Iron Horse Trail (Lake Annette Trailhead to S.E. Keechelus Lake)

Iron Horse Trail - June 22nd, 2014

I-90 Corridor

Mileage: 14 Miles (One way)

Elevation Gain: 400 ft.

Dogs Allowed

I mentioned in an earlier post about the grand summer 2014 hiking plan Allison and I created for this hiking season. One of the problems that continued to cause us headaches was the unpredictability of the snow levels in the mountains. The snow level and dates the mountains are finally clear of snow can vary greatly from year to year and unfortunately during the summer 2014 hiking season, the snow did not melt away as early as it had in previous years. This caused us to have to alter our planned hikes for several weekends, including the weekend of June 22nd. 

We had initially planed to hike the Kendal Katwalk. This hike takes its namesake from a football field- length portion of the hike where the trail was literally blasted into the side of a steep mountain. WTA notes, " the name Kendall Katwalk conjures up an image of a narrow pathway blasted out of a steeply sloped rock face, that’s part of it. But the whole package includes old-growth forest, gorgeous wildflowers, and stunning views into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness from both sides of the pass below Kendall Peak, where the Katwalk begins." Needless to say this was on our Washington hiking, bucket list. Unfortunately, by the time this hike came due on the calendar, the snow level was still too high to safely complete the catwalk, so I had to come up with plan B. Although, I'm kind of sad that we didn't get to do the Katwalk. Even though we were initially quite disappointed, it was also kind of fortuitous because it made me find a really exotic hike I may not have discovered otherwise. 

The hike I ended up planning had several very diverse sections, including the most notable, a 2 mile long underground section that followed an abandoned railroad tunnel. The final hike ended up being a 14 mile section of Washington State Park's Iron Horse Trail, a 110 mile path that follows an old railroad track from Ollalie State Park to Cle Elum in Eastern Washington. I picked a section that went from Keechelus Lake through to the Lake Annette Trailhead. As I mentioned before, this hike ended up being very diverse. Starting from the Lake Annette trailhead, the hike begins in lush forests which quickly give way to the original path of the railroad, which is now a large open gravel corridor. This section of the hike offered fantastic views of the cascades and lasted until we got to the mouth of the tunnel. 

The actual underground section of the hike took approximately 45 minutes. For the majority of this time we were in complete darkness. This combined with the temperature plummeting almost 40 degrees and sharing the tunnels with dimly lite strangers made for a slightly spooky journey which was not exactly enjoyable for some members of the hiking group. Luckily everyone made it out alive. Since Iron horse trail was originally a railroad track, it is graded much more gently than almost any other hike in the I-90 corridor, so despite clocking in at 14 miles it was a pretty easy hike. Despite being in the mountains, we only gained 400 feet of elevation, mostly because of the tunnel. 

The final section of the hike took place on the Western bank of the Keechelus Lake. The lake is an irrigation control reservoir and the beginning of the Yakima River. With a water storage capacity of 195,000,000 m³, Keechelus' brilliant blue offered stunning contrast to surrounding peaks of the cascades. This section of the hike was 6.5 miles on a flat gravel path. I forgot to mention earlier in the post that in order to make this into a 14 mile day hike and not at 28 mile overnight, we took two vehicles and broke the our party into two groups who started from opposite ends of the trail. We swapped keys when the groups converged in the middle of the hike and then met back up at the Lake Annette parking lot to regroup before heading back to Seattle.  

Overall it was a really good day and the tunnel section of the hike provided a completely new hiking experience.   Iron Horse Trial is a very bike friendly trail, and if I ever get to go back I think we will try to bike a larger section of the trail rather than hike.

Mt. Si

Mt. Si - March 30th, 2014

Mileage: 8 miles

Elevation Gain: 3150 feet

Snoqualmie Pass - North Bend Area

Dog Friendly

Difficulty: Intermediate
Pass Required: WA Discover Pass

The WTA entry from Mt. Si reads as follows, "Mount Si should be experienced at least once by every hiker. In fact, a significant number of Puget Sound residents do just one hike per year, and these annual hikers almost invariably turn to Mount Si every time."  The author is definitely correct in this statement, and there is a really good reason why this is the case.  Well the hike up to the summit of Mt. Si isn't for the faint of heart or the out of shape, the payoff is an absolutely unforgettable view which includes the Upper Snoqualmie Valley, the Puget Sound basin, Downtown Seattle and Bellevue.  

I hosted the event through our online hiking group called Allison Pushes People Up Mountains (APPUM).  We had a strong turnout with 7 of the 30 members showing up for the hike.  We were initially planning to summit Mt. Si via Teneriffe Road Trail which is the longer/less steep cousin of Mt. Si Trail. It apparently has a much better view combined with much fewer people.  Well the later ended up being true, the much fewer people part was not true.  We got to the Teneriffe Road parking lot only to find it completely full.  

The parking lots for both Teneriffe and Mt. Si's trail have no overflow parking and tow away zones extend for several miles each way on the road by their parking lots.  So, we decided to turn around and drive to the Mt. Si trailhead and summit the mountain via this route.  I had promised the party that we would be summiting via Teneriffe because it was an easy hike and I didn't want to scare people off from attending future hikes because of the difficulty of Mt. Si trail.  So, several of my hikers were a bit apprehensive when they learned that we were in fact going to do Mt. Si trail afterall.

The really difficult part of the trail is the first half mile.  The trail immediately starts uphill and continues relentlessly until you reach the top of the mountain.  The reason the first half mile is hard is because you've just gotten out of the car after sitting for about an hour to commute out to the hike and your cold muscles are not exactly thrilled to go from still to a good percentage of their maximum capacity.  So, we slowly trudged through the first half mile with many rest breaks.  We ended up losing Amber around the first half mile to do hip trouble.  She had to have a hip replacement a couple of years ago, and going uphill isn't always doable.  After we got warmed up, our pace quickened and we began taking fewer breaks.  We ended up making it up to the summit in 3.5 hrs, which is a pretty good clip for that sort of elevation gain, especially considering our slow start.

Three of the seven hikers that were with us for this hike are originally from countries other than the United States.  Daniel and his brother Jaime are originally from Mexico and live and work in the US and the third, Koko, is a foreign exchange student from the Netherlands.  The three of them go on many of our outdoor adventures and it is really fun to be able to share the amazing natural beauty of our country with people from other countries, and Mt. Si did not let us down.  It was a bit overcast all day, but we were able to see about half of the view for about a minute or two when we arrived at the summit and before it was completely obscured by clouds.  The last quarter mile of the hike was covered in snow.  We were able to navigate it with only a few minor slips, but I could have really used a set of micro spikes (sets of small spikes which are worn over normal tennis shoes or boots), which I'll be purchasing next season.  After getting to the summit, we took some more pictures, had a bite to eat and then quickly got uncomfortably cold because of the wind chill and headed back down the mountain.  

Katie and David decided it would be a good idea to feed some of the wildlife.  I'm completely against this as it leads to a slew of problems, which I won't go on a tirade about that here.  Having said that, it was still cool to see birds fly up and sit in their hands while they ate the trail mix they were offering.

The hike back down the mountain took another two hours.  Our buddy Nick serenaded us with his ukulele while we descended the mountain.  We all had rubbery legs by the end of the hike.  Overall, it was a great day spent with great friends.  

Trail Review: Gold Creek Valley

Gold Creek Valley - July 7th

8 miles (+ 1.5-2 miles round trip of dirt road)
Negligable
Snoqualmie Pass; I-90 Corridor
Dog Friendly
Difficulty: Very Easy

A little over a year ago Chris, Katie and I tried to hike Gold Creek Valley. We were looking for a good early season hike and it had been recommended. I can’t remember who or what recommended it. It was probably something along the lines of “This hike opens in May” and we thought to ourselves sweet! It’s May 18th (guessing) it’s got to be melted out! We totally don’t need to look at trip reports o WTA or anything...

We drove out there and didn’t even get to the actual trail before things turned slushy. Apparently you used to be able to drive up to the trailhead, now you need to park at Gold Creek Pond and walk about ¾ of a mile to the trailhead. Not a big deal, and the only reason I bring it up is this: there were people getting ready to go cross country skiing on our way from the pond to the trailhead. That should give you a pretty good idea of how snow it was.

I hear you thinking, surely they turned back, they’re not total morons who would try to hike an unfamiliar trail in two feet of snow when one of them was only wearing tennis shoes and jeans. Oh how wrong you are imaginary conversationalist. We are absolutely that dumb. My guess is we went about 2 miles, maybe a little bit less. We lost the trail a couple of times, but what finally made us turn around was we all fell into tree wells up to our hips.

This time was waaaaay better.

There was no snow. It was warm but not outright hot, the trail wasn’t crowded or muddy or anything! It was pretty much perfect. It’s an incredibly easy hike. We ended up turning around where you need to ford Gold Creek to continue on to Mt. Alaska, we’d read reports that things got a bit overgrown and nasty after that and we were looking for an easy recovery hike because of how hard we’d pushed on the the 4th. Not to mention that Chris’ ankle was only just starting to feel better.

It was a gorgeous day. There were tons of wildflowers, including my personal favorite (aside from daffodils or narcissus but they're not indigenous): wild tiger lillies (right). About ¾ of the way through the hike it opened up into the valley where there had obviously been an avalanche or mudslide or something. I find that kind of destruction oddly beautiful. It was one of the most enjoyable, mellow hikes I’ve had so far this season, I highly recommend it if you’re in need of an easy day. Start earlyish though (we started about 10:30), on our way back we passed twice the amount of people going out towards the trail than we’d seen on it all day.

WTA Link for Gold Creek Pond (no entry for the trail itself)

Trail Review: Annette Lake and Trail Etiquette

Annette Lake - June 23rd
7.5 miles
1400 ft Elevation gain
Alpine Lakes Wilderness; I-90 Corridor
Dog Friendly

Difficulty: Easy

God I hate people. You do too? Thought so. I hate people all the time. Person’s, individuals are okay, I like them just fine. The more individuals there are though, the more unhappy I become

For the most part hiking mellows me out, but I think it actually increases my general misanthropy. I get on the trail and if it’s at all crowded I start to get really irritable. I think I just subconsciously pick a group of people to bitch about in my head. The more crowded it is, the more internal bitching.

When Katie and I (Chris’ ankle was hurt) hiked Annette Lake it was one of those wonderful summer days in the Pacific Northwest. Which meant of course, that everybody and their mother was out doing stuff in the nice weather, and apparently we all had the same idea to hike the same trail. We had two dogs with us this time since Katie was dog sitting. His name is Tucker and he’s AMAZING.

The trail itself is pretty easy, or it would have been if it wasn’t so hot. When I say hot I mean 86 degrees with mild-moderate humidity. Judge me as you like I’m pale and there’s a very good reason I moved to the Northwest. The sun and I are frenemies.

The group of people who I decided to berate internally on this particular day was a family of four. Here are the reasons why I chose them:

1. Even though we were hiking faster than them, we took a few breaks to water the dogs during which they would pass us. Afterward we’d catch up to them and as soon as they saw us they would leap up from where they were resting and go. Which meant I had to stare at their backs until we were finally able to pass them. Which brings me nicely to number 2.

2. THEY WALKED SIDE BY SIDE ON A FAIRLY NARROW CROWDED TRAIL. I apologize for the caps, but I can’t begin to express how much this irritates me. I won’t even try. If you do this. Stop. Just stop.

3. The daughter was wearing jean shorts (separate issue) and every time I passed her she had this look on her face like “I totes hate being in nature, especially with my parents! GAWD.” Now, I understand, because her parents are stupid, but I don’t want to see anybody on a trail, especially stupid teenager faces. 

There was one other person who irritated me.
We stopped to let this old couple come down a rocky section they had started, even though we had the right of way. While we were stopped this guy walked around us and plowed right through old people. Who the hell does that?!

Anyway aside from all the stupid people the hike was really nice. There were some really beautiful views of the mountains on the way up. The lake itself was gorgeous, and I got to play in it with a really big puppy.

WTA Link

Note: A few of these photos were taken by Katie, not me.