Return to Poo Poo Point

In some places the steep trail seems like a staircase, due to the stepping stones.

It was an overcast Monday with fog on the low hills leading up the Chiroco trail to Poo Point, the launch zone for parasailing. This was a SVTC hike, a four mile hike up a rather steep trail for a 1,700-foot elevation gain that resulted in a visit to the launch pad for hang gliders.

The hikers left me behind part way through. I had been awakened at 5 a.m. with a call from Malawi, Africa, and I think the loss of sleep slowed me down. I had to rest a bit and then catch up. This was my first hike at Poo Poo point for a few years, I believe--long enough ago that I didn't remember parts of the trail and they seemed new.

Trailhead figure

Distance for the day:   4 miles
Conditions: Low ceiling, cool, some fog
Load: 16 pounds 
Elevation gain: 1,700

Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 264.7 miles 
Elevation Gain: 79,078 feet. 9,088 to 6th Rainier

Light hike on Tiger Mountain

The highest point I reached this day.

From 2.2 mile point to car.

I missed the SVTC group today because I went to the wrong location, so I moved a couple miles down I-90 to Exit 20, High Point Trail, and made a light hike to the 2.2 mile marker on Tiger 3.
Distance for the day:  At least 4.5 miles
Conditions: Clear skies, cool.
Load: 16 pounds pounds 
Elevation gain: 1,400  feet, at least

Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 260.7 miles 
Elevation Gain: 77,378 feet

Cougar Mountain: Coal country and cold war anti-aircraft missile battery

The legacy of King Coal in King County is the fact that there are some places you just don't hike.

Monday, Nov. 25, 2019: Even the best laid plans . . . .
Snoqualmie Valley Trails Club had to make some adjustments to our hiking plans yesterday because King county had decided that the hazards of hiking in what had been coal country presented required mitigation. The hike was led by Yaz Obara from the Cougar Mountain Regional Wildlife Park trailhead, and we hadn't gone 100 yards before we came across the surprise expressed in the hoto immediately above. So we changed directions, but we still got in a nice hike on this drizzly an rainy day  in an area with lots of side trails. Yaz's summary afterward noted that we hiked from the trailhead to the anti-aircraft Peak and back. "We hiked Cave Hole Trail, Klondike Swamp Trail, Harvey Manning Trail, Shangri-La Trail and Coyote Creek." His map is immediately below.

Distance for the day:  At least 3.5 miles
Conditions: Chilly, raining, overcast.
Load: 17 pounds pounds 
Elevation gain: 400  feet, at least

Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 256.2 miles 
Elevation Gain: 75,978 feet



Below is a more complete map of the park; click on it and you obtain a  larger image, which can be downloaded and saved. Copies are provided at the trailhead.

The "history" that must have been in this small building has gone the way of the Nike missiles.

Immediately above is one of the remnants of what had been a Nike anti-aircraft battery. At one time it probably had information about the air defense installation, but now it's just a hollow shell. However, here's some details about what was going on at Cougar Mountain, long after coal was no longer being mined there: 

The Nike missiles were our air defense against Russian bombers. They had a maximum speed of 1,000 mph, a 25-mile range and a 70,000 foot ceiling. They packed a punch -- a tactical nuclear warhead. Documentation that I discovered in a cursory search indicates they may have also carried conventional explosives. The missiles were driven by four radars at the Integrated Fire Control (IFC) area of each Nike site: Target Tracking Radar (TTR), Target Ranging Radar (TRR), Missile Tracking Radar (MTR), and High-Powered Acquisition Radar (HIPAR).

There were approximately 265 Nike missile bases which can still be seen around cities across the United States. As the sites were decommissioned they were first offered to federal agencies.

Fellow hikers: Yaz, Richard and Cherie, Tom, and two others whose names eluded me.

Two Hikes: Little Si and Middle Fork Snoqualmie

One of many brisk waterfalls that crossed our trail Sunday, Nov. 10.

Joan Tito next to boulder

There were two hikes in three days: The first on Little Si, with my hiking buddie, Joan Tito, pictured at the right next to some impressive boulders along the trail. The second around the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River, near Blowout Creek and the Oxbow Loop. The first hike was for elevation gain and conditioning. It reached about 3.6 miles and at least an 800 foot elevation gain. (We didn't go for the summit.)

The second was about 7 miles and at least a 600 foot elevation gain. It had a rain forest feel due to the heavy rain that hits the area each year, with tumbling brooks crossing the trail, as well as lots of moss, mushrooms and ferns. That hike was sponsored by the Snoqualmie Valley Trails Club.

Stats for the week:
Distance: 10.6 miles
Conditions: Cool weather; overcast one day with slight drizzle
Load: 16 pounds pounds minimum
Elevation gain: 1,400 feet, at least

Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 249.4 miles 
Elevation Gain: 74,878 feet

Ettie, a member of Snoqualmie Valley Trails Club, next to a huge stump that caught her eye.

Another stump, whose springboard cuts resemble eyes, observing the hikers on the trail below.

The Blowout Creek / Oxbow Loop hike was a photographer's dream, with sights like the stump at the left, dead lone enough to become the buffet for woodpeckers and perhaps a hope for other critters.

A view of the Oxbow from the Oxbow Loop

Snoqualmie Valley Trails Club and Ivar's

This was just a short hike down to Alaskan Way and back, because SVTC was involved in an 8-mile hike to Lake Washington and back to the Ivar's statue at Madison and Alaskan way. I wore my weight vest and a backpack weighing 14 pound. It was all about the conditioning. I took along no food, and by the time I had ascended with the two hiking companions (Dede and Ann), I realized walking farther to Lake Washington was going to be more than I was up for, considering the load. And I didn't want to hold the ladies up, so I packed it in. But it was a good hike.

Stats for the day:
Distance: 2.8 miles
Conditions: Clear sky, cool
Load: 34 pounds
Elevation gain: 300 feet, at least

Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 238.8 miles 
Elevation Gain: 73,478 feet

A return to Lake 22 Hike

A raging waterfall, seen through the trees.

The hike toward Lake 22 wasn't a lot like I remembered it. It's probably been five years since I made the hike with Mary Jane, a photographer and hiking buddy at the time. The weather was dry and the road was rocky. But I don't remember it being this rocky, or tiring. But now I am five years older, the weather was cold, the waterfalls were vigorous, and there was water on the trail. At the point where Tammi Hermann and I turned back, we met a young man who had a Garmin on his wrist and told us he had come about 1.8 miles. The trail one-way is 2.7 miles and a 1,500 foot elevation gain. Most people we ran into said we had a mile to go to reach the lake, and given the rocky ascent and time of day, we decided it was time to retrace our steps. It was 3 p.m. It had taken us 3 hours to gain probably 1,000 feet and we didn't want to be on this trail in the dark. It took us 90 minutes to get back down to the car.

The photos that follow tell the story of the hike.

Tammi, ascending the trail

A spooky critter we met along the way, its limbs sun bleached and dessicated

Tami, right, on a bridge over a crashing waterflow, left

The 3-hour, 1.5+ mile terminus of our hike

Creek 22, aiming to pass beneath the bridge as it heads to join the river

Stats for the day:
Distance: At least 3 miles
Conditions: Overcast, snow on trail
Load: 13 pounds
Elevation gain: 1,000 feet, at least

Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 236.1 miles 
Elevation Gain: 73,178 feet

Mount Rainier first fall snow hike 2019

A deer browses near the path between White River Campground and Sunrise Visitor's Center.

Woke around 8 a.m.; packed almost from scratch for a day at Rainier. Weather report said 10 percent chance of rain and maybe 10 degrees for a high. It was warmer than that when I arrived, but overcast, and the road to Sunrise hadn't been cleared of snow. Maybe another day, but today I was not going to get to Sunrise by car.

I hiked part way from the White River Campground, gaining about 320 meters according to my phone App. That comes out to about 1,000 feet. I was a bit winded, possibly due to long underwear restricting my legs. I turned around when the snow on the trail made ascending dicey. I should have packed Yak Trax.

Stats for the day:
Distance: unk
Conditions: Overcast, snow on trail
Load: 13 pounds
Elevation gain: 1,000 feet 

Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 234.1 miles 
Elevation Gain: 72,178 feet

View from the bridge just before the campground turnoff

This campground tree, hollow from the stump up, was likely cut as a preventive measure.

A glimpse of the trail. Snow closed over it at elevation.

Note on White River Campground:

Located five miles up from Highway 410, the White River Campground sits at 4,232 feet, making it the highest of the three drive-in campgrounds at Mount Rainier. The high elevation often makes this the last of the campgrounds to open and the first to close.

Mount Rainier's Plummer Peak with Roger and Tammi

A pika paused his darting for a few moments to munch on a salad.

Washington Trails Association says that the climb to Plummer Peak is a 1,500 elevation gain and the summit is 6,359 feet. I didn't make it to the summit yesterday, Sept. 2. The trail took me along a very steep drop off and I am always uncomfortable with those, particularly when I have a backpack on that shifts my center of gravity. Roger Matthews and Tammi Termann went ahead. I turned back and waited for their return. Ironically, it was Tammi who took a spill on the trail, banging her face and arm slightly and drawing a little blood, but otherwise weathering the storm well.slightly,  The altitude was affecting us a bit, so maybe that was a factor. Using my phone GPS I believe we were hiking above 4,800 feet, and were closing in toward 6,000 feet before I turned back. Even young people we passed on our descent were sweating and moving slowly. WTA says the trip is 4.5 miles, so I feel comfortable claiming 3.5 miles.

At the Grove of the Patriarchs, Tammi climbed among the roots of a fallen tree.

A patriarch yet to fall

On the Plummer Peak hike, a chipmunk prays for a morsel.

At this elevation, trees struggle to survive.

A view of the mountain during the descent

Mushrooms cower together at a switchback, below a menacing field of skree

Near the trailhead we found other mushrooms like this one at various life stages.

Noteworthy moments: 

Sworls on a burl on an old growth log

• A visit to the Grove of the Monarchs, a must every time you visit Rainier National Park.
• A big fat marmot browsing below the final ascent to Plummer Peak
• Several pikas darting around
• The accidental discovery of what appeared to be blueberries, but were probably blue huckleberries
• Discovery of some impressive mushrooms
• Feeling the effects of elevation

Stats for the day:

Distance: 3.5 miles*
Conditions: Clear Sky
Load: 18 pounds
Elevation gain: 1,000 feet 

Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 234.1 miles 
Elevation Gain: 71,178 feet