry in the summit register than!
Apparently everyone decided to go on Saturday instead. And before you blame tiktok, there were also trail runners, serious looking climbers with helmets (I don't know where they went), and a large group of hunters in camo with absolutely huge guns, not striking me as typical tiktok users, but who knows, maybe some people combine all sins in one.
| neek wrote: | | Summit looks as scary as I remember. Nothing to grab onto if you slip! Again I'm amazed at what that doggie can do. |
It doesn't look as scary as Malachite peak (I just read your report!). It does look intimidating when you walk on the ridge, but once on it there is an easy way to go. Nothing to grab on, but mostly solid rock thankfully and there are little ledges everywhere. Doggie is 4x4 right, she can do anything For me and Cookie the little treed cliffs in the forest on the way Keyes actually posed a bit more of challenge. Also on the snow there were a couple of scary places. I brought my ice axe and crampons, but as usual I was too lazy to take them out and most of the time I just could kick steps in soft snow and it was fine. But in a couple of places that look exactly like everything else somehow it was super hard blue ice instead of snow, just hidden by a tiny snow layer. They are supper slippery and I did slide once, thankfully not to any cliffs.
| Chief Joseph wrote: | | Great photos and really jealous of your Uber cool hiking partner! |
Thank you! I think she is the best hiker. And she is not just the hiker, she is leader, always dragging me up!
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snoholic
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Joined: 07 Sep 2012
Posts: 29 | TRs | Pics
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snoholic
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Mon Aug 03, 2020 7:51 am |
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We chatted with the bear hunters as well, it was hard not to give beta on where the bears were currently at (not Blanca lake) as it looked to be a great experience for the kid but them bears are cute I couldn't bear to do it. Great pictures Kitya.
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Anne Elk
BrontosaurusTheorist
Joined: 07 Sep 2018
Posts: 2423 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle |
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Anne Elk
BrontosaurusTheorist
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Mon Aug 03, 2020 8:47 am |
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I have come to look forward to Cookie's latest adventure via her intrepid assistant Kitya's reports. Happy belated bday, Cookie!
It's been even longer since my last foraging trip to Blanca - the 90's. It was moody and misty. Saw no one. It was huckleberry time.
15 tents at Virgin Lake - hard to believe there's enough room for that. Hunters?? That would have shocked me even more than the mobs - had no idea there was a "season" for anything in August. Thanks for the great photo set and report.
"There are yahoos out there. It’s why we can’t have nice things." - Tom Mahood
"There are yahoos out there. It’s why we can’t have nice things." - Tom Mahood
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Mike Collins
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Joined: 18 Dec 2001
Posts: 3097 | TRs | Pics
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Bear season started Aug 1st.
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Cyclopath
Faster than light
Joined: 20 Mar 2012
Posts: 7744 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle |
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Cyclopath
Faster than light
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Mon Aug 03, 2020 11:24 am |
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Incredible! Great pictures (as always), this looks like an adventure. Looks ... pretty airy in places up there.
Happy birthday Cookie! 🥳
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BeardoMcGrath
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Joined: 16 Jan 2018
Posts: 143 | TRs | Pics
Location: Snohomish |
Nice report and pics. I also last visited Blanca in 2013 (4th of July); one of my first WA hikes and I regret not visiting later in the summer when the lake had melted out, given its popularity now! We hiked the Benchmark Mtn/Pass Creek loop Saturday and were not sad to skip the overflowing Blanca Lake parking at ~8:15.
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fourteen410
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Joined: 23 May 2008
Posts: 2629 | TRs | Pics
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olderthanIusedtobe
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Joined: 05 Sep 2011
Posts: 7709 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline |
| Mike Collins wrote: | | Bear season started Aug 1st. |
And it goes thru mid November. I can't for the life of me figure out why the season is so long. Seems ludicrous to me.  
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Chief Joseph
Member
Joined: 10 Nov 2007
Posts: 7709 | TRs | Pics
Location: Verlot-Priest Lake |
That ^ and especially the early start when so many people are out in the woods, Mid Sept to Mid Nov seems much more reasonable to me.
Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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altasnob
Member
Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 1408 | TRs | Pics
Location: Tacoma |
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altasnob
Member
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Tue Aug 04, 2020 9:21 pm |
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The teen who killed the woman on Sauk mountain mistaking her for a bear committed his crime on August 2, just after the season opened.
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