Forum Index > Trip Reports > Mt Townsend, ONF, 26 May 2023
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meck
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meck
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PostSat May 27, 2023 10:17 pm 
Mt Townsend trail #839, ONF, Friday 26 May 2023 Fire Season is basically upon us.... I took some time off on Friday to go up Mt Townsend with my wife and a friend. I dropped them off at the upper TH, then drove back down to the lower TH to hike up and meet them. The upper TH has a bad habit of getting people boxed in on nice weekends (though it didn't end up too bad on Friday). I began the hike up from the lower TH, and as I was passing by the trail shelter near Sink Lake, noted a smoky smell in the air. There was a recently burnt, large chunk of oversized wood in the fire pit; I assumed it was from that, but then noticed a couple off trail near the lake. After greeting them and asking them if they noticed the smoke smell in the air they mentioned they had noticed it too. They'd found the source while getting some water for their dog at the lake. It appeared that a recent camper had maybe dumped some burning remnants (cinders, garbage, who knows?) about 30' off trail and it was now smoldering in the forest duff eek.gif . They had managed to excavate down ~18" and were in the process of dumping water on it and the burning periphery. I joined in with a large plastic bag grabbing water from the nearby creek, and estimate that we must have dumped 35-50 liters on it and the edge trying to soak everything. It stopped smoking, did not seem hot to the touch, and then we parted company (I've sent photos and a report of the location to the ONF offices). I'm so glad they found it, I probably would not have seen it unless it had been smoking steadily.
Note the yellow notice below the trail sign...
Note the yellow notice below the trail sign...
note the unattended fire remnant; another hiker couple found and were working to put out, I helped join in
note the unattended fire remnant; another hiker couple found and were working to put out, I helped join in
here is the location w.r.t. the shelter
here is the location w.r.t. the shelter
I finally caught up with my wife and our friend just before Camp Windy. The trail up to Camp Windy is snow free now. There was a substantial amount of snow on the ground there (18"-3') amongst the trees, but generally the boot path along the trail was pretty clear for navigation.
typical snow on the ground around the camp... any Memorial Day backpackers would be on this.
typical snow on the ground around the camp... any Memorial Day backpackers would be on this.
We parted ways at the junction to Silver lakes, and I took a side trip up to W peaks to the south along the goat path (its getting more and more popular based on the tread). There was a bit of compact snow across the trail just before the saddle, but it was not too bad (easy to kick steps into it). The route over to W Peaks was basically all melted out (and only precarious in the one spot). Lots of tiny wildflowers were poking out. I had a quick snack, then headed back over to the main summit to meet them.
Summit of Townsend from W Peaks.
Summit of Townsend from W Peaks.
Silver Lakes, all frozen over
Silver Lakes, all frozen over
The summit of Towsend was less busy then I'd expected (maybe 10-15 different hikers passed through during my short stay), and the weather had worked out spectacularly. Still plenty of snow on the interior peaks to the west, though Baldy & Tyler Peak were looking pretty dry/thawed out, maybe some snowfield to cross to summit Graywolf Ridge. Lots of snow on the peaks around Royal Basin's drainage.
Obligatory shot looking south from the summit
Obligatory shot looking south from the summit
I bounced over to the north summit, got a good view up the Tubal Cain trail (looked snow free to Buckhorn Pass, then some snow on the meadows towards Mt. Buckhorn, though the ridges looked mostly clear) then headed back. The trip down was uneventful. The "fire pit" site near the shelter appeared to be OK on my way out (I added some more water to the periphery "duff"). A beautiful day in the woods, what a blessing it is to live here!

*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*

RodF, jaysway, Anne Elk, Geezer, Gimpilator, zimmertr, Kascadia, Salal, Hesman, Now I Fly, silence, John Mac, reststep, awilsondc, RichP, IanB, Tom  fourteen410
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fourteen410
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PostSat May 27, 2023 10:45 pm 
Kudos to you and the others for putting out the fire. What a bunch of morons rant.gif

jaysway, MtnManic, Now I Fly
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Blowdown
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PostSun May 28, 2023 5:53 am 
Looks like a great trip! And thank you for potentially saving the entire Olympic Peninsula from burning to the ground borank.gif

jaysway, MtnManic, Now I Fly
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Sculpin
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PostSun May 28, 2023 8:58 am 
meck wrote:
By golly, I do believe that you have stumbled upon the extremely rare Veronica dissecta ssp. lanuginosa! I have looked for it in the NE Olympics and thought I had found it only to discover that I had been fooled by the similar looking - and also disjunct in the NE Olympics - Phacelia sericea. V. dissecta is a common flower of the high Rockies, with a tiny population found in the Buckhorn area of the Olympics. Was it once a continuous distribution during the Ice Age? dizzy.gif

Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir

Pyrites
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IanB
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PostSun May 28, 2023 10:46 am 
Interesting, seemingly the same plant with two Latin names? I learned it as Cut-leaf Synthyris, or Synthyris dissecta. If you are in the Buckhorn in early spring, just behind the melting snow above 6,000 feet, it is locally abundant.

"Forget gaining a little knowledge about a lot and strive to learn a lot about a little." - Harvey Manning
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Dick B
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PostSun May 28, 2023 12:07 pm 
Here is Mt Townsend in '55 when our fire crew made a little stroll up that way and beyond. The old lookout was still there, but long abandoned. Not much has changed other than that. The peaks are still where they were then.

RodF, Pef, fourteen410, hikerbiker, RichP, zimmertr, meck
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Sculpin
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PostMon May 29, 2023 8:53 am 
Right, the name has changed. I learned it as Synthyris pinnatifida. Apparently I am not hiking up there early enough in the season to find it.

Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
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Geezer
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PostMon May 29, 2023 3:57 pm 
Love the photos. I was wondering how melted out Silver Lake was as I may head up there next week. Do you by chance know the names of the flowers you took pictures of?

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meck
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PostMon May 29, 2023 8:56 pm 
Thanks all for reading this. I was truly surprised that the burning extended as far as it did in the duff (I'd expected the soil and organic material to be moister). Dick B, I like those photos from '55! @Geezer: I've had a number of helpful folks name these before, but I still can't remember most of the flower names. See one of my photos above for Silver Lake; it still looked quite snowed in, and only partially melted out near the lake outlet. Here is a TR that someone posted from 13 May over on the WTA from Silver Lakes; it didn't look that different down low near the lake (the bowl above had melted a little bit).

*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
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Dick B
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PostTue May 30, 2023 8:51 am 
meck wrote:
Dick B, I like those photos from '55!
Just a short historical note regarding that '55 hike. Our foreman was a young guy by the name of Ray Franklin. He was raised in Sequim, graduated forestry at the U of W the following year and immediately entered the USMC thru the NROTC program. He retired 33 years later as a major general. I think that is quite unusual as people of that rank usually come from an academy. After he retired, he moved back to Sequim where he died in 2017. I never thought I would be on a fire crew led by a future 2 star general.

RodF, meck
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Sculpin
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PostTue May 30, 2023 9:35 am 
Geezer wrote:
Do you by chance know the names of the flowers
I'll jump in here. The first image is Smelowskia americana, second is Phlox diffusa, then Douglasia laevigata, kinnickkinnick, Veronica dissecta, and Douglasia again.

Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
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Geezer
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PostTue May 30, 2023 8:45 pm 
Thank you

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Geezer
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PostWed May 31, 2023 1:50 pm 
Sculpin, I have a question. For someone just learning about wildflowers, how do differentiate between Veronica dissecta and Olympic cut leaf synthryis? Thank you.

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