Union Peak

Saturday morning I headed east toward Steven's Pass. Once over the pass I took Smith Brook Road up a few miles and parked at the Smith Brook trail head. There were a few cars there when I arrived at roughly 8:30 am. It was an overcast and cool morning and the day before had been a lengthy and vigorous lightning and rain storm. I thought perhaps that deterred a few would-be hikers for today.

I started up the Smith Brook trail and climbed the well groomed and nice trail until about the 4500 ft level where there is a large rock field. There is where I started to climb the ridge going in a north east direction. This was mostly large rock at first so it took some meandering around to find a good route. But eventually I got on top of the big rocks and was climbing the ridge heading in that same direction as the route turned more into forest. I made my way through the trees and underbrush until about the 5300 ft level and turned north west and followed that ridge up to the peak. I did a lot of bush whacking, and got completely soaked. It didn't rain at all, but as I mentioned it rained a lot yesterday and all those plants held onto that water until I got there. It was like hiking through a sprinkler all day.

As I approached the peak, it was hard to tell where the exact highest location was. The peak is a very gentle sloping dome shape. Honestly pretty anticlimactic. Plus it was cloudy and foggy all day so there was virtually no views at the top. Pretty mundane. But I'm sure the views are very pretty when there is something to see. My plan was to continue on to Jove Peak today as well, but considering the poor visibility and the fact that I was completely soaked and cold, I didn't see the point in continuing today.

At the top I laid on the ground for a good 30 minutes and took a quick cat nap while trying to dry off/warm up. It was quite chilly up there for an August summer day. But once my synthetic pants dried it got a little easier to tolerate the cool temperatures, and even though it wasn't raining I put on my rain gear and headed back down intent on staying dry while bush whacking. As I came to the rock field portion I think I found an easier, safer option down to the trail than the way I came up. And as I got back onto the main trail I encountered several people on their way to Valhalla Lake I presume. I made my way back down to the parking lot to find it completely full of cars (it is a relatively small parking lot) with cars lining the road in both directions. So it turns out the previous day's lightning storm didn't deter as many people as I thought.

Region: Central Cascades, Stevens Pass, East
Distance:  3.4 miles
Elevation Gain:  1680 ft
Peak Elevation: 5696 ft
Difficulty: S2, T2
Pass Requirement: No

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

Labyrinth Mountain

Today was my first trip that I have led with the Mountaineers. I led a group up to Labyrinth Mountain. This trip was intended for alpine scrambling students so I posted the trip as a slow easy pace, and boy am I glad I did. It was crazy hot that day, 96 degrees. We stopped a lot to drink lots of water and rest in any shade we could find.

The first part of the trip is on a trail that takes you to Minotaur Lake which, luckily, is very well shaded by tall trees. The climb to Minotaur Lake is very steep but short. The lake is quite beautiful with Labyrinth Mountain as its backdrop. That was to be our destination.

After reaching the lake we squirted the side of the lake and headed toward the mountain. The climb to the top of Labyrinth is open, with no shade to protect us from the blistering sun. There is a footpath that leads you to the top, but it has many different off-shoots and some fade rather quickly. So after a while we kind of just trudged up the hill toward the top. After a good climb in the heat we reached the summit and enjoyed the views of the many peaks in every direction. We ate some lunch signed the summit registry.

Then we headed back down to the lake. At the lake we took a good rest and some took off their boots and soaked them in the cool water. After feeling refreshed we headed back down the steep trail under the cover of the tall trees and made it back to the cars. It was a good trip, and a successful first trip as a leader. Hopefully many more to come!

Region: Central Cascades, Stevens Pass East
Distance: 5 miles
Elevation Gain: 2800 ft
Peak Elevation: 6350 ft
Difficulty: S2, T1
Pass Requirement: Yes, Northwest Forest Pass

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

Rock Field Trip 2015

I volunteer as a trip leader and alpine scrambling instructor for the Mountaineers. This year we took our rock field trip to a new location a few miles away from our old location that we have been using for many decades. So this year was special, and presented new challenges with familiarizing ourselves with a new site and how to best utilize it. But after much planning and hard work buy several other volunteers we had our trip planned and were ready to teach.

We taught the students taking the course how to traverse on rock fields and slabs, basic bouldering moves like mantling, stemming, counter pressure, wedging and others, using a map and compass, route finding, leave-no-trace, ropes and knots and belaying using a hasty harness.

The day was perfect, it was clear and blue skies as far as the eye could see. It was warm with a cool breeze. We had lots of fun with the new students and things worked out pretty well for being at a new location for the first time. After the learning was over we headed down to eight mile campground and had a BBQ and enjoyed good times and tasty food. Lots of fun!

Region: Central Cascades, Leavenworth Area
Pass requirement: None

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

Labyrinth Mountain

Well today's hike starting a little later than we had anticipated. We got to the trailhead and started hiking at 11:00 am (typically I like to be on my way down by this time of day, but it all worked out.) The four of us starting climbing the steep trail and quickly my legs could feel the pain of the previous days' climb of Mt. Mastiff. The trail is shaded as you hike up through the thick tree coverage gaining lots of elevation very quick: about 1500 feet in .8 miles. After the initial steepness, the trail's incline eases off a little bit as you exit the thick tree coverage and you climb the rest of the way to Minotaur Lake. The lake was beautiful with Labyrinth Mountain standing directly behind it, asking to be climbed.

From the lake we made our way to the east side of the lake toward the ridge where you can look down upon Theseus Lake. We continued upward along the ridge toward Labyrinth. We made our way into some tree coverage again for a quick time and exited up onto some rock. From here there is a great view of Minotaur Lake which you just left. Very beautiful with the fall colors changing. We continued up following a faint boot path up to the peak of Labyrinth Mountain, there are several peaks and it may be hard to tell just by looking which is the actual highest point. But we determined it was the most east point that is the highest point, and that is where we found the summit registry and benchmark identifying Labyrinth Mountain.

At the peak we rested and ate some lunch, took in the views, signed the registry, relaxed and took some pictures. While we were at the peak a jet fighter flew right by us! It was flying low through the valleys and took a sharp banking turn right next to us, couldn't have been more than a few hundred yards away. It was really dang cool! After that excitement we made our way back down the mountain, on our way down we met a couple guys going up to Labyrinth and we tried pointing the route we took to help them out, but as we looked back a few minutes later they had gone to the wrong peak. Don't know if they every made it to the true peak. But I'm sure they had great views nonetheless.

We made our way back down rather quickly and were able to get done and home at a really reasonable hour considering how late we got started. I will be honest, at the start of the day I was not in the best mood and wasn't too excited about climbing today due to sore legs, a wicked headache and the lateness of the start that we had. But I'm definitely glad I did end up going, my headache went away, it was an absolutely beautiful day, the views were amazing and I had great company once again. Certainly a worthwhile trip. Good times once again (I've found its hard to have a miserable day in the mountains.)

Region: Central Cascades, Stevens Pass East
Distance: 5 miles
Elevation Gain: 2800 ft
Peak Elevation: 6350 ft
Difficulty: S2, T1
Pass Requirement: Yes, Northwest Forest Pass

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

Mount Mastiff

This morning I woke up early and got ready to head to the mountains. I met a group of fellow Mountaineers at the trail head of Merritt Lake over passed Stevens Pass about 8:30 am and got going up the trail at about 9:00. It was an absolute beautiful morning. So we started off and followed the switch back trail gaining about 1800 feet of elevation before you come to a junction in the trail at about 4820 ft, one continues on north to Merritt Lake the other heads south. We took the one heading south, which switchbacks some more and becomes less maintained. There was an area here with lots of downed trees and the trail becomes hard to follow and we eventually lost the trail. After some short discussion amongst the group we determined our direction of travel and quickly found the trail again. We continued on this trail until about 5400 ft and then followed a climbers trail up the ridge. Along the ridge were some excellent views of the valley and surrounding mountains.

As we continued up the ridge enjoying the views and the beautiful mountain ash changing color, we caught glimpse of Lost Lake which was quite the sight. There were a handful of people on rafts floating around the lake. About this time, we took a rest, ate some food, hydrated ourselves and enjoyed the views. Then we donned our helmets and got ready for some rock scramble, we descended a couple hundred feet or so from the ridge (which wasn't very passable) and scrambled toward a more accessible route up the rest of the mountain. We then ascended up a boulder field and eventually made our way all the way to the top of Mount Mastiff. Here the views were astounding, views of Glacier Peak, Labyrinth Mountain (a bit of foreshadowing there, since this is were I would be going the next day) Lake Wenatchee and more were our backdrops.


At the top we rested for a bit, ate lunch, took pictures and signed the summit registry. Some of us even took a quick nap (okay that was me.) It was such a beautiful day with blue skies all around us, but there was quite a lot of wind at the peak, so it was a bit chilly. But after a good time at the top we made our descent down the mountain. On our way down I used trekking poles for the very first time. I have used them before while snowshoeing, but I've never used them on a trail just on a hike or scramble before. Lots of people were telling me how much they liked them and they saved their knees. I think I liked them and may use them more often. But we made our way down safely, no injuries other than sore muscles and sore feet. It was a great trip with lots of beautiful views with a good group.

Region: Central Cascades, Stevens Pass East
Distance: 10 miles
Elevation Gain: 3800 ft.
Peak Elevation: 6700 ft.
Difficulty: S3, T3
Pass Requirement: Yes, Northwest Forest Pass.

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

First Mother Mountain/Castle Peak

Today started early, I had to drive down from Everett to Mt. Rainier National park to get started around 8:00 am. But I've gotten used to waking up early, even on weekends. I met some others from the Mountaineers group and we headed up to Knapsack Pass from Mowich Lake. It was a steady but short climb from the lake to the pass. Once you reach the pass you can see a sliver of Mt. Rainier standing tall directly behind some other peaks.

From the pass we climbed some more toward our first destination for the day; First Mother Mountain.

The climb up First Mother wasn't too terribly difficult or scary. Other than some sliding loose rock and shear cliffs to your death, it was pretty straight forward to the peak. Once we were at the peak we relaxed in the sunshine, had a quick snack and enjoyed some amazing views.

Our next summit was to be Castle Peak. We climbed back down First Mother and tried to find the best way along the ridge over to our destination. After a bit of searching and discussion among the group about our route we did a little bush whacking and found a boot path toward Castle Peak. We followed that along the ridge right to the base of the peak and from there made our ascent up to Castle Peak. The climb to Castle Peak was up a rock field and hard to know which way to go. But eventually our group found the best way up it through great teamwork. By this time it was midday and was getting quite hot. So after we made it to the top we took a quick rest and headed back down to the boot path along the ridge. From there we headed down, blazing our own trail through some meadows toward Mowich Lake. We ended up on the opposite end of lake (which was planned) after descending from the mountain. From here we got onto the well maintained trail and hiked back to our starting point.

It was a good day to be out in the mountains and in such close proximity of Mt. Rainier. It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine, good company and great views. Unfortunately there were A LOT of bugs. I got pretty well devoured by mosquitoes. I have to say that was the only downside to an otherwise magnificent day.

Region: Mt. Rainier National Park
Distance: 5.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 2465 ft.
Peak Elevation: 6480 ft.
Difficulty: S2, T3   
Pass Requirement: Yes, Mt. Rainier National Park Pass.

As always check out all the photos from 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.

Kendall Peak

This morning I went out with some members of the Mountaineers group. We set out as a group of 10 with a goal to summit Kendall Peak near Snoqualmie Pass. We started out at commonwealth campground and vaguely followed the Pacific Crest Trail for the first part in the snow. Then we made our own path straight up the mountain aiming for the peak paying no attention to the much longer route of the PCT. 

After we cleared the forest we tried to take a bearing on the peak but it was a complete white out. The snow was white, the clouds were white and low; visibility was very poor. So we headed in what we thought was the direction of Kendall Peak. Trudging up the mountain in the soft snow was tough work if you were up front doing all the work. We each took turns making steps up the steep mountain gaining the last 1600 feet of elevation in 1 mile.

Eventually the clouds cleared a little and we were able to see where we going a little better. We got toward the top and got to the rock section that was snow free. Here we had to scramble up the rocks to the top of the peak. We were very lucky once we got to the top the clouds cleared up and we were able to see surrounding peaks and lakes. The forecast was calling for rain and luckily we didn't get any.

Unfortunately when we cleared the forest and tried to find our route we were off a little bit and ended up on a false summit of Kendal Peak; one was that 50 feet of elevation short of Kendall Peak. But it was too sketchy to try to traverse over the actual summit and time was too short to descend and find another route to the actual summit. The group consensus was we were "close enough" for the day. We would come back another time to try for the actual summit.

Coming down was a little boy dream. Sit on your butt and slide down. We descended about 1000 feet in 5 minutes. After the initial glissade it got a little sketchy trying to slide in-between trees. But we all made it back safe and sound and had lots of fun.

Region: Snoqualmie Pass
Distance: 7 miles (total distance)
Elevation Gain: 2750 feet
Peak Elevation: 5650 feet
Difficulty: Difficult
Pass Requirement: Yes, most all passes honored.

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