Sheep Lake

I've decided to go back and look at other hikes we've done over this summer & maybe even prior to that. No real reason - just my desire to share. So if it seems like I'm skipping around, that's because I am.

8/6/06 3 miles

What happens when you mix an early morning hike with early summer weather? A surprisingly secluded lakeshore teaming with wildflowers. I drug Michael out of bed in the pre-dawn hours so I could take a few pictures of Mt Rainier at sunrise from Tipsoo Lake. The dogs, on the other hand were raring to go and quickly scrambled out the door and into the car. Our plan was to hike the Naches Loop after sunrise and be home early in the afternoon. What we didn't realize and what any good map would have shown us was that 1/2 the Naches Loop trail is inside the National Park boundary and off-limits to dogs. After a quick perusal of our options, we chose to head to Sheep Lake - a little 3-mile round trip hike from Chinook Pass.

Sheep Lake is along the Pacific Crest Trail and the placement traversing the hillside makes its profile to be relatively flat from trailhead to lake. After the summer we had in the northwest, the trail was extremely dry and dust clouds rose all around from our 12 feet pounding along. We watched the cars pass along the highway below sparkling in the rising sun as they drove along into the weekend. A mile later the trail turns into the woods and relative coolness from the trees. It wasn't much longer before we came upon the lakeshore.

Up until then, the flowers had been rather sparse along the trail. However once we came out into the meadow that embraced this little aquatic gem, the flowers didn't just color the shore they saturated it. Amongst the cottongrass grew cascade aster, spirea, elephants head, paintbrush and more. As Micheal took a nap with the dogs, I explored the lakeshore and meadow, coming across several nice campsites - a few occupied with young families. This is a perfect hike for families with young children - with not too much work you're in a mountain bowl filled with an alpine lake and expansive flower-filled meadows. And to top that, the lake itself looked as if it was boiling as the fish jumped to catch the mosquitoes hovered just above the surface. After a few hours, we head back out to even drier and hotter conditions.

We weren't 1/2 mile from the trailhead when Pasco our young Shar-Pei mix decided he had had enough of the walking, the heat, and the dust laid down in what little shade he could find and refused to budge. With more than a push and a shove, we finally got him moving again. We finally reached the parking lot that had quickly filled up during our little outing.

Obstruction Pt - Deer Park

9/24/06 - 7.6 miles

Good things do come to those who wait. I have been wanting to hike this trail for a little over two years now - more than any other in Olympic Park. The descriptions are so enticing, talking about views that last forever above treeline closer to the clouds than one could imagine.

This 7.6 mile trail is usually done as a thru-hike starting at one trail head and ending at the other, so having two cars is necessary unless you want to do the complete 15 mile round trip. We had attempted the trail last year in late June with my sister but were thwarted by mud & snow on the Obstruction Point road so opted instead for the High Ridge trail and the abundance of wildflowers there. When June/July rolled around again this year, I couldn't find anyone with an available day and an extra car to hike it with us so we only hiked out to Elk Mountain then back through Badger Meadows - a fabulous hike in its own right. However, that day was cloudy and we only were given hints of the beautiful views that lay beyond.

After Michael & I bought up our second car, we had a good excuse to try it ourselves. We left home early and drove around to park one car at Deer Park then headed back out and around for Obstruction Point. Michael later figured that the driving between both trail heads for the day would be well over 100 miles - not to mention the drive from Auburn & back. We didn't even start hiking until noon. (We did stop on the way to eat breakfast and pick up lunch.)

The flowers that had decorated our trail only two months before were now dried and colorless. But we were not saddened by their demise. I wonder if we would have noticed them if they had been in bloom. The mountains that rose to the south of us drew our attention away from what lay at our feet. Sitting stately in the center with its crown-like peaks was Mt Olympus reigning over the other but no less stately mountains of the Olympics. We steadily climbed up the hillside, each step revealing more of the mountains and enticed us with what was over that ridge to our north. It wasn't too long before we were able to look upon the splendor to the north. Mt Baker rose from the mists on the other side of Puget Sound, but it was not Puget Sound we were looking down upon.

We saw at our feet the peninsula cities of Sequim and Port Angeles and their distinctive sand bars. Beyond was the Strait of Juan de Fuca with Victoria and Vancouver Island just beyond. Lunch was eaten at the top of Elk Mountain, looking upon the same view with the inside passage sparkling just beyond Vancouver Island and the snowy peaks of the BC cascades beckoning us to explore. Off to the east, the trail wound its way around another hill before descending back into the trees. After lunch, we descended sharply, continuing our way to Deer Park. Several years ago I would have turned back at this part of the trail - the descent was narrow and worked its way across a shale slope. But I confidently set my feet and poles and slowly worked my way down. I was a bit saddened when we lost our northern view, but our southern view was still spectacular - revealing hidden gems in the valleys as they reached up to the rocky faces above. It was about this point when we came across the swarms of gnats - so thick they became a black cloud blocking my vision.

I began to notice after we made it to treeline that spring must be wonderful down here. There were remnants of heathers, lupine & lilies speckling the forest floor. The floor must be covered in either avalanche lilies or glacier lilies during the spring. (Mental note to self - get back & do this during the flowering months.) The descent through the trees was farther than either of us expected and we were not looking forward to what must be a steep climb back up to Deer Park. Boy were we fooled. The trail here follows an old roadbed and the climb out was as gradual as the climb in and in no time we were back on the road to pick up our other car. We waited for sunset near Obstruction Point and made our way home again.

Anderson Lakes

During a retreat to Baker Lake, a friend & I decided to hike the Watson/Anderson Lakes trail on the south side of the Lake across the dam. Our drive up to the trail head went past several lookouts that if the sky was clear would have given us a fabulous view of sunrise on Mt Baker. We also passed several patches of snow along the road, evidence that just a few days before winter had remind us that she is returning.

The trail meandered through the woods and slowly wove its way up the hill. The colors of the leaves had started to yellow, nowhere near the vibrant green seen earlier in the spring. large mushroom peered out from beneath the yellowing foliage. I need to work on mushroom identification. There seemed to be several varieties but I have no idea what they were.

It wasn't too long before the trail opened out to a meadow and we passed the junction to Anderson Butte. Here we found blueberries, sweet & juicy. Who needs GORP when you've got blueberries? At this point, R.L. and I debated what blueberries n the wild taste like. He's often heard the taste described as woodsy. What does woodsy taste like? As we reached the pass, Mt Baker came out from behind the clouds to wink us a good morning. We rested there a while waiting for the sun to light up the foreground for a more picturesque scene. But the sun wasn't rising quite fast enough and was also being periodically obscured by clouds.

We continued on down the other side of the pass to the junction with Watson Lakes & Anderson Lakes. Here we had to make a decision - Watson or Anderson? I hadn't been to either lake, but R.L. had been to Watson Lakes a couple of times, so it was off to Anderson Lakes for us this morning. Anderson Lakes are smaller than Watson Lakes but we were undisturbed as we explored the shoreline for fall color. We didn't have far to go and we were soon on the ground taking pictures of heather, blueberries and fungus.

On our way out, we came across leaders for the WTA trails crew who had been working on building stairs and raised trails through one of the meadows. They had sent their crew home after waking up earlier in the week to two inches of snow. We discussed their work with them then watched as their llama team came to pack out their supplies. The temperature dropped a little as clouds once again obscured the sun. After we left the WTA crew and their llamas, it wasn't very long before wee reached the trail head and found hot lunch waiting for us back at the lodge.

Paradise to Longmire

I love hiking in the fall and this past weekend's camping trip gave me everything I look forward to when autumn finally arrives. Everything seems crisper in the fall: crisp air, crisp colors, crisp light. Even on drizzly days the light is of a timber that makes what is usual seem just a little extraordinary. Michael & I arrived at Mt Rainier Friday night and patiently (ok, maybe a little impatiently) waited for the rest of our camping buddies to show - my sister, Joannie & Bobby. Kristi finally arrived w/ her little muttley Joey after dark. Sadly, Joannie & Bobby arrived the next afternoon so missed the hike. We awoke to sprinkles in the air and anticipation in our steps.

Michael & I had been plugging away at the Wonderland Trail whenever we found some time & energy. This was to be a little 5 mile day hike from Paradise to Longmire, unlike the overnighters we had accomplished early on and are still planning. We caught the shuttle up to paradise and after a quick chat with the rangers, went looking for our trailhead at the far-end of the torn-up parking lot near the Inn. It wasn't long on the trail when we came across a meadow filled with blueberry bushes and paused for our first taste of alpine sweetness. Further down we came across the bumper-crop - bushes so full of berries just raking your fingers through the leaves would harvest a handful of tiny blue orbs of tart-sweetness. We half expected a bear to be munching along with us. We did, however spy a doe and two bucks resting in a meadow a little further down from the blueberry fields.

We began to follow the Paradise River down the mountain past a series of beautiful little waterfalls. Kristi & I kept stopping to take a picture of each one - we both love watching waterefalls. Michael & I had snowshoed this same trail and compared this experience to the previous one: it's quieter in the winter - less car noise & less water noise too, but the tree branches aren't slapping us in the face in the fall. Then came Narada Falls cascading in a horsetail over the cliff. After admiring Narada and dodging the tourists' lenses, we continued our descent through the woods. In the meadows, I had noticed the cascade asters and pearly everlasting remained in bloom. In the forest, many of the flowers were gone, but the green undergrowth still remained and and appeared richer at the end of the growing season rather than fading.

Lunch was eaten at Paradise River Camp that is very clean, but I assume rarely camped in, so close to Longmire. There were a few berries here lower in the forest and Kristi noted that the ones in the upper meadow were much sweeter. At some point, I stubded my toe and slowed my pace a little. It's the third hike in a row that I've done that. Maybe I should really watch where I put my feet, but sometimes the wonders around me keep me distracted. Even in a forest where your views are blocked by trees, I can find the growth and patterns of the trees fascinating. Or I'll be looking for the last remnants of the previous season, a sign that this season is in full swing, or an omen for the next. What I got was a talus slope across the river filled with oranges, reds & yellows of turning vine maples, one of the first plants to herald in autumn.

All too soon, we reached the Nisqually River and after crossing, meandered into our camp at CougerRock. A few hours later Joannie & Bobby showed up for a well-earned meal and a rousing game of Yahtzee. Michael & I are almost done with our Wonderland adventure. Next year we will come off the trail knowing we had accomplished something wonderful.