Monday, June 28, 2010

6/28/10 Posting

I know that I’ve talked to several folks on hikes about how I really want to get out and explore new places this summer. In that spirit, Matt and I did some exploring on Saturday in the Glacier Peak Wilderness area on Saturday. We drove up to the North Fork of the Sauk River trailhead and walked up the trail a couple of miles to where the Pilot Ridge trail diverges. This is supposed to be a super spectacular hike and I’m hoping to lead it in August as the CHS2 Go Getter. The tricky part is a log crossing of the N Sauk. The river is wide and raging right now, but should be tamer in later August. Doing the hike requires crossing the log—it’s very doable, but has to be something that hikers are fairly comfortable with. I plan to go back in August and do the crossing and part of the trail to see how it goes. There are other cool options in the same area if this doesn’t work out.

Once we’d checked out the log crossing, we took a short, steep trail up to an old lookout site on Red Mountain. Did a bit of a rock scramble to get to a nice secluded lunch spot and enjoy views of Sloan Peak and Bedal Mountain. It was such a lovely day and so enjoyable to be outside. We also checked out the Sloan Creek campground right at the North Fork Sauk trailhead; very primitive, but I think I could get the trailer up there since the forest service road is pretty good.

Finally, we did a little exploring for another trailhead that was farther up the same Forest Service road—Bald Eagle Mountain. This hike hooks up with the Pilot Ridge hike and makes for a 24-mile eye-popping, scenic loop. In my opinion, this is best done as a backpack to enjoy the views earned by all the sweat to get up there. But if you look on WTA, lots of folks have done the loop in the day. After this weekend’s explorations, I’ve got some new hiking fantasies perking!

With all of the cool weather we’ve been having it’s tough to remember that at some point we will experience summer temperatures. Once we get to this point, then you’ll experience the fact that’s it’s very hard to hike uphill in the heat. I do believe that summer will eventually be here in the Northwest and we will need to start thinking about being comfortable and safe while hiking on warm days.

First you will notice that some of the hike meet times are getting earlier. Many hike leaders like to do all of their gain in the cool of the morning and I am certainly one of them. It’s not uncommon to meet at 5:00 and 6:00 AM in July and August just so we can start hiking around 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning. I think on one hike I led a couple of years ago, the meet time was 4:30 so we could get on the trail by 7:00. Hiking uphill requires a lot of energy and having to counteract the heat as well can really tax your body. So while crawling out of bed in the wee hours of the morning may seem really yukky at the time, you’ll appreciate it later in the day.

You’ll also find that your need for water really amps up on a hot day. It’s not uncommon to bring at least 4 liters of water on these hikes, along with the ability to purify more water if needed. I carry iodine tablets with me at all times as well as a 1 liter bottle so I can purify water without having to put the iodine tablets in my water bladder. You will want to be sure that you bring some sort of purification method with you as well. You never know when you’ll run out of water and need to use it.

Be sure that you have some sort of plan for replacing electrolytes. Most people bring along an extra liter of Gatorade or some other sports drink with them. I usually find that most people who end up feeling really bad on a hot day have neglected to consume something like this during the day. I personally use Emergen-C which I find not be as sweet as Gatorade and other sports drinks. So if you’re drinking lots of water and eating well but still feeling bad, then drink some of your sports drink. As with water consumption, this is best done in frequent, but smaller amounts. Don’t guzzle a whole liter of sports drink at once or you’ll waste its benefits by inundating your body with more than it can use at once.

Also be sure to use plenty of sunscreen and wear sunglasses. I often have to reapply sunscreen several times during a hike—especially to my face. Sometimes the best remedy against the sun is to cover up exposed skin, either with lightweight clothing or by wearing a hat to shield your face. I have been known to use my umbrella on really hot sunny days to shield myself from the heat and rays.

Finally, bring a bandanna or towel along to dip in streams as you pass along them. I like to put a wet bandana around my neck on a hot day. It really helps cool me down. I also like to put my feet in water whenever possible. This really helps them deal with miles by reducing swelling.

July Hike Signup

July sign up is going well. On Wednesday, July 7th, the hikes will open for you to sign up for more than two. So if you haven’t completed your two-hike signup yet, I urge you to do so before that date. Signup for July hikes and the Cougar Flat Campout is also going well. Folks who are not planning to campout may sign up for Cougar Flat hikes beginning on July 7th as well. July hikes with space available are listed below.

If you end up only hiking, not camping this weekend, please be sure to communicate this with your hike leader so that they can arrange meeting times/places with you accordingly. One suggestion is to fill in the note section when you register for the hike that tells if and when you are camping (Friday, Saturday or both nights). But be sure to also email the hike leader and let them know your plans as well so there is no confusion about carpooling. If you are camping, I encourage you to use the CHS Google Group (http://groups.google.com/group/CHS2010) to see if others are interested in carpooling with you so we can cut down on the number of drivers and cars parked at the campground.

CHS1:

7/03/10— Duckabush River to Five Mile Camp, Steve Payne (10.5 miles, 2300’ gain)

7/11/10— Tired Creek to Pollalie Ridge, Barry Kellems (11 miles, 2600’ gain)

7/12/10—Midweek Hike, Surprise & Glacier Lakes, Jan Davis & Sue Shih (11 miles, 2800’ gain)

7/16—Cougar Flat Campout: Union Creek Photography Hike, Steve Payne (6 miles, 1300’ gain)—no CHS hike credit for this.

7/17—Cougar Flat Campout: Naches Peak/Sourdough Gap/Crystal Lakes, Steve Payne & Heidi Walker (12 miles, 2400’ gain)

7/17—Cougar Flat Campout: Berkeley Park/Grand Park, Shep Griswold (14 miles, 1800’ gain)

7/18—Cougar Flat Campout: Noble Knob, Barbara Folmer & Jan Pecoraro (7 miles, 800’ gain)—no CHS hike credit for this.

7/18—Cougar Flat Campout: Summerland, Heidi Walker (8.5 miles, 2100’ gain)—no CHS hike credit for this.

7/18—Cougar Flat Campout: Mt Fremont Lookout, Steve Payne & Shep Griswold (5.5 miles, 800’ gain)—no CHS hike credit for this.

7/24/10— Harry’s Ridge/Coldwater Peak/South Coldwater Trail, Steve Payne (8.5 miles, 2,300’ gain)

7/24/10— Navaho Peak, Gregg Pilgreen (13 miles, 4200’ gain)

CHS2:

7/10/10— Alpine Lookout via Merrit Lake, Deborah Dickstein & Bill Schecket (12-13 miles, 3200’ gain)

7/10/10— Indian Bar, Marion Bauman (14.5 miles, 3700’ gain)

7/11/10—Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground from Longmire, Barb Motteler (15 miles, 3500’ gain)

7/16—Cougar Flat Campout: Union Creek Photography Hike, Steve Payne (6 miles, 1300’ gain)—no CHS hike credit for this.

7/17—Cougar Flat Campout: Indian Bar, Barbara Foler (14.5 miles, 3700’ gain)

7/17—Cougar Flat Campout: Mt Aix, Kelly Cleman & Matt Cleman (12 miles, 4000’ gain)

7/18—Cougar Flat Campout: Noble Knob, Barbara Folmer & Jan Pecoraro (7 miles, 800’ gain)—no CHS hike credit for this.

7/18—Cougar Flat Campout: Summerland, Heidi Walker (8.5 miles, 2100’ gain)—no CHS hike credit for this.

7/18—Cougar Flat Campout: Mt Fremont Lookout, Steve Payne & Shep Griswold (5.5 miles, 800’ gain)—no CHS hike credit for this.

7/25/10— Leavenworth Area Hiking Weekend: Snow & Nada Lakes, Christine Pratt & Steward Hougan (13.5 miles, 3900’ gain)

7/25/10— Leavenworth Area Hiking Weekend: Lake Stuart & Horseshoe Lake, Michale Kelly (13.5 miles, 3900’ gain)

WTA Trail Maintenance Signup

In June, the first of several WTA Trail Maintenance work parties is coming up. The link to sign up for this trip and the others is located on the CHS web site in Course Document>CHS Trail Maintenance Flyer. (http://www.mountaineers.org/seattle/chs/CHS/Class_Resources.html)

CHS Pictures:

If you took any pictures on your hike this weekend, please be sure to forward them to chshiker2008@gmail.com to post them on the picture site for everyone to view.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

6/20/10 Posting

I took the weekend off from hiking and spent Saturday with Matt at his Civil War Reenacting event in Port Gamble. This is where folks dress up in period clothing, erect camps complete with canvas tents, and participate in mock battles. Even if you’re not a Civil War buff you can have a good time viewing camp life in Federal and Confederate camps, watching the battles, or shopping at the suttlery shops for period clothing and other accoutrements. While I am not a reenactor like Matt, I occasionally dress up in period clothing and attend a ball and have dinner with his Federal or Confederate unit. It’s something completely different from hiking and I enjoy spending time with the folks from Matt’s units. This kind of group activity teaches me how to get along with and appreciate folks with different perspectives and from different walks of life.

In order to enjoy any group activity—be it Civil War Reenactment, Mountaineers hike, or other activity—I find that a healthy curiosity about other people’s lives and opinions makes for interesting conversations and is a great way to pass time while on the trail. Learning to enjoy and appreciate other people is one of the things I like best about hiking and, aside from the safety benefits of hiking in a group, is one of the other great benefits of hiking with others. So if you haven’t yet had an in-depth conversation with someone you don’t already know, I strongly encourage you to engage your hiking companions in conversations that go beyond the realm of occupations or the vagaries of the weather. Ask open-ended questions (those that can’t be answered with a “yes” or “no”) about their lives or thoughts about current trends or events. Pick something that you learn about them in this way and ask them more questions about it. People like to talk about themselves and getting them to do so is one of the best ways of finding shared experiences and beliefs and creating new friendships. You already know what your friends do and think; why not find out about people in the same way?

July Hike Signup

I’m emailing out the July hike descriptions today. Signup for July hikes and for the Cougar Flat campout begins on Wednesday June 23rd at 9:00 AM. If you plan on attending any of the Cougar Flat weekend activities—either as a camper or just to go on the hikes—pay special attention to the signup instructions. There is a different signup process for both the camping portion of the trip and for signing up for the hikes. This is because registered campers have priority signup on area hikes over non-camping hikers and so we allow them to sign up earlier for these hikes. Please read the instructions carefully and if you have any questions, either contact me (masterhiker@gmail.com) or Steve Payne (stevepayne@mindspring.com) and we will help you. Signup for non-Cougar Flat hikes is the same process you have been doing all along.

June Hike Signup:

Open signup for June hikes is going on right now. Feel free to sign up for as many hikes as you would like. Available hikes are listed below.

CHS1:

6/22 (Tue)—Midweek hike, Jan Davis/Sue Shih, Tronsen Ridge (8 miles, 1,000’ gain)

WTA Trail Maintenance Signup

In June, the first of several WTA Trail Maintenance work parties is coming up. The link to sign up for this trip and the others is located on the CHS web site in Course Document>CHS Trail Maintenance Flyer. (http://www.mountaineers.org/seattle/chs/CHS/Class_Resources.html)

CHS Pictures:

If you took any pictures on your hike this weekend, please be sure to forward them to chshiker2008@gmail.com to post them on the picture site for everyone to view.

Have a great week and I look forward to hiking with each of you soon. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

6/13/10 Post

Matt and I took the trailer out for its 2010 inaugural shakedown trip this weekend. We headed out on Friday amidst cloudy and rainy skies to Red Bridge Campground on the Mountain Loop Highway. Just as we were pulling into the campground, the rain stopped and the sky started to clear. I backed the trailer into the spot perfectly the first time. Leveling the trailer was another story, but we were set up and relaxing by 5:30 PM under increasingly sunny skies with a crackling campfire—absolute heaven in my book.

We did a short hike on Saturday up to Independence Lake—a short but spectacular hike to a pretty lake that still had a fair bit of snow on it. The snow pretty much obliterated most of the trail to the further North Lake, so we opted to stop for a lovely lunch in the sun at Independence Lake. The sky was blue, the sun was warm, and the only sound we could hear was the birds. In fact, we ran into very few other folks—seems everyone was else was down at Lake 22. When we drove by there, the parking lot was crammed full and the overflow of about 20 cars was lined up on the Mountain Loop Highway. I’m sure the trail was a mad house of people. Not really the hike experience I’m looking for.

I imagine that all of those folks either went to the Ranger Station looking for a sure thing (no snow to deal with) or they hadn’t thought of an alternate destination, so they had no Plan B to fall back on when they saw how crowded this trail was going to be. Lake 22 is a nice destination, but there are many great hikes in that same area that aren’t much harder to get to. The experience at these other trails may be more of an unknown than Lake 22, but isn’t that part of the adventure of getting out into the wilderness? I knew that there was a strong possibility that Independence Lake would still be snowy and that there might be too much snow to continue on to North Lake, but I opted to try out the unknown trail for a new—and much less crowded—experience. I encourage you to try out trails that aren’t well-travelled or well-known crowd pleasers. At best you find a new favorite to go back to and at the least you have a new place to explore.

June Hike Signup:

Open signup for June hikes is going on right now. Feel free to sign up for as many hikes as you would like. Available hikes are listed below.

Signup for July hikes and the Cougar Flat Campout will begin on Wednesday, June 23rd at 9:00 AM. I will send out a July hike list on the 21st. At the same time, I’ll also be sending out details of the Cougar Flat Campout (July 16-18). This information will describe the weekend and how to get registered for camping and for the hikes held in the area on this weekend. Those hikers camping at Cougar Flat have priority for hikes being held in conjunction with this weekend.

CHS1:

6/20 (Sun/Father’s Day)—Anna May Brennan, Pratt-Olallie Saddle (9 miles, 2,400’ gain)

6/20 (Sun/Father's Day)—Go Getter Hike, Jennie Douglas, Navaho Pass (11 miles, 2,900' gain). This hike is also open to CHS2 folks as a possibility for their second June CHS2 hike, but it will be done at a CHS1 pace.

6/22 (Tue)—Midweek hike, Jan Davis/Sue Shih, Tronsen Ridge (8 miles, 1,000’ gain)

CHS2:

6/18 (Fri.)—Midweek hike, Sue Shih, Mt. Baldy (9 miles, 3,000’ gain)

WTA Trail Maintenance Signup

In June, the first of several WTA Trail Maintenance work parties is coming up. The link to sign up for this trip and the others is located on the CHS web site in Course Document>CHS Trail Maintenance Flyer. (http://www.mountaineers.org/seattle/chs/CHS/Class_Resources.html)

CHS Pictures:

If you took any pictures on your hike this weekend, please be sure to forward them to chshiker2008@gmail.com to post them on the picture site for everyone to view.

Have a great week and I look forward to hiking with each of you soon. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

06/05/10 Post

I picked the right day to lead a hike this weekend. Saturday was glorious indeed and I lead a group of eight CHS2 hikers to the top of Dirtyface Peak over near Lake Wenatchee. We had warm weather to hike in and sunny skies to enjoy the awesome views of all of the surrounding snow-covered peaks including Glacier Peak and the Enchantments, including Mt Stuart. There were so many peaks that we had a hard time figuring out what some of them were! What a great problem to have. After our lovely hike, we enjoyed a milkshake and some tasty food at the 59er Diner. It was a perfect day!

Last week I wrote about animal encounters. This week let’s discuss encounters with our smaller insect friends. As we’re in tick season right now, please remember to be sure and check yourself for ticks after each hike. Check yourself all over. You can't feel them on you until they have already burrowed in. They will wander around (unfelt) on your body until they find a place to dig in and feed. While we don’t have the types of ticks in the Northwest that can carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or Lyme’s Disease, it’s still best to be vigilant of these small critters. Click on this link for information on how to remove a tick if you find one: http://dermatology.about.com/cs/miscellaneous/a/tick.htm

You will also start encountering mosquitoes and the occasional dreaded-black flies on some trails. Be sure to carry insect repellent with you or someway of covering up to discourage these pesky critters. I like to carry a lightweight nylon long-sleeve shirt that I can pull on to both protect myself from biting insects and from getting sunburned. I find Deet insect repellent to be noxious, so I have some eucalyptus-based repellent that I use which is fairly effective for short periods of time; but I prefer to just cover up when the bugs become bad.

June Hike Signup:

Open signup for June hikes is going on right now. Feel free to sign up for as many hikes as you would like. Available hikes are listed below.

Signup for July hikes and the Cougar Flat Campout will begin on Wednesday, June 23rd at 9:00 AM. I will send out a July hike list on the 21st. I’ll also be sending out details of the Cougar Flat campout soon (July 16-18) which describes the weekend and how to get registered for camping and for the hikes held in the area on this weekend. Those hikers camping at Cougar Flat have priority for hikes being held in conjunction with this weekend.


CHS1:

6/12 (Sat)—Barry Kellems, Oyster Dome/Lilly Lake (10 miles, 2200’ gain)

6/13 (Sun)—Steve Payne, Ingalls Creek (12 miles, 1,200’ gain)


6/20 (Sun/Father’s Day)—Anna May Brennan, Pratt-Olallie Saddle (9 miles, 2,400’ gain)


6/20 (Sun/Father's Day)—Go Getter Hike, Jennie Douglas, Navaho Pass (11 miles, 2,900' gain)


6/22 (Tue)—Midweek hike, Jan Davis/Sue Shih, Tronsen Ridge (8 miles, 1,000’ gain)


CHS2:

6/12 (Sat.)—Bill Shecket/Barb Motteler, Denny Creek Trailhead to Pratt Lake Trailhead (13 miles, 2,900' gain)


6/13 (Sun.)—Deborah Dickstein, Leaders' Choice (11 miles, 2,500' gain)


6/18 (Fri.)—Midweek hike, Sue Shih, Mt. Baldy (9 miles, 3,000’ gain)


WTA Trail Maintenance Signup

In June, the first of several WTA Trail Maintenance work parties is coming up. The link to sign up for this trip and the others is located on the CHS web site in Course Document>CHS Trail Maintenance Flyer. (http://www.mountaineers.org/seattle/chs/CHS/Class_Resources.html)

CHS Pictures:

If you took any pictures on your hike this weekend, please be sure to forward them to chshiker2008@gmail.com to post them on the picture site for everyone to view.

Have a great week and I look forward to hiking with each of you soon. Please contact me if you have any questions.