Maple pass loop and Hidden lake

Who: Eric and Matt
When: July 25-26
Activity: Day hiking
Google photos link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/wFUT7nuvfTjHjTh29
WTA links:

• https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/maple-pass
• https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/hidden-lake-lookout

Eric and I drove up to North Cascades national park on Saturday midday with hopes of snagging a car campsite inside the park so we could double up on some day hikes in the area. We were disappointed to find the campground marked as full around noon. I know I tend to be pretty anxious about securing first-come first-serve campsites to the point of paranoia, but given that this is twice now this summer where we've arrived too late to get a spot at the campground we wanted, my anxiety feels justified.

Since the largest campground Colonial Creek was full we figured the other ones would be as well. At this point we decided to play it by ear with the assumption that we'd be able to pull off the side of the road and pitch a tent in the forest somewhere. We drove around a bit more, and took our lunch while checking out the Lake Diablo lookout. At this point it was about 2pm so we rolled on to the Maple pass loop trailhead which actually lies outside of the park.

Lake Diablooooo

The hike was sweet and quite pleasant. After a brief discussion about the merits of clockwise vs counterclockwise loops we decided on a counterclockwise direction which seemed to be recommended. The way was a pretty stable grade, gradually bringing us up to the pass which nestles right up against the national park boundary.

Can you hunt here? No you can't!

The views of the park and the surrounding Cascades were pretty sweet from here and we spent a good amount of time just hanging out and eating some more Ritz and tuna.

After lingering we headed back down to the car. The descent was pretty easy and we got back to the car around 5:30 or so.

In order to find a spot we drove for a bit back west towards the park on highway 20. Since we were still outside the national park boundary, dispersed camping from the road seemed like fair game here. We pulled over on a promising turnout that gave us plenty of distance from the road and headed into the forest to see if we could find a flat spot. Luckily enough the first spot we checked out was suitable so we plopped our stuff down and set up Eric's tent. After some dinner and Hive we went to bed following sunset. Eric I think initially got up in the middle of the night to pee and ended up stargazing from the road. He woke me up to join him and I'm glad he did. The milky way was really clear from here, something I hadn't seen in awhile!

The next day we drove back west to the Hidden Lake trailhead. The service road leading up to this hike is in really bad shape. It's steep and filled with unavoidable potholes in some parts. Probably the worst service road I've been on to date except save some completely washed out roads following a storm at Philmont.

Hidden lake proved to be a much more strenuous hike than the Maple pass loop. Pretty much the entire hike is exposed to direct sunlight with few opportunities for shade. Still, we reached the lake in good time and had a nice lunch at the top of the lookout around 1pm. The lake is indeed hidden - you can't see it until you crest over a final ridge at the end of the hike. Great job to those responsible at the lake naming team.

Hidden lake

Descending again proved not to be too much of a challenge. We glissaded down through the snow covered parts and made it back to the car before 4 and picked up some McDonalds that really hit the spot on the way home. Great weekend, two great hikes. Funnily enough both hikes were outside of the proper national park boundary so we still have only just scratched the surface of NOCA.

Kaleetan Peak

Who: Roy, Megan, Julia

WTA: https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/kaleetan-peak

12 mi. out and back, 4500 ft. of elevation gain

This gem lies about an hour outside of Seattle, and boy was it a hidden gem! Hike around 4 easy miles with a gradual grade past Denny Creek and some nice waterfalls up to Lake Melakwa, both popular endpoints for short family-friendly hikes near Seattle. After taking in some nice views at the lake and a quick breather, take the trail left to begin the challenging climb to the peak. 

The final 1.5 miles gains nearly 2000 feet, alternating between steep foresty terrain, talus fields, and some scrambling. Hike up and over the false summit, down a pretty steep stretch to a long, slow-going boulder field, and then up a final scree-filled section until you reach the base of the final scramble. The last portion to the summit block is definitely 3rd class, but doesn't feel particularly exposed or technical and was super fun! 

The views from the summit were spectacular, with panoramic views of peaks including Rainier, Glacier, Stuart, and Chair Peak, in addition to 6-7 beautiful lakes. There was a little plaque on the ground laying out each peak. Super worth the grueling climb!

The descent was tough and slow-going. The section going back up from the false summit was super steep, definitely the most challenging of the entire hike (felt like nearly 60 degree grade at points). We took a dip in the lake, filled up some waters (BRING MORE WATER THAN US), and began the relatively uneventful descent down. It felt super long, since mentally it felt like the hike was over after getting back to the lake.

Overall, would highly recommend this challenging hike. Definitely one of the best hikes I've done close to Seattle, and a mega hidden gem. Check this out, but bring lots of water and be ready for a tough climb. Would also be a pretty crazy trail run (but running up to Melakwa alone would be chill!).

Enchantments through hike

Date: 7/18/2020
Who: Roy, Julia, Matt
Activity: Day hike
Google photos link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/W1gtUBHuLGvniPJV8

Julia and I drove to Icicle creek on Friday afternoon hoping to get a campsite at Johnny creek campground but were disappointed to find that the all 60 sites were full. Not panicking though we found a good spot for a tent in the Forestland bouldering area parking lot. We parked in our tent and then went off to check out some of the boulders in the evening. We got on some V0s for about an hour, then went back to the campsite to find Roy had arrived, along with several other groups of varying size. We hit the sack around 10 after some dinner and game planning for the next day.

The next morning we got up with the sun around 4:30am to break camp and drop off Roy's car at the Snow Lakes parking lot. At 5am the Snow Lakes parking lot was already full so we left the car near the lot on the road anxiously drove to the Stuart/Colchuck Lakes trailhead. We arrived there at 5:30am and got a spot about ~400m from the parking lot, which was also full. The whole process of dropping off cars and getting to the trailhead in a timely manner was pretty anxiety inducing for me.

After eating breakfast at the car we got on the trail around 6am and started the journey up to Colchuck lake. The adrenaline of the race for parking and desire to put distance between us and other groups starting around the same time fueled our initial cruise up to Colchuck. We reached the lake (~4 miles) around 8am and stopped for a second breakfast snack in the boulder field leading up to Asgard. The lake is very beautiful and does get a lot of traffic as a result.

On the way up Asgard we split up a little bit - I was a bit rude and not patient enough to wait for Julia or Roy - I just really wanted to race up as fast as possible. It was really nice to do the ascent in shade, and with fresh legs. We regrouped at the top around 9:30, stopped for another snack and then continued on our way.

I had glimpsed a little bit of the lakes on our hike up to Dragontail in 2018 so my expectations were pretty well primed, but wow is it seriously awe inducing. Around every corner there's another jaw dropping moment. My phone was dead but Julia and Roy took their fair share of photos. We took it slow and stopped often to gape.

Some of Julia and Roy's photos, in no particular order:

Cairn #23, humans for scale

Julia documents obscenely large cairn #37

The human impact on the area is hard to ignore. The crowd from Colchuck had definitely dissipated at the top but there were still quite a few groups and we interacted with others on the trail probably about once every 15-20 minutes. We often got anxious about stopping for too long because we would notice a long train of hikers approaching that we did not want to have to pass again further along the trail.

That being said, for the amount of traffic which it sees on a yearly basis, I would say it's been well pretty conserved. Kudos to the forest service and rangers who regulate overnight traffic and help educate daytime visitors. The trail is pretty well kept at a reasonable width without too many social offshoots, largely because it's rocky and easy to explore without leaving footprints. The meadows we did see also still intact without too much trace of trampling or tents. The forest service has installed latrines to concentrate the poopoo impact as well. I'm not sure how frequently rangers are in the area, but we saw a pair soon after we summited Asgard who gave us a quick talk on the practices & procedures we needed to follow. So all in all I'd say the area is in good shape although there's little to no solitude to be found.

By 12:45 or so we had started our ascent down to Snow Lakes. This section of trail had several traffic jams and I took to asking folks if we could pass instead of waiting for them to yield, which may have been rude on my part, but also, it should be common courtesy to yield when you notice that someone is right behind you. Just saying. We ran into Shabina and her family who were on their way up and chatted with them for awhile, and also witnessed Shabina's dad nearly fall off the trail to his death.

At Snow Lakes we paused around 2:30 for a quick dip in the first lake, some more snacks and then prepared ourselves for the trudge back to the car. Another 7 miles awaited us and it was not easy. The final bit was long, hot, and for the last two miles we could see the parking lot as we exited the valley and switched back down a ridge. Some discrepancy exists between the mileage reported for total length, but the day was somewhere between 18 and 23 miles, which on either end is just a really long day. We got to the car around 5:30 clocking in around 11 hours 30 minutes for the whole through hike.

After nursing our sore feet and joints and collecting Julia's car from the Stuart/Colchuck parking lot we drove into Leavenworth for a perfectly mediocre and absolutely delicious meal at Heidleburger, then parted ways - Roy drove back to Seattle and Julia and I joined up with Joe, Jeff, and Grace who we were climbing with the next day.

Rating: 1/5, no larches

Jolly Mountain

Date: 7/12/20
Who: Matt, Roy
Activity: Day hike

We hiked to the top of Jolly Mountain near Cle Elum. Nice short out and back, about 3 miles each way and not too much elevation, with a great payoff at the summit. There was a nice windbreak set up at the top so we lingered awhile to eat and enjoy the view before heading back down.

WTA link: https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/jolly-mountain-via-sasse-ridge-trail

Timberline Loop around Mt. Hood

Date: 7/3 - 7/6 2020
Who: Megan, Eric, Matt
Activity: Backpacking

We drove to Portland on Thursday night and stayed at an Airbnb, then woke up early the next morning to drive to the trailhead at Timberline Lodge. We got moving around 9am. Our first day was the longest, about 15 miles. I was impressed with our pace through the first 12 miles or so but as we neared our destination for the night we slowed down as fatigue from the long day set in.  We camped in a clearing near Muddy Creek on the first night and learned how to play Hive (though we got some of the rules wrong).

Group photo

On Saturday we had a short 9 mile day to Elk Cove. We absolutely cruised through the first 5 miles which contained the majority of our uphill elevation for the day. It was cloudy in the morning so the views of Mt. Hood were limited, but it made for a nice cool hiking without the sun. We encountered some more extensive snow pack around Cairn Basin but navigated through it successfully with the help of some google GPS help. Our campsite for the night was a well established campsite in an open clearing. I'm afraid we shouldn't have camped there as the area was formerly a meadow, but given the area had clearly been used extensively before, I thought it was alright. This ended up being a very windy and cold night.

Elk cove campsite

Sunday we rounded the corner and hiked south along the east side of the mountain. This involved a steep climb above the tree line to a long exposed ridge nestled close against Mt. Hood. This was probably my favorite day of hiking. We had the very nice views of the south side of Rainier all day. After 12 miles we arrived at Newton Creek and set up camp in a great area between two large boulders that provided a shade and a wind break.

Rainier in the distance

Our final day brought us back to the parking lot at Timberline Lodge. We got an early start out of Newton Creek and arrived back at the parking lot around noon. After a quick stop at the gift shop for souvenirs we rolled out and stopped at McDonald's, Voodoo donuts, and Korean BBQ on the way back to Seattle.

Many thanks to Megan and Eric for organizing and bringing me along. This was a great trip and one that I hope to repeat - our timing was great as we were pretty early in the summer so the trail was less populated and we had near perfect weather the whole weekend.