Wednesday

Our friends Matt and Hannah were visiting from out of town and wanted to “see mountains”. There are mountains just to the east and unlike the Pacific Northwest where I previously roamed, the bottoms of glacial valleys here aren’t covered with view-blocking trees. After picking them up from the airport and a stop at home to repack and resupply (camp fuel can’t be brought on airplanes), we set out for Eagle and Symphony Lakes from the South Fork Valley Trailhead.

The way starts on the south side of the valley with a view of expensive houses built on the slopes farther down the valley. A few side trails departed straight up the hillside along which our trail, well packed and initially wide enough to be a forest service road, traveled before it crossed the valley’s central river at a well maintained bridge.

After crossing to the north side of the valley, the trail there was a painted rock at the base of a tree. Later in the week, we saw one on another hike several hours away. Maybe it’s a thing someone is doing?

After about three miles, the trail started having muddy sections, usually from water seeping or flowing down from the ridge to the north. There were boards in some places but in most, the trail was significantly braided with most braids still relatively muddy.

The mud ended just before a giant rock field. A large cairn marked the start of the rock field, though a bridge across Eagle Lake’s outlet stream provided access to its main body. We explored the nearest reaches of the rock field and didn’t find good camping so went back to the cairn.

We set up tents and because my tent is degrading (a pole recently broke) and I want to replace it, I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to use the tarp I’d brought as a “group tarp” for making dinner instead of a ground cloth under the tent. Rain was forecast. What came was large drops, slowly at first, then rapidly. These transitioned to hail. The cacophony of hail on the tarp drowned out any attempt at conversation. Water and hailstones pooled in sagging areas of the tarp. When we cleared them every couple minutes, the quantity of accumulated precipitation was always surprisingly large. Eventually there was a break in the clouds and we escaped to our tents for the night. The storm then continued.

Thursday

In the morning, Matt and Hannah set off across the rock field, now slippery with the night’s rain, to find Symphony Lake. They found a small shelter which was missing its roof and reported that Symphony Lake was the lesser body of water in both size and beauty. I tried climbing the slope above our campsite to get an overview of the area but didn’t quite gain enough altitude to see over the ridge of the boulder field.

The muddy section was easier to navigate on the way out. Each mud pit had been something of a puzzle on the way in, requiring multiple scouting attempts. Now we knew the secret ways of minimal muddiness and also didn’t care if our shoes got wet as we could change out of them in the car.

Even though this was an out-and-back, there was cloud cover today which changed the light and the recent rain made the valley’s vegetation appear lusher. While I don’t usually enjoy retracing my steps as much as walking a trail for the first time, experiencing the same path in different conditions adds a new perspective which builds on the previous passage, enriching the whole.

All pics

Saturday

Lydia and I departed the Glen Alps trailhead’s lower parking lot after lunch. The goal was for this to be a “no lunch” overnighter where we’d go in after lunch and be home before lunch the next day. In between, we hoped to visit the Williwaw Lakes in a nearby glacial valley.

The Glen Alps trailhead is popular as it’s the easiest access to the Powerline Pass Trail which is a wide multiuse trail which serves as a destination in its own right but also a major connector of other trails. Our travel crossed this quickly, heading north across the valley bottom, then north-northwest to a parallel valley.

Turning up the Williwaw Lakes trail took us off the bikeable tread and onto a trail which rose slowly with the valley, staying on its south side slightly above the valley floor. It’s still early season and so the there were several muddy sections. At one point a lady with a dog told us she’d chosen to “get prickly” instead of pass through waist high water. The first place we encountered which might have matched that description was so easy to bypass, we hoped she had simply been hyperbolic. The second was a pond which had formed on the trail but had a social trail bypassing it. The third was waist deep water and the bypass trail was so overgrown that it stole a water bottle from Lydia’s pack. We thought that must have been what the lady was referring to until we came across an equally deep pond filling in a dip in the trail with no major social trail to bypass. That was a little prickly to get around and the ground was large rocks with a thin layer of dead leaves which didn’t make for good footing while trying to contort yourself between stunted trees. At least there weren’t thorns.

Then it started to rain. The rain brought out the intensity of the greens which are a hallmark of early season. The trail went up onto a low bench on the south side of the valley. The clouds were moving and so at times we got rained on while it was still sunny. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any rainbows.

In the end we stopped just short of the Williwaw Lakes. The valley near their outlet stream was beautiful and open. The area is deceptive in that what looks like flat, level ground is actually quite lumpy and subtly sloped on closer inspection. A quick walk to the lakes revealed no level ground which wasn’t sodden or snow covered. There were tents on the north side of the stream but we weren’t up for getting our feet (and knees) wet just to share a campsite. So… we almost made it to the Williwaw Lakes.

Sunday

We tried to have a lazy morning. The sun is up so early this far north that any time you wake up seems like you’ve slept in late because it’s so bright.

The way out was a little less adventurous as we knew what to expect. We even found the water bottle lost which had been stolen by on our bushwhack. Some mind soul had placed it on a rock by the start of the bypass trail.

We also saw mountain goats. They were far away, high on the north slope of the valley and initially they like small snow patches which were moving. Binoculars came out. By the end of the trip we (ie Lydia who is better at these things) had spotted 19.

We made it home in time for a late lunch with that perfect level of hunger which leaves a strong desire for a particular dish without being overpowering, becoming generalized hunger pangs, or leaving you weak. It was a good lunch.

All pics

Sunday, February 13

The road into Kenai Fjords national park closes in winter. It’s flat and a local ski club grooms the first miles to view point. Snowmobilemachine (in Alaska, they call them “snow machines”) tracks cover the last couple miles to a public use cabin. Lydia had landed a reservation for the night of February 13th.

We put things in a duffel bag tied to a sled like we’d seen people do with their pulk sleds for ski expeditions and set out for an easy few hours of skiing. A real pulk sled has stiff leads so that it doesn’t run up on your heels when you’re going downhill and doesn’t fall down every slope that looks a hair off flat. I had threaded paracord through some holes pounded in a cheap sled we got at the hardware store and looped it around the removable hip belt I’d taken off my backpack. Fortunately, this is a level road and the rollers are quite small so it wasn’t really an issue. A previous trip to the Manitoba huts was much shorter but much more eventful because the “not a pulk” construction of the sled.

The weather was almost as good as it gets in this area for this time of year. The temperature was above freezing and the wind was mild. The clouds were mottled and varied instead of uniformly gray. The sled slid so easily it would run over its leads if I didn’t keep a steady pace. The snow was a little icy which made the skiing loud enough that we sometimes had to stop to spin a thread of conversation. Mostly, however, we just skied and chatted.

Just before the bridge over the Resurrection River, the grooming ends. Snowmachines use the road regularly so there’s no need to break trail but they leave uneven chunks which kept us off balance. This section was less than two miles but didn’t feel that way. When we finally got to the parking lot for the visitor center and turned left onto the access trail to the cabin (ignoring the One Way sign to keep right in the parking lot), it was a relief.

There are several cabins, though only one is for public use. The bathrooms weren’t as deeply snowed in as my Mowich Lake trip last year, which is probably important because these were open for use, though there was still a bit of a drop down from accumulated snow.

After arranging our things inside and melting some starter water (the previous starter water had white chunks which were not snow floating in it), we found our way through woods to the river bed and out to Exit Glacier. The way started as a disabled-accessible trail which had seen little enough use in the winter that we ultimately just took the path of least resistance. Usually there was spots of pee on the snow to mark the way, presumably left by moose also using a path of least resistance. Snowmachine tracks in the river bed gave us a reprieve from breaking trail. We got to the glacier while it was still bright out but after the sun had dipped behind the ridge.

After returning to the hut, I remembered that the instructions with our permit were to post the permit in the window. I didn’t see a way to do that so I stuck it the condensation on the front door. We didn’t have access to a printer just before setting out and so I’d written what I assumed were the relevant portions on a piece of notebook paper. Not so official looking.

Monday, February 14

After a lazy morning, we set out into softly falling snow. Unfortunately, the road tends to funnel wind and so eventually the snow was blowing in our faces. This reduced visibility and conversation but made for and adventurous feeling, especially when Lydia spotted a mother moose and calf staring at us a hundred yards or so ahead. They didn’t move so we went back to the Chugach National Forest sign and hid behind it from the wind while eating a snack. The sign wasn’t as comfortable as sitting on the duffel in the sled but that wasn’t sheltered. Fortunately, the moose were gone after our break and we followed their tracks a ways before they turned off.

By the end, I gave up on using sunglasses to keep the snow out of my eyes. I wasn’t quite blind with them on, but might have been legally so. Fun trip anyways.

A quick post to save some memories from the second half of 2021

Oregon Cascades 100 (~30hrs)

• Arrived in Sisters, OR late. Slept ~2.5hrs. Insomnia for ~2hrs. Got up catch the Lyft I’d scheduled. No show. Had to drive to the start anyways. Wasn’t sure how I’d get back to my car after running 100 miles.
• In the first few miles met a fellow who was running the Oregon Cascades 100 just 11 days after having run the BigFoot 200!
• Tried no poles. There were only supposed to be 10.5kft gain over the course. I wanted to free hands to make it as easy as possible to feed so I’d always be eating enough and not have stomach issues.
• Dual goals: no stomach issues & 20-24hr finish time became dueling goals. I gave up on my A time goal ~25mi in and B time goal ~40mi in. The big dinner and breakfast (this worked at the Plain 100k in 2019) meant that I didn’t eat almost until I was weak just because I had no desire. Hydrated chia wasn’t enough calories and tastes neutral but with the consistency of tapioca it had an odd feeling going down. Maybe a hard-sided bottle would have helped there?
• I tried to make myself eat at every aid station and put something down but never enough. Fell in with a misfit group coming in to the 50mi. The lead was young woman with mannerisms and speech patterns I associate with down syndrome but she was consistent. Behind her was a middle-aged woman with zero fat, huge calves who seemed to be unable to not run on the balls of her feet. The ladies kept up idle chatter. Behind me was a guy who also didn’t have enough energy to participate in the conversation. The zero-fat lady didn’t want to eat so that she wouldn’t drink so that her stomach wouldn’t slosh and have issues. Maybe that’s my problem? Unfortunately I’m feeling the weakness I associate sustained exercise while under-feeding.
• I spent many miles fantasizing about withdrawing from Plain (happening in 3 weeks).
• I stopped being able to tolerate food and was >20min/mi on uphills after mile 60.
• I dry heaved just out of the first aid station I reached after dark despite only halving had broth there, chicken noodle soup at the previous aid station.
• At the coldest aid station on the course, I was slow to repack my vest because my fingers were cold. An aid station volunteer told me that the best thing for my stomach was to keep moving but another fellow offered bacon on my way out. It took many, many chews to liquify each bite of bacon but it went down!
• The mile 71 aid station had move >1mi further away without the course manual being updated. At least it had a heater. I came in behind a fellow who tried to drop due to foot pain and a headache. The aid station volunteers asked, “how do you plan to drop?”. There was no cell service or race-provided support until the station closed. A young man had dropped and their face was covered in blood from a bloody nose. A young woman had dropped and was sitting catatonic in a chair while friend wrapped more coats and blankets around her and whispered supportive things. A fellow in a space blanket ambled around with a blank expression. I made friends with the fellow who’d attempted to drop (his name was Mike) and we decided to do the next 10 miles to the mile 81 aid station together at a walk – probably just walk the whole way. I managed 2 fig newtons 🙂
• The walk was great. I could sip the butternut squash soup I’d packed in refillable squeeze packets. Mike was great company. We met the fellow who overtook me in the last miles of the Badger Mountain Challenge. He was pacing a friend and planned to walk the rest of the course. I started to have energy again. The sky started to warm as we descended to the next aid station. This section had a lot of rocks positioned just so that you tended to kick them at inopportune moments.
• I was able to eat a real breakfast at the mile 89 aid station. Spirits were high. Mike and I decided to finish the race out together at a walk but trying to jog as much as possible. Things were pretty easy from here. The entire course had been through dry pine forest and that didn’t change.
• There’s a 2.3mi loop that you have to just to make it a 100miler. When I finished, my watch was over 110 miles. Mikes was ~106. This is a microcosm of the course which is really a 50mi course with a 50mi loop-de-loop. It was a lot of the same with some nice but not spectacular views. If I hadn’t walked it in with Mike for 30 miles, it would have irredeemably miserable but oddly, I only have good memories. Misery loves company?

Plain Endurance Run (DNF @ mi 47)

• I’d gotten some hard news the night before and so didn’t sleep. Felt hung over and legs like jelly at the start. The race director, Tim Stroh, is one of the world most empathetic and supportive people and had talked me out of withdrawing so I felt obligated to make a go of it. Hadn’t really trained since Oregon Cascades 100 but I have a special attachment to Plain. There are no aid stations, just safety checkpoints, and you can leave a drop bag and BBQ at mile 62.
• Kept running form for the first ~7mi and 1800kft. Not a bad start. Light growing over the thick forest with a few lights in the valley on the climb to Mad Pass was quite nice.
• I began falling off pace and wasn’t strong on the climb to Hi Yu ridge. Last time I’d run this, people were yelling, “bees” on the ridge but none really stung me. This time I got swarmed with significant number of stings on my hamstrings and calves despite wearing bike tights. The stings weren’t deep though and didn’t swell.
• Got to talking with a fellow about work on Hi Yu and into the dip before Klone peak. A little chit-chat with some others. It was kinda cool knowing where the best places to stop for water would be but eventually I fell off into a walk which was frustrating because I would have liked to have kept up an easy jog to hang out.
• There was a little drizzle and heavy overcast but it let up about half way up to Klone Peak. The ground cover had turned red but the trees were still green and with dry, yellow grass, it made for an inspiring color palette.
• My head was a little off, as though there was an almost imperceptibly light buzz behind my eyes on the ridge before and after Klone peak. Not something I’d really experienced before but a little head issue isn’t what takes you out of an ultra.
• I was mentally prepared for how long the bazillion switchbacks were going to take to get to the road. They were still really long. I was mentally prepared for how long the road would feel. It was a little shorter than normal but still felt really long. I passed a fellow who said the hardness of the road was wrecking his body. I was feeling relatively comfortable though I could tell my shoes were well used and so this was perhaps the first time that I seemed to be doing better than someone. I’d fallen towards the back of the pack at the start and had been passed by several people and groups so admittedly it felt good to pass someone.
• Resupplied and reset my vest under the bridge. I’d eating 2/3 of the food I’d intended which was good. I’d managed to keep of the stomach issues, though just barely. Saw most of the people I’d run near earlier, though they left before me as did some people who arrived after. I intended to use this like an aid station but still didn’t feel like I was able to rotate the contents of my vest as quickly as I’d have liked.
• The next 4-5mi were ~1kft/mi. I’d mentally given myself the freedom to go as slow as I felt necessary with the idea that getting to the top with energy and good spirits would be worth whatever the time cost. Instead, I got winded despite moving slowly. Eventually a fellow named Mike overtook me and decided to match pace and breaks because I was in such bad shape. After a stop, my respiratory rate would spike if I took three hard steps in a row. The last mile took ~43min. The only mile I’ve ever done more slowly in an endurance event had 2kft of gain. Something wasn’t right with my head either. My balance was slightly off. My vision was clear but it didn’t feel like was processing things quite right.
• I took two breaks at the start of the ridge that followed that climb. I wasn’t recovering deeply despite eating and draining enough. I put on my raincoat to keep off the wind chill which I’ve only done in one other race and that was at night. Mike tried to keep up a conversation and eventually had to talk for the both of us. A fellow overtook us but fell in instead of passing. Mike would tell that guy dirty jokes to keep him motivated and give me coaching when he saw me stumbling or encouragement if I tried to jog for five steps. I was definitely having reduced balance and some very subtle visual lag. I mistook a number of dead stumps for bears or people. At some point, I committed to dropping at the next safety checkpoint.
• Mike started having stomach issue and once we’d started the descent to the safety checkpoint and he saw I was clearly going to make it, took off since he said jogging made them easier. The fellow behind followed suit.
• I arrived at the mile 47 safety checkpoint and gave them the passphrase, “I’m an overcomer”, then told them I wasn’t an overcomer because I was going to drop. I described my symptoms and explained that I thought they were due to lack of sleep. Having run a 3 day race before, I new that a nap, even of an hour, wouldn’t cure sleep deprivation on par with the second day of a race. I’d promised myself I’d never do a 200mi race again solely because of how that had felt. The intense weakness might have been helped by some rest and lower elevation so despite the fact that I was just barely beating 3mph on the flats and downhills, the pace math said I should have attempted to continue and dropped at the safety checkpoint early in the final climb. I couldn’t see how it would be fun or safe to attempt that but I did see that if I dropped at at mile 47, I’d be able to get a full night’s sleep. They handed me a hot cocoa.
• About half an hour later, they woke me up, gave me another hot cocoa and an electrolyte drink, then the photographer gave me the >2hr ride back. His name is Takao and he made interesting conversation for the few minutes before I fell asleep again. The last thing they told me before I left the safety station was that Mike had told them to look out for me because I was in such bad shape. I cried. This support, care, and camaraderie among competitors is so dear to me.

Ironman Florida

• The day dawned a cool and breezy (Florida can’t be a paradise all the time, can it?) and I was concerned about being warm enough on the bike since I hadn’t brought a windbreaker or gloves. Shivering in our wetsuits before the start didn’t help.
• Swim was about 10 minutes slower than expected.
  • My friend Michael tells me the consensus on social media is that the buoys shifted during the night. My GPS track looks that way.
  • I had a lot of trouble following the buoys. Along the top of the course, I think I (and several others) tried to turn too early.
  • The pack compressed on the turns. Normally, when I bump into someone (a constant occurrence on the first lap), I’d let the limb I hit them with got limp for a second. On that second turn however, I the pack got too dense and I just kicked and threw my hands and elbows to break out of the teaming mass of sardines we’d become.
  • Michael had gotten ahead of me and I saw him on the beach between laps one and two. I jogged the beach and all other transitions which let me lots of people. I was thinking that I’d try to apply a uniform effort throughout the event but at my level that seemed less common. Also, Michael is faster than I am on transitions so I was feeling a little competitive about them.
• The bike was 1.5hrs faster than expected.
  • I forgot to put sunscreen on during the transition, noticed almost immediately after leaving the transition area, and had that hanging over me the rest of the day. Also, while changing, I’d bumped a button on my watch and so had to start a new track for the bike instead of getting the entire event in a single recording. This was frustrating as I’d practiced using the triathlon mode specifically so I could get that single recording. Oh well.
  • My bike had been stolen and I did most of my training on a heavy road bike with paddle shifters. I did a 100mi training ride and it took about 8hrs. To make logistics easy and avoid buying a bike during the ongoing supply-chain issues, I rented a bike from a company which partners with Ironman to make bike rentals easy. I rented their cheapest bike and it was so fancy, it didn’t come with pedals. Me on the other hand, I didn’t even wear bike shoes.
  • The bike course had a number of out-and backs. Michael and I must have passed each other at some point but neither of us saw the other. Things were going well enough until a north-bound leg went directly into the wind. The into-the wind portion had easy rollers (the most difficult terrain on the bike course) and was about six miles longer than I expected. Lots of people were drafting despite that being against the rules. I’m not sure why Ironman tries to prevent drafting since it seems to be built into the tactics of cycling. When the turnaround finally came, there were about 25 miles where I barely had to pedal to maintain 20-22mph. At that speed I couldn’t feel the wind which means that it had been blowing at that pace on the way outbound.
  • The last aid station was at mile 95 (of 112) on the bike. I really needed to pee but blowing through aid stations at full speed while grabbing a water bottles from the volunteers was too much fun to stop. I was convinced I was going to pee myself and somehow it didn’t happen.
• The run was 45min faster than expected.
  • Expected was 5hrs which seems reasonable at the end of a long day. Actual was a little less than 4:15. This is actually kinda funny since I’ve rarely turned in a marathon time much different form 4hrs, whether it was run for training or a race.
  • The run course is a double out-and-back on a road from which you would be able to see the beach if there weren’t hotels in the way. As with most of the rest of the course it was flat and not particularly scenic.
  • The start of the run felt great and my tracks shows my opening miles were slightly under 8:30min/mi. Things fell off, of course particularly on the second lap, and keeping an eye out of Michael was a game I played to keep my head from focusing too much on my stomach. I spotted Michael on his way outbound during my first return leg. It was still light then and he spotted me in the dark on next leg.
  • With the double out-and-back course, when you start, everyone finishing is moving much faster than you. When you’re finishing, you’re moving faster than everyone else. It’s a nice effect. Combined with managing to keep my stomach in line (lots of practice walking that line this year – sometimes no so successfully – very frequent aid stations were clutch here), I closed the last several miles at about the same pace I’d gone out at and managed to reel in several runners who I’d had to let go of previously.
• I was pretty well wrecked at the finish, largely on account of my stomach. Having rented all my gear, it had been picked up for me so after nibbling at the underwhelming buffet you get to pass through once on your way out of the finisher shoot (the cheapo local marathon with a few tens of runners I did on New Years day 2019 had better buffet and unlimited refills), I hobbled back to the hotel room. In the past, Michael has waited for me at the finish line. In my defense, that was a half-ironman (not a full), it was still a warm day (not a cool night), and the buffet was unlimited and varied (I’ve covered that already).

This weekend’s hike came from an odd set of constraints. I needed back-to-back long training days to get some miles on my feet before an upcoming race. I haven’t done a big overnight in a long time despite them being such a big part of my life last year. I wanted to go to eastern Washington but there’s too much smoke which is a pity as it’s not even august yet. Mt Rainier was clear but I’ve done the Wonderland Trail twice. I drove down to a ranger station before work for a walk-up permit but discovered there were only three campsites left in the park, none of them on my intended route. What eventually developed, and was only finalized on the drive to the start, was a trip from the Skookum Flats Trailhead NE of Mt Rainer to White Pass. This would connect a bunch of trails in Mt Rainier National Park which I haven’t walked, let me revisit a beautiful section of the PCT, and let me spend the car rides with my girlfriend who was going down to spend the weekend in the area anyways.

Saturday, July 24

I woke up as the sky was lightening at the Skookum Flats North Trailhead where I’d cowboy camped in the bushes after getting dropped off in the dark the night before. Packing up was quick since gear was light enough to jog with and the easiest way to lighten your load is to not bring much stuff (and if I’m being honest, lighten my wallet by paying for things which are priced inversely to their weight).

The trip started with a jog up the gravel road to the Huckleberry Trailhead. At some points there was alpenglow at the end of the long rows of trees making it seems as though I was on a road to a ruby kingdom.

I’d actually jogged for the first 45 minutes and the road had been (slightly) uphill and was feeling like things were going well so instead of going up the Huckleberry Trail, decided to walk the extra four miles to the Lake Eleanor Trailhead. I’ve been wanting to connect from that trailhead to the Sunrise area for as long as I’ve seen it on a topo map, and it parallels the Huckleberry Trail but one valley southwest.

The road was steep enough that I used it as an excuse to walk instead of run, though I tried to put on a good show of running when I heard a car coming. Some part of the motivation for this trip was supposed to be the need for training and if pride or vanity were going to be the actual motivation for that training, then so be it.

Eventually, I saw some cars parked at a pullout and started looking around for a trailhead kiosk. One of the hikers gearing up from the back of their vehicle called out to ask how far I was going. I replied that I had a permit for Deer Creek Campground (the 3rd to last campsite available in the entire park as of the previous morning), but needed to find the Lake Eleanor trailhead first and hoped it wasn’t too far. They gave me a humorous look and pointed over my shoulder. I turned around, saw the sign pictured below next to a small, muddy trail which looked completely unlike what the start of most popular trails look like (how would the Lake Eleanor Trail not be popular if it it went the way I expected it too?). I thanked them and hiked off.

The Lake Eleanor Trail does go to Lake Eleanor which is just south of the northern border of Mt Rainier National Park. The trailhead itself is outside the park which I guess explains its relative under-development. Lake Eleanor a medium sized pond crowded by trees and is an OK destination. The real prize, however is that after another mile or two, you get to walk through Grand Park (a high plateau) facing Mt Rainier. See below.

Grand Park was exactly as grand as I expected it to be. Jogging across it seemed a pity when compared to the pair setting up their high backed backpacking chairs in the shade of a tree with a full view of the mountain. That said, I was a harder target for the mosquitoes.

Eventually the trail descended into a valley. I hadn’t looked closely at this part of the map since it wasn’t my primary route. It was lush and hikers were now on the trails. Marmots too.

The climb out of the valley wound its way up to the last traverse of both my Wonderland trips. On those trips, I’d noticed a trail coming up from the valley and pitied those who had to climb it instead of already being at the top. Now it was my turn to make the climb.

This brought up an opportunity to do a side trip I’ve seen but never had the chance to do, a fire watch tower overlooking the area to the northeast of Mt Rainier. There were many people on the trail and at the tower, but the views merited it. At one point I saw a couple standing back-to-back taking pictures in opposite directions. I had my first lunch overlooking most of the route I’d traveled this far.

Back at the intersection just west of Sunrise where I’d turned north to the fire watch tower, I saw a volunteer I recognized. He’d been greeting people, offering directions, and making recommendations when I’d passed through two years before. He had to young boys with him this time as well, also dressed in park service uniforms.

Looking around at the trails on offer, I realized there was another opportunity for a side-trip which I’ve been curious about since last passing through and just assumed I’d never really get around to taking. This trail went up some ridge that rolled down from the mountain and so I hiked up and along the first two of those rolls before taking a break and then descending to the White River campground as soon as the opportunity presented itself. This hiking thing was getting hard.

Looking back up at Mt Rainier while descending to White River presented a very different view from when I’d been crossing Grand Park. The shift in perspective made me feel like I was going around the mountain.

The White River Campground was packed with cars. One driver asked if I was about to leave so he could take my parking spot. Despite this, the picnic tables in the day use area were mostly available and so I ate and laid down with my feet up for 30 minutes. I was now in the phase of the day where I had to decide how much of this was for training (ie I should push myself to actually run the upcoming flats) vs fun with a side of miles (ie walk and enjoy an afternoon free from stomach issues). Part of the problem with not having resolved that question before the trip started is that I never take the more demanding option in the moment. I made a few weak attempts to jog after lunch but decided to accept that fact that I just didn’t care to.

Despite looking adjacent on the map the Owyhigh Lakes Trailhead is not actually connected to White River campground by a trail. There’s a road which solves this problem for cars. It would solve that problem for hikers too, except for the cars.

I had some kinda of poorly specified stomach/head issue and on the well graded climb up to the Owyhigh Lakes. This stuff plagues me a lot in endurance situations and since it wasn’t a race, I just sat down in the middle of a switchback and let my body sort things out. Several groups passed and I didn’t care to move. Nothing fixes vanity like a long, yet incomplete day of hiking.

After the switchbacks, the trail broke out into sloping alpine meadows. There were some lakes but they were relatively small. I skipped the side-trip up to Mt Tamanos which I’d mapped out as an alternate in case I wanted extra miles and elevation gain (ha!), but it did look like a good day trip for the future.

Eventually, the trail rolled over a verdant divide and a stream picked up. I love these little changes where one moment, all the rivulets and streams flow in one direction and then next they flow the other way. The trail here was clearly less used, though maintenance was still good. I tried a little jogging as it was all downhill. My map noted a large waterfall on the descent but from the trail but it wasn’t easily visible. Just before camp, I crossed a river which sported some small falls and enough variety in its rocky banks to be quite interesting.

At Deer Creek Camp, I dropped my pack and then went to offload some extra food which I didn’t want to carry the next day. The only other site was occupied with a few young road trippers with some great stories to tell. Against the ranger’s expectations, the area was mosquito-light and I was able to wash up and fall asleep in peace.

Sunday, July 24

I was a little slower out of camp this morning. I’d left breakfast to cold soak and it was disgusting. The trail from camp was a reasonable climb with short spurts of unreasonableness where the trail cutters apparently decided that there wasn’t room for switchbacks. I’d misunderstood the topo lines on the map and was worried about the angle of the terrain coming until I suddenly saw a car and realized that the first part of the climb was over.

The trail from where I first crossed the road up to Cayuse pass wasn’t much used but was in good shape. When I got to the top, the sun had risen making for gorgeous, rich varieties of green. Less wonderful was the lack of a trailhead toilet. I’ll avoid detailing what happened next.

I was now on the PCT and was due at White Pass by 5pm. This is one of the easiest sections of the PCT in Washington and while I jogged a little (I was feeling behind, but didn’t have a good count of miles remaining), I mostly just enjoyed it and tried to constantly reposition my hat to keep the sun off the sunburn I’d acquired yesterday.

A highlight of the morning was taking a break to connect with some southbound thru-hikers. There’s been a lot of interesting weather this year and it was interesting to hear how it’s affected different hikers.

On a long descent, I stopped to collect water by a small stream where another set of northbound thru-hikers were taking a break. I congratulated them on their upcoming finish. They gave me the wonderful information that I had 4 fewer miles than I’d thought. They also let me use their DEET based bug spray which was key for the moments when I wasn’t moving. Ideally, I’d have applied it to my face after taking a lunch break.

I was feeling depleted as the trail climbed through verdant, bright fields, with clear streams and ponds. Any honest assessment of the trail was that it was an easy section but I had to keep unbuckling my vest on the uphills to take deeper breaths. Maybe something to remember for race day.

The final descent to White Pass was familiar from a recent trip I’d take with Lydia where we introduced her young nieces to backpacking by taking them to a lake with so many mosquitoes that it was preferable to spend the entire afternoon in the tent.

I reached White Pass a little ahead of schedule and walked the gravel trail around Leech Lake to the Kracker Barrel to relive some memories from my thru-hike (guzzling large quantities of soda). There was a high school track team moving in fine form despite running uphill which put my slow, ponderous downhill steps to shame. Oh well.

One final point of amusement. As I climbed an embankment behind the Kracker Barrel, I was greeted with an ultralight cuben fiber tent, a sure sign that thru-hikers were about. I found several resupplying and enjoyed some good trail talk until the ride home.

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Lydia and I have been to Ross Lake once already this year, this time we were going with her housemate, Brenda, and Brenda’s boyfriend, Isaac, who I’ll call IQ so you don’t think I’m referring to myself in the third person. We wound up visiting some campsites I’ve seen on the map and wanted to explore. We also got a lot better at canoeing.

Friday, July 2

Instead of hauling a canoe up to the North Cascades, we opted to rent from the Ross Lake Resort which meant we didn’t have to put in on Diablo Lake, then portage. Instead, we hiked down directly to Ross Lake Dam, then crossed it and took the trail to the floating resort. Still, had were packed heavily for a canoe trip, not a backpacking trip, and so when the trail turned out to be a little longer and slightly hillier than we’d expected, we were mildly disconcerted.

In the building to rent a canoe, there was fellow who’d forgotten his belt and was using a dog leash to hold up his pants. Another fellow, who looked like the resort’s owner, smiled and said, “they should sell belts here”.

A canoe was waiting for us tied up to the dock. A resort employee helped me pick out a life jacket and paddle, then we paddled out through the logs strung together to create a ring around the resort.

Brenda and IQ had started the day before and our plan was to meet them at Cat Island whenever we got there. We traced a familiar route out from Ross Lake Resort and turned north past Cougar Island (which was actually an island on this trip as the water was 50ft higher), and took our first break a Rainbow Point a few hours later. We’d been warned that a wind tends to come up in the afternoon and so were hurrying to get as far as possible before that might happen.

On our previous trip, I’d mostly steered with what’s called the “C stroke”. When paddling on the right side, the C stroke moves the nose of the boat to the left. If the canoe was a little too far to the left as would frequently happen after paddling for several normal strokes, my only remedy was to switch which side of the canoe I paddled on.

On this trip I started experimenting with dragging the paddle behind the canoe for a moment like a rudder. Lydia told me about something called the “J stroke” and described the technique. Eventually, my paddling morphed into something resembling the J stroke and we were able to keep the canoe going relatively straight despite not switching sides frequently.

Playing with the strokes got us to Rainbow Point which is where Brenda and IQ had started their day. We ate a quick lunch, watched some Forest Service employees survey erosion control devices around the dock, and hopped back in the canoe to paddle some more miles before the wind might pick up.

Ross Lake had risen about 50ft to “full pool” since we were last here. One of the consequences is that many familiar landmarks (“watermarks?”) looked different. A waterfall which had seemed incredibly tall remained dramatic but without being quite so awe inspiring.

We reached Cat Island in the early afternoon having avoided any bad weather or wind. I’ve seen Cat Island from the Desolation Peak trail several times and always thought it would be fun to camp there. It’s not far from the main land but the shore facing it is steep and so you’d have to jump in to swim over. Canoeing was much easier.

We passed an outcropping of Cat Island (which IQ dubbed “Kitten Island”) and landed on the northeast side by the dock. At first, the island appeared deserted, despite us having seen another red rental canoe (a “red tomato” as we called it), though with a little exploration, we found Brenda and IQ on the south side. We’d left our bags at the first campsite we encountered and when we returned to fetch them, discovered a deer attempting to gain access to our food. Maybe the park should rename their metal food storage containers, “deer lockers” instead of bear lockers.

After bringing our bags down, I brought the canoe around to a little cove and IQ helped me pull our “toasty tomato” out alongside theirs. The rest of the day was spent lounging, hammocking, resting, relaxing, and reading.

Saturday, July 3

Our destination for the day was Silver Creek, a boat-in campsite at the north end of the lake. I’ve wanted to visit since I first saw it on the map and wondered about the lonely, disconnected dot in the top-left. It was a shorter distance than on Friday but the wind picked up. Lydia and I haven’t practiced rolling a canoe and so we weren’t really sure whether the chop was fun or concerning.

The plan had been to meet up at the Boundary Bay camp for a mid-morning snack, but we failed to spot the campsite from the water and so passed the point on the north side of the “bay”. Not being familiar with now much roll the canoe could safely handle, I found myself steering with the waves (but not around the point) when things got uncomfortable and only turning north (maybe 45 degrees off direction of the waves) when the waves were calmer. I was concerned that if we got too close to the shore, we’d have to run perpendicular to the waves to get around the headland. This would mean making it as easy as possible for the waves to tip the canoe over. As it turns out, then angle of the waves shifted enough that we made it around without having to have too much excitement.

After rounding the point, we realized we’d completely missed Boundary Bay and had no idea where Brenda and IQ were. However the water was calmer. By the time we’d finished talking through options, another Toasty Tomato was visible rounding the headland. Brenda and IQ seemed to have had more fun than concern and so we set off together from east side of the lake to the west side aiming for a delta of sorts which we expected to be hiding the Silver Creek Camp.

Crossing Ross Lake is talked about as though it’s a risky proposition under certain conditions but we were able to run with the waves and so despite pitching and slapping a little, the lack of rolling made us feel more comfortable. Silver Creek turned out to be sheltered from the southerly wind as it was on the north side of the bulge of land where the creek entered Ross Lake. By lunch, we’d arrived and tied up to the dock with a view looking northeast into Canada.

The Silver Creek Campground appears to be the least used of any boat accessible camp I’ve seen in North Cascades National Park. Conveniently, this meant that firewood was available on that short paths from dock to tent side. We had read, lounged, explored a nearby cove, practiced rolling the canoe, and played a dramatic game of Farkle after dinner. Despite starting with a little excitement, this was the lowest-key day of the trip.

Sunday, July 4

Happy Independence Day! We were up early anticipating a long paddle with the potential for headwind and waves in the afternoon. The sky was lightening and the sun hadn’t crested the eastern mountains. The water was almost glassy, the wind calm, the moment serene.

We reached our first rest stop, Little Beaver camp, shortly after the sun had crawled down the western slopes and touched us down on the lake’s surface. We pulled over by the sign which said Little Beaver at a set of concrete blocks which appeared almost eroded out but might once have supported a floating dock. For a bit, we thought the camp was abandoned and I wondered why it was still on the map. Nature called, and the search for an outhouse revealed (and due to dog barks, may have awakened) the entire camp. A short side-trip up a nearby inlet just after we departed revealed that the entrance to Little Beaver camp was actually just inside the mouth of the inlet and the camp’s infrastructure was very much intact.

We were going to cross the lake and stop at 10 Mile Island for the next break but having been there before, decided to pull up early near Ponderosa camp. We made good time on calm water. I used the last of the toilet paper in the outhouse then awakened (probably) most of the camp shouting to Brenda and IQ that we’d altered course. We had a snack and made our escape from the pirate-themed camp (they had a jolly roger) before anyone discovered my treachery.

From there it was a straight shot down the east bank of the lake to McMillan’s. The wind never picked up. We learned that holding a straight line meant that we were able to keep up with Brenda and IQ’s more powerful strokes because their coursed meandering more. We were at McMillan’s by noon and I went for a swim before setting up camp and the morning’s sweat could dry. For some reason, once I’m dry, I lose all motivation to swim even if I’m covered in salt deposits. Other revelers were around and some briefly stopped by our dock to pick up an alcohol assisted sunburn.

Otherwise, this is how the rest of the day was spent.

Monday, July 5

Our last morning of the trip was lazy. IQ made the best egg dish I’ve had in the backcountry. After shoving off, we spent some time paddling in circles so Lydia could practice her J stroke as I’d been hogging the canoe’s stern for the last three days.

There were just a few hours to paddle back to Ross Lake Resort. The wind we’d feared the day before came up and it was nice to be close to shore as it felt like we might have been at a standstill if we didn’t see ourselves creeping past nearby rocks and trees.

Actually reaching the resort felt like a satisfying end to a long trip. It was an end in the sense that we returned the canoe and settled the bill, with some question as how we should get back to the car. Instead of hiking around to the dam, we took a powerboat across to the trail which went directly up to the road. It was strange finish, to hike out with day hikers, backpackers, and other boaters. Some were outbound, others returning. Some were touristy types with fresh clothes and gear, others with gear and skin indicating longer adventures. Every trip has a unique narrative but on this trip, the end was a reminder that we were just a few more members of the outdoors community, some of whose names were inscribed on plaques mounted on the walls of the Ross Lake Resort going back to the early 1900s.

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I was signed up for the Sawtooth Ridge 50 miler over July 4th weekend. There was enough elevation gain that finishing before the cutoff might have been a questionable proposition. I won’t find out this year, however, because I withdrew in favor of other plans for the long weekend. Still, I resolved to hike the course on my own as I’ve wanted to hike in the mountains east of Lake Chelan but didn’t get to last year due to horrible smoke conditions. In the days leading up to this year’s race, the race directors sent an e-mail warning about snow on the course but then wound up canceling a few days after this hike due to to heat (the heat wave set records), so I might still get to run the Sawtooth Ridge 50 miler in its inaugural year.

Friday, June 25th

I pulled in to the Foggy Dew campground after dark. There’s a traditional car camping situation south of the road but I was intending to start at dawn so taking up a campsite (and paying for it) seemed to be a waste. There was an overgrown lot on the north side of the road with a number of RVs, trucks, and canopies which I circled several times trying to figure out if all the motorbikes meant I might be parking amidst a gang of some sort. Ultimately I parked as far out of the way as I could and while I was getting ready to sleep, I saw a small posse heading in my direction. I went out to inquire about the parking situation and they turned out to be a trail crew made up of motorbikers. I hadn’t realized that these were motorbike trails. The fellows were friendly, gave me some tips (I should be more worried about snow than heat and that the trails were steep) then left me alone.

Saturday, June 26th

I became conscious about as the sky was beginning to lighten and was packed up shortly thereafter. Gear for this trip was relatively minimal as I was expecting warm weather so my pack initially felt light as I walked quickly up the road from where I assumed the race would have started.

The route turns off the road at an S curve and goes up a series of switchback cut for bikes. The dirt is loose and the trail bed tends to form a U making your foot roll as it lands.

Near the top of the ridge, I was on lookout for a trail coming in from the left (west) as it would be the return leg of the route meeting up with this trail before descending to the start/finish whence I’d came. The fork happened far enough from where my phone app said it would that I realized some of the trails might not be mapped in detail.

The ridge was covered in trees and brush so I only had peek-a-boo views of the sun cresting the hilltops above the valley as I began to descend the north side. The trail here showed evidence of having been maintained some time ago but had too many logs down to be considered runnable. One of the trail crew who I talked with after this hike told me it used to be called the Sheep Trail and had been used by fire crews to access one valley from the other. Access to the other valley is now most easily done via a dirt road. Just before crossing a knee deep stream, the trail disappeared and I was left to find that road on my own.

I scrambled up an embankment following a social trail which petered out at the top. Looking around, there was some flagging to my right (downhill) so I began to move towards it. The next piece of flagging seemed to indicate a route back down the river cut I’d just escaped.

I checked my GPS and decided to pick a line in the opposite direction of the flagging. After pushing through some trees, I came across a scar torn through the bushes. It was road, though clearly unused for some time.

I couldn’t help but think that the experience crossing Foggy Dew Ridge was an excellent way to put racers on notice as to the nature of this course as it’s not trivial to fit ~18,000 ft of climbing into 50 miles. That nature, however changed again with the road. The unused road led to a well used, dirt forest road which climbed either moderately or steeply depending on its mood, but always climbed. I found the road and it’s regularity to be an emotional release and pulled out a snack as I walked, realizing I’d been going several hours without refueling.

The road lead to a well used trailhead and a nicely maintained trail. This trail continued the constant climb through the trees but less steeply. It brought me to a campsite at a stream which I understood was intended to host an aid station. The Sawtooth Ridge 50 Miler clearly presents a challenge for course designers as there are long stretches which don’t come near roads. This campsite had a sign I’d never seen before, “Motorcycle Camp”. I’m guessing that the trail crew I’d seen the night before maintains many of these trails and so makes them easy to ride. Perhaps the plan is to bring the aid station supplies in by motorbike. While I appreciate the uninterrupted solitude of hiking in designated Wilderness (federal law prohibits mechanical aids – even trail crews have to use crosscut saws instead of chain saws), I found myself smiling at the thought that there was a place for dedicated group of motorbike enthusiasts to maintain a pleasant outdoors experience for themselves in a manner which also created good hiking experiences. I’ve been quick to slur “dirt bike” into “dirt bag” in places where two wheelers rip up beautiful, sensitive ecosystems and it felt like the motorbike community here was redeeming that image.

It was late morning and I ate a first lunch by a stream which ran through the camp. The early start and continuous walking were beginning to catch up to me, and I had many more miles to go.

From the motorcycle camp by the stream, the trail broke from the cover of the trees and started working its way upward through a field of granite. The views opened up. I put on my large sun hat as this was supposed to be the start of a heat wave there seemed little prospect of shade ahead. At one switchback, I heard rockfall in the small cut which the trail had reversed to avoid. I assume it was triggered by the rapid melt withdrawing the snow’s support from a precarious boulder.

The view from my second ridge top of the day was of a lake below a semi-circular ridge. It was an idyllic view with a dainty little trail cutting across the meadow beside the lake. I was trying to hike quickly but found myself taking too many pictures to exceed an ambling pace.

The route switch backed down to the lake, then ran below the ridge for several miles, skirting alpine bowls. There were a few footprints and one set of tire tracks. The trail split in many places into a double track as frequently happens when the main trail channels water and so travelers form a second trail beside it just a few inches higher and drier. However, these two trails forked and I followed the footprints. I should have followed the GPS as I had to turn around when the trail ended at a campsite in a picturesque meadow. I’m still not sure exactly where I turned wrong as I ended up the proper trail by cutting down a dry creek bed.

After passing a sign to the “Angel Stairs” trail which I was glad not to take as the name seemed to imply a long, steep climb, I found myself looking up at a low point on a ridge which would be the Prince Creek aid station in the race. Below it was a hillside covered in snow. While there had been some patches of snow thus far, the route had been easy to follow. I decided to try to stay on the switch backs under the snow and spent a great deal of time being excessively pedantic about staying “on trail” only to give up at the end and cut straight up the snowfield.

Apparently, more deer had passed this way than people. The ambition of the race directors to hold a race in such a remote area is fantastic.

The race director’s ambition became more obvious at the top of the ridge. The map showed a three way intersection. I could see the trail I’d come up, if only because I’d just come up it. I couldn’t see any trail to the right. I could see a sign for a trail to the left but no trail to go with it. This was supposed to be the the most critical juncture of the race. Racers would pass through here twice. It was also the last full aid station and the only break in the final 24 miles.

Having now reached four of the six aid stations, I assumed that I was about two thirds done with the route’s mileage. That would be about 30 miles by 2pm which is excellent work if I do say so myself. The problem, however was that I felt spent and after spending some time with them map realized that there were about 25 miles to go. While this was a two day hike, I’d wanted no more than 15 left over for tomorrow. 10 miles after 2pm would normally be a reasonable proposition but I didn’t know if there was any more natural water on the course. Poor planning on my part; I’d glanced at the map and seen some valleys which I assumed would have a river in them. However, looking these new hillsides, it seemed clear that I’d underestimated their steepness, solar exposure, and it was quite possible that all the water had run off. The map appeared to show a traversal across steep hillsides not below the bowls I’d been walking through which had collected streams. Pictures of Lake Chelan tend to show brown slopes not lush hillsides.

Eventually I struck out towards the trail to the left and eventually trail tread materialized. The map showed it meeting up with another, very steep trail in half a mile and I figured I’d try to go that far and decide how ambitious I was feeling. Apparently the answer was, “not very” because on encountering a rivulet next to a tree, I filled my belly with a second lunch, my bottles with later, and napped for about an hour. The sun kept moving and shifting the shade so it wasn’t much of a nap but it was nice to be off my feet. I did eventually get up and hike as far as an intersection with a trail which went straight up the still hillside above. The way ahead appeared pass through a large fire scar as far as I could see. I had a flight to catch the next evening and my faltering ambition failed for good. This would an 50km trip, not 50 miles.

I turned around and decided that after hiking hard this far, I’d have an easy afternoon and finish up the next day. I boot skied down the snowfield, and hiked back to the “Angel Stairs” trail, then sat down under a tree, ate a third lunch, and tried to doze off again.

The Angel Stairs trail turned out not to be quite so steep as I’d imagined but I took pictures as an excuse to go slow. The vista near the top was an overview of the latter half of the hike. I love these views which allow you to reflect on the distance you’ve traveled. The reverse view was of Merchant Basin, where the fall line trail I’d turned around at descended and then climbed up to meet the race course. It’s an alternate route which was so immediately inspiring that I found myself wondering when I could get back and walk it.

An enjoyable irony at the top of the last climb was a sign declaring itself at the summit… with the actual summit visible a short distance away. However, the mileages on the sign were a nice check as I’d been measuring things on my phone’s map app in only the most approximate way.

I decided to camp for the night at Cooney lake, expecting an easy hike downhill to wrap up the day. Of course when I got to the top of the descent over the lake, I had to boot-ski down a snowfield steep enough that to find the way down, I had to sneak right up to the edge and peek over to be sure it wasn’t actually a cornice.

There were hints here and there where the trail peeked out from under the snow, so I played hide-and-seek with it until I found a campground just east of the outlet stream. The view was great and despite the heat wave happening somewhere, temperatures were perfect for the fleece, gloves, and beanie I’d brought.

Dinner was cold soaked breakfast and dessert since I wanted sugar and crunch not salty, soft noodles. I wandered around the campground and found the toilet which was facing passerbys and had a snow patch in front the way some thrones have a stool. Having the place to myself seemed ideal given the circumstances.

Sunday, June 27

I’d slept under my poncho tarp and so while I had a full setup to tear down, I was still out of camp pretty quickly. No need for breakfast as I was still full from the night before. I guess when you eat an oversized breakfast for dinner, it still counts as breakfast.

I found a set of footprints in the snow leaving camp and followed them to the trail. I’d been hoping to use this as something of a training hike but without much mileage today and most of it downhill, I figured the only training to do was to try running. However, when I got to the point where the GPS said to start ascending Foggy Dew Ridge instead of following the valley bottom, there was simply no turn-off (I actually overran the point despite looking for a turnoff). I walked the trail several hundred feet before and after peering into the woods and found nothing. Then I tried cutting straight uphill until the GPS said I was above the trailand looked around for anything resembling a path through the trees. There was one pile of rocks which might have been a cairn but anything which might have been a route turned out to be an example of humans’ ability to see things which aren’t there.

I gave up looking for the Foggy Dew Ridge Trail and ran the rest of the way out along the valley bottom. A motorbike had been up the trail and cleared out the deadfall, making my journey easy. “Course like water” is what running on a slightly downhill trail with a few roots and rocks feels like and so I repeated that phrase to myself until the trailhead came into view.

Since I’d found the toilet at Cooney lake amusing, I noticed that the trailhead toilet was labeled, “USE AT YOUR OWN RISK”. Apparently the Forest Service doesn’t keep as close an eye on these trail as the motorbike crews.

Running the few miles back to the car from the Foggy Dew Trailhead was smooth and fast. Emotionally it was a great finish despite the roller coaster of a course.

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Friday, May 28

I took the afternoon off work so Lydia and I could get up to the North Cascades National Park Ranger Station in Marblemount in time to get permits before they closed. Unfortunately, I hadn’t packed and so we were about 10 minutes late leaving my place. The plan was to borrow a canoe (the Slick ‘Nanner) from a friend of Lydia’s. Lydia had some concern that strapping it into her kayak carrier upright wasn’t safe (most canoes are carried upside-down on cars). The straps felt tight and the connection seemed solid, but Lydia felt her car pulling to the right as she drove and so we took state highways instead of the interstate. After a while, I took over driving to experience the effect the canoe was having. It was less than the tire alignment problem my first car had had for over a year when I first bought it (I didn’t know what “tire alignment” was and just assumed the car was that way) and so I wound up driving most of the way.

Our schedule had been tight and so with the slower drive, we were going to get to the ranger station after it closed. Instead, we took our time and stopped by a restaurant in one of the rural towns on the way. Normally, I drive right through bent on getting to a trailhead or back home as quickly as possible so the change actually made for a pleasant afternoon. For sleeping accommodations, we explored a forest road which we’d been down the previous winter on a snowshoe trip (which didn’t happen because the road got dangerous once it left the river bottom). Back then, I’d noted some campsites off to the side and thought it would be fun to come back some day and stay at one. This was that day. Surprisingly, they were all occupied and we wound up pitching the tent on a spur road which ended in an unused gate.

Saturday, May 29

I know that getting walk-up permits for campsites in North Cascades National Park can be competitive and so we were up a 4:45am to get back to the ranger station by 6am to stand in line for when it opened at 7am. It turns out they had a take-a-number system, so maybe we could have just grabbed one the night before. Also, we made good time and were there at 5:30am. The first competitor, a ski touring / mountaineering group didn’t arrive until 15 minutes later. No one with a boat showed up until after 6am. We cooked breakfast in the parking lot, then rearranged and packed things into Lydia’s giant blue dry bag. This being a canoe trip, we weren’t worried about bulk or weight. When things didn’t all fit, we just put them in extra dry-bags.

Being first in line did have it’s privileges and we got our preferred itinerary without contest. The one question was whether to put in at Diablo Lake and portage one mile around the Ross Lake Dam or carry everything down from the road directly to Ross Lake. Lydia has issue with her leg at the moment and so we decided on the portage as it was described as a well graded forest road instead of a windy and rocky trail (we’d hiked down to Ross Lake Dam before and could confirm). Then it was off to the gas station for gas, but really to buy a toothbrush since I’d forgotten to bring one. It took several trips to get down the short trail from the Colonial Creek Campground parking lot to the water. Not a good sign for the portage. As we paddled away under idyllic conditions, we noticed a boat launch which would have made the put-in easier. Coming from a hiking background, it’s strange to think that the goal is to not walk.

We passed under a bridge and then through a narrow boat passage in some kind of floating cordon. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a canoe and I was in front so I decided to paddle four strokes on each side and told Lydia she could do the steering. She was fine at steering but it turns out we were both bad a navigating. As a dam and floating building appeared, I started looking for a place to pull out and start the portage thinking I was look at the Ross Lake Dam and the Ross Lake Resort. Of course, the Ross Lake Resort was supposed to be on the other side of the dam so I was a little confused but memory is known to be faulty. Also, the dam looked a little wider than I remembered Ross Lake Dam looking and the water was kinda high on it for being the down-stream side. Lydia identified the building as a a nature center on the map and we had to pull a >90 degree turn to get into the arm of Diablo Lake which would take us to Ross Lake.

The arm of Diablo Lake which reaches out to Ross Lake, is a channel with steep sides. There were red boxes on the right and green boxes on the left, both with what appeared to be lights on top. I assume they were for navigation of some kind. There were also waterfalls. It was quite enchanting. A power boat passed us, slowing well before crossing paths and then speeding up thereafter which we appreciated as the wake might have rocked the canoe more than we’d have been comfortable.

There’s a small dock which you come on suddenly at a turn in the lake (which sounds odd to say – there was no current like a river) shortly after a waterfall. It felt kinda like a secret place with just one road leading down to it and no visible buildings. We pulled the canoe out, pulled the bags out of the canoe, and debated how best to carry the metal mixing bowl of muffins (a canoe trip has it’s advantages, like bringing 30 muffins and a cake). Our first attempt at the portage was for us to put as much gear on our backs as we could, then carry the canoe together by grabbing the front and rear crossbars and walking in tandem. We were having to set it down ever ~100ft or so due to tired arms.

A truck passed, slowed down to get a good look at us, then drove off. Lydia’s leg pain started. We’d gone maybe 10% of the way. New tactics were needed. We ditched the canoe in a rocky drainage ditch (pun intended) and carried all the gear we could, deciding to make two trips.

At an intersection, we descended to the Ross Lake Dam and dropped the baggage. Then we realized there wasn’t a way to get to the water from the dam itself. Damn! (sorry, that never gets old). In the pictures, we’re smiling, but you’ll notice that there aren’t any pictures from this point on the trip. We had lunch at the dam instead of at the lake as we’d hoped. We carried our gear back up to that fateful intersection and I scouted the correct route to the water. If only the signs pointing to the Ross Lake Ferry had been so obvious when we first passed. I went back and got the canoe which, oddly, was easier to carry by myself. The trick was to hoist it upside down with the middle crossbar laid across the shoulders.

In the end, we made it. Four hours to travel one mile. A rough introduction to portaging, though I expect that most introductions to portaging are pretty rough.

As I was carrying the canoe down the final stretch to Ross Lake, I passed a car with a boat trailer. The driver was still there when I came down with the dry bags and we started arranging the canoe to put in. It turned out that this good natured fellow owned Ross Lake Resort. He motored off and just as we were about to put in, returned with beer for us. I guess it counts as trail magic even though we were on a road going to the water (lake magic?). He drove off to some errand and we left a muffin as a thank you on his foredeck.

Finally, at 2:30pm we shoved off and could begin the paddle up to Spencer’s, the campsite we’d selected for the night. The water was glassy. The sun was bright. It seemed a great reward after the struggle of the portage.

Ross Lake is oddly like a pond in that the wonder seems completely immobile. Flotsam will remain unmoved as you approach and pass. Waves seem to move the water up and down but don’t push it anywhere. So, despite there being water everywhere, we pulled off to a small cascade to get something fresher for drinking.

As we paddled, we noticed that brown forest service signs like you might see by the road were posted at boat-in campsites. There was something humorous about about it. They’re sensible, as campsites are tucked up in the trees and so hard to spot from the lake. It would be easy to boat past your destination. While it’s easy to follow the outline of the lake on a map if you know roughly where you are, we’d already made one navigational error despite having ideal conditions.

Ross Lake was still in the process of filling up for the year and about 50 feet below it’s full depth. This meant that the boat ramps at many of the campsites were well above the water. We beached the canoe on a beach of coarse sand and tied it off to a stump. Having learned from the portage, it only took us two trips to bring everything up to camp, not the three it had to get the gear down to the water at the start of the day.

In the late afternoon, while we were sunning ourselves on the boat ramp, we heard voices and spotted two inflatable kayaks dragging a third inflatable dingy with backpacks in it. These would be our neighbors for the night. I have an inflatable kayak and can say that paddling a canoe was a much better experience, especially because we didn’t need to tow a baggage raft and weren’t worried about popping our boat on the stumps and rocks near the shore. Their portage had been easier though. The fellows were pleasant and accepted our remaining beers as gifts from fellow adventurers.

Lydia found sticks and and stripped them with her hatchet to roast sausages for dinner. As a modern suburbanite, I’ve barely used a hatchet and am just learning the childish joys of whacking things with one.

Sunday May 30

This was a slow morning. The mountains above Ross Lake block the rising sun until it’s high enough to crest them and so the tent doesn’t turn unbearably hot shortly after daylight.

Our unique chore was gathering firewood for the next two days. Per the ranger who gave us our permits, collection of firewood, even dead branches, isn’t allowed on the islands where we’d be camping. The islands are small and so it’s reasonable to think that they’d quickly be stripped of anything burnable if foraging for firewood were allowed and so there would be nothing to return to the ecosystem for those islands. Driftwood is fair game but we hadn’t seen much of it at Spencer’s so we set about collecting enough firewood for the rest of the trip. Despite being connected to the mainland and relatively near two other camps, there’s no trail to Spencer’s so it still has the feeling of being on an island even if the rules are different. We piled the fuel on the groundcloth from under the tent so we could wrap it into a bundle and keep it relatively dry from the water which gets into the canoe as when we move the paddles from one side to the other.

Our first aim after loading the canoe was to find running water to filter for drinking. The stream we found was cut into the banks of the lake despite the water level being low. I took this to mean that it had been this way before Ross Dam was put in. It seemed like a special experience to see part of a stream which only existed a “low tide”.

Our destination for the night was 10 Mile Island which is about half way up the lake. Again, the water was calm and the day was warm. As we paddled north, we got a glimpse of Hozomeen, the dual-peaked mountain at the north end of the lake which is notable from Dharma Bums.

Video of paddling towards Hozomeen on a glassy lake.

On the way, we explored up Devil’s Creek. This was much anticipated on my part, as I’ve hiked across the beautiful suspension bridge above it many times and always wished I could explore the deep, narrow inlet.

It turns out that Devil’s Creek doesn’t got very far back before it becomes a shallow, creek draining over rocks which aren’t navigable. However, this arm of the lake is incredibly deep for such a narrow crack in the rock. The walls actually appear to widen underwater instead of forming a continuously narrowing V.

When we reached it, 10 Mile Island, wasn’t an island because the water level was low enough that it’s connected to the near shore. We beached on a muddy, gravelly, shore below a kiosk visible from the water. Unlike Spencer’s and many of the boat-in campsites we’d passed, there was no boat ramp here. Lydia went on a walk around the island to find one and never did.

During lunch we decided that we’d brought a huge amount of food and should prioritize the heavy stuff – which happened to be all the vegetables, sauces, and dips. Lydia assembled the healthiest meal I’ve ever had in the backcountry. Somehow she manages to make healthy food taste good, which is something I’ve never mastered. This lead to the decision that more paddling trips should be in our future, just ones that don’t require portaging so we can bring things like almond milk and butternut squash soup like we did on this trip.

The sky had grown overcast and the air felt heavy like it was about to rain. Still, it was early enough in the afternoon that I wanted to try and explore up Lighting Creek. The route to Canada which starts on the east side of Ross Lake crosses a bridge over Lightning Creek, then follows high above the creek almost all the way up the drainage before taking a pass to the northeast after the ominously named Nightmare camp (on previous trips Nightmare camp has looked like a nightmare because it’s in dark, dense woods and is full of deadfall).

We hauled the gear up to camp then I set out by myself in the now empty Slick ‘Nanner. Sitting in the rear seat, it felt like the front wasn’t always in contact with the water. It handled very differently from when loaded, and was much more influenced by local currents. I had to spin around backwards at one point to get out of the small bay formed by the neck of land connecting 10 Mile Island to the shore.

Despite bouncing on the shallow undulations of the lake and the canoe always pulling to turn right, I made good time up to Lightning Creek. It wasn’t nearly as dramatic as Devil’s Creek, but I got to play a little bit with the current where the stream entered the still water. Like Devil’s Creek, this inlet didn’t go very far back.

The weather held and the trip back to 10 Mile Island was smooth, notable only in that I spotted some hikers sitting on a beach watching me paddle by. I tried to stare back just as pointedly to make things fair. Seeing other people, even if rarely, changes the feel of this trip from wilderness experience to playing in a large park.

There are two campsites on 10 Mile Island and we’d taken the better one. The other had a working bear box (unlike ours) but had grass growing up through the tent area which means it’s rarely used. Maybe that’s a consequence of there being no boat ramp. However, as with the camp at Spencer’s, the toilet appears new. It’s a made with coated metal framework and recycled plastic boards which look like the same material used in decking. The toilet paper dispenser was even full. Definitely the best latrine experience I’ve ever had in a national park.

We stayed up until the stars were out, sitting in our backpacking chairs next to a fire from the wood we’d carried in. Paddling trips are so luxurious.

Monday, May 31

For this morning’s water collection, we paddled across the lake and drew from a long cascade which we’d spotted the day before. As this was the start of our return journey, we decided to paddle down the other side of the lake to pass by a number of waterfalls we’d previously only seen from a distance.

We were planning to stop at the Big Beaver beach, a campsite which we suspected to be particularly popular. On the way there Lydia’s leg started acting up so we pulled over for a snack on a rocky point.

Big Beaver turns out to be where two creeks drain into Ross Lake. There were was a couple on the beach next to the lake but no one by either of the creeks.

We beached the canoe on a soft, slightly muddy beach near the outlet of the second creek. It’s water was clear and came tumbling down dramatically like Devil’s Creek had at the point where we couldn’t navigate farther. Despite having just had a snack, we ate lunch, prioritizing whatever seemed heavy. This time it was dolmas and sauce. Those things go down fast. Since we were expecting not have water on Cougar Island for the night, we drew water again before setting out for our last campsite.

We’d seen the boat ramp to Cougar Island on the way outbound and it seemed to be on a steep, rocky shore. Instead of tying up near it, we saw two canoes on a shallow, sandy beach and tied off next to them while we scouted for the campsite.

I happened across several people at the first campsite who apologetically cleared out with little prompting. They were just passing through for the day. We got to talking and it turns out they’d been the other car with canoes on top on Saturday morning when we’d gotten permits at the ranger station. They’d carried everything directly to Ross Lake down the hiker trail and recommended it, though they also had their gear packed neatly in backpacking backpacks which might have made our experience easier too.

We’d gotten to camp relatively early in the afternoon and spent the time lazily. Lydia strung up a hammock, journaled and napped. I put out a chair and read nearby. Later we played in the lake, though I found it too cold to get very far in. This is strange because I have no problem charging into an icy stream crossing and usually have good temperature regulation. Lydia gets cold easily and yet loves icy dips.

Dinner was a funny affair since we’d already eaten all the heavy food and finally had to open packets of tuna and concoct more traditional backcountry fare.

After dinner we lazed by a fire, watching the colors in the trees, water, and mountains soften as the sun declined behind the western mountains.

Tuesday, June 1

Packing up this morning, we made a point to consolidate as much as possible for the upcoming portage. Some things were still left out loose and not everything could fit in the giant blue drybag, but having finished the firewood and overeating in service of weight reduction, two drybags disappeared into the larger sack during consolidation.

Of course, we had had to stop by a stream to filter water and this morning we had our choice of three streams just across from the island.

The paddle back wasn’t notable. We chose not to explore up Ruby Arm as it didn’t seem likely to offer anything we hadn’t seen at Devil’s Creek or Big Beaver. Some time, when we’re more accomplished canoeists, it might be fun to try to put in at the East Bank Trailhead (less distance to carry gear) and get flushed out Ruby Arm into Ross Lake in the swift current.

The portage back to Diablo Lake only took one hour, forty minutes this time with a lighter, consolidated load and the experience of how to move everything efficiently. However, I wasn’t able to figure out how to settle the canoe quite the same way onto my shoulders and it wound up resting on my neck which was sore for several days thereafter. Yet another reason to avoid future portages.

The paddle back out Devil’s lake was pretty. There were a surprising number of people given that it was a a week day, even after a holiday weekend. When taking out, we used the boat ramp this time, and left sodas in the lake to cool while we packed everything into the car for a relaxed drive home.

Saturday, May 22

This was a short over-nighter with my girlfriend, Lydia. She’s can’t walk as far as she’d like at the moment and so the relatively flat walk out to the river which starts the end of Icicle Creek Road seemed an ideal way to spend a night in the woods. This also made for a good excuse to dig out the 80 liter (or more?) backpack I got for $5 at a garage sale as my plan was to carry gear for both of us. I was training for a ruck race which I’ve since taken off my race calendar, so the heavier the better. It’s so big it has load lifters. I haven’t used a pack with load lifters in some time. We even too the pack’s brain off since it wasn’t necessary, though that was a bit unfortunate when it started to sprinkle.

The hike felt more like a walk in the park. We were on the lookout for mushrooms. Lydia has an intense desire to find Morels. One of the mushroom hunters she follows apparently mentioned finding some near pink Trillium. I don’t really know plants so Lydia had to point out what Trillium was. It seems to come in variations of white and purple so I’m still not really sure what a pink Trillium looks like.

As with the moose antler episode, it turns out that Lydia is much more observant than I am and did find a morel (video). It had been detached from the ground somehow which apparently makes them no good to eat. It’s a pity because Lydia’s fascination with morels seems to stem from their delicious taste.

Eventually we reached the campsite at the intersection of Icicle and French Creek. It was our intended campsite because the bridge was out. At least it was out enough to prevent us from trying to cross that way.

Instead we lit a fire on a rock just below the confluence and sat in our backpacking chairs. The sound of the river downs everything out and so it’s easy to lose yourself in the experience. At some point conversation fell off, then a smile welled up across Lydia’s face. “I’m happy” she said. The hard cider might have helped, but it was a hard moment not to be happy even in the drizzle. When it was time to put the fire out, we simply knocked it into the river.

The sound of the river made for an excellent night’s sleep.

Sunday, May 23

The next morning, I attempted to ford the river since I wanted the experience of attempting a difficult crossing. My understanding is that river crossings is the second leading causes of death in the back country (bears, combined with all other predators, and still are less of a concern than insects – reference). Given that there is rarely a need to ford a river except when backpacking and backpacking trips tend to take you far from support, it’s a rare opportunity to practice a river crossing in relative safety (the car only being 1.5mi away). Some times fording looks much scarier than it actually is and I thought this might be one of those cases. Ultimately, I couldn’t quite get across because I couldn’t find solid footing mid-channel (video) and was too cold to try properly on another line. The water is all snowmelt right now my feet felt like they were on fire they rewarmed on the departing hike.

I’ve never done trail work and since we’d brought a hatchet, I decided to try to clear a log while Lydia looked for more morels where she’d found one the previous day. While I did hack through the log, it then fell on to the trail and I couldn’t drag it away. I’d already picked up two blisters and so I wasn’t about to try hacking through the log again to remove just the section on the trail. At least it was only shin high and easy to step over, not thigh high and requiring gymnastics.

The rest of the walk back was short and easy. Lydia had finished her mushroom hunting and I caught up with her shortly before getting back to the car. The whole trip was unexpectedly refreshing given the short distance and extreme popularity of the nearby trail system (ie the Enchantments).

All the pics.

This was a short trip which I’ve been wanting to do since I realized that snowed-in forest roads were great for routes for cross country skiiing. Mowich Lake is an incredibly popular summer time destination, so much so that when some friends and I showed up there with reservations in 2019 on the Wonderland Trail, we wound up having to camp in the parking lot.

April 4 – Saturday

WA 165, the road up to Mowich Lake, alternates between well graded dirt road and pot hole city. It’s almost as though the pot holes were intentional since the road doesn’t have washboarding, washouts, sliding or any of the other myriad infirmities which befall forest roads. Just before Evans Creek ORV Area (I previously assumed that the point of an ORV was that you didn’t need to take it to a playground), the ruts in the snow were just deep enough to threaten impassibility at any moment. Several trucks were parked along side the road so, when a clear spot presented itself, I chose to take it. It turns out I could have made it another ~1.5mi by car and so instead wound up carrying my skis. When skiing forest roads, there’s always a trade-off between having to carry your skis to better snow and being confident you’ll be able to drive away the next day.

The skis went on and off a few times as I tried to guess where continuous snow would start. Once I found it, the trips up to the lake was pleasant a ski of about 7 miles.

The snow was deep enough to provide easy passage over obstacles like gates and fallen trees. This is spring snow which is compacted and I wasn’t sinking in far enough to worry about my skis catching on sunken obstacles.

It’s hard to go out in the winter outside a resort and not think about avalanche conditions. I was solo (a big no-no in avalanche terrain). The road cuts across slopes angled such that they are prone to sliding. However, the snow was compact and settled. Until I neared the lake, the snow on the slope above the the road was quite thin. There were some pinwheels but they were old. By the time I was near the top, the slopes above me were relatively short. Also, being on the road meant that unless something propagated off the flat road surface (unlikely due to settled snowpack), there would be no trigger for an avalanche. All in all, I have no idea if I’m correctly apply my Avy 1 training but tried to be conscious of the risks since I’m new to off-resort winter recreation.

The clouds were heavy and so there wasn’t much of a sunset, but I caught a glimpse at a switchback. The setup was such that I couldn’t tell as I was approaching the switchback if the road went straight and descended, wrapped around the hill upwards, or switched back. It just seemed to disappear after a crest. Once I got there, the answer was obvious but it was a little like the anticipatory thrill of approaching a pass and knowing you might see a whole vista on the other side.

Getting to the Mowich Lake itself was a bit anticlimactic. First was the parking area which I recognized as a large flat expanse at the end of the road. The trails to the lake 50yds or so away aren’t discernable under the snow but there’s a large stream of open water whose snow banks were 5ish feet deep despite the water itself not looking very deep. The lake was less interesting: just an empty, flat white expanse. I couldn’t tell where the edge was and so stayed above it near trees.

I’ve heard people say that there’s a ranger cabin at Mowich Lake. I looked around for one and nothing obvious stood out. The toilet facilities might look a little like a ranger cabin. They were buried above their doors. The roof had kept enough snow out that you could have sheltered in the pit it formed.

As the light faded, I set up my tent. I’d only brought thin shepard’s hook style stakes betting the snow would be compact enough to use them. One pulled out before I had set it properly but otherwise the stakes seemed to hold. I compressed the snow before inserting them, then punched them and the surrounding snow some more before adding more snow on top and compressing it. I’ve heard you’re supposed to wait 15 minutes for the stakes to refreeze in the snow but I wanted to get in the tent so I didn’t give them that long.

For the first time I tried putting my boots and fuel can in the trash compactor bag I used as a water proof pack liner and then putting that in my sleeping bag to keep it warm. It was took a while before I could find a comfortable position for them. I should have scraped my pot with snow before melting drinking water in it. I ended up filling my water bottles with freshly melted salty ramen water. Oh well.

April 5 – Easter Sunday

I woke up to what I thought was the sound of rain on my tent and decided not to look outside. The forecast was for maybe rain and maybe snow so I decided to deal with whichever later.

My boots stayed warm enough to get into easily this morning. I’d brought bread bags to keep my fresh socks dry but they leaked quickly. Maybe good enough for an emergency trip out of the tent in the middle of the night but breadbags seem not to be as waterproof as they appear.

My tent survived the night despite being held up by trekking poles and guy lines (no traditional tent poles), something I’d never tried in snow before. This trip’s experiments generally seem to have gone well.

When I did open my tent door, I was delighted to find softly falling snow. I like snow and I like rain but I don’t like snow and rain.

The ski back to my car was just a couple of hours and picturesque most of the way. Initially the snow was grabby on my skis and the angle of the road wasn’t steep enough to let me glide. On the way in I’d used a walking technique since my legs are were still weak from the previous week’s endeavors and so I’d hoped the downhill on the way back would let me glide more. Eventually I was able to get some glide with each step but never got to the point of sliding without propulsion.

I’m no longer Christian but I still have an attachment to the impact it had on my life. This being Easter, some of the downhill travel was spent reflecting on this. Outdoors experiences have filled some of the emotional gap in my post-religious life with awe, wonder, and sometimes gratitude. Other experiences haven’t been replaced. Happy Easter.