Hiking for fitness

NorthCascades

One more strong recommendation from the Harts Pass area. This place is just so spectacular. It's a very long drive but worth doing at least once (a year).

Silver Lake

This was harder for me than the numbers (miles & elevation gain) would have you believe. I live in Seattle proper, at 60 feet above sea level, so the air is just slightly thin up there, and I had a really heavy pack. I was planning to summit Pasayten Peak but decided against it when I got there.

Here's a photo from the road where I parked.









I'm a sucker for a big, wide, U-shaped glacier-carved valley.

---

These aren't from the hike but here are a few pics from the road in.



The Silver Lake trail makes its way through the meadows below, this is looking north from Slate Peak.



This is looking west.



Here are some pics from camping on Slate Peak. Just next to my car. Parked my car strategically to block the wind. It was the 4th of July weekend but probably 30 F at night. There was a photographer there for a couple hours, we were chatting, and my voice went up a couple octaves every time I took my glove off to change a setting on the camera.

CarlydogsMom

Wow, @NorthCascades, thank you for posting all these pics! I've never been fortunate enough to spend any time in the NW but now it's on my short-list.

NorthCascades

I'm glad people are appreciating the pics. For the record, most of these came from a 10 pound camera system, there's been a lot of sore back involved in capturing these. I really do hope they draw my new friend @sireenmalik2014 out to new places, nobody should hike Mailbox Peak in the high summer. (Mailbox is nice, but we have jaw dropping nearby.)

SuzySunshine99

I just did a trip to the North Cascades last year. A big YES to Maple Pass and Grasshopper Pass. Going up and (especially) down Hart's Pass Road is very scary for me, being a flatlander from the Midwest, but it is totally worth the entire white-knuckle drive. Also, Blue Lake is a nice short trail to a pretty lake if you only have a few hours.

NorthCascades

Chelan Lakeshore Trail

This is a spring classic. This one melts very early because of the low elevation, warm climate, and west-facing aspect. When most trails are still covered in snow, this is a good option. Don't do it on Memorial Day weekend or you'll join 10,000 of your closest friends.

For this hike, you take the Lady of the Lake ferry about halfway up the lake, and get dropped off at Prince Creek or Moore Point, then hike to the tiny little town of Stehekin. You can camp there, or reserve a room at the Lodge or in some of the cabins. Then you take the ferry (or a float plane - strongly not recommended!) back to your car.





From the boat, the hills look brown, sun-burnt, and dead, but when you get close, they're teeming with life.





Never in my life have I seen so many lupines! Countless millions of them in the 17 miles along this trail.





Eventually you start to see some trees here and there, and then you come into a ponderosa forest.



Finally you reach Stehekin, and get off your feet.



These were the most terrifying 25 minutes of my life. I thought about throwing the door open and jumping to get it over with, I had no confidence our pilot would land us safely. So glad I was wrong! I would rather crawl the 50 miles on broken glass than ever do this again.

NorthCascades

SuzySunshine99 wrote: »

I just did a trip to the North Cascades last year. A big YES to Maple Pass and Grasshopper Pass. Going up and (especially) down Hart's Pass Road is very scary for me, being a flatlander from the Midwest, but it is totally worth the entire white-knuckle drive. Also, Blue Lake is a nice short trail to a pretty lake if you only have a few hours.

You remember the part that's just barely wider than your car, with no guard rail and a 3,000 foot drop? I punctured a tire there on a very sharp rock. Then it was 5 miles before there was a flat spot I could jack my car up over.

SuzySunshine99

NorthCascades wrote: »

SuzySunshine99 wrote: »

I just did a trip to the North Cascades last year. A big YES to Maple Pass and Grasshopper Pass. Going up and (especially) down Hart's Pass Road is very scary for me, being a flatlander from the Midwest, but it is totally worth the entire white-knuckle drive. Also, Blue Lake is a nice short trail to a pretty lake if you only have a few hours.

You remember the part that's just barely wider than your car, with no guard rail and a 3,000 foot drop? I punctured a tire there on a very sharp rock. Then it was 5 miles before there was a flat spot I could jack my car up over.

Oh, god, that's a nightmare. They were doing some work on the road when I was there and had to get around construction equipment. I think someone could do a nice business running a shuttle service up and down that road. I'd pay for that.

NorthCascades

@SuzySunshine99 check out the video in this thread!

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8020582

NorthCascades

Horseshoe Basin (Pasayten)

There are actually a couple of Horseshoe Basins in the state, the one I'm about to show pictures from is the one in the Pasayten Wilderness, near Tonasket. There's another Horseshoe Basin on the Cascade Pass trail, it's maybe 150 miles away, one year I ran into somebody there who had intended to go to the other one. He was very frustrated. That's why I'm clarifying.

This is a magical place, it's not exactly a secret, but it's a 7 hour drive from Seattle so it's rarely crowded. We just spent three days; we saw one person on the hike in, I saw another person the next day while hiking, and nobody the third day.

There be arctic tundra here, the basin sits on a layer of permafrost, and is very boggy and poorly drained because of it. We got caught in a fierce hail storm, meanwhile it was 98 F in Tonasket.



I was impressed with the sign. We took the Boundary Trail in and out, but if you have time, I hear the Clutch Creek trail is lovely.

Trail starts off in a living forest for about 1/4 mile, then a clearing, and then about 5 lovely miles of burn zone. This area went up like a torch 10 years ago (2006 Tripod Complex fire) and the ghost trees are silvering very nicely.







Then you go over Sunny Pass, where you get a view of the rolling, wind-swept eastern Pasayten.



Then it's into the basin.





We got benighted on the trail, watched a dramatic sunset, and set up our camp in the dark by headlamp. Owls were flying all around us. The next day we saw a coyote, bear and lynx (?) scat, ptarmigan, and a heard of deer running through a meadow.





Lot of flowers here, too, but they bloom early.





Plenty of exploring and peak bagging to do here.

And then we had to leave.

SuzySunshine99

NorthCascades wrote: »

@SuzySunshine99 check out the video in this thread!

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8020582

K, thanks a bunch. Like I wasn't already pooping bricks.

MountainSam

@NorthCascades ...wonderful pictures. My love for PNW outdoors keeps on growing. Cheers again

MountainSam

Mount Si Hike, WA, July 2016. This a a hard trail with the last-hop scramble testing fitness to the limit.

MountainSam

Looking at some of this pictures again, I realized how awesome Stargazing might be here in the PNW

NorthCascades

Nice pics from Si!

When I tried to get into WAC, part of the admission criteria was having to do Mt Si from the trailhead to the Haystack in 2 hours with a 30 pound pack. I think I got 2:05 but they called it close enough ... and then didn't have room for me.

queenliz99

sireenmalik2014 wrote: »

Mount Si Hike, WA, July 2016. This a a hard trail with the last-hop scramble testing fitness to the limit.

Beautiful!!

MountainSam

NorthCascades wrote: »

Nice pics from Si!

When I tried to get into WAC, part of the admission criteria was having to do Mt Si from the trailhead to the Haystack in 2 hours with a 30 pound pack. I think I got 2:05 but they called it close enough ... and then didn't have room for me.

This was a good hike - my first hard one. It was great for building confidence and also making me aware how much I have to improve quads still working on it.

MountainSam

queenliz99 wrote: »

sireenmalik2014 wrote: »

Mount Si Hike, WA, July 2016. This a a hard trail with the last-hop scramble testing fitness to the limit.

Beautiful!!

Thanks, how about you, do you hike regularly?

NorthCascades

Have you done Granite, on I-90 (exit 47)? Similar stats, but the last mile or so is above tree line, so you get views of Rainier and Keechelus.

Iron Peak in the Teanaway is probably about the same mileage and elevation gain (?) but very little woods to hike through. Fantastic view of the Enchantment Range from the top, and of Daniel/Himan.

T1DCarnivoreRunner

I hike for fun and fitness, if you want to add me as a friend just make about hiking so I know how you found me. Unfortunately, I've been working on my master's degree and have had less time to hike lately than I would like. I'll be done in Oct. (assuming all goes well) and will hike a lot next year.

Top of my bucket list (hopefully July or Aug. next year, and I need to find someone to go with me for obvious reasons... been trying to get my brother to do this, but he is uncommitted) - park a car at Waterton Lakes National Park and ride back to Bowman Lake trailhead, Glacier National Park... hike over Brown's pass, and then end up in Canada (there is a hiking trail that goes between the 2 parks across the border). Other less spectacular hikes will happen before / after then, but that is a long-standing dream.

If I had to do it solo, the transportation to return to Bowman Lake trailhead is very challenging: Bus along the eastern side of Waterton Lakes and Glacier, then Glacier NP bus half-way across Going to the Sun Road, 2nd Glacier NP bus to Lake MacDonald, taxi cab up to Polebridge, and then walk the rest of the way (commercial vehicles, including taxis are prohibited beyond Polebridge). By that time, even catching the first bus out of Waterton puts me walking up 10-11 miles to Bowman Lake trailhead at around 11pm in some of the heaviest grizzly territory in the lower 48. And THAT is why I need a 2nd person to make 2 cars work.

NorthCascades

Very Large Herd Of Mountain Goats Gathers Near Mt. Baker

http://nwsportsmanmag.com/headlines/large-herd-mountain-goats-gathers-near-mt-baker/



These are majestic creatures. Ptarmigan Ridge is supposed to be the best place to see them on Mt Baker. I've seen the most goats in the Teanaway and Enchantments. If you see one, pee on a rock for it.