Recent Hikes 2011

Recent hikes 2011: I love the sound of that! A fresh year of trails, adventures, new sights/sites and smells and sounds and vistas.... ah, it's great to be a hiker!

So let's get right to it: the weather.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, the weather has been unbelievably wretched.

Do you think I exaggerate?

I do not.

Our weather pattern has been an unbroken stretch of cold, wet, gloomy grayness.

Not surprisingly, that limited the snowshoeing options early in the year.

However, I do have a few bright spots to report. Read on... and be sure to hover your mouse over each photo to read the caption. All photos are credited to David Midkiff.

February 2011:

There is a magical place in the Chiwaukum Mountains called High Camp. It's near McCue Ridge, with a great view of Glacier Peak (on a clear day, of course).

The great thing about High Camp is that it's not easy to get to, and you have to rent a tiny little cabin - so there's a limited amount of people wandering the same territory on any given day. And most of them are skiers! So that leaves the harder-to-navigate stretches of back country pretty empty, with lots of opportunity for solitude and quietness.

Here's a view from McCue Ridge - rather pretty, isn't it?

Here's the cabin we stayed in, complete with a wood stove and just enough space for sleeping, eating, and stretching tired legs after a great day snowshoeing.

We hit it just right: a clear day and a great view of Glacier Peak.

April 2011:

Spring was finally beginning to show a few signs, but most folks agreed that True Spring was at least 3 weeks delayed due to the cool temperatures.

We went on a lovely little outing to Alger Alps near Bellingham, WA and saw these harbingers of Spring: yellow violets, skunk cabbages, beaver activity near a pond, horsetail rushes, and an alligator lizard. Who knew there were lizards in Western Washington? Not me!! Until I put my hand down on this little guy and we both had a delicious jolt of adrenaline.

May 2011:

Finally! A clear, sunny day was promised on a week end, and we took full advantage of it by heading to Mt. Rainier for a long, wonderful day of snowshoeing.

Because the day warmed up quickly, the snow changed from crusty to soggy in a hurry. But what's a few extra burned calories when you're having fun?

We started our trip at Narada Falls, which is a view point on the road to Paradise. There was a beaten in route up the mountain, and we took a quick side trip almost all the way to Paradise, with this great view of the mountain.

Then we backtracked to our main destination: Reflection Lakes. It's named that because one of the classic photos of Mt. Rainier is taken from this spot - in the summertime, that is! We like it in the winter because there's lots of animal tracks, and the views aren't bad, either!

Sure enough, there were fox tracks all over the place, weaving in and out of the snowshoe trail. Here's my favorite photo of the tracks, and I don't know if you can see it, but the wild canines left their calling card on the sign - think domestic dog and mail box!

Here are a few shots of the Tatoosh peaks, looking quite lovely with a new coating of snow. And of course, the big girl herself, Mt. Rainier from our lunch spot. We had some uninvited guests for lunch, too....

July 2011:

Summer never really came to the Seattle area in 2011. But if summer never comes, why not try to find it?

That's what we did when we headed up to the Northwest Territories, for a two week adventure in the McKenzie Mountains (Nahanni).

Here are a few photo highlights of our trip. Hover your mouse over each image for a brief description.

Late August - September 2011:

Back in Washington State, the weather was finally warming up a tad. But not enough to melt snow in the mountains. For example, Mt. Rainier had a very late flower season, with some meadows never melting out at all. Ditto for Mt. Baker.

Here are a few photo highlights from fall trips in the Cascades for you to enjoy. If you've never hiked here, what are you waitin' for??

First, a glimpse of hiking near Mt. Rainier. Mount Baker to follow....

And now for a bit of Mt. Baker hiking! There's a fantastic natural feature called RailRoad Grade, with a trail going along the spine of a lateral moraine. The views are incredible - take a look!

October 2011:

What a brief window of good weather we had! Now it's back to frost and snow.... ah, well, might as well get ready for snowshoeing!

But not before a brief glimpse of fall near Glacier Peak, on Scorpion Mountain.

Had enough of recent hikes 2011? Here's some from 2010...