Well we spent April, May and June complaining about the cold, rainy weather and now we’re just basking in sunshine and hot temperatures. I can’t complain about the heat, but I sure like to start my hikes a lot earlier than I did in April right now.
Matt and I checked out the North Fork Sauk river crossing today for my Pilot Ridge CHS2 hike that I’m leading in a couple of weeks. I was able to cross the log (about 25 yards long) and we were both able to ford the river (it felt great!). So if you were interested in doing the Pilot Ridge hike, but were turned off because of the log crossing, rest assured that you can wade through the river safely, but you might want to bring some water sandals for the ford so you don’t have to hike in wet hiking boots.
I mentioned last week that I did a great hike in the Wallowa wilderness in eastern Oregon with my brother up to Ice Lake. It was a 16-mile round trip hike on great trail and is now one of my favorite hikes. From beginning to end, it was a gorgeous trail with lots of flowers, water, and waterfalls, capped off by a beautiful, large lake with the glowing granite Matterhorn peak looming above it. We arrived around noon and had the lake to ourselves—enough time to check out potential camp spots for the future and take a little nap up against a comfy log while listening to the water lap against the shore.
Disturbingly however, when we arrived at the lake, we found an abandoned campfire still smoldering. Campfires are forbidden in that area, but someone had not only ripped off some live branches from a nearby tree to build one (and left the limbs that they didn’t get around to burning on the ground), but just left it going without making sure it was out. Stuff like this makes my blood boil. Just one spark from that fire could set the whole place on fire given the right dry conditions. And August in the wilderness in most areas meets those right dry conditions.
This is not the first abandoned campfire I’ve found either. I’m beginning to think that many folks who build fires in the wilderness think that it’s okay to just leave a fire smoldering as long as it’s in a fire ring. This is not true. When you build a fire, you are responsible for making sure that it’s dead before you leave the area. This means that you need to pour water on the fire, stir the coals, pour more water on the fire until it stops steaming and hissing. Then crush the sodden coals to see if any more burning embers are exposed. Dump more water on these. Put your hand over the coals—do you feel any heat coming out? Then keep repeating the dumping of water until you no longer feel heat. Then hang around for a bit and see what happens. This is the responsible way to put out a fire when you are in the woods.
August Hike Signup
All August hikes are open for signup for more than two hikes. Feel free to take advantage of open spaces we have available in the hikes in your group.
September hike descriptions will be coming out in the next few days. We’re still waiting for a couple of hike leaders to pick their destination. September hike signup will begin on Wednesday, August 18th.
September hikes with space still available:
CHS1:
8/17—Midweek hike, Destination TBD, Jan Davis & Sue Shih (14 miles, 2300’ gain) This hike was supposed to go to Cathedral Rock/Deception Pass Loop, but unseasonably high waters at Daniel Creek have required a change in destination. Jan & Sue have notified registered hikers.
8/21—Royal Basin, Anna May Brennan & Jan Pecoraro (14 miles, 2600’ gain)
8/21—Go Getter: Surprise Lake/Surprise Mtn, Gregg Pilgreen (15.5 miles, 4100’ gain). This will also count as a CHS2 hike but will be led at a CHS1 pace.
CHS2:
8/21—Go Getter: Pilot Ridge to Johnson Mtn, Kelly Cleman (20 miles, 3600’+ gain)
8/21—Surprise Lake/Surprise Mtn, Gregg Pilgreen (15.5 miles, 4100’ gain). This is a CHS1 level hike but will also count as a CHS2 hike (will be led at a CHS1 pace).
8/22—Thompson Lake Car Shuttle, Bill Shecket & Barb Motteler (14 miles, 4000’ gain
8/28/10— Sourdough Mtn, Mark Harniss (12.5 miles, 5100’ gain)
8/28/10— Tuck & Robin Lakes, Barbara Folmer (14 miles, 3300’ gain)
8/29/10— Stileto Peak, Sue Shih (14 miles, 3720’ gain).
WTA Trail Maintenance Signup
All CHS/WTA combined trips are completed. If you have not completed your trail maintenance requirement you can schedule an outing on a non-CHS trail maintenance trip with either WTA or some of the other outdoor organizations. Once you have completed your trail maintenance requirement, please email me to let me know what date you did it on as we keep track of this information for graduation purposes.
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. You can access the picture site through the CHS Web Site or directly by going to http://picasaweb.google.com/hiker.chs.
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