The rain came today.

That sounds ominous, though it isn't. Ominous means "foreboding," suggesting that something worse may be imminent. We don't have to wait any longer. The clouds and rain are here.

And they came right on time, as summer officially ends this weekend. Let us pause for a moment and remember our young season that never really had a chance to mature.

In between working late, all-nighters, and the latest round of "summer" weather, I've still been able to get out and do a little hiking and/or camping. Two weekends ago, Ben and I camped along Canyon Creek Rd and hiked Canyon Ridge one day and Excelsior Pass the other day (Green Trails #13 Mount Baker).

Herewith, a few pictures from that weekend:

 
(Photo by Ben)

The remainder of that weekend's pictures are here.

Two weekends ago, the hiking troupe of Ben, Erland, and I went out to seek out what there is to see. Unfortunately, on the way to Canyon Lake, we hit a literal road block:

Apparently the road to Canyon Lake is unreachable by car because of the winds, rain, and flooding from last winter. I suspect we’ll be seeing a lot more impassible roads for the higher elevation trails once all the snow melts (some trail damage reports can be found at Washington Trails).

We instead looked over to the next page in our copy of Hiking Whatcom County (Ken Wilcox) and found Racehorse Creek Falls. It's a half-hike off of N. Fork Rd (off of Mosquito Lake Rd) in which you must climb over trees and up slippery rocks to get the best viewpoint. My best hand-held picture:

A picture taken by someone who knew what he was doing can be found here.

Random roadside pic:

Ben and I tackled one of the Sumas Mountain trails a few Saturdays ago after finding the hike in Ken Wilcox’s Whatcom County. See also Kulshan.

It took us nearly 2¾ hrs to travel the 4½ miles and gain the 2500 feet to the lookout at the top; time down was roughly 2 hrs. It was a sunny day when we were there, so we spent an hour just sitting there at the top. From the lookout points, you can look down over the plains and into Canada.

We saw no people on the way up OR on the way down. That in itself was pretty stinkin’ cool. The first couple hundred yards of the trail are muddy (like, for reals), so be prepared. There may even be walking sticks at the trailhead (which is here).

Total round-trip distance for the most direct route to the top: 8½-9 miles.

There weren't any waterfalls, per se, but lots of forest (the trail does not intersect any of the logging areas). The hike is difficult in spots because of downed trees, but with the storms last winter, I think trees will be a common obstacle on trails this year.

It was Ben’s idea for the hike at Boulder River (Forest Service, Green Trails #77 (Oso) and/or #109 (Granite Falls)), and he couldn’t have picked a better day. The weather on Saturday was mostly calm, and there was no rain until the evening when we returned to Bellingham.

I’m convinced the best way to do a day hike is to leave early. The earlier, the better. For me, fewer other hikers equals a better trail experience. We left at 7:30 am and arrived at the Boulder River Trail trailhead around 9:00.

The trail follows Boulder River for 4.5 miles until it ends at a smallish campground next to the river. Some maps show the trail going over the river and up the hill on the other side, but since we all left our hip waders in our other pants, we figured this was a decent place as any to call our final destination.

Even if you don’t want to do the full 4.5 miles, you’re in luck. There are two tall unnamed falls 1 mile and 2 miles in, giving you a decent destination without all the work. Boulder Falls itself is not visible from the main trail (we didn’t know this at the time, or else we would have looked for it).

This is a low altitude hike that is available all year (from what I’ve heard). We got an early start, and we only encountered 2 people on our way in; on the way out, we passed 25+ people and 5 dogs.

Directions from I-5: Get off I-5 at the Arlington/Darrington/SR-530 exit, and follow the signs to Darrington. Somewhere before mile marker 40 on SR-530, turn right (south) on French Creek Road/Forest Road 2010. Follow it 4.5-ish miles to its end. Forest Service Pass required.

The water falls gave me a chance to play with shutter speed on a borrowed fancy-pants camera.

From river level:

There were also some great moments with the sun shining through the mist as the air warmed up.

More pics are available here.

The folks are in town for a few days, so I’m taking a few days off of work.

It’s a vacation for them, but it’s also a vacation for me. I’ve only taken a day here and there during the summer, and the last time I took a whole week away from work, I spent it, um... working.

We went to a Western Washington Vikings football game on Saturday. Cheap tickets, decent seats, ok football. I’ll be back for sure (they have two more home games in Bellingham this year). It’s the first live football game I’ve attended since seeing the Lions get clobbered by the Seahawks back in 2004. The Vikings got clobbered by the South Dakota Coyotes, so at least that was familiar.

Despite the clouds on Monday, we took a chance at visiting Mount Baker. Artist Point was all clouded in, but we stopped a few other places to try to make up for it:

Groundcover colors are brilliant up there:

Looking over the valley from a picnic area:

Looking down the valley:

My mom remarked about how the water has a green hue:

Random woods picture:

Random Nooksack River picture:

Other hikes I am just now getting around to mentioning:

Stewart Mountain -- Stewart is the ridge that keeps sea-level Bellingham from having unobstructed Mount Baker views. The land is owned/maintained/whatever by a logging company and, presumably, the power company (what with all of the power lines going up, though, and over the hills there).

I followed the logging/access road that heads up the hill from the parking lot at the North Lake Whatcom Park. (Don’t follow the trail directions in the link unless you really want leisurely stroll along the waterside). Walk around the gate and follow the road up the hill. And up. No joke about the ups. The first two miles are killer. At any time you can turn and see views of Lake Whatcom and some peak-a-boo views of Bellingham (trees and power lines may obstruct your view). Eventually the road winds back in through the trees and levels slightly. When you reach the crossroads, go straight (and under the power lines) another mile or so until you reach a Y in the road. Go left. Go up. Stop when you can look down on Acme and out to Mount Baker.

If you go: you’ll be spending a lot of time walking through clear cut, so you may be exposed to a lot of sun. I don't have all of my facts and figures... there may be anywhere from 2000ft to 3000ft elevation gain. Whatever it is,

Oyster Dome -- There are a number of different trailheads for this hike. The hard trail starts down on Chuckanut Drive and zigzags up the hill. The less hard one (the one I prefer) starts on Blanchard Mountain at a parking lot that is also a launching area for hang gliders.

The Bat Caves are the coolest. You can scramble around on top of the rocks or, if you brought a flashlight or head lamp, explore some of the caves created when all of the rocks fell. Careful if it's wet, though.

Instead of my rambling on about it, check out this article from the Seattle-PI. The article is 8 years old, but it's still good.

I’m turning my snark mode off for this one. Mostly.

Last weekend Erland, Ben, and I hiked to Hannegan Peak (Forest Service, Hiker Bob, Green Trails #14 Mt Shuksan).

The hike begins at the end of Hannegan Pass Rd and follows Ruth Creek before the trail climbs a total of 2000 feet to Hannegan Pass. The first 3 miles is a gradual incline, but the 4th mile to the Pass is at least an 1000-ft elevation gain. The next mile to the peak is also 1000 vertical feet.

At 6100 feet, the views up there are pretty cool. Canadian mountains to the north; full view of the Cascades to the west; Ruth Mountain “right there”, and Shuksan and Baker peaking out behind the Nooksack Ridge to our south. And there are a few patches of snow, even at the the beginning of September.

Our target was to be back to Bellingham by noon, but we (ahem... I) totally underestimated how long that distance and elevation gain would take. Plus we spent at least 45 minutes at Hannegan Peak just sitting there.

If you go, prepare for a long day. In fact, many people backpack this trail through Hannegan Pass and on to Copper Mountain or through Whatcom Pass. This being Labor Day weekend, we saw our share of both day hikers and backpackers (55 people, 5 dogs, 5 horses).

Hot tip: there’s a great campsite up near Hannegan Peak. That is, there’s a level spot, it has a great view, and there are a few trees that might offer at least a little bit of protection. However, the closest water is, um, not close. Bring lots.

Last Saturday I went on another day hike, this time to Skyline Divide (Forest Service, Hiker Bob, Green Trails #13).

My hiking buddy this day was Erland. We both had commitments later in the day, but because of my stellar picture skillz and incredibly pithy remarks regarding recent hikes, Erland was jonesin’ for a hike and he would not let me not do it. So be it. We left stinkin' early in the morning (6:15-ish) and arrived at the trailhead around 7:30 am. There was one other car in the parking lot, but it appeared to have been left there overnight.

Everything I read said that the trail was all up at the beginning, so we were mentally prepared. Up the trail we went. And up, and up. And then up a little more. When we got near the top, we continued up. And then more up. When you see the sign welcoming you to the Mt. Baker Wilderness you’re there (after just a bit more up). Around 8:45 (1 hr, 15 min later) we got our first glance of Mount Baker from the Skyline Divide ridge. It’s an unforgiving climb, but it has a huge payoff.

Click for 2.3 MB fullsize panorama

Once we got to the top, it stayed relatively level, and we had nearly constant 360-degree views. You can walk in the middle of high meadows or step up to the edge of steep drop-offs.

The trail markings on the Green Trails map ends 3.5 miles from the trailhead, but parts of the trail continued on towards Baker. We aren’t exactly sure where the official end is. The path splits at one point: a high road and a middle road. We climbed up the rocks to the high road, of course, and followed that for another few minutes. We ate lunch with Baker [start Regis Philbin voice] "right there" [end goofy voice]. Very cool.

When you go, remember this: We left the trailhead early (7:30 am), and we spent nearly 45 minutes at the top without seeing another soul. One the way down, though, we passed 65 people and 8 dogs. At 11:30 am, the parking lot was full, and there were still people arriving (and one group came with llamas). If you go, go early. The earlier the better.

So this hiking business is starting to become a regular Saturday thing for me. It’s fun and I love it, but I’m not sure how long it’ll last. Football season starts soon. :)

click for full size, 2.6 MB panorama

Last weekend I spent a day hiking on Mount Baker: Railroad Grade, Trail #603.2 (Forest Service, no Hiker Bob link (site was down)). The trail starts at 3300 ft (according to Green Trails #45), and Kiel and I estimated that we hiked in 4 miles and lunched at 6000 ft-ish.

Railroad Grade is cool for a few reasons:
-- It just is. You’re above the tree line, and the views are sweet. Go on a sunny day for best results.
-- There are two other trails that share the trailhead: Scott Paul; Park Butte. One is just 1.5 miles more, the other is 6 miles more. You can do Scott Paul as a loop.
-- Nostalgia. 11 years ago, we summer interns got a hot tip from Sam and took a Saturday off (we worked... a lot...) up on the Railroad Grade trail. The party included Russell, Brian, Eric, and me. Being a home-body from Michigan, this was new. Mountains in the horizon were not part of everyday life, nor was the ability to make yourself part of that horizon.

I’ve lived 9 summers in Washington since my first trip up Railroad Grade, and not one has gone by without my thinking about “that trail I took back then.” Finding this trail was something of a quest of mine. Thanks again to Sam and his mad memory skillz for helping me re-find it last week.
 
There was always one scene from the trail that really stuck out, and I was able to re-experience it:

The trail follows the top of a ridge for nearly a mile and leads to Easton Glacier. On one side of the trail, there’s a steep drop-off to the rocks and dirt of the Metcalf Moraine; on the other side, there is a fairly steep slope of green ground cover, sporadic trees, scurrying marmots, and spots of snow that hadn’t got the memo that it was 80+ degrees F. And all this competing with Mount Baker itself which is right there in front of you.

Another thing I remember was the cool chain and wood bridge over Rocky Creek a little over a mile from the trailhead. When I heard the trickle of the creek, I pulled my camera out to capture the bridge coolness only to find that, after rounding the corner, there was no bridge. It had been washed out in the spring floods. All that's left is one of the bridge's supports (see in the picture on the right).

For your FYI: because this trail is so cool, lots of day-trippers visit. There were at least 70+ people on the trail that day. This isn’t the trail for people looking for solitude--this is the trail for people looking for fantastic views-itude.

Holy smokes, folks. You gotta check it out. The trail lives up to the hype.

With Fosteronomo’s family out of town, he and I went on a weekend camping trip in the Cascades. I dubbed this trip, “Cat’s Away Camping Trip 2006.” Our eventual destination: Snowy Lakes.

Fosteronomo could be such a sorry lad... he’d be eating bean burritos and working late if I weren’t around to help fill this time of temporary bachelorhood. But I digress.

We knocked off work a little early on Friday and made it to the Rainy Pass trailhead (elevation: 4800 feet) off of Washington Highway 20 around 6:20 pm. We hiked in 4-ish miles to the second campsite, which is located below Cutthroat Pass where the trees start to thin out. We spent both Friday and Saturday night there.

Saturday morning started chilly, but it quickly turned in to an incredibly cloudless blue sky with temps near 80 F. We headed out to Cutthroat Pass (6800 ft) where we ate second breakfast, gained a little more elevation before a seriously steep descent to Granite Pass (6200 ft), and finished our inward trek at Snowy Lakes (6750 ft). It's like you can reach out and grab jet contrails from up there. Off in the not-too-distant distance we saw smoke from the Pasayten Wilderness fires.

Campsite to Snowy Lake distance: 6.5-7 miles. Total roundtrip distance for the weekend, says Hiker Bob: 23 miles.

According to plan, we packed up camp Sunday morning, but with adversity. Precipitation started Sunday around 5:30 am, and it included some sleet. Re-engaging those muscles and joints that we destroyed the day before wasn't a figurative walk in the park, either.

There was no burn ban, so we built a campfire each night. Pipes were smoked, coffee was sipped, bull-pucky was exchanged. The temperature both nights was in the 40s. The howling wind on the second night was really cool--we didn’t feel it, but we could hear it swirling above us in the trees and up the basin walls that surrounded us.

Pictures follow. Click 'em for full-size images.

Mighty men ready for action:

The view above Granite Pass looking out towards Snowy Lakes and Methow Pass:

 
Foster cooling his dogs:

The hills are alive with the sound of music:

Staged photo of mountain man Jimbo crossing Porcupine Creek:

Click here for Foster's Google Earth overlay and details. Click here for a lousy screenshot of something sorta similar.