Stan's Overlook 1-17-10

After skipping the weekend before to catch up on sleep, I had the hiking itch and headed for the mountains on Sunday. I was thinking about trying to squeeze in a hike on Saturday, but after moving a 'huge' TV (32' rear projection) and walking around Greenlake, 1) I didn't have time and 2) I felt like I had gotten enough physical activity for the day. I of course woke up later than I intended but I still got out of the apartment at a respectable time of 10:15. I was at the trailhead by 11 and donned all of my rain gear. The forecast was calling for rain all day, >80%. I had on my rain pants, rain jacket, and my camera was in the waterproof case. I also wore my newish hiking boots because they are much more water resistant. I had worn the boots through out my trip home for the holidays, hiking about 7 miles in them, most of that through the snow at VA in IL and a couple miles at Red Rock near Las Vegas. I didn't notice any problems from that activity so I thought that I had finally broken them in enough.

I decided to go to Rattlesnake Mountain, but this time to start from Snoqualmie Point which is on the other side of the mountain from the lake and ledge, my usual starting point. The hike was through very different scenery though. The trailhead had a nice paved parking lot and privy. After checking the map I took off. Right away I encountered a road, probably less than a tenth of a mile into the hike. This continued throughout the hike, with the trail and road criss-crossing several times. There were lots of hiking gates though, to keep bikes and horses off of the trail. After a short walk up through some skinny white trees, I reached the meadow area. There were a few sparse trees but I could very easily see the mountains in the distance. These would be in the Snoqualmie Valley, like Mt Si. I was surprised to see the mountains relatively snow free, especially since it's January. I finally reached the more heavily wooded area, although the trees were pretty small and young. There was only one significant patch of green moss too, much different from the hike to Rattlesnake Ledge on the otherside of the mountain.

My heels were kind of bothering me which was disappointing since I didn't have any problems with my boots during the holidays. After about 1.25 miles I finally stopped to wrap my heels. There was a small blister already formed on my left foot so I taped it up. Luckily my right heel was just a little irritated, so I taped that up as well. After my mini first aid break was done, I started back on the trail. Even with the extra padding and protection, my heels were still not feeling great so I decided I would only hike to Stan's Overlook (2.2 miles) instead of Grand Prospect (4.4 miles). I think the difference in hiking was the elevation gain. Both of the hikes during the holidays didn't have a lot of intense elevation gain, while over 2 miles on this hike I gained 1000'. Apparently elevation doesn't go well with my newish boots which is too bad since they are a lot nicer than my old ones, and since my old ones are literally falling apart.

Before I knew it, I reached a sign at a small trail junction pointing out Stan's Lookout. The trail to the lookout was short and I could see a bench from the main trail. The overlook was really nice. There was a picnic bench and two other benches to sit on and enjoy the view from. They also created the perfect base to set up my camera on with my new Gorillapod that I had gotten for Christmas. I could see Mt Si and Little Si from up there, both mountains I had hiked up. After taking a few pictures and enjoying the view, I started back to the car. I had passed a few hikers on the way up and I passed a few more on the way down, but overall the trail was relatively quiet. Most of the hikers were out with their dogs. I'm guessing the weather forecasts probably scared a few people away. It did sprinkle on me a little and the whole hike was under overcast skies, but I would say that's a pretty nice January day in the Seattle area. I guess I will have to add this hike to my to-do list to finish sometime in the future when I have non-blister creating hiking boots on.

View Stan's Overlook 1-17-10 in a larger map Map for this adventure