Hot cross Madrona Trees
Lake Cushman through the tree branches
A slug nibbles a flower
Mount Rose Waterfall
I woke up at 8:30am and did not want to get up. I’m still a bit ill but I forced myself out of bed anyway. My goal was solitude and for the most part I got it. Hiking in the rain on a Monday is a good strategy for solitude.
I left the gate at about 11:30. The waterfall coming off Mount Rose is very big; the spring melt is in full force. Lake Cushman is low for this time of year because they have started letting more water flow into the Snohomish Valley.
It was raining, so I decided to brew my tea and cook my lunch under the bridge just past the Staircase Ranger station. Ah what wonderful quite solitude and then suddenly BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. Shit! Someone decided to plow the 1/8th of an inch of snow off the closed parking lot in the closed park on the closed road. This must have been in preparation for April Fools Day. (Staircase re-opens on April Fools Day) Finally after about half an hour the god awful noise stopped and I got to enjoy some peace and quite.
I hiked 11.5 miles round trip so I could get some peace and solitude and instead I got the noise of heavy construction equipment. I would be willing to wager money that the snow would have all been melted by April Fools Day. I suppose the snow plow driver was having fun though.
Mixed rain and snow all day long. This was my part of my lunch time view
I had been hoping to see some elk but I assume the snow plow drove them all back into the woods. Quite a few signs of recent road work and a new culvert are in place. Yes the road will open soon then I can hike the trails but will have to leave the dog at home.
On the way out I stopped to admire a huge old tree and then I heard the car that the snow plow driver had arrived in so I hid behind the tree until s/he had passed by. S/he probably wondered why they did not see me on the way out. They also probably wondered where I had come from when they first saw me after I came out from under the bridge
It's a long ways down to the water from the road
I was able to hold a trekking pole in my right hand today, I've not been able to do that since before my wrist surgery. I only took one pole with me and I only took it because I thought there might be some snow. But I really did not need it for the 1/8 inch of snow that I encountered at Staircase.
I saw many pretty things that I did not take pictures of. Pictures just can not capture the way I feel about some of the beautiful things I see on my hikes.
My crazy dog had a good long swim in Lake Cushman on the way back. I don’t know how she can stand that cold water, but it gets her clean for the ride home. I finished my hike at about 6:30.
26 miles on my new shoes. My feet were warm and dry all day long, I’m glad I splurged on the gortex!
11.5 miles
This Madrona was killed by the Bear Gultch II Fire then it tried to regrow from the roots but some elk chewed most of it back down. Will it survive? There was fog on my camera lens.
Cooking Lunch. In a moment of inattentiveness I burned my new gloves.
I'm the grumpy old troll who lives under the bridge
Begging dog ignores an entire can of dogfood spilled out at its feet.
I started playing with some pano software in Dec of 2009 and I went back through some of my old trips reports. Here is one I went back and made of my lunchtime view.
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