Mount Muller Loop

On Tuesday I did the Mount Muller Loop. I first learned of this fairly new loop trail a couple of years ago. A group of women from an internet hiking board wanted to do the loop as a backpacking trip. I wanted to join in but they never answered my messages asking to join. I'm not sure what happened there.

Mount Muller caught my attention again this winter when I saw that it has a terracache hidden on it. I really like terracaching. With terracaching you get points based on how hard the cache is to find and all caches are rated by cache finders. Caches with low ratings get archived. Terracaches tend to be much higher quality then geocaches.

The Terracache on Mount Muller has been there for almost a year with no finders. I knew that Terracache would be worth a lot of points when it was finally found. But Mount Muller is a long way from home and I did not feel like doing it as a day hike starting from home.

For our last camping trip of the summer I chose to go to nearby Klahoya Campground so I could finally do the Mount Muller loop and grab that Terrache. There is also a Geocache on Mount Muller.

I hit the trail head at about 7 am and started my hike up in the clockwise direction. The trail climbs to the summit ridge in 3.5 miles according to the signs. The climb up was very easy for me as I am in good shape at the moment.

I found the Terracache on the ridge, but it was totally exposed. The Terracache was full of great swag but I had nothing to trade so I signed the log and then re-hid the cache much better then I found it.

Next the trail followed the ridge 2,000 some feet above highway 101 for about 5 miles. The ridge walk was very nice with great views of Mount Olympus, Crescent Lake and the sourrounding hills. Some of the ridge is covered with damp woods and the woods yielded an amazing variety of mushrooms. I was in mushroom hunters heaven!

I found a huge king bolete on the ridge and I carried it in my hand for 9 miles just so I could show it to my daughter. It was full of maggots but I wanted my ten year old to see it, she gets as excited about mushrooms as I do.

I took my luch near the summit of Mount Muller and grabbed the nearby Geocache. The Geocache was soggy so I spread out it's contents to dry in the sun while I ate my lunch. For lunch I had two stale powerbars (on sale at Safeway) and a hot cup of tea.

After leaving the ridge the trail goes back into the forest. Once at the bottom of the Mountain the trail turns back towards the trail head and is level for the next 3 miles. This level section has been maligned as "payment for the ridgewalk" by a local author. Well that author must not be a mushroom hunter. I found so many lobster mushrooms on the lower section that I had to leave some behind. I was afraid I would go over the one gallon limit for any one species of mushroom in the forest. I also nearly got my limit of Chanterelles.

I finished up my hike at about 4PM and drove back to Camp Klahoya. Although this hike really wore me out at the end I really enjoyed it. At only 3,700 feet the rideline felt alpine, the views were sweeping, the trail was well maintained the mushrooms were stupendous, I got a geocache and I got a first to find on a Terracache. What more could a cache hunting, mushroom loving hiker ask for?

Mount Muller Loop is said to be 12.8 miles long with 3,200 feet elevation gain. My GPS recorded it as about 10.5 miles. Using the official stat's this hike rates a "23" on the Hike Difficulty Calculator.






Candy Stipe and Yellow Corals tell of another mushroom nearby




This terracache was totally exposed



Boletes




A great year for berries




Slippery Jack Bolete




Perhaps a King Bolete




A stale old King with a fresh young button



Lake Cresent sparkles below



Yellow liquid coming off Lobster Mushrooms



My lunch spot on Mount Muller




Track Log this trail is listed as 13 miles long and it felt like it.




Elevation Profile log



Coral Mushroom




Finally a grouse sits still for a picture



Huge Bolete (maybe bitter bolete)



Huge old maggot infested King I carried for 9 miles




Lovely Klohoya Camp



Three pretty Polypores




Admirable Boletes (we think)



Bitter Bolete



Drying out this Geocache's contents




Chanterelle Buttons