As we approach the New Year, everyone likes to review the events of the past year and reflect on them, so I will do the same concentrating mostly on my hiking. 2009 was my first full year out in the ‘real world’ and I loved every minute of it. I went on a few hikes in 2008 but really didn’t find my passion for the outdoors, and mountains in particular, until the second half of 2009. I only started this blog after getting my hiking GPS midway through October, so many of my hiking adventures did not get documented other than the stories posted with the pictures I took. Luckily I take a lot of pictures so the stories are there, they’re just not as developed nor are they accompanied by fun plots, maps, and statistics like my standard trip reports are now. 2009 was a busy, fun filled year both on the mountains and off. It was a year to cross a few things off of my long standing to-do list by taking a couple trips to the Olympic Peninsula as well as seeing Mt St Helens. I also met some impressive goals of hiking a total of 200 miles with an elevation gain of 10 miles. Here are some hiking stats for the year:
My first hike of 2009 was just to get outside and enjoy a nice day in February. At the beginning of the year I stayed close to Seattle, finding stuff near the I-90 corridor that was snow free. On the first hike I started with a bang, 10+ miles along the Iron Horse trail with a trip up to Cedar Butte and ending at Twin Falls. That was actually kind of fun because Justin and I had done a hike at Twin Falls in 2008 but we missed the top fall. Coming in from a different direction I was able to see everything. The hike overall was pretty boring though, following a wide, gravel path from the old railroad. There wasn’t much elevation gain and not much scenery besides all of the trees. The short hike up to Cedar Butte was probably the best part of it all. However, the hike did give me an excuse to use my brand new trekking poles which have gotten some good use over the year – that is, when I remember to bring them. The second hike was to Cougar Mountain, the first of many trips early in the year there. It is in Newcastle and very accessible with lots of easy trails. That is good and bad because that means the trails are also always crowded. The first hike was to De Leo Wall, although I did manage to sort of get myself lost with the overabundance of trails, but somehow found back to the trailhead as if nothing was awry.
March came and with it I had spring break visitors. You may wonder who would go to Seattle for spring break? People that love seeing me :-) First was one of my best friends, Ashley, who split her break from law school between a friend of ours in Colorado and me. The weather actually cooperated very well and we got a lot of sun to play in. We went kayaking from Agua Verde, my first trip onto Lake Washington. We did the hike to Rattlesnake Ledge, which was a lot of fun in the snow, for my third trip to the ledge. I love snow dusted mountains. We of course stopped to see the amazing Snoqualmie Falls, and we even went on my first snowshoeing excursion, a ranger led walk at Snoqualmie pass. I really enjoyed it and purchased snowshoes for more adventures in 2010. It was a great opportunity to become comfortable with snowshoes. A week after Ashley left my Mom came in on her spring break, but unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate quite as nicely. We did manage to get a hike in at Cougar Mountain to Coal Creek Falls in a light mist, followed by a great dinner and Margaritas at Billy McHales, which sadly closed this winter. We did go to the southern part of the Olympic Peninsula and drove through the Quinault temperate rain forest to find waterfalls and really big trees, but we didn't do any hiking. We also made a quick stop at the ocean so I could fly my kite on the beach. It wasn't the part of the peninsula that I really wanted to go to for hiking but we had fun and that area was much more accessible in one day.
April was a pretty quiet month, probably because I needed to rest up from all of the March excitement! I went to Gasworks, my favorite park in Seattle, the first of many trips there for the year to read and just enjoy being outside. Emily and I were frequent visitors for a while, playing catch and enjoying ourselves. We did go to Cougar Mountain one day and just hiked where our feet took us. Other than that I just played a lot of flag football during the weekends, both in the Underdog league and some pick-up games at Marymoor Park.
I consider May to be the start of my hiking season for 2009, even though I only got one hike in at the very end during the Memorial Day weekend. Again, it was a month full of flag football and time at Gasworks. I decided to move during the month as well, so two weekends were taken by searching for apartments and then moving into one less than a mile from my beloved Gasworks Park! My one hike was to Mt Si, a popular hike for many in the area and it was no different that day. It was a great weekend, I think summer found Seattle a month or so early this year. I grabbed my journal and actually relaxed at the top of Mt Si and wrote some – I think that was the second time I wrote and the last time I wrote, haha. Oops – at least I’m doing better with this blog. My Mom actually called me and asked if she woke me up – I replied that no, I was just relaxing at the top of a mountain, haha. The end of May found me in Texas for Cheryl and Brian’s wedding! Such a great time to catch up with friends and share in a most memorable part of my best friend’s life.
The first weekend in June I was back in Texas for Kristen and Adam’s wedding this time. I actually did not get any hiking done during the month of June, only one of the two months that I did no hiking (the other was January). However, it wasn’t due to laziness but lack of time. The first weekend I was in Texas, the second weekend I was sick, the third weekend was the famous Solstice Parade as part of the Fremont Fair (so much fun!) with BBQs and a Mariner’s game thrown in, and the last weekend was white water rafting on the Wenatchee with some birthday celebrations.
I decided to turn things around in July and really hit the trails hard to start. We had Fri, July 3 off for the July 4th holiday so I decided to try my feet at hiking to the top of Mt Ellinor again on the 2nd after work. I had tried the hike the Fall of 2008 with Nate and Steve but didn’t fair very well. It is a tough hike with an elevation gain of 2500’ over 1.6 miles. My biggest obstacle on the way up was the large herd of mountain goats that I encountered, probably around 25 total. The kids were super cute and were running around everywhere, but some of the older ones were snorting towards me so I cowered by rocks until I could pass them. I reached the summit, took a photo shoot courtesy of my gorillapod, and watched sunset before practically running down the mountain to my car. I did have my headlamp but it was still pretty dark. The next day we went kayaking from Agua Verde, the 4th we spent at Gasworks for the big celebration, and on the 5th we went to Cascade Pass in the North Cascades for my second hike of the month already. It was gorgeous too! My favorite hike thus far. It was near Hidden Lake by Marblemount which we had done the previous fall. The crew was Shadle, Kaz, Emily, Nate, Cory, and I. There were a ton of switchbacks but you are rewarded with views of mountains everywhere you looked and natural waterfalls flowing down the mountainsides. After reaching the pass, we continued another mile to Lake Doubtful before heading home. After the first weekend I continued the hiking momentum with an after work hike with the interns – Brenton, Vivian, Jimmy, and Cory - to Twin Falls that following week. It was a short hike in some crummy weather followed by dinner at Billy McHales, but I didn’t hear any complaints :-) After a weekend camping trip at the Gorge for the Coldplay concert (another first!) the work group went for another after work hike to my favorite place – Rattlesnake Ledge. That weekend Alex came to Seattle and we went to the Olympic Peninsula, the areas I was most interested in seeing. We did a hike at Hurricane Hill and were treated with snow capped Olympic Mountains on a beautifully sunny day. Afterwards we stopped in Forks – yes, the famous town used in the Twilight series – and then found our way to Rialto beach for sunset. We rushed back to camp near Hurricane Ridge so we could catch sunrise at 5:30 before taking the ferry back to Seattle to continue our adventurous and very busy weekend including a trip to Snoqualmie Falls. At the end of the month I found myself back in the Chicagoland area for a business trip. I had the hiking bug so my Mom and I went to my favorite local park, Veterans Acres (VA), where I grew up watching my brother play baseball and feeding popcorn to the chipmunks that lived in the hill; sledding; playing softball; and running cross country. We hiked through VA and ventured off on some side trails that led us through a bit of Sterne’s Woods. It was a beautiful day but a little on the buggy side, a luxury I take for granted in Washington.
Luckily my business trip was pretty relaxed, opposed to my usual, so I had some time to plan my first backpacking trip! Theresa, Vivian, Brenton, Cory and I were heading back to the Olympic peninsula for a fun filled weekend. I had planned it all out: take the ferry over Friday night and camp at Sequim Bay state park. Saturday morning we'd start with a stop at the ranger station in Port Angeles to pick up our wilderness permits and bear canisters, then drive to the Hoh Rain Forest, stop in Forks for lunch and to buy food for that night, then head to Shi Shi beach via the Makah reservation after picking up a Makah activity permit. Saturday night would involve hiking to the beach and setting up camp for the night, then checking out the tide pool in the morning before heading to Hurricane Ridge for a hike. Yeah, a busy weekend but it was well planned - although nothing ever goes to plan. We somehow shoved 5 people and gear for the weekend into my little Nissan Versa - needless to say there was no view out the back window. I woke up Saturday morning with an awful stomach bug and after driving to Port Angeles decided it was best for someone else to continue, so Theresa took over the role. We did manage to get the wilderness passes for camping on the beach, but the station was all out of bear canisters. No, there were no bears on the beach but they were for the raccoons actually. We had to stop at the ranger station in Forks to get some canisters, which wasn't a problem since we were passing through there anyways. We stopped at the Hoh Rain Forest and did the short Hall of Mosses hike so I could join. After stocking up on stuff in Forks and laughing at all of the Twilight signs, we continued on to the Makah reservation. We dropped off the gear at the trailhead. and then drove a half mile away to park in a private lot for the night. We managed to fit everything in four large backpacks and one small one. The first part of the trail was over boardwalks but then it was a mud pit for at least a mile, very interesting. We found a spot soon after reaching the beach - we didn't make it all the way to the Arches. It was lightly raining so that made the wet sand 'fun' to deal with. In the morning we woke up and enjoyed the tide pools before heading back to the car. We made a side trip to Cape Flattery, the most northwest point of the contiguous 48 states. It was beautiful with sea caves all along the coast. We finally made our way back to Hurricane ridge and I was dismayed by the thick clouds we were driving up through. We somehow emerged above the clouds at the visitor center though and enjoyed an amazing view of the Olympic Mountains along with a few deer friends. After stopping at this cute little train ice cream shop, we got back to the ferry and back to Seattle. A most epic and fun weekend! And that was only the first hiking weekend of the month! The next weekend I took a break but Cory and I finished up the last two weeks of the month, and his last weekends in Seattle, with a couple more hikes. The first one was the intimidating Mailbox Peak, 6 miles roundtrip with an elevation gain of 4000' over 2.5 miles! After 3 hours we finally reached the top after following the white diamond signs on the trees since the trail was not well defined. For Cory's last weekend he was very gracious and hiked to Lake Serene with me, a hike I had wanted to do all summer! We stopped at Bridal Veil falls, a cool waterfall, and after a good elevation gain over several switchbacks, we reached the lake at the base of the 3000' shear cliff face of Mt Index. After playing in the water and then taking a nap on a rock in the sun, we decided to venture around the lake to scramble up a boulder field to an ice cave. On the way back we tried to find the Honyemoon Mine but turned back too soon. Finding and exploring the mine is now on my to-do list. Overall August was very busy and a lot of fun!!!
September was the start of my intense hiking. On the drive to the Tieton River for a white water rafting trip, Shadle, Kerry, Steve, Tara, and I stopped at Mt Rainier and Shadle, Kerry, and Ihiked to the Fremont Lookout from the Sunrise Visitor Center. I had wanted to do that hike after hiking near Sunrise the summer before. It was a beautiful weekend of sunshine. I took the next weekend off due to a flu bug but took advantage of some sunny days with my final after work hike for the year to where else but Rattlesnake Ledge. That weekend Theresa agreed to travel down to Mt St Helens with me and I was really excited. This was my last hike of the month but also started the streak of hiking every week for 15 straight weeks. We started on the southern side by hiking through a lava tube, called the Apes Cave trail which was a lot of fun. We could only see what our headlamps lit up and the hike through the upper cave involved lots of scrambling over boulders and scaling an 8ft wall! We drove to the northeast side and hiked to Windy Ridge. We had an amazing view of Mt Adams in the distance during sunset as well as all of the devastation from the 1980 eruption. The mountain is so barren, especially when comparing it to its bigger sibling to the north, Mt Rainier.
I attacked the trails in the beginning of October, leaving my place by 6:30 most mornings. It helped that I had other events later in the day that I had to finish hiking before. My first hike of the month was also my first in the Alpine Lake Wilderness. I went to Rachel Lake. It was cold but that made it a really nice hike because everything was still frosted over. I didn't meet anyone until I reached the lake so it was a nice quiet hike as well. The next day I went to Lake 22 before my flag football game. I was pleasantly surprised by this hike through old growth forest. What I liked best were the numerous waterfalls along Lake 22 creek, one of which is my favorite waterfall picture that is actually posted on this blog. The following weekend I convinced Shadle, Yash, Karan, and Carla to join me on a 3 hour drive up to Yellow Aster Butte in the northern Cascades, very near the Canadian border. After eating some food to settle my stomach at the beginning of the hike, we made it to the top of the butte. It was a great hike with Mt Baker and Mt Shuksan in view during a majority of the time. The grass was starting to turn yellow but the blueberry bushes were turning red, creating fantastic colors against the brilliant blue sky. The last part up the butte required gaining 400' over a quarter mile! The view was well worth the effort though. After that challenging hike I somehow managed to do another 10 miles the next day to Snow Lake, continuing on to Gem Lake, before my flag football game that afternoon. The hike to Snow Lake was not very interesting, but hiking around the lake to Gem Lake was really pretty. That trail is a very popular one which I could tell by not being the first person out at 7AM that morning. The weekend after that I slowed a little, only doing one partial hike. It was my first interaction with rain when I hiked the Lake Ingalls trail on the eastern side of the mountains in search of the beautiful Golden Larches. The Larches became a sort of hiking obsession during October for me. I was so fascinated by the green evergreen like tree whose needles turned a brilliant yellow in the fall and fell off. I got to Ingalls pass, just far enough to see a valley (well sort of see through the clouds and fog) of golden larches. I was soaked and cold so I decided to turn back and added the hike to my to-do list. After that experience I decided I needed better rain gear so I got myself some pants and a new, bigger day pack with a built in pack cover. I was set between those and my new rain shell. The forecast for the following Saturday was sunshine so I took advantage of it and went up into the Northern Cascades along the north cascades highway (20), and fell in love with the area. The drive was gorgeous with waterfalls, mountains, and lakes. I was going to try and do two hikes that were close by since the 3 hour drive was quite the drive. I started with Maple Pass and loved it, definitely my new favorite hike! Not only were the golden larches everywhere, most of the hike was through snow and there were mountains everywhere - even better than Cascade Pass. An extra bonus was that the trail was a loop so everything was new to look at. After that 7+ mile hike I drove a few miles to the Blue Lake trailhead where I found even more golden larches. The 2 miles to the lake were enough for me but the lake was beautiful with a snowy mountain face backdrop. I can't wait to go back up there in 2010 to do some more hiking. I ended the month on Halloween with a couple hikes along I-90. I started with Franklin falls which was a very impressive waterfall literally right alongside I-90. After that 2 mile hike I continued on to nearby Melakwa Lake, one of my least favorite hikes. The trail was flooded with water during a majority of it and the large rocks throughout served as OK stepping stones to avoid wet feet but they also made the hike slow. There was a really pretty waterfall and I did get to cross several rivers by log. At the lake I decided to do some exploring and was glad I did because I found an upper portion of the lake I failed to notice in my hiking book. The weather was dreary but I did manage to get a few decent pictures at the lake.
I started the month with a trip to California to see Cory! He picked me up in San Jose and after a slight 120 mile detour, we made it to Big Sur to camp for the night. The next day we hiked at different locations throughout the park and I had a blast. My favorite two stops were to Pfeiffer Beach and McWay Falls, a waterfall that flows straight onto the beach, and in high tide, into the ocean. Pfeiffer Beach is a hidden gem in Big Sur, hidden mostly by the locals who take down the signs. Back in San Luis Obispo, Cory took me to the dunes at Montana de Oro and we enjoyed the waves of the ocean before jumping off the backside of the dunes. We also did a hike to Bishop Peak, a local favorite. On the way down, one of his roommates knew of a cave and I luckily had my headlamp so we did a little exploring in the short tunnel. It was a little warm in California for me, compared to what I had been hiking in (70's vs 30's). After saying goodbye to sunny California and Cory, I went back to the Cascades for more hiking. We got a lot of early snow which got me in trouble the next weekend as I tried to do some hiking off of Highway 2. For the story of how I almost got myself stuck in the snow on a mountain getting to Barclay Lake, read my Heybrook Lookout trip report. It's sure to provide entertainment. Instead, that day I did a short hike to Heybrook Lookout, which provided some great views of the surrounding snowy mountains including the dramatic cliff face of Mt Index; and afterwards I went to Wallace Falls, a very popular and busy state park that is well maintained. The falls were nice. I'd like to go back and hike to the lake too. After that snow scare I decided to stay closer to Seattle where I wouldn't have to drive in snow. I like hiking in it but not driving in it in the mountains. The next weekend I decided to go back to my beloved Rattlesnake Ledge, but for the first time ever, continue past the ledge. It was snowing as I reached the ledge and for the next two miles to East Peak, but I loved it. It was like a little winter wonderland up there. I plan to hike from the other side of Rattlesnake Mountain to Grand Prospect. To end November and work some of my Thanksgiving pounds off, I did a quick hike on Phils Trail-Thrush Gap. The numerous signs almost confused me but I found my way up to the radio towers. I had the unpleasant opportunity of hiking behind a couple of horses but a fallen tree soon turned them back. The hike was very close to Seattle and easily accessible. There was also this adorable interpretive trail for kids.
December was about achieving my goals and having some fun. The first weekend I went to Leavenworth with a couple of friends, Ashley and Dan. We were going to do some snowshoeing but there wasn't enough snow so we did a short hike along Icicle Creek and then enjoyed the Christmas festivities in town. The next day I woke up late (a theme for December) and just went to Little Si. It was a great short hike, near Rattlesnake Ledge, and it will definitely be added to my after work hike list. I even saw a mountain goat, but he was up high on a rock napping and didn't bother me. That hike was also special because during it I reached my 200 mile goal! The next weekend I went to West Tiger 3 and very proudly finished the hike in about 2 hours - 5 miles and 2000' in elevation. As I reached the summit the snow really picked up so I jogged back down about a mile and a half to reach my car before it got really bad. The trail itself was not that exciting but maybe that's because I had a big time constraint. My last hike in Washington for the year was a partial one to Poo Poo Point. I actually stayed home from work that week with the flu and probably should not have gone on the hike, but I wanted to reach my elevation goal. My biggest challenge that day was myself and lack of energy. After hiking up 1000' and reaching my 10 mile elevation goal, I turned back so this hike too has been added to my to-do list to finish. It was close by Seattle as well. I finished the year with some 'hiking' in Illinois while I was home for Christmas. I went to my favorite park once again, VA, but this time it was covered in snow and it was snowing! I did some sledding on the main hill before taking off for the trails where I continued to do some sledding. I had a lot of fun romping through the snow and it was nice to get outside and move around.
Overall 2009 was a great year for me and I really took advantage of living in the great pacific northwest. I look forward to 2010 and whatever adventures lie ahead. If you ever need me, try one of the REIs (my new favorite store) or check the mountains! I wish everyone health and happiness in 2010, keep on trekking!