Monte Cristo/Silver Lake

After work on Friday and buddy from work and I drove up to Monte Cristo trail head and headed the 4 miles toward the old mining town. The hike into the town is mostly flat, gravel and wide. It's pretty simple aside from a few detours where the gravel road had washed out and you meander through the woods on a small dirt trail and one giant log bridge used to cross a river. The log is really long and wide and should be fairly simple for most hikers, but because the rest of the trail is really simple there are lot of young, elderly, inexperienced hikers who attempt this hike and they might get frightened by the task of crossing a fallen tree several feet above cold moving water.

After crossing the river, the rest is pretty smooth sailing until you get into the town. There are several established campsites right outside the town center. This being a Friday night, and as expected, there were quite a few campers occupying these campsites. My buddy and I found a well treed spot since we were using hammocks to do out camping and awaited the arrival of the third member of our party. He got a later start than us and was on his way. He arrived shortly after we did and got our camp all set up for the weekend.

Once we got our campsite situated and everyone's hammocks were just perfect we headed into the town of Monte Cristo to check out the history of the old mining town. There is an old train turnstile that can still be moved, several buildings still standing and AMAZING mountain views. I can see why it was a popular destination; very beautiful.

The next morning we headed up from Monte Cristo to Silver Lake. The hike to Silver Lake is more of a typical hike; narrow, steep and dirt, with spots of awesome views. You reach the lake after 2 miles and 1600 feet of elevation gain, a lot of the elevation gain is toward the very end.

The lake was still partially covered in snow and ice, but beautiful nonetheless. There were a few parties up there that camped overnight. After we spent some time at the lake, and filled up our bottles with water we headed back down the trail. When we got back into town we relaxed a bit and started getting food ready for dinner. We all made up our own Mountain House meals and hung out for a while and gathered firewood for our campfire. We enjoyed a relaxing night around the campfire and then went to sleep in our hammocks.

In the morning we got up and cooked some breakfast and then packed up our campsite. We headed back to the trail head on a cloudy Sunday morning. When we got to the trail head we quickly realized my buddy's truck was MISSING. Someone had stolen his truck! We drove around the area in my truck looking for any signs of it off in a ditch or another parking lot with no luck. We reported it stolen to some park rangers we found at another trail head parking lot. On our way back into town we found it! It was parked on a side road. We talked to some people camping nearby and they witnessed this truck being used to break into other cars along Mountain Loop Highway. There was some minor damage to the truck and we couldn't get it started. We eventually had to get a tow truck to tow it to his house.

The hike, location and camping were tons of fun, but the bummer of my buddy getting his truck stolen was really lame and put a sour taste in our mouth about the whole trip. It's pretty sad how we can't go out and enjoy the wilderness without fearing for our possessions. I hope no one else has to experience this kind of bummer.


Region: Central Cascades, Stevens Pass-West
Distance: Monte Cristo 8 miles/Silver Lake 4 additional miles
Elevation Gain: Monte Cristo 700 ft/Silver Lake 1600 additional ft
Peak Elevation: Monte Cristo 2800 ft/Silver Lake 4350 ft
Difficulty: Monte Cristo Easy/Silver Lake Medium
Pass Requirement: Northwest Forest Pass

As always check out all the photos of the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.

Alta Mountain/Rachel Lake

I had a 3 day weekend due 4th of July holiday. I went to work on Thursday with all my stuff for a 2 nighter packed up in my truck. I left work early and drove down to the Tenneway corridor. I arrived at the Rachel Lake trailhead and quickly got my hiking gear together and started toward the lake on the trail. There were only a handful of cars in the parking lot when I started hiking. The trail starts off climbing just slightly on a relatively well kept trail. I saw a couple people coming down this section as I was heading up. After a short climb the trail evens out for a bit while you walk through the Highbox Valley covered in shade by the large forested canopy overhead. The peaceful jaunt through the forest all by myself was just what I was looking for, beauty and solitude.

Occasionally you escape the canopy and can see the surrounding peaks including Highbox Peak. Alta Mountain is one that can't be seen from the valley trail (or at least I couldn't find it.) After a solemn walk through there is a stream crossing which is rather sketchy, to put it nicely. I managed to get across without removing my boots and wading across (though that might be a good option.) Almost immediately after this crossing the trail climbs steeply and the trail becomes more rough wrought with roots, rocks, mud and the like. The climb is about a mile and there are more stream crossings, including one directly under a beautiful waterfall. Eventually you reach the lake. I found a few snow fields around the lake, but none requiring any snow equipment. There was only one other group up at the lake that night, so I found a great spot all by myself right next to the lake, great lake front property for the night.

The next morning I got up cooked a good breakfast and got ready to head up to Alta Mountain. From the lake you start out climbing a rock field which was covered in snow at the very bottom near the lake. The snow was melting fast so falling through and landing on some of the rocks and twisting an ankle was a real concern of mine, but I managed to get through unscathed. After climbing the rock field there is somewhat of a boot path that leads all the way to the top of Alta Mountain. The climb isn't too terribly difficult but there are large portions still covered in snow. It probably wasn't necessary but I did have my ice axe and I used it. I reached the top at about noon and I relaxed at the summit and ate lunch and took in the beautiful sights for about an hour by myself. I didn't see a single person on the climb up or down to Alta Mountain. On the way down I could see clouds rolling in from the west and by the time I got back down to camp at the lake there was some pretty good cloud cover.  I camped again that night at Rachel Lake however this night there were far more campers than last night. There were about 6 groups that night but things were still peaceful and didn't feel crowded. I got up the next morning before most of the other campers and made a quick exit. On the way down I encountered a few more hikers coming up for the weekend, some looking to go to Rachel Lake and some more looking to go all the way to Alta Mountain. It was a great trip and one I would do again in the future. Most enjoyable!

Region: Snoqualmie Pass
Distance: Rachel Lake 8 miles (total distance), Alta Mountain via Rachel Lake 12 miles (total distance)
Elevation Gain: Rachel Lake 1600 ft, Alta Mountain 3150 ft
Peak Elevation: Rachel Lake 4600 ft, Alta Mountain 6150 ft
Difficulty: Rachel Lake Medium, Alta Mountain Medium-Difficult
Pass Requirement: Yes, Northwest Forest Pass.

As always check out all the photos from of the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.

Monte Cristo/Silver Lake

This weekend I headed out to the old ghost town of Monte Cristo. (And old town in the mountains that was a mining town and was quite the thriving little place in the late 1800's to early 1900's.) There are plans to close down the town to all visitors for several years for some environmental restoration and cleanup, apparently there is arsenic in the water from all the mines. So I wanted to get up there one more time before they closed it.

So after work on Friday I loaded all my gear in the truck and headed out. I got to the trail head at 5:00 in the evening and I hopped on my bike and rode the 4 miles to the old town. The hike in, or ride in my case, is 4 miles of mostly flat gravel/rocks that was once an old road, but is now closed to all motorized vehicles. It is a very popular activity to ride your bike into Monte Cristo as witnessed by the many bike racks placed all around the campsites and town of Monte Cristo. The trail in is relatively easy however you do have to cross the Sauk River on a log which is quite large and wide so its fairly easy.

I got to the campsite at Monte Cristo just at 6:00 and took claim of the last available campsite. After searching for some suitable trees I set up my hammock and got camp all situated. Then I gathered some tender, kindling and fuel and started a fire in the fire pit. I sat and stared at the fire for a bit, then after that went out I went to sleep.

The next morning I woke up and met my brother and his co-worker at my campsite. (They rode in on bikes that morning.) After they set up their tents and got all situated and we all ate breakfast we set out to hike to Silver Lake.

The old trail to Silver Lake looked to be overgrown and abandoned. The trail sign now points to a different trail which was difficult to locate for us lot. The trail head is hidden behind one of the old buildings but once you walk around the building its easy to locate. The trail climbs steadily and is a mix of dirt, tree roots and rocks. You are amidst the trees almost the whole way apart from one short jaunt where the trees open up and you can see some of the mountains around you. It would have been a spectacular sight, but for us there were low clouds and visibility was severely limited. You climb 1600 feet over the 4 mile hike from Monte Cristo to Silver Lake but the hardest part is the last half mile where you climb almost 500 feet. Its quite steep but luckily its not for very long.

At the top the lake was nice, however by this point visibility was even worse and it started to rain. Clouds were very low and we were getting wet (I was not fully prepared for the rain.) We took a few pictures and filtered some water some the lake. It's best to get your drinking water as high as possible due to the potential of arsenic in the region. Our original plan was to continue on past Silver Lake to Twin Lakes and witness more majestic views. But due to the poor visibility and increasing rain we decided to skip Twin Lakes and head back down. On the way down we stopped at the creek and did some gold panning. There were traces of gold flakes, but we were getting rained on pretty good so we cut that short and headed back to camp.

By the time we got back to camp it stopped raining and started to clear up. We spent some time checking out the old town and looking at the history. Then we made some dinner at camp and then went to sleep. In the morning we woke up and ate breakfast and then packed up camp and biked back to our vehicles. The weather was much better and saw quite a few people heading into Monte Cristo as we were leaving. It was a fun trip but I wish it was a little better weather while we were hiking so we could have gone to Twin Lakes. A lot of cool history, and unfortunately it appears to be closing soon.

Region: Central Cascades, Stevens Pass-West
Distance: Monte Cristo 4 miles/Silver Lake 8 miles
Elevation Gain: Monte Cristo 400 ft/Silver Lake 2000 ft
Peak Elevation: Monte Cristo 2700 ft/Silver Lake 4300 ft
Difficulty: Monte Cristo Easy/Silver Lake Medium
Pass Requirement: Norhtwest Forest Pass
Vegetation: All kinds including ferns, moss, mushrooms, wild berries, sticker bushes, deciduous and conifer trees.
Water Source: You follow Sauk River from the trail head to Monte Cristo. 76 creek flows through the town of Monte Cristo. Silver Lake 8 miles from the road. (All water has the potential of arsenic, get drinking water from as high as possible.)
Wildlife: Lots of birds, frogs, slugs, various insects, chipmunks.

As always check out all the photos of the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.

Greider Lakes

Today is the EXACT reason why I LOVE the Pacific Northwest and precisely the reason I started this blog. It was an absolutely perfect day for hiking. Blue skies and 75º with a light breeze.

This morning I was headed toward Greider Lakes. The trails to Greider Lakes and Boulder Lake now start at Spada Lake. You hike along an old closed road for 2 miles before you get to the old trail heads of Greider Lakes and Boulder Lake. The road from Spada Lake to the old trail head is gravel and mostly flat except for the constant gullies that have been constructed to make it impassible by vehicles. This part of the trail could make for decent trail running and even possibly mountain biking if you don't mind dismounting every so often for the deep gullies and downed trees. (I think I might try biking it next time just to make it a quicker trip.) Don't forget to check out the Spada Lake overlook as you hike along this road en route to either Greider Lakes or Boulder Lake.

Once you reach the old trial head of Greider Lakes you start hiking on a VERY overgrown trail. You notice almost instantly this trail has been neglected for quite some time. After a few hundred yards you get out of the heavy brush and the trail opens up a little bit. The trail conditions go from compact dirt to rocks/small boulders and large tree roots all while navigating over/under/around several downed trees. You climb approximately 1500 feet in about 1.5 miles. After you reach about 2900 feet you continue for another .5 mile or so until you reach Little Greider Lake.

Little Greider Lake was nice and quiet. I was the only one there; there were no other cars in the parking lot when I arrived. I knew I was the only one up there, but I did find two tarps and a tent...very strange. I don't know how someone could manage to leave behind their tent. There were about 4 established campsites at Little Greider Lake.

Then I continued on to Big Greider Lake. Big Greider also has a few established campsites for camping overnight. The trail from Little Greider to Big Greider is a short hike but VERY VERY overgrown. Its doable but just be very cautious of your footing, because its hard to see where you are stepping. But I must say I was very glad I went, it was the most peaceful time I've had in a long time. I enjoyed a nice beautiful hike down passing only 5 parties totally 17 people on my way out. This is truly one of the forgotten trails of the region.

Region: Central Cascades, Stevens Pass-West
Distance: 5.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 1500 feet
Peak Elevation: 2970 feet
Difficulty: Medium
Pass Requirement: None (I think). You do have to register your vehicle at a registration area, and display that on your dash while you're there, but there is no charge.
Vegetation: All kinds including ferns, moss, mushrooms, sticker bushes, skunk cabbage, wildflowers, deciduous and conifer trees.
Water Source: Trail begins and Spada Lake, you hike along Spada Lake for 2 miles on an old road elevated from the lake. You cross a few creeks along this road and leave the road just as the lake connects with Sultan River. Little and Big Greider Lake 4.5 and 5 miles respectively.
Wildlife: Lots of birds, frogs, slugs, various insects. Lots of fish in the lake.

As always check out all the photos of the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.

Eagle Lake

What better place to go than the lake named after the National Bird of The United States of America on our nation's Independence Day. Eagle Lake on the 4th of July. This lake is a less-known and even less-visited lake situated between Baring Mountain and Townsend Mountain near Skykomish.

There are two different ways to get to Eagle Lake. One way is by taking the Barclay Lake trail and then going up to Eagle Lake, this way is easier to find and get to as Barclay Lake is pretty well known and accessible. But the hike from Barclay Lake to Eagle Lake is extremely difficult (from what I've heard, I've never gone that way.) The other way (which is how I went today) is much more difficult to find and access. It is accessed through a variety of gravel forest roads and there is no marked trail head. But the hike to Eagle Lake is easier.

First off the trail was difficult to see form the forest road, luckily there was already one truck parked right where the trail started so we had a good idea where to look. The first half mile or so of the trail was very narrow and overgrown. Which made it especially difficult for me as I was hiking with my 16 month old girl on my back, and I had to be sure and not let branches whip her in the face. (I was also hiking with my wife and brother.) After the overgrown area of the hike the trail still remains narrow and you begin to hike under trees that shade most of the entire trail. The trail climbs steadily for the first mile or so all on a trail that is covered in tree roots and uneven terrain. There were a few blow-downs on the trail as well that required climbing over or around. The trail was almost entirely dry until you reached the top.

Toward the top the trees open up and a little snow is left in some areas. The snow is melting due to the hot weather which means a lot of the open areas are swampy and muddy. Plus once you reach the opening in the trees you are close to the lake and Eagle Creek is flowing right next to the trail so that causes a lot of wetness in the area. Because of the snow it was hard to tell where the trail was exactly, but it was easy enough to know where you are going. So we just headed for the lake.

The lake was pretty majestic. Nestled a midst mountain peaks and trees it is truly a secluded gem. The lake has 2 campsites for those wishing to camp overnight. There was a dad and his daughter who was about 10 years old camping there and they said the fishing was great. And perhaps the coolest part about the lake is a cabin right on the lake front fully stocked with clothes, sleeping bags, lanterns, cooking ware, stoves, propane, axes, saws and even a fireplace. It was really quite awesome.

Region: Central Cascades, Stevens Pass-West
Distance: 2.3 miles
Elevation Gain: 620 ft
Peak Elevation: 3970 ft
Difficulty: Easy
Pass Requirement: None, you're out in the middle of nowhere. No established parking or trail head.
Vegetation: Lots of trees for shade throughout the hike, undergrowth including berry plants, ferns, moss and grass in the fields at the top.
Water Source: Eagle Creek and Eagle Lake about 2.3 miles in.
Wildlife: Lots of birds, a few mosquitoes, frogs, deer track and bear signs. Lots of fish in the lake.

As always check out all the photos of the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.

Boardman Lake

GNATS! The hike to this lake is a quick and easy one. You reach your destination of Boardman Lake in just under a mile. This was my first time there which is surprising considering it's one of the more popular ones on Mountain Loop Highway. GNATS! But I decided to finally make my way up there for a couple reasons: I knew it was an easy hike (and that seemed like a good plan because I was just coming back from an ankle injury) and I wanted to camp overnight because I knew the weather was supposed to be great and Boardman lake has established campsites.

The trail up to the lake is almost all dirt and considering this is Western Washington it was mostly soggy /muddy due to the wetness of the region. GNATS! (For a brief time I was hiking behind a family and a girl about 10 or 11 years old was complaining that her feet were wet/muddy because she was wearing sandals. Her mom said "I told you to wear shoes." And the young girl replied "but those didn't go with my outfit, and you never know who is going to see me up here!" I thought the whole thing was funny and it made me laugh.)

Unfortunately the trail was in pretty bad shape. There was quite a bit of blow-downs all over the place. They were easy enough to maneuver around but it just made the trail seem sub-par. GNATS! I'm sure it has to to with the recent budget cuts. And at one point where there is a switchback in the trail there is a mudslide right into the trail and it masks the turn, consequently I missed the turn and went a few yards before I realized the trail had disappeared and had to backtrack to find the right trail again.

Once I reached Boardman Lake I had to cross a single narrow log over the outlet of the lake to get to the campsites. I made it across just fine but the family I previously mentioned didn't even attempt to traverse the lone log. I searched for a suitable campsite where I could hang my hammock between two trees. I found one and set up camp. GNATS! I slept great on the hammock, for those of you who have never tried it, you should, sure beats sleeping on the ground! There are 4 campsites at Boardman Lake and all of them were full: one looked like it was a boy scout troop and two had families with young kids and then I occupied the last one.

In the morning I got up, took down my gear and headed out early...I planned on hanging around a bit more and enjoying the day but there was one major problem with this lake. Perhaps you've already noticed it. GNATS! The bugs were absolutely unbearable. Every single second they were swarming unrelentingly. I was afraid to open my mouth for fear of consuming several gnats at one time. I was totally unprepared for the bugs. I didn't bring any bug spray or any kind of repellent. The only solace I found was in my hammock with my bug net. So I made my quick exit and left the others to deal with the bugs.

Distance: .9 mile
Elevation gain: 300 ft.
Peak Elevation: 3100 ft.
Difficulty: very easy

Pass requirement: Northwest forest pass.
Vegetation: Lots, everywhere, including but not limited to conifers, deciduous, and evergreen trees, ferns, moss, mushrooms, skunk cabbage, and sticker bushes.
Water source: Evan Lake .1 mile into the hike, Boardman Lake .9 miles.
Wildlife: Gnats, lots of them, everywhere. Snakes, birds, woodpecker, fish, posting of "Beware of Bears" at the trail head.