Dog Mountain (North Fork Snoqualmie), An Abandoned Trail

Dog Mountain - May 15th, 2014

Mileage: 9.0 miles

Elevation Gain: 3850 feet

Snoqualmie Pass - North Bend Area

Dog Friendly

Difficulty: Intermediate

Katie and I set off the morning of this hike with the intention of torturing ourselves by hiking the most difficult hike close to Seattle, Mailbox Peak, which gains over 3800 ft. in just over 3 miles.  Katie, myself and many of the other members of our hiking group, APPUM have been hiking quite difficult hikes at least once and sometimes more per week for the last few months and have gotten in much better shape to the point where Katie and I were interested in challenging ourselves with Mailbox.

Unfortunately when I Katie and I arrived at the road that goes to the trail-head for Mailbox, we ran into road construction and were told that the road will be closed to vehicles during the week for the foreseeable future.  Our hearts momentarily sank at the prospect of not doing Mailbox, which we had been greatly anticipating.  Our mood immediately improved when we pulled the car over and pulled up the Washington Trails Association's website and found another hike about 20 miles from our current location that sounded really interesting, Dog Mountain.

Dog Mountain is an abandoned trail in the Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest.  As the trail ascends Dog Mountain, it follows an old logging road which was abandoned, I would guess, between 50-70 years ago based on the size of the trees and the deterioration of the road and other man-made structures such as bridges.  It is really a cool experience to get to walk along a piece of history like this old road and be witness to how powerfully and relatively quickly nature can heal the massive scars inflicted on it by our industry.  

After a few miles the road ends and turns into a trail with steep and relentless switchbacks as it quickly ascends almost 4000 ft. to the summit of dog mountain.  The forest service has not maintained this trail for many years which causes this already difficult trial to be much more technical and dangerous than other hikes with similar mileage and elevation statistics.  Despite needing to take more time to stay on the trail and find proper footing, Katie and I got about eight tenths of the way up the mountain in a pretty decent amount of time.  After this, the trail disappeared and we began to ascend a steep boulder field that was still covered in snow.  After almost an hour of carefully ascending this part, we had only made it another tenth of the way to the summit and were getting quite exhausted.  We decided that we needed to turn around because it would be foolhardy to attempt the somewhat treacherous descent if we tired ourselves out further by making the summit.

Once we were back on the trail, the journey down went fairly fast.  Overall, this was a very enjoyable hike with breathtaking views of several other snow capped peaks visible during almost 3/4 of the hike.  If I wasn't moving in the near future, this would definitely be on my list of places to return to later in the season when the snow is all melted making the ascent to the summit more manageable.

Hoh River Trail: Part 2

Con't from Part 1

Bear Scratches

If there were ever four words that instantly killed morale and simultaneously made everybody jittery and anxious it was those four little words.

"Guy's there's a bear." Effffffff.

The bear was not acting aggressively and we were quite far away so we took a second to discuss our options. #1: We could try to scare it off, in the hope that it wouldn't come back later that night. #2. We could try to find an alternate path around the bear and see if there were campsites a reasonable distance from him. #3. We could backtrack and try to find another place to camp. We settled on three, which I think was absolutely the correct decision. We actually found out later that particular bear is a regular at the campsite, and while he has never attacked anybody or gotten into people's food, he's very difficult, if not impossible to scare off.

We had seen a sign for horses a ways back, but couldn't remember whether it was a sign for the horse camp or just a ford. So, we started heading in that direction. The tricky thing about the rain forest and camping is that you are required to camp in established spaces, or on the river bed. Aside from the place we hoped the horse camp was, we knew that the next camping site was 3-4 miles back. So not a great option, for a bunch of kids with tired feet.

After about one mile of back tracking we came to a place that had very easy access to the river and didn't require a lot of walking off the trail. It was the first time we'd been close enough to get to it without walking a long way through the undergrowth. Places like temperate rain forests, alpine meadows, etc. often have very fragile plant life that does not respond well to trail cutting, So rather than hope that is wasa horse camp and not a ford, we decided to head out to the river. This was a good decision, since it was in fact a ford and not a camp.

We dropped our packs and did some exploring of the river bed to try and find a place that was on high ground and sandy rather than rocky. We found a great little spot that was almost at the tree line, and surround on 3 sides by trees, but still river bed. This was crucial, camping next to water, especially if there isn't a wind break can be very cold. Not to mention, that sand sucks body heat away from you really effectively. Despite our concerns, nobody was too cold.

Prior to bedding down Chris and I told everybody that we needed EVERYTHING that had any kind of odor, including toiletries, food etc. 3 of our friends apparently didn't get the message because we were about to go hang the bear can when I asked:
"So is there anything else?"
"Weeeelll I do have a vitamin water, but it isn't opened."
"No, I'm serious guys even if it's sealed, but it has a smell we need it, we just saw a bear!"
Then another friend sheepishly steps forward...
"I've got all this unopened food in my tent."
At this point Chris and I are looking at each other like we must have somehow ended up in an alternate Universe where everybody is stupid AND deaf, but we're trying to be patient cause they're noobs. So we take everybody's stuff and go to hang the bags. Now our friend Koko had accidentally saturated his backpack with aerosol sunscreen we we had wrapped it in some backpack covers and garbage bags and we're just planning on leaving it on the ground next to the bags, but he looks at us with these pleading eyes saying "....but it's very expensive." So we end up hanging his bag as well.

Tent in lower left corner for scale.

After that we went back to the campsite to enjoy our campfire and relax. I made all the boys pee around the perimeter of our camp and we let the fire go into the late hours to help put off any predators. Our precautions weren't necessary, but it was comforting doing them. The most eventful part of the night was that our friend David, who had never camped, backpacked, anything ever, got up in the middle of the night, his tent was right next to Chris and I so we woke up when he started shining his headlamp all over the place.

He went to relieve himself and must have got a little freaked out being in the woods in the middle of the night, he came sprinting back into camp. This was irritating/hilarious for a few reasons, the biggest being that we had spent several minutes explaining that you should never run away from predators because it makes you look like prey. The other being that it was amusing to think about him getting all freaked out by the woods while peeing. But I'm a jerk.

The river bed had been pretty the evening before, but we were maybe too tired and a little to apprehensive to appreciate it. The next morning it was glorious though. The river was beautiful and the sun on the surround mountains was gorgeous. It actually made me really thankful that the bear had been where he was. If he hadn't we would have spent the night in the woods, which while wonderful wouldn't have been nearly as stunning the next day.

The walk back the next day was pretty easy and nothing really of note happened. We were all tired and foot sore. Flat terrain tends to make my feet ache. After the hike we drove back, taking a detour at Hurricane Ridge to show everybody how beautiful the mountains were. Then headed back to Seattle. All in all it was a pretty successful first overnight of the season.

Bonus: I am a banana!! ...slug. 

Hoh River Trail: Part 1

Hoh River Trail - May 9th-11th
Olympic National Park
Mileage: 19.7 round trip
Elevation Gain: 1000 feet

No Dogs Allowed

Our first overnight of the season and it was pretty eventful! We drove out to the peninsula Friday afternoon, stopped for burgers (decent) and shakes (outstanding) at Sully's in Forks. We car camped at the main campsite the first night so we could make a good start in the morning. There was a notice on the bulletin board at the main campsite saying there was an aggressive bull elk that had rolled a couple of tents in the past couple weeks. We had two people who had never been backpacking and one who had never even been car camping before. So that night (somewhat prophetically) we did sort of a brief overview of what to do should we run across wildlife.

Mostly the best thing to do with any animal is keep away from animals, they are not pets, they are not nice fluffy toys, they will fuck your shit up. We discussed getting the fuck out of dodge ASAP when it comes to things like Elk and Moose which are typically aggressive while rutting. They're mostly trying to get you to leave their territory. So you leave. But recently there have been some changes to the protocol with Black Bears. However, if you do run into a black bear (NOTE: This absolutely does not apply to Grizzlies, or more aggressive bears) and they notice you and begin to move toward you, you want to make yourself as big and load and threatening as possible. Previously the recommendation was to just curl up like a ball, to protect your insides, which is in fact the second step if the bear doesn't leave after you make a big ruckus. Then if they don't back off after you've made yourself small you roll over and, literally, punch them in the nose. Anyway, we discussed what to do and then spent some time enjoying the campfire and went to bed.

Next morning there was two elk in our campsite, they weren't aggressive and they moved off as soon as we started to stir. Some of our group was planning on just doing a day hike and then staying at the main campsite and car camping, but 7 of us started off hiking that next morning. Before we took off we stopped at the visitors center where there was an older notice about black bears but we weren't too worried about it, since we felt comfortable that we could get through the situation if it came up and the notice was a month old so...whatever.

The Hoh river trail is gorgeous. Really the only word that accurately describes a temperate rain forest is lush. There are tons of huge trees, which would probably be more impressive if I wasn't from the land of redwoods. Cedars and spruces are big, but they're not behemoths the way redwoods are. Even so, there were some giant cedars, which had recently fallen and been cut up, which made the whole place smell like clean hamster cage, which I really like.The trail stays pretty close to the river the whole time, but it's really the forested areas that are the best.

We had planned to camp about 10 miles in, attentive readers will notice the word planned, about 8 miles in we started to notice a bunch of the birches had bear scratches on them. We pressed on, aware, but not concerned. Bears are a fact of life when it comes to hiking and really the only thing to do is make plenty of noise and try not to startle them.

Everybody was starting to wear down a bit. 10 miles with a full pack is no joke especially for people who haven't ever really backpacked before. So we were pretty excited when we came around a corner and saw the campsites. Right about then Koko said "Guys there's a bear!!" We assumed he was joking... We were wrong. There was, in fact, a bear and he was, in fact, standing directly in the campsite...

Continued in  Part 2 next week!

East Peak via Rattlesnake Ridge Trail

At only 35 miles from downtown Seattle, Rattlesnake Ledge is one of the most popular hikes in Washington and definitely offers unquestionably the best visual payoff vs difficulty of any hike this close to Seattle.  We decided to do a modified version of the traditional 3.8 mile hike to Rattlesnake Ledge, tacking on an additional 5 miles and 1600 ft of elevation gain to reach East Peak.  The view in the picture above can be reached just above Rattlesnake Ledge and is one of the best views I've seen anywhere in Washington.

Unfortunately, because this hike is very close to Seattle and relatively easy, compared to other hikes in the region, it is also very popular.  The main parking lot was almost full when we arrived at 11 a.m.  We passed throngs of other hikers on the way up to Rattlesnake Ledge.  Amazingly, Allison and Katie have done this hike before and assured me that the crowd was actually much smaller than it had been on their last outing.  Despite the population density, we had a great and quick hike up to the ledge.  We hung out for a few minutes, had some food and then continued our way up hill.  Most of the hikers only go up to the ledge, so we got a nice break from the crowd for the majority of the middle section of the hike.

  About half way up to East Peak, we ran into patches of snow which continued sporadically all the way to the peak.  It was an absolutely a beautiful day during the entire hike, and we had seen pictures of a view of Mt. Rainier which was supposedly taken from East Peak.  Unfortunately we were slightly disappointed with the view, which did not rival the view from the Ledge and did not contain Mt. Rainier, when we finally reached the peak.  We had a nice hiking lunch, chatted a bit with a fellow hiker and headed back down the mountain.  The trip down was fairly uneventful except for a small detour where we ventured out onto a rather precarious ledge a little above Rattlesnake Ledge.

This ledge was surrounded on three sides by a several hundred foot drop.  It has been a long time since I have been near the edge of something like this, and I have to say that I'm a bit more afraid of heights at this point in my life than I remember having been in the past.  Needless to say I was relieved when we made our way off the ledge and back onto the trail.

Overall this was one of the groups favorite hikes, despite the crowds, especially the Rattlesnake Ledge portion of the hike. It has great payoff, the trail is graded well, and it's a very manageable drive.

WTA Link

New Background

We've updated the background image it was a view from Rattlesnake ledge, but now it's a photograph I took from Hurricane Ridge on the Olympic Peninsula.

Mt. Si via Boulder Garden Loop and Old Si Trail

Mt. Si - April 27th, 2014

Mileage: 8.4 miles

Elevation Gain: 3150 feet

Snoqualmie Pass - North Bend Area

Dog Friendly

Difficulty: Intermediate

Pass Required: WA Discover Pass

The pacific Northwest is a paradise for anyone who likes the outdoors.  From many locations in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia you can hop in your car any day of the year and have relatively fast access to an enormousness amount of different landscapes and biodiversity including snow capped mountains, the pacific ocean and sound, deciduous rain-forests and desert. 

One of the few problems you encounter in this region is snow in the mountains...  Snow that stays way into the summer months in many of the regions we like to hike.  I'm sure if you grew up or spent any time in a mountainous region, you probably wouldn't be surprised to run into a trail that was impassable because of snow coverage in July, but having grown up in the South, I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that I have to worry about snow in the summer.

Because of the snow, many of our favorite mountain hikes don't open up until very late in summer, which means we are left with very limited options when we want to do a hike with any elevation gain.  One of these options is Mt. Si which is mostly clear of snow, except at the very top, quite early in the season.  This was the third time I've taken the hiking group up Mt. Si already this season.  Luckily, there are three different ascent options for this particular mountain.  On our latest hike we decided to take the old trail which is no longer maintained and much more difficult and technical than the newer trail.

The old trail ended up being difficult enough that about halfway through the hike, I was starting to wonder if I was going to scare some of the members of the hiking group away from future hikes!  This was the second consecutive hike we did that weekend and most of the members who attended the first hike at Rattlesnake Ledge also came to this hike.  As a result, some of the members who haven't been hiking as much this season, as well as some who have, were completely exhausted by around mile 3.  The weather was also challenging on everyone's moral.  It started raining almost immediately after we arrived at the trail-head and the rain proceeded to turn into snow as the temperature dropped below freezing  at about 3000 ft.

Luckily everything ended up being OK in the end. We took lots of breaks, had some food and slowed the pace down significantly and everyone was able to make it to the summit in one piece.  Everyone was so tired by the time we reached the summit that we made a group decision to take the newer, well maintained trail on the way down.  The only downside of this option was that by taking this trail we would arrive at a parking lot that was 2 miles away from where our vehicles were parked.  We decided I would either walk to get one of the cars or hitchhike.  I ended up walking which increased my total mileage for the day to 10.4.  Lets just say I slept like a baby that night!

Overall it was a very difficult, but still very enjoyable hike.  I was quite pleased with the reactions of everyone I hiked with after we were talking about the hike a few days later.  The group consensus was that we need to train more rather than do easier hikes, a sentiment that mirrored what I was thinking.

Skyline Lake Snowshoe

Skyline Lake Snowshoe - April 14th and again May 13th, 2014
Mileage: 3.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 1400 feet
Central Cascades - Stevens Pass
Dog Friendly
Difficulty: Very Difficult

Recommendations: Winter survival training and gear 

Special Requirements: Snowshoes and ice axe

Editor's Note:

Katie and I did this snowshoe for the first time more than a month ago and she was awesome enough to write hikingtrailsandpuppytales' first guest post below. I liked the snowshoe so much that I took Allison and our buddy Nick up to do it again a week ago. The below post contains photos from both trips.

Chris and I decided to do another weekday hike prior to me leaving for vacation. I let him choose where we would be going and planned to meet around 9 AM the following morning. The hike was almost canceled due to an injury that morning, but Chris made a speedy recovery and we were off on our adventure. 

Katie at the top of the world!

We stopped at Sports Authority to rent our snow shoes (only $10!) and poles. We then headed towards Steven's Pass. We parked in the lot across from the ski area and headed toward the trail head. We strapped on the snow shoes almost immediately and quickly set to work. 

Steven's Pass ski resort parking lot (beginning of the hike)

The hike was a lot more steep and strenuous than I had anticipated and the altitude did not help. We had to take several breaks throughout, but we soldiered on. The snowshoes were really cool and allowed us to hike through steep hills covered in deep snow with ease. 

It was easy to keep up with the trail for the first bit, but we were unsure of the trail about halfway up. We decided to just continue uphill following tracks from other hikers. According to the WTA website the snow-covered lake was supposed to be 0.5 mile from the trail head, however we never saw any sign of the lake. We reached an open area with marvelous mountain views and were almost ready to head back down, but spotted another set of tracks heading through the woods to a peak above and decided we still had the energy to continue on. 

Nick at the top

We followed the tracks uphill on what appeared to be a 45 degree angle at times, but our snowshoes dug right in and we made our own set of stairs in the snow. After a short, steep hike we reached our summit. It was magnificent. We had mountain views all around, clear, blue skies, and white snow on the ground. It felt like a huge accomplishment to get to an area of the mountain where not many people had recently traversed and the view was a great reward for all our hard work. The descent was a little more treacherous and led to a lot of sliding down on our butts (some planned, some not), but we made it back to the parking lot without any major issues. 

The second time we did this hike we brought Jaxxon with us.  We purchased a pair of booties for his feet, which ended up being a bit too small to stay on properly.  Luckily we were doing it late enough in the season that it was quite warm (75° F).  So, he was quite happy to be running around in the snow for hours.  If you are hiking with your dogs in snow, especially in lower temperatures, you need to be very careful to take care of your dogs paws.  You should have booties for your dog when doing extended snow hiking.  If you can't get booties or your dog won't allow them to stay on, you should check your dogs paws every 30 minutes to make sure they aren't being rubbed raw or bleeding because of ice crystals in the snow and also check between the pads to make sure ice isn't forming as this can lead to frostbite.

The road where we began the hike from the summit