Iron Goat 05-30-2020

The dogs and I headed out early for Iron Goat Trail near Stevens Pass on Hwy 2 to avoid any crowds and hopefully beat the rain.  So far the morning had been dry, but rain was expected.  From the look of the forecast it sounded like showers and then increasing later, possibly some thunder later.  As I parked the Xterra the first drops began to fall.

The dogs were game, so we headed out into some light sprinkles - I could see some brightness in the sky so expected the rain to diminish.  The trail was empty of people, beautiful and dim halls of green, carpeted with wildflowers - bleeding heart, wild currants, and some tiny white and blue flowers I didn't know the names of.

Here was a little thing I wasn't expecting to see on the trail - I left it for some child to find.

As we hiked along I heard a crackle of thunder.  Cedar missed the first one, but not the next - he HATES thunder.  I tried to tell him because we were hiking it was FUNder, but he wasn't having it.  I have never been in the mountains on a trail in a storm like this - the thunder started ripping across the sky, booming and rolling from peak to peak, like something from a J.R.R.Tolkien novel.  Then the rain started to come down hard, and after an hour of thunder Cedar was panting and shaking so much that I was worried about him.  We found a dryish spot under some thick trees and huddled together.  I checked my phone and it looked like within a half hour the rain would subside and the storm would be gone.  While we were sitting there the rain came down even harder.  I decided we should go back, but looking at my Apple Watch I saw we were about halfway.  Might as well finish.  The rain now was pelting down so hard it was bouncing back up off the trail.

As it didn't show signs of slowing, we headed out after our break - after that we got so wet that we didn't dare stop again as nothing we had was dry enough to warm us up if we quit moving.  The rain got even harder!  I didn't even think that was possible!  It wasn't just falling anymore, but being cast down forcefully upon us by storm gods gone mad.  It stung right through my raincoat and for the first time I was glad that the groomers have been closed for so long... with shaggy and wooly coats, the dogs seemed pretty comfortable other than being wet.

We didn't poke into all of the tunnels or go up to all of the viewpoints, but pretty much just marched on - the dogs wanting to go even faster than I did.  It was still glorious!  If it wasn't for Cedar being upset it was exhilarating to be up inside the storm, hearing it playing across the peaks.

The waterfalls were full and water was spilling over the edges of the snow walls in more places than usual.

When we got back to the car, I gave the dogs their salmon stick and all the treats I had with - they earned the today!!

Apple Watch stats:  6.39 mi and 713 ft of elevation gain.

North Lake 09-15-2019

Another new hike for me!  This hike is all about water anyway with two lakes, a nice sized tarn and many smaller pools along the way - but today was POURING down rain.  It still only comes in 2nd place on my wettest hikes ever though.  Tubal Cain Mine is still in the lead for that dubious award.

Apple Watch stats:  7.39 miles RT, 2903 ft of elevation gain.  The actual trail is likely just a touch over 7, but I did a tiny bit of backtracking when I hiked past a turn. 

This trail starts out meandering through some lovely woods to Independence Lake at about 3/4 mile in.  This is by far the most popular destination on this trail, and I had hiked this a couple weeks previously with Dave and the adventure dogs.  Today though, with the rain, there was only one car at the trailhead and I met a man and his two small children hiking out from where they had camped overnight at Independence - and no one else.  The rest of my hike I had the wilderness in all its gloriousness all to myself!  Muahahahaha!!!  ALL MINE!

Water streamed off of every surface - every fir needle, every leaf, every stone dripped and rushed and flowed with it.  The trail was mostly a stream itself and I often found myself hiking up and down small temporary waterfalls. 

The actual waterfalls along the trail were amazing.  They roared and frothed and really celebrated the start of a wet northwest fall.

Around 2 - 2 1/2 miles in there is a left you need to take.  It goes up a rocky slope that doesn't look anything like a trail.  If you go straight though, the trail is super clear.  This leads to what I'm guessing is the 2nd most popular destination along this trail - a lovely deep tarn.  The trail comes out on the rocky banks of it and it looks like a great place to picnic or swim on a warmer day.  I had recently taken a map reading class, so I not only brought my map - I actually looked at it for a change!  I could see that I should not be right at the edge of this tarn, but up the slope a ways cutting upward.  I remembered seeing a cairn back by the non-traily looking rocky slope, so I backtracked to there and from that direction the trail was a bit clearer.  It's rarely easy to find a trail on rock though, and the rain covering everything made it harder to discern.

On the rocky shore of a pretty lake I wasn't supposed to end up on the edge of

Up the slope above North Lake, it again got pretty rocky and the trail was difficult to follow.  In addition, I don't think this section of the trail gets used as much so it was really overgrown.

Overgrown trail

The lake was a long ways down!  I thought about staying up above and enjoying the view, rather than risking a slip/fall getting down to it in the wet, but I was SO CLOSE.  So I got there and was glad I did.

North Lake itself was beautiful.  The far side was a slope with trees, but the trail meets up with the lake in a jumble of huge gorgeous boulders and to my left there were sheer granite slabs, shining in the rain.  I ate a quick lunch using a boulder as a wind block and then headed back up that hill. 

There were mushrooms everywhere from a wet summer and the fresh rain. 

One big bolete was bigger than my head, so I scuttled under the brush to get a picture next to it for size (since I didn't want to pick it for no reason). 

Another mushroom had been apparently growing next to a small stream, and the rainwater had flooded it. 

There were quite a few bears head fungi which is a choice edible.  I took a larger but less pretty one home and added it to a nice seafood chowder later.  Yum!

Don't wait for good weather - get out there and adventure!

Gothic Basin 8-17-2019

Gothic Basin is a challenging hike, but fun as hell.  When you're done climbing up switchbacks through the forest you get an on-and-off scramble the last couple miles. 
Apple Watch stats:  10.53 miles roundtrip (we found on our last hike, this is a lie - probably closer to 9.75), and 2938 ft of elevation gain.

I hiked Gothic Basin last about 9 years ago and it was in the clouds and mist - so fitting that today, the mountains were once again misty and ethereal.

The forest was still and cloudy - water dripped from the trees as it condensed in the upper limbs.  We have had a lot of damp this year, so mushrooms were springing up here and there.

Once you get above the treeline, you cross several creeks/avalanche chutes.  There was no snow remaining in any of them today, but the little waterfalls were beautiful. 

There were also still some wildflowers blooming along the creeks and in little meadows.

Despite there being quite a few people at Gothic Basin, the rock and cloud seemed to eat up their voices, so it was really peaceful and just as gorgeous as I remembered it.

I ate my lunch on the rocks above Foggy Lake and watched the lake clear and then cloud over again.

 Happy Adventuring!