The Trail Head
Track Log
Winter Oyster Mushroom (Panellus serotinus)
Two tone moss job at the campground
Same
These trees fell last winter
No fees today
Lake
A little waterfall drips down onto forest service road 24. My camera was acting up today.
Party rock does not look so festive today
In the winter the hike into Staircase used to start here
New Bridge over the causeway but signs still said the road was closed
Columnar basalt wannabee
Beautiful Mount Rose is sporting her winter coat
Moss
My current ultralight cookset
Hot Lunch
Cushman through the trees
Warning
Hole in the road
Who got freaked out by the weather forecasts of the white wall of death and did not go hiking today? A lot of people it seems. I had the entire trail/road to myself all day long. Pure solitude from 9am to 4 pm. All the local news talked about last night was the weather and how it was supposed to snow and from the way they went on you would think a blizzard was in the forecast. I packed for my hike while half listening to the news. I brought two pairs of gloves instead of my usual one pair and an extra pair of dry socks. Other then that I ignored the forecast but I was hoping to see a little snow today. I'm still waiting for the blizzard to start.
The road to Staircase, forest service road 24, is closed to car traffic for the winter but it is open to foot traffic. This is the first winter in the last three that I have been able to go to staircase. I hiked to the campground via the road and the shady lane nature trail but hiked back via just the road. The road is in great shape with no sign of any recent rock fall or landslides.
This was a bit more fun then the road hike to Dosewallips because there is a great view of Lake Cushman for most of the way. I thought about doing Mount Rose today but I did not want to be up there in the snow with a bad wrist. The snow level on Mount Rose looked to be at about 2000 feet. I still can not hold a trekking pole with my right hand because my wrist makes all kinds of weird clunking noises.I hung out at the Staircase campground for about an hour. For lunch I boiled up some brown rice with dried king Boletes and hamburger. The hot lunch really felt good in my tummy as I was hiking out in the cold.
It felt really good to be hiking today and according to my GPS my average speed while moving was 3.5 miles per hour. Now I’m home and feel like going for a quick walk around town so I won’t be sore in the morning. So I went for a quick walk but realized it is Saturday night so I made it a short walk. I think I’ll lay off the yerba mate now. I’m still manic after my hike and my walk and having trouble finding the patience to edit the pictures for this post.
I saw some chanterelles but did not pick them even though they were in good condition. I also saw some winter oyster mushrooms and did not pick them because they taste like slimy rubber. On the way out I found a fresh cigarette packet wrapper so I know a smoker walked at least a mile down the road while I was out hiking.12.25 miles with 180 feet elevation gain.
152 miles on my hiking shoes now.
Starting Coordinates:
N 47*29.726
W 123*14.498
My barometric altimeter shows my hike starting point and ending point (my vehicle) being at very different elevations. This means the barometric pressure is changing fast so maybe a blizzard is on the way after all.I took some pictures of moss on maples trees for all the people who find my blog by using the search term “how to remove moss from trees” or “how to remove moss from maple trees”. The answer is don’t do it! Moss is good for trees
Elk Sign
Can we be like drops of water? This comes off Mount Rose.
Stump Lake
Lake Cushman
Chanterelle
Totals
Elevation profile from track log was really wacky today with changes in barometric pressure from the incoming storm I assume.
Profile data from the map (mileage is wrong because I did not put in enough pounts)
Lake Cushman through the trees at dusk
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