Yearly Archives: 2019

Red Mountain from the trailhead On Sunday the 3rd I took a break from working on the cabin to go check out one of the local trails. Red Mountain sits right at the north end of Lake Cle Elum in central Washington and from a distance it appeared to be both snow free and to offer some great 360-degree views of the surrounding area. It was only 34 degrees when I got out of the car at the trailhead but the WTA description said that trail was more or less straight up to the saddle below the peak so I [...]

A pond on the outskirts of Deer Lake On August 10th I co-led a trip for The Mountaineers to Seven Lakes Basin after the original co-leader was unable to make the trip. Located in the heart of the northern Olympics, this alpine basin is, as the name suggests, dotted with lakes and has been near the top of my to-do list for a couple years. Unfortunately, lousy weather meant a lack of both views and dryness so I'm hoping to return next year to take in the full experience. On the plus side I did spot six black bears in [...]

Robin Lakes plural The 2019 backpacking blowout continues with an overnighter I led on August 3rd to Tuck and Robin Lakes, a group of alpine lakes situated just east of the PCT at Deception Pass in the North Cascades. From the Tucquala Meadows trailhead you head north past Hyas Lake towards Deception Pass, turning right at the sign for the Tuck and Robin Lakes trail. The trail skirts the mountainside a short ways before switchbacking steeply up to Tuck Lake. From there it's a cross-country scramble across cairn-studded granite up to Robin Lakes. We had some difficulty finding the route [...]

"A Sea of Granite" (teal tent near bottom right for scale) On July 26th I led a two-night trip for The Mountaineers to Gothic Basin, a beautiful alpine basin that I'd previously only visited on a day hike a few years ago. The basin is located off of the Mountain Loop Highway, a scenic highway which winds through the mountains between the towns of Granite Falls and Darrington in Washington State. It shares a trailhead with the Monte Cristo ghost town (an old mining town that was active until around 1900) before splitting off onto trail 724 which was originally [...]

Mount Teragram looming over our first work site (far right) I spent July 18th through 21st doing trail maintenance in the Mount Margaret Backcountry, an incredibly beautiful area located in the northern portion of the Mount Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument, just north of Spirit Lake. This was my first time visiting the area and also my second BCRT with the Washington Trails Association, the first having been a log-out on the Duckabush River. Although I did move a log and trim a tree, the focus on this trip was rebuilding trails: Installing a new foundation and raising up the [...]

The central core of the Enchantments from Enchantment Peak I managed to snag a three-night core permit for the Enchantments from July 1st through July 4th - but just for myself. This year Enchantments permitting migrated onto Recreation.gov for the first time and the system is somewhat different. Last year you just requested a permit for a given entry date and then once you won the permit lottery you were able to adjust the number of people as you saw fit (up to a maximum of eight if I recall correctly). So this year when it asked for the number [...]