Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The Keep Cool trail

You may be wondering why I am writing about a hike I took on a Tuesday! The Trailblazer leaders are beginning to add a few extra hikes to the first part of the week (Monday or Tuesday), but when Al sent out an email request for people to join him today, I was the only one who responded. However, an inveterate couple of hikers named Verne and Kathy joined the two of us to make a foursome that hiked the Keep Cool trail today.

I first learned about this trail when Al wrote about it on his blog here. He hiked it last September for the first time, which was a good thing. It meant he had a GPS track of the trail, which was clear of snow when he covered it last year. Today, not so much. The picture above was taken at the beginning of the hike, at about 3,000 feet elevation. By the time we had gone no more than a mile on this sketchy trail, we hit snow.
The day was sunny and glorious. As you can see from this picture, the trail is not always obvious, as it is no longer maintained by the Forest Service. It goes to Yellow Aster Butte, but it is only used these days by people who are long-time hikers. (You can find out more by going to Al's link.) Today, we ran into snow and lost the trail at about 4,000 feet. Verne's route-finding skills are considerable, as he's been on this trip many times, but Al kept telling us when we veered off the trail by a fair amount. We could hear a stream rushing by, and we knew we should be close to it, but we wanted to avoid falling through the snow in scenes like this:
It's not unusual for streams to undercut snow cover like this, but it is not a good idea to get too close or worse yet, fall into one of these sink holes. So we were careful, and finally we gained the "meadow" (or what will be a meadow when all the snow is gone).
By this time, it was time for us to stop and have some lunch. I would say we were standing on at least five and possibly ten feet of snow. I do know we had stopped seeing any signs of ground beneath our feet a while before we got to this place. Al, Kathy, and Verne (and I) all agreed to sit down in a nice bit of shade and have some lunch. We looked around and identified all the peaks we could see.
The highest peak in this picture is Yellow Aster Butte, which is currently impassable because of snow. The smaller peak to the right is called Larrabee Peak. As you can see, it will be a LONG TIME before we will be able to gain access to the Butte this year. The snow is so much deeper than it was this time last year, and the flowers that will burst forth when it's gone will not be in bloom any time soon. Although this makes me sad, I couldn't complain too much as we headed back down the trail and ran into ground (and foliage) again. I took this picture of a blossom that shows much promise.
All in all, I had a great day in the Mt. Baker wilderness area with Al and two new friends, and on Thursday I will get to be with my other Trailblazer friends for a hike into... yes, snow. It's everywhere around here and unavoidable for most of the summer season. I'll just have to manage.
:-)

20 comments:

  1. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around snow, right now.

    "or what will be a meadow when all the snow is gone"

    It's July! Just when will that snow be gone? :)

    Lovely shot of the promising blossom.

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  2. its not just the snow, its the lush green in the other pics...quite the range of scenery yet all so beautiful...

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  3. You've got super stamina to do two of these hikes in a week. Great pictures of the snow fields.I often think that there is a large population who misses out on this beauty.

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  4. Do be careful. That sinkhole looked pretty scary. I wonder if the snow will melt at all this year?

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  5. Wow. Yesterday and today I could see a very thin dusting of snow on the peaks around us. Thin, and a long way away. To see your shots was just magical. Thankyou.

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  6. Wow! What a change from green to white! And the sink holes in the snow--yes, be careful! What a beautiful hike, though.

    Do you guys ever hike on level ground or always in the mountains?

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  7. You sure don't sound like it would bust your chops to hike in the snow many days a week. Your enthusiasm for the hike and the sights is contagious.

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  8. Snow? I thought there was global warming. Even the Arctic is melting and soon, polar bears will become extinct...

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  9. The cool thing will be getting to see wildflowers much later in the season than usual, right? Another wonderful hike. I love the first picture.

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  10. Love seeing all the places you hike, DJan...snow or no snow. My granddaughter's wedding was this weekend and she now lives in Tacoma, Washington!

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  11. Your pictures are always so lovely and make me long for the west and the cooler weather. I especially liked your flowers pictures – those lavender lilies were stunning. What did you think of Midnight in Paris? I saw it a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was sweet and that the Paris Chamber of Commerce should pay for some of the movie as it is good PR for Paris, it showed all the tourist areas so well.

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  12. What beautiful photos DJan, happy you can enjoy your hikes with such good company....:-)Hugs

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  13. The high tech trailblazers with their GPS on snowy mountains. My version, we call Gerty, and she helps us navigate through the big city freeways to keep us from getting lost. :)

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  14. Wow, snow in July. And then all the green. Nature's dichotomy. That sinkhole reminded me of some magical place you fall through and end up in another dimension! You are one hardy soul.

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  15. Oh, the mountains are gorgeous! It really does look like the Bear Tooth Mountains in Montana-my only experience with hiking that's remotely similar to what you do. Remembering how it felt to be up there in the beauty and grandeur of the area helps me better understand the love you have of hiking...Funny that it's taken me so long to remember that sense of unity with any clarity-it's not like I've not followed these hiking posts for some time now!

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  16. Heavens above, girl, don't you get enough snow in winter?

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  17. I wonder how many animals fell through the hole?

    Yes, I have to stay indoors now but do manage to get outside before 7:30 AM and make a tour of the things I have.

    This morning I discovered the new cherry tree was being eaten alive by Japanese Beetles. So I used by thumbnail to squeeze them and cut them in two pieces. Some I just squeezed if they were inside a flower having sex. Not very nice but they will kill the flowers and then, after sex, lay eggs in the ground and the grubs then eat the roots of the grass. So to avoid using chemicals I do what I did.

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  18. sink holes!?

    I love the top photo
    the tree's roots are so huge and the shadows on them are lovely

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  19. Snow and fresh blossoms, that would make for a refreshing hike. Then again, trudging through snow is not my idea of a fun hike. I love that shot of Yellow Aster Butte DJan, beautiful photo.

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  20. Beautiful cool snow scenes..it will have to get fairly warm to melt all that snow this year..perhaps it will stay all year round. It was about 85 and humid here today..so I enjoyed your cool photos:)

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