Summer Trips 2017 Volume III, September

9/3-5/17 Galene Chain Lakes/McNaught Creek

Started out afternoon of Saturday the 2^nd. Goal was 2 small lakes or ponds near the head of McNaught Creek on the Canadian Skagit. Turned down about 150 dollars in overtime to do trip. Blew it trying to get into these in 2014 then weathered/chickened out in 2015 and weathered out in 2016. Starting to get tired of hiking all the time by this point in summer. Decided to wait a couple of extra days to let legs rest up and also run some errands-get hair cut and get new shoes. Spent Saturday morning with family. Drove around to Hozomeen, arrived about 8:00 p.m. Stayed at cabin-good spot to get away from mosquitoes and had lights and running water. Got early start. Day supposed to be hot and trail up ridge dry for the bulk of the distance after second crossing of Galene Creek. Also a lot of exposed areas as well. Got to river crossing and realized that I had forgotten flagging that I was going to bring. Trail was in good shape in 2014 but there were a few areas where it could be lost if you weren’t careful. Wasn’t sure how much use it had seen since then and could be a lot more spots where trail was obliterated by fallen trees. Usually depend on woodcraft to figure out where trail is in such instances but this time wanted to bring flagging just to make things a little easier. Debated going back for a short time in a cloud of mosquitoes. Finally decided to go back and get the flagging. Cost me half an hour. Crossed river and found crossing quite a bit easier than I had expected. Last time river was high on thighs, this time barely to knees. Feet still got a little cold but pretty minor discomfort. Found trail on other side of river quite well used and quite well marked. So much for the extra trip to retrieve the flagging-didn’t use a bit of it. Filled extra water jug at second crossing of Galene Creek. Trail from there up dry and now had 2 quarts. Trail in very good shape. Some logs had been cut out and tread had been worked on in a couple of spots. I contributed a bit by cutting out a few smaller trees and brush that I could handle with my hand saw. Seemed like progress was slow-had to stop to rest quite a bit. Ran into a couple of guys on their way out. They said that they had seen a lot of bears up there, including one at Upper Galene Chain Lake that didn’t skedaddle when they showed up. They had to walk wide around this one. All the rest of the bears took off when they saw these guys. They said that they were all black bears. It has been known to see grizzlies in this area from time to time. The bear at the upper lake didn’t sound good to me. That was where I had planned to camp. I asked the guys if it was clear and they said that it was. This was a little heartening. Very good views from ridges above Galene Chain Lakes and it was supposed to be smoky/hazy that day. Kind of a bummer to put in a lot of effort just to look at a bunch of smog. Looked like good chance I would bet some views, at least for a while. Pushed on. Even through seemed like it was taking a long time, ended up at the second highest Galene Chain Lake at about 12:30 p.m., this is after several stops for photos along the way. Not too bad. Had lunch and continued on to upper lake. Picked obvious pretty easy route and got in with not trouble. I don’t know what my problem had been in 2014. Found a spot to pitch tent and hang food and gas canister. Had plenty of time to scout a better route onto the ridge above than I had taken in 2014. I had hoped that this would be the case. Tried spot just down from outlet of lake and found a spot I could get through that wasn’t too sketchy. Gained ridge easily. Excellent views of Hozomeen and all the way down Ross Lake to Jack Mountain and over to Mount Prophet, Pickets, Luna Peak etc. Spent several hours on ridge taking photos and nice nap. Temperature was very pleasant and a nice breeze kept bugs away. Could see two large pillars of smoke off to northeast. Guys I had met on trail had mentioned these. Figured I had better get all the photos I could because chances were that everything would be blanketed with smoke the next day, especially if wind shifted. Went back to camp had dinner and turned in. Felt really good. Legs stiff and tired but right knee and hip not bothering me. Slept well. Woke several times in the night and it was very light out, full moon or close to it. Good sign smoke hadn’t moved in. Up early, a little after 6:00 a.m. Smoky and hazy. Wouldn’t be able to see much that day. No help for it. Still wan’t to get into lakes ponds. Had breakfast and headed up on ridge. Followed basically same route that I did in 2014, follow ridge down towards Silver Creek. Cross border to U.S. side, sidehill under large ridge and back up on another large ridge made of white rock the size of large gravel and basically follow the border along ridge from there to point where I could drop into ponds. Tried a shortcut just after crossing to U.S. side but this turned out not to be so good. Ran into some steep ground trying to sidehill onto a lower part of ridge. Finally decided to just go up to ridgetop and follow that. Almost entire ridge along border in area between Silver Creek and McNaught Creek made up of the white, gravel sized rock. This rock was eroded from a conglomerate that looked volcanic. Similar conglomerates around Galene Chain Lakes but this darker in color and seemed to erode into a little large pieces. Lots of whitebark pine along the ridge, large trees as well as seedlings. Lots of large whitebark pine snags too-most likely killed by blister rust. Got to jump off point about 11:00 a.m. Impressive view of Mount Rahm, Devil’s Toothpick, Devil’s Tongue at outlet of Silver Lake towering above. Unfortunately very hazy so photos not so great. Had been a bit worried. Had assumed for several years that getting into these ponds would be fairly straightforward but the night I stayed at Hozomeen, looked at map and noticed one of the contour lines in the area I would have to go through was very tight. An these were 100 foot contour intervals. That looked bad on the map and I ended up staring at it for quite a while several times that night and the next night as well. The way my luck had been running this year there would be some insurmountable obstacle and I would fail on this trip too and it didn’t matter how much sweat and effort I had put into it. But you can only tell so much from a map. You have to look at it for real to be able to tell what the ground is really like. From where I stood, it looked fairly straightforward. I would have to be careful but there didn’t look to be any bad obstacles unless there was a cliff lined gully hiding down there somewhere. Looked like several possible routes. Decided on route in from the southwest side of the upper pond.  Found the ground steep but easily doable and well within my comfort zone. Set sights on large whitebark pine snag I figured was in the vicinity of upper pond. Made it to upper pond with no problem at about 11:45. Did walk around of pond doing standard vegetation notes and looking for fish, amphibians or other wildlife. On northeast side of pond awesome view of Mount Rahm, Devil’s Toothpick, Devil’s Tongue and glaciers at head of McNaught Creek. Unfortunately, this was mostly obscured by heavy smoke. No help for that. In that area checked route into lower pond and saw it would be a piece of cake. It was about a hundred yards away over some easy ground. That felt good. Collected pack and made my to lower pond which was actually more like a small lake. Had lunch there and did walk around of lake. Another good view of head of McNaught Creek but not as good as from upper pond. Saw a number of salamanders. One had yellow dorsal stripe which would indicate that these were probably long-toed salamanders. No sign of Northwestern salamanders which are hard to tell apart from long-toed salamanders as juveniles. Elevation pretty high for Northwesterns too, so figured it a safe bet that these were long-toed. No sign of fish, none surfacing and none observed swimming around. Salamanders out in open which is usually good indication that no fish present. Got back to pack and refilled water jug. Hot day and I had been doing a lot of up and down travel and had a long haul of uphill just ahead of me. Wished I had brought my other water jug. No help for that now either. Started back out at about 2:00 p.m. Had felt pretty good that morning, legs a little stiff but okay and, again, no pain in knee or hip. Now I was pretty tired. Remainder of trip would be a slog in hot, smoky haze. Took a little less than an hour to make it to ridgetop. Tried a little different route that took a little longer. Stopped several times for various photos. Had plenty of time to get back before dark but route ahead looked tough. Down several hundred feet, up several hundred feet, back down, not quite so far, then up again several hundred feet. Slogged through it. Wanted to stop and rest almost from the time I got to ridgetop but pushed on. If you rest too much you will never get back and I would need to rest for hours to recover enough to not feel exhausted. The exhausted state I was in probably wasn’t critical-when its critical you start getting cramps and I wasn’t that close. Made it back a little before 6:00 p.m. Watered up and had short nap in tent away from the bugs. Saw some long-toed salamanders in lake when I was washing dinner dishes. Hadn’t seen anything here in 2014 or earlier in this trip. Sometimes you just don’t see anything, fish or amphibians. Turned in and finished field notes for day. Got really windy about dark. Very smoky, could smell smoke at times. Wanted to get up early but so dark from smoke that I slept in a little. Still up before 7:00 a.m. Quick breakfast and on my way. Day cool but very muggy. Smoke had apparently trapped sun’s heat from previous day. Bugs were thick, they loved the temperature and conditions, not too hot and not too cold. Stopped to take a few photos at the next lower lake. Old cabin and another building, at least outlines of them, assume for miners. Thought I had pictures of these from 2014 but took some more to make sure. Travel out from that point on pretty much non-stop. Some up and down on ridgeline before dropping into timber but after that pretty much downhill all the way. Had unsettling thought that there might be a fire right below me and I wouldn’t know it because everything was so smoky and I could end up walking right into it. Whole route was dry except for crossing of Galene Creek and nowhere to run from fire-not that a person could outrun a fire for very far. Figured I would have to trust that, since there had been no thunder storms and there were no fires in the area when I came up, the only way there would be a fire there is if someone set one and there weren’t many people around when I came up, only the two guys I met on the trail. Figured it was about as safe as it could be. Seemed like it took forever to get to crossing of Galene Creek. Of course, this crossing about two-thirds or more of way out so it made sense that it took a while to get there. Last several hundred feet down into Skagit Valley, mosquitoes swarmed me. Almost noon and they normally would be getting a little more scarce as the day heated up but today smoke kept things fairly cool and mosquitoes loved it. Every few seconds I ran my hands over my face and neck and squishing and sweeping away dozens. Dropped pack after crossing river and filled water jug one last time, mosquitoes swarming. Had to stop when I got to my rig to dig my keys out and mosquitoes instantly covered my face and neck. Both arms nearly black with a layer of mosquitoes and legs had fair covering as well. Luckily I was wearing a heavy hickory shirt and heavy denim pants so got very few bites. Opened canopy, dropped tailgate and threw pack in back of pickup in cloud of mosquitoes. Did quick sweep of arms, face and neck and jumped into cab with another cloud of mosquitoes following me in. Started up and got going, rolling down window to create draft to suck mosquitoes out. Took about five miles before mosquitoes all cleared out and I got a few more bites but, at that point, I was pretty much clear of the mosquitoes.  A few lingered in back of pickup when I opened it when I stopped at Hope. Rest of trip back pretty much uneventful. Didn’t weigh pack after this trip but probably in same range as all year long, maybe a pound or two lighter. Funny thing, right hip and knee nearly painless.

View down Ross Lake at Jack Mountain from the first open spot on trail. This spot is a mile or so from the third Galene Chain Lake where the trail leads. 

Vertical shot of previous photo. View is looking south. 

Looking east across Ross Lake at Hozomeen (Hozameen if you're Canadian) Mountain and Little Jack Mountain. This is from a high spot on the ridge above the lower Galene Chain Lakes and about half a mile or so from the third lake where the trail leads. 

Same as above. 

Same as above. 

Looking south down Ross Lake at Jack Mountain from the same spot as the three previous photos. The snag in the foreground is a whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulus). There were a number of whitebark snags in the area, probably killed by white pine blister rust. There were also a number of seedlings and very small trees which may or may not survive to the size of the snag in this photo. 

Zoomed out view from previous spot showing Hozomeen and Jack Mountains. 

Hozomeen Mountain and third Galene Chain Lake. 

Same as above zoomed in slightly. 

Zoomed in on Hozomeen Mountain from same spot as previous two photos. The  "cloud " behind the north peak of Hozomeen is actually a column of smoke. The two guys I met coming out had mentioned seeing it. It seemed to be coming from the area of Frosty Mountain in Manning Provincial Park. 

Looking south down Ross Lake at Jack Mountain from ridge above fourth (uppermost) Galene Chain Lake. 

Looking southeast at Hozomeen, Little Jack, Devil's Dome and Jack Mountain and Ross Lake from ridge just above the uppermost Galene Chain Lake. 

Zoomed in at Hozomeen and Little Jack from same spot. 

Zoomed in at Ross Lake Devil's Dome and Jack Mountain from same spot. 

Same as above, zoomed in more. 

Same as above, zoomed in more. 

Hozomeen and Little Jack. The column of smoke is quite a bit bigger than it had been earlier in the day. 

Zoomed in even more at Ross Lake, Devil's Dome and Jack Mountain. 

View from ridge above uppermost Galene Chain Lake, looking towards Hozomeen and Little Jack Mountain the next day. 

Same spot and same day as previous looking south at Ross Lake and Jack Mountain. 

On route along Silver Ridge to small lakes/ponds. View is looking west along the U.S. Canada border. I don't recall exactly which side I was on a this point. 

Close up of rock along ridge. This rock was interesting. I am sure one of my references mentions it but at this writing, I don't have access to the reference and I don't recall off the top of my head what this rock is. It is fine grained and I would guess volcanic in origin. It seemed like it was fairly hard but obviously it was eroding into cobbles pretty readily. 

Route along Silver Ridge looking east. 

Looking west along route. One of the mountains is Mount Rahm. 

Looking north from top of ridge and U.S. Canada border at upper McNaught Creek and small lake that was my goal.  I was a little worried because the map that I had indicated that their might be some steep ground or cliffs between he ridge top and the lake but it was apparent when I looked at it on scene that the ground was probably not going to be too steep. The map I had wasn't the most detailed. It had 100 foot contour intervals which leave a lot of room for ambiguity. 

Upper pond/lake. The white bark pine snag I had set my sights on to navigate by was growing near this pond. This pond isn't shown on some maps and it is on others. 

Upper pond looking north.

Looking northeast. 

View from pond at upper McNaught Creek. 

Looking southwest. 

Upper McNaught Creek from pond. The east end of Custer Ridge, Mount Rahm, Devil's Tongue and Devil's Toothpick. 

Same view as several previous photos zoomed out, showing pond in foreground. I think this would have been  a really cool photo if it wasn't for all the smoky haze. I had to photoshop these pictures heavily in order to make the peaks show up. They were barely visible in the haze in the original photos. 

Same as above. 

Same as above. 

Same as above. 

Looking northwest at lower pond/lake. This one is the one shown on all maps and visible from the top of Silver Ridge.  It was quite easy to get to from the upper lake. I had to travel maybe a hundred yards or less and drop maybe fifty feet down a gradual slope to get to it.

Another view of the head of McNaught Creek, Mount Rahm, Devil's Tongue, Devil's Toothpick from the lower lake. Again, probably a pretty good photo if it wasn't for the haze. 

Looking south at the lower lake. 

Salamander in lower lake. I saw several in this lake and think that they were probably long toed salamanders (Ambystoma macrodactylum). 

Looking east at lower lake. 

Looking north at lower lake. 

View from route at west end of Silver Ridge, east end of Custer Ridge, head of McNaught Creek, Mount Rahm, Devil's Tongue, Devil's Toothpick. 

View from route at west end of Silver Ridge, east end of Custer Ridge, head of McNaught Creek, Mount Rahm, Devil's Tongue, Devil's Toothpick.

Salamander larva at uppermost Galene Chain Lake. This one was probably a long-toed salamander. 

Adult long-toed salamander at uppermost Galene Chain Lake. The yellow dorsal stripe is the best clue to this salamander's species. We have a few salamanders that have similar dorsal stripes but they are all terrestrial and, ironically, even though they are amphibians, they don't hang out in water. The other clue to this salamander's identification is the extra long fourth toe on its hind foot, which is visible in the larger version of this photo but may not be visible to the viewer in the smaller format of the photo in this post. 

View from above third (second highest) Galene Chain Lake on my way out. I took several photos from near this spot on my way in and included them in this post. They are labeled Hozomeen Mountain and third Galene Chain Lake. Hozomeen was well hidden in smoke on this day. 

Sun and whitebark pine snag at third Galene Chain Lake. The smoke was so thick you could look at the sun with the naked eye. The following several photos are from this same spot with different magnifications. 

Axe with improvised, impervious handle at third Galene Chain Lake. The are a couple of old cabin sites, mostly just outlines on the ground nearby. The handle for this axe is a rock bar with the flat, spade end of it wedged into the axe head. Pretty ingenious but I bet it would be hard to swing. 

 

Western toad (Bufo boreas) that I saw along the trail on the way out. 

9/17/17 Slide Lake/Otter Creek

Plan was to check out Illabot Creek Road at a spot where water running over it and ready to take road. Assumed probably plugged culvert and full ditch. If had any time left over wanted to go into wetland flat south and west of Otter Lakes (Hamar and Enjar). Had been to this flat in about 1993 while on high hunt but wanted to look it over again because I was looking at different things now. Also hadn’t been out weekend before so wanted to get out and maintain muscle tone. Lose it quickly if you don’t use it. Rain supposed to move in sometime after 11:00 a.m. Rain was welcome-very dry summer but I didn’t necessarily want to wade through a bunch of wet brush. Trail above Slide Lake goes through quite a few avalanche tracks and is very brushy. Set alarm for a little after 5:00 a.m. and made it out of bed not too long after. Fixed lunch and breakfast. Breakfast scrambled eggs-had hard time getting them all down. Had been fighting severe painful intestinal gas last few days-some kind of stomach bug going around. Wasn’t nauseous but lower gut really hurt. Had felt much better on both Friday and Saturday so figured that I was on the mend but maybe not. Got going at a little after 6:00 a.m. Slight delay while helping Phoebe out. She woke up early because she had an accident in bed. Found that someone had already worked on bad spot in road. Mouth of culvert was crushed which would make it prone to getting plugged. Figured I might try to straighten it out a little on the way back. Now had time to try to get into that flat near Otter Lakes. If I hustled I could hopefully get in and back out without getting rained on too much. If it was raining when I worked on culvert that wouldn’t be so bad because nice, dry rig with a heater would be right there. Started up trail at about 8:00 a.m. Halfway up road I realized that I had forgotten my maps. Disappointing but knew area pretty well so wasn’t too worried. Hadn’t tried this particular route before but thought I could figure it out. At any rate, wouldn’t get lost. Just follow creek out and find trail. If I overshot, could probably find trail out of King Lake or in absolute worst cast, have to follow Illabot Creek out. Felt strange on trail-kind of weak. Seemed like needed a lot more effort than usual to walk. Gas in intestines hurt every time I had to go up or down over rocks or logs. Right knee hurt too. Still no stomach nausea thought. Got to Slide Lake. By now I could tell it the sky wasn’t heavily overcast. There were clouds and some mist and a heavy smoky haze that blocked most of the sun but you could tell the sun was out. Took some photos and pushed on. Felt pretty miserable. Gas in guts jolted with every step and it was worse crawling over or under logs. At several points, stopped at a log I would have ordinarily just hopped or crawled over and rested and steeled myself to get past it. Reached spot that looked right for the jump-off. Could see large opening up creek, where Otter Lakes sat and could see opening in ridge to north where another large drainage came into Otter Creek and looked like a low spot to south. Went down off trail and crossed Otter Creek and started up. Very brushy, chest high blue huckleberries-probably oval-leaved huckleberries, devil’s club and salmonberries. The huckleberries didn’t have any stickers but very hard to push through. Whole time my guts were protesting and progress was painfully slow. Had spot picked out where I wanted to go up but things didn’t look quite right from up close. What I had thought was a break in the ridge where the creek from the flat flowed through had disappeared. The ridgeline looked pretty much unbroken. And there was no creek. This creek is good sized and I had planned on following it up. I thought about it a bit and decided that this was the wrong place. I started to pick my way back down through the brush. I wished I had a map. Then I realized that I did have a map, one of North Cascades National Park and its associated recreation areas. While this particular spot wasn’t in the park, I remembered that it was on the edge of that particular map because it was large scale and, since the park and recreation areas aren’t square, the surrounding areas were filled in. I stopped at a bare spot and pulled out my map bag. Sure enough, there the Illabot area was and there were Otter Lakes. I saw my mistake right away. To access the flat, I would need to actually go to Otter Lakes. The best route looked like it would be from the lower lake (a.k.a. Enjar). I was nowhere close to where I needed to be. I hadn’t paid too close attention to this detail because I figured I would consult my map when I thought I was close. It would have been nice if I had remembered that I had this map before I took the detour. Sky still relatively clear and sun shining so decided to keep going. Got back to trail and headed up. Finally got to drainage from north. This meant I was close to Otter Lakes. Checked my watch. It was 11:45. Debated going on. I was really tired and didn’t feel so hot. Weather forecast predicted rain sometime after 11:00 with a high certainty. The hot water heater supply line at the house had also sprung a leak the day before and I thought I might have the parts to fix it and there was a problem with a toilet at the Community Hall that I might be able to help with. Decided to bag the trip. Not even go on to Otter Lakes. I figured that I would need all the energy I could muster to get back out. Sun was still shining. Took short nap and ate lunch. Several fairly strong gusts of wind came through just as I was finishing lunch. This was the system moving in that was bringing the rain. Started back out. Usually after I have made decision to bag trip I feel a little relieved and actually the going is better. Not this time. If anything, I was more uncomfortable than when I came in, probably because I had a belly full of lunch that wasn’t digesting very well. Kept going but made more frequent rest stops when confronted with logs to navigate around. Got back to Slide Lake at about 2:00 p.m. Light intermittent sprinkles were falling but nothing heavy yet. Got back to rig just as the heavy rain was starting. Perfect. Hopped in truck and headed out. Stopped at the damaged culvert on the way out and saw that someone had bent or cut it open more. It was still severely constricted and would plug easily but it was better than it was before. Took nap when I got down to valley floor. I was still very tired and felt pretty uncomfortable. Checked in at Community Hall. There was nothing I could do to fix the toilet, though I learned that there was a fire up the Cascade and they were going to evacuate people. The Community Hall was to be opened so these people would have a place to stay if needed. Other Community Club members were handling this. I went to mom’s to check and make sure I didn’t have a part that would work for the Community Hall toilet-I didn’t. I did get a supply line that I thought would work for the hot water heater at the house. Headed home. Had dinner. Went to install the new supply line and realized it had the wrong fittings. Called landlord and explained the problem. Spent rest of night cleaning up after dinner, doing dishes and a load of laundry which involved periodically changing out towels wrapped around the water heater supply line to keep water from running all over the place.

This day had a heavy smoke haze mixed, I think with some clouds from the weather moving in. This photo was taken from the ephemeral pond at the Glacier Peak Wilderness boundary below Slide Lake. 

Slide Lake. 

Pretty much same photo as above with slightly different Photoshop treatment. 

View uplake from pile of large rocks or rock slide at outlet of Slide Lake. 

View downlake from head of it where Otter Creek flows in at full pool. 

Zoomed in view of previous photo. 

9/22-24/17 Mica Lake/Lime Ridge via Milk Creek

Took 2 days off work but only used one. Turned down about 150 dollars in overtime. Started out Friday from Suiattle trailhead. Goal was lake on east end of Lime Ridge that I had failed to get into earlier in the year. Had figured out route from vicinity of Lime Lake, just had to get to that vicinity. Ran into guy on trail previous year who recommended low route onto Lime Ridge from Mica Lake. This guy said higher route was no good. Maybe he used a different low route than I did but I didn’t like the low route at all. Studied maps and air photos and saw a possible high route that I wanted to check out. Weather was supposed to be pretty good for weekend, slight chance of showers on Sunday was forecast when I left Friday morning. Hoped to be on the way out by then. Took 2 days (Friday and Monday) off work for a total of 4 days for trip counting Saturday and Sunday because I had initially planned on taking Fire Creek Trail on Whitechuck and cutting cross-country up ridge to pick up PCT. I figured this might take and extra day. But kept on looking at Milk Creek Trail. This route would be at least several miles shorter with no real cross-country to Mica Lake/Fire Creek Pass. Had been over part of Milk Creek Trail previous year and it was pretty rough in places. That would be the kicker-not really cross-country but could lose trail and end up in cross-country situation. Milk Creek Trail also led through several open, avalanche track areas and wet areas where trails brush in almost instantaneously if they aren’t used. Guy who recommended route to Lime Ridge the previous year had said that he had brushed out Milk Creek Trail and used it several times but I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to go that way. Almost at last minute I decided that I would chance it and hope enough people had been using it so that it was fairly open from year before. Helped Sacha get kids out door to school and daycare Friday before packing and heading out. Got to spend a little time with kids which I hadn’t previous two nights due to Community Club meeting Wednesday and getting groceries for trip on Thursday. Got to trailhead at about 9:30 and started out. Route was cedar log across river at trailhead and up way path for about mile before picking up the Milk Creek Trail. Found route pretty heavily used. Milk Creek Trail also appeared to have been pretty heavily used. Lost it once where several larger logs had come down at switchback. Failed to look behind me or I would have seen trail. Also missed shortcut trail between switchbacks. Finally cut up hill figuring I had missed switchback and hit trail before too long. Trail well used but also very brushy. Got soaked from rain earlier in week. Had expected this, especially in areas that didn’t get much sun this time of year. But day was supposed to be sunny so was counting on it getting warmer later in day so I would hopefully dry out. Also had to climb over or under a lot of windfall trees. Still think I made pretty good progress-much faster than cross-country. Got to first large opening at a little after 12:00 noon. Surprised to see the southwest edge of it dominated by thicket of Douglas spirea. This type spirea usually grows in wetlands but, fortunately for me, the ground was pretty dry. The presence of the spirea probably indicated that there was a lot of soil moisture close to the surface in the area. I was surprised to find that the vegetation was dry. Sun was finally out so had lunch at this spot. Continued on and found trail had been brushed out pretty well, as it had in another brushy wet area a little further down. Worst spots for wet vegetation were in timber. Got thoroughly soaked on way up to last opening before Milk Creek Trail connected with PCT. Lost trail again at start of this opening because vegetation, mostly bracken ferns had fallen over trail-probably from recent rain-and hidden it. Found it after a few minutes and continued on. Again, fortunately, this vegetation wasn’t wet. Short sun break when I had lunch was only one of day so far and though my clothes were drying, they weren’t drying very fast. PCT was a dream compared to Milk Creek Trail but by the time I reached it I was getting tired. I felt about 100 percent and had few traces of the stomach bug from the previous week but I also hadn’t done a lot of walking for 2 weeks so my muscles were probably not completely up to the task of moving me and a heavy pack all those miles without a little complaint here and there. I got to it at about 2:30 or 3:00 p.m. which, I figured, left me about 3 hours to go about 4 miles. Plenty of time. I had originally planned on camping at a small pond above Mica Lake. This pond is not shown on USGS Quads but is shown on Green Trails maps so I figured it should be on my list as well. This pond was also at the jump off point for the high route onto Lime Ridge that I wanted to investigate. Once I started up the PCT, my legs were starting to get a little rubbery. I decided to camp at Mica Lake instead. I probably (or so I thought at the time) could have made it to the small pond but decided not to push it. Mica Lake would be plenty close enough to the jump off spot. Got to Mica Lake a little before 6:00 p.m. Cold, steady wind with stronger gusts blowing. Seemed to be coming straight off the fresh snow just above. Sky gray and gloomy. Actually light that I kind of like under different circumstances. Clouds starting to roll in around peaks and hide them. So much for the mostly sunny day that had been forecast. Clothes pretty much dry by this point but socks still a little damp and fingers and toes ached with cold. Not quite numbing cold but definitely uncomfortable. Rested for a bit then dug out wool coat and had and bundled up and pitched tent. Cooked dinner inside rock windbreak built by lake. Upper part of body stuck out above windbreak but wasn’t too unpleasant. Dreaded washing dinner dishes. Water wasn’t too cold but instant hands out of it and in wind fingers chilled to bone. Decided to finish dinner inside tent. Don’t usually do this and bad idea in a heavily used spot like this, usually lots of mice around to attract not to mention bears. But just too cold outside. Got into tent and into dry socks and into sleeping bag. Finished dinner, being careful to drop as few crumbs as possible. Wrote up a few notes after dinner. Ready to turn in then realized hadn’t activated SPOT so Sacha would know that I was all right. Turned it on and set it just outside tent. Have to wait twenty minutes for it to send message. Waited twenty-five just to be sure. Curled up and went to sleep. Feet didn’t really warm up all night. Weren’t bitterly cold or enough to keep me up but every time I woke up to shift spots, which I do quite frequently, I noticed my feet were cold. Wind blew most of night but, other than feet, felt quite cozy and slept well. Wind died down by morning. Dreaded getting out of nice warm bed. Hardest part of day. Finally forced myself out at a little after 6:00 a.m. Hadn’t frosted and, though it was cold, wasn’t really that bad without the wind. No low clouds. Good sign. I would be able to check out the route. Too early to tell if sky was overcast, clear or partly cloudy. Ate breakfast and got pack ready. Saw first PCT hikers of day. Got started a little after 7:00 a.m. Looked like a good route into pond near Fire Creek Pass, had originally planned to go in this way previous day. Figured that I had plenty of time so decided to go to pass first. Passed several more PCT hikers on way to pass. By time I was at pass sun was shining between large patches of clouds. Started picking up patches of new snow a few hundred feet below pass and several inches at pass itself. Nice views from pass but didn’t stay long. Checked maps for jump off point and headed back down. One stop to take pictures of route that I had planned on taking earlier in the year when I had attempted lakes on east end of Lime Ridge, the last one I was trying to get into this day. Route looked doable to point where I was standing but still needed to see if the high route from my location onto Lime Ridge was doable. Cut off trail on switchback. Looked good at the start but soon looked like I would be blocked by a steep drop off. Cut up hill about a hundred feet where ground looked more gradual. Didn’t get far before I ran into steep ground covered with slick new snow. Maybe the way I had started was better. Went back down and tried to get around hill only to run into same situation as above. Steep ground that would be marginally sketchy when dry but now covered with new snow. Thwarted. Good thing I hadn’t tried this the day before. It would have been bad to end up in this spot, worn out, horking a full pack. Mica Lake just below. Could see good route up far (west) side of it. Would have to go back down then back up. Cut back to PCT. Got seriously screamed at by whistle pig along the way. Started up west side of lake. Found way trail made by hikers there. Not sure if it headed up way I was going. Picked up parts of trails on the way up but these seemed to be game trails. Made it to pond at 11:45 a.m. Saw high route that I had wanted to check out before I got to pond. It looked bad at first but then I looked at it from another angle and it didn’t look so bad. There was a pretty steep but doable talus slope down to a snowfield. On the other side of the snowfield I couldn’t tell if the ground was too steep to navigate from where I was standing. I would have to go down and check it out. It was getting late to try to get into the lake on Lime Ridge and back out this day. I had my coat and long underwear and enough stuff to stay out if I didn’t make it back to my tent but I really didn’t want to. Had done this once at about the same time of year and it was somewhat uncomfortable experience. Checked out small pond first. This was a victory of sorts. Wasn’t mapped on USGS Quad but was mapped on Green Trails. So it counted for my ultimate goal. Checked lake out. Really barren and looked like it was filling in rather rapidly. Decided it was probably to late to try to get into the lake on Lime Ridge but I did want to check out the route so I would know for next year. Took rest at pond and tried to take nap but sun went behind clouds and got too cold for comfort. After about fifteen minutes got up and investigated the potential route onto Lime Ridge. Didn’t eat lunch yet because expected to be scrambling over some pretty steep ground and loose talus and scree and didn’t want to try that with stomach full of undigested food. First part of route down steep slope of small talus/scree. At first looked too steep then started down and seemed okay. Several routes up the other side. My assessment of these routes changed with my perspective as I made my way down the loose scree. One route would look pretty good then not so much and then good again. There was a snowfield at the bottom of the talus that I would have to cross. It was a comfortable angle. When I got to it I noticed a small flat nears its bottom. Thought that this probably led to nowhere but it still might be worth checking out. Cut across snowfield. Several inches of wet, fresh snow on top mostly helped with traction but occasionally kicked out over harder old snow underneath. Original spot where I had planned to cut up turned out to be too steep so had to go down snowfield a bit. By the time I could get off snowfield I was withing 20 or 30 feet of small flat at bottom. Checked that out first. At first it looked like the other side broke off into a vertical gulley but as I moved a little farther out on the flat I saw a good potential way over the top of a steep gulley to some flatter ground that probably led to the easier traveling part of Lime Ridge. It looked like the same spot where I had come up the year before on the low route that I took. The ground between the small flat I was on and the flatter part of the ridge beyond was pretty steep but well within my comfort zone, at least under summer conditions. At this time it was covered with partially melted fresh snow over heather. This made the slope pretty slick. There was a vertical or nearly vertical gulley about 30 feet below this slope and I didn’t trust that I wouldn’t go into it if I started to slide on that snow. If it had been bare, dry heather I probably wouldn’t go far if I lost my footing. I tried crossing to try to get a look at the one obvious tight spot at the top of the gulley but quickly abandoned the attempt. If it had been a necessity, I might have tried it but it wasn’t and I wasn’t going to make it into the lake this day anyway, even if I could have gotten across that spot. I next tried the higher route to see if it was any better or, if the route from the small flat turned out not to work, I could get through there. I had to go up about a hundred feet. Again the ground was steep but within my comfort zone. I got to another small flat on a small ridge (the lower flat was at the bottom of this small ridge). From there I was looking directly at some steep talus. This talus was small and would be loose but it was also very doable and I remembered looking up at this very spot from about a hundred feet below on the route I took the year before. So I knew I would for sure be able to get onto Lime Ridge from this spot. It was too late in the day to make an attempt to get into the lake this day and, at any rate, the talus was made doubly slippery by new snow. This side of the ridge didn’t get much sun at this time of year. Good enough. I had a good route now. Now I just needed to get back through the steep ground and back to camp at Mica Lake. My goal now was to get at least part way out on the Milk Creek trail. There was a spot near the crossing of the East Fork of Milk Creek that looked like a good place to camp and hopefully I could get there before dark. I still had two days, Sunday and Monday, and I could maybe get into the lake the next day, Sunday and come out Monday. I probably could have gotten through that slick, snow covered talus if it was a necessity but it wasn’t and there was a chance, though slight, of weather on Sunday. That could possibly mean that everything would be fogged in even if there wasn’t any precipitation. I preferred to make the attempt under better conditions. Maybe I should have tried it. It wasn’t too bad getting back on the Mica Lake side of the ridge. I ate lunch there and took a short nap, the sun had come out again. Got down to Mica Lake at about 3:00 p.m. broke camp and headed out. At this point, my legs were feeling pretty worn out. Had about 4 hours to get to spot I wanted to on East Fork. Got there with about an hour to spare. Dark by the time I was done with dinner. Up early next day on my way by about 8:00 a. m. Got back to trailhead at about 11:30. Saw spot along way where someone had flagged route from Suiattle River to point where trail entered flat U-shaped Milk Creek valley. Suspected that this was route that bypassed all the windfalls and large slide on steep part of Milk Creek trail but didn’t follow it. Trip could have been a better. Could have gotten into the lake that was my main goal but overall felt pretty good about this trip. Found doable route and got into one lake/pond that counted for my goal. And didn’t kill myself.     

The first big open spot encountered on the Milk Creek Trail. I wasn't sure how hard it would be to get through here. It turned out not to be too bad. For the most part it wasn't too brushy, mostly Douglas spirea and bracken fern. The trail through here wasn't really obvious but it had seen a good bit of use this year and I was able to keep on it. 

Looking roughly north down th eMilk Creek Valley and the open spot. 

Mica Lake from its outlet the morning of the second day. 

Same as above. The slight difference in color is due to the color and light balance decisions that I made in Photoshop. 

Looking roughly south from Fire Creek Pass. 

Black Mountain from Fire Creek Pass. 

Sloan Peak from Fire Creek Pass. 

Dome Peak from Fire Creek Pass. This is looking north where the previous two photos were looking south. 

South side of east end of Lime Ridge. 

East end of Lime Ridge. This little promontory caught my attention. It was right above the little pond I was trying to get into. 

Zoome in view of previous. 

Zoomed out view of previous photo. The small pond I was trying to get into. The ground right in front of me here dropped abruptly into some cliffs. 

Looking east at small pond and Glacier Peak after I went back down to Mica Lake and then back up via a different route.  I probably could have gotten into this pond from the trail just below Fire Creek Pass if I had gone up and around to the south from the point where I was stopped and took the previous three photos. Hindsight is 20/20. I figured it would be quicker to go back to Mica Lake and then back up again. 

Looking south at the north side of the east end of Lime Ridge. 

Looking west at the small pond. Not much to brag about. 

Looking north at the small pond. 

Looking west at the north side of the east end of Lime Ridge. This is the route. I decided not to try on this trip because the skiff of snow would have made footing slick and miserable. I am sure I could have done it if I really needed to and maybe I should have tried it the next day. 

Looking northeast down at Mica Lake from route to east end of Lime Ridge. 

Mica Lake. 

10/9/17 Otter Flat, Last Hurrah

Worked weekend. Took Monday off to try to get into flat near Otter Lakes (Hamar and Enjar) again. Wanted to look at it this year in case road was lost over winter. Heavy rain Saturday and a little Sunday morning then cleared up. Early forecasts had sunny weather through Tuesday and had initially planned to go Tuesday to give brush a chance to dry off. Usually pretty slow this time of year, especially in areas where sun doesn’t get to anymore. Forecast changed and called for good chance of rain Tuesday so bumped trip up. Helped Sacha with kids in morning and headed up to trailhead. Made good time into Slide Lake and didn’t get very wet. Most brush pretty wet above Slide Lake. Had extra clothes, long underwear, besides wool long underwear that I usually carry. Debated putting those on and rain gear. Decided against. Hard to move in that stuff and was hoping that it wouldn’t be too wet. Hoped wrong. Looked like sun hadn’t had chance to get to most spots the day before. Cloud cover for much of day and many of the areas along Otter Creek valley probably only see sun for a few hours a day this time of year, if they see sun at all. Got thoroughly soaked. Pants almost completely and shirt everyewhere except back where pack was riding. Sky was relatively clear. Pushed on, hoping sun would be warm enough to dry me out when I reached destination. Very tricky this time of year. Well within temperature range for hypothermia. If I stopped and sun wasn’t very warm, would have to get into dry clothes quickly. Other option would be to build fire or just not stop. Got past spot I reached several weeks earlier in September and started up last long climb to Otter Lakes. About halfway up noticed that snowline was just above me and probably at Otter Lakes as well as flat I wanted to get into. Took several precious minutes debating whether to go on or not. Needed to decide pretty quickly because if I stood there too long soaking wet, would get cold and would be hard to move-dangerous condition to be in. Finally decided to go at least to Otter Lakes. Wanted to see them with fresh snow. Had been there several times but never under these conditions. Flat would have to wait until next year-hopefully road would survive. Wanted to look at it when everything was growing anyway. Wouldn’t be able to see much right now under all the snow. Started running into snow patches and last quarter mile was through snow. Feet were soaking wet and began aching with cold almost instantly when I hit the snow. Finally made it to lower lake (Enjar) at about 11:00 a.m. Small bare spot at camp. Dropped pack there and dug out camera. Took a few photos of lake and some bear tracks in the fresh snow and was on my way again in less than half an hour. Couldn’t feel anything with feet except a deep ache from the cold. Made it back to creek crossing below snowline by noon. Had sandwich and candy bar and pushed on. Brush drier on way back because I had knocked most of it off on the way up. Pack quite a bit heavier because it was wet. Legs felt achy and rubbery. But sun was out and was pleasantly warm in places where it reached valley. Back to Slide Lake at about 2:00 p.m. and back at trailhead at a little before 3:00 p.m. Had to stop a few miles from bottom of road on way back because I had warmed up and was extremely sleepy. Took 15 minutes to half hour nap and on my way again. Another failed attempt. Too late in the year and not dressed for weather and/or failed to put proper clothes on. I had them in pack, just didn't put them on. This year was most failed attempts of any year for me. Did look at route from Otter Lakes when I was there and it did look good. So trip wasn’t complete failure. Probably try to get into flat next year if road still open.

Skagit River Valley near Marblemount and the Picket Range from Illabot Creek Road. This is one of the few remaining spots that anyone, regardless of their physical ability and outdoor knowledge can get such a sweeping view of the Pickets, which are public land, owned by everyone, not just the physically fit. This will be lost if Illabot Creek Road is closed, a distinct possibility.  

Sauk Mountain from Illabot Creek Road. 

Zoomed in view of the Skagit River near Marblemount and the Pickets from Illabot Creek Road. The sharp peak at center frame is Mount Triumph and the snow/glacier covered peak to the right side of the frame is McMillan Spire. 

Pickets and Skagit near Marblemount from Illabot Creek Road. 

Same as above zoomed in slightly. Mount Despair is at the left side of the frame, Mount Triumph at center and McMillan Spire on right side of frame. 

Enjar (Otter) Lake. 

Enjar (Otter) Lake. 

Flat near lake. 

Bear hind paw track and my footprint. My feet were soaking wet and aching with cold at this point.  I have often heard it said when someone goes missing or gets killed or injured that "they had decades of experience in the outdoors, hunting, hiking etc." This illustrates that sometimes people make bad decisions, get complacent or take chances. I was aware of the risks I was taking and I knew how to deal with the situation but all it would have taken is a little bit of bad luck and I could have been in serious trouble. Even though I had rain gear and waterproof socks, I got complacent andchose not to put them on. Complacency is usually what gets me into the stickier situations. 

Another bear track. My feet were aching with cold and this bear was walking along like it was just another day, albeit colder than a summer day, but nothing that would prevent this bear from moving around. These tracks made me marvel at how well animals are adapted to their environments and how fragile in general humans are. 

Slide Lake on my way out. By this point I had mostly dried out and the sun was pleasantly warm. 

The End.