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 23^rd at 9:00 AM. I will send out a July hike list on the 21^st. 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.