Mount Rose Part III clouds under my feet

I went out and got another good dose of Olympic Mountain therapy on Mount Rose today.   I’ve found two moms who want to swap childcare duties with me so our kids can have play dates. This time I did not have to race so much, but just for fun I kind of raced to the top.  I did not actually need to be home until 6:30, so just for shits and grins I went in and caught the last half of the Port of Shelton Commissioners meeting on my way home.  I bet I stunk up the room a bit with my hiker aroma.  I was wearing my bright orange don’t shoot me I’m not a deer shirt.

I started my hike at 9:15 and summited 2 hours and 15 minutes later, that’s probably a new record for me.  At least it’s a new record since I started keeping track last week. 

 I was faster today because I did not lose the trail at all.  When I reached the spot where I lost the trail on my last two trips I found another set of ribbons to the left.  To the left looked correct and I was thinking of going left even before I saw that ribbon.  There was a ribbon to the right too and it was clearly not on the trail.  It was quite nice to be on the trail in the burned out and snow covered area.

The view at the top was nice.  There were clouds below me but they kept blowing around and I could see everything there is to see from up there.  I like the partially cloudy views, its fun to watch the clouds moving below me.  I was greeted by snowflakes on the summit rock.  Who knows, that might be the last time I get snowed on for the season.

The grey route is the correct route and is the route I took today.
  I took the other two routes last week.
  Finding the correct route this time was nice!

I took the long route down and thus completed the loop.  On the trip down I mostly ignored the clock and just hiked at my normal downhill pace.  I think it took me about 2.25 hours to hike down.  I was home in plenty of time to be there for my daughter even if she did not have a play date.  Now I’m resting up and enjoying having my house to myself.

I’m pretty sure I will lose weight if I climb Mount Rose twice a week.  I know I will save lot of gas if I do Mount Rose because I can easily drive my car to the trail head rather than my gas guzzling oil burning Jeep.  I’ll probably take my daughter day hiking this weekend.  If we go on a day hike I won’t have to stand around with a heavy pack on my back while she pokes around.  Maybe I’ll even find some time to look at moss. 

7 miles 3,500 feet elevation gain

One hour rock

2 hour mark

On the top

heading back down

Rhytidiopsus robusta moss

twisty tree has seen some snow

The fog is now gone

 

Mount Tebo Area

Bed sledding during lunch

I decided to take my daughter backpacking as a reward for doing all her homework this week.  She's a brilliant child, but she does not care for school.  The goal was the end of a spur road with a nice view.  I drove the Jeep as far as it would go in the snow with the 4 wheel drive broken.  That is, I drove to the snow line.

Then I put on my too heavy REI pack and my daughter put on her feather light GG pack and we started to hike on the snow.  Then it started to rain.  So we turned around and got back into the Jeep and started to leave.  Then the sun came out.  So I drove in reverse about 1/10th of a mile over waterbars from hell, back to where I had parked and we started our hike.  My daughter giggled as I drove in reverse.   Somehow my daughter's trekking pole got lost in all the fuss. At the end of the hike we found it in the back of the Jeep.

We started hiking up and soon it started to rain again.  Not good.  There was  snow on the ground and rain was falling down on us, that is a recipe for cold.  It's better to be snowed on really, because falling snow is not as likely to get you soaked.

My pack felt so heavy.  My daughter hiked so slow.  I got so irritated.  My pack began to feel heavier, my daughter started hiking even slower,  I got more irritated.  I decided to reduce my irritation by cutting back on the planned length of our hike.  But cutting back on hiking time would mean spending more time shivering in camp.  There was no way to win and I knew it.

We never made it to camp.  The spur road we tried to hike on had been decommissioned and graded to match the slope of the mountain.  The sideways slope was too steep for my daughter to keep her traction in the snow.  She fell a few times and then said she could not go on.  So, we turned around and looked for a spot to take a break and have a hot drink.

Can't get up and having too much fun trying to

We found a nice spot to brew hot chocolate and just as I was getting ready to make the hot drinks the sky opened up and down came the rain even harder.  I began to get worried.  This was no weather to even think about tarp tenting in, even without  a 9 year old.  I worked fast to pitch a tarp over us so we could at least stay dry while sipping our drinks.  I got more irritated and worried and was unsure what to do.   Patches was shivering in her summer haircut and there was no way for me to start a campfire.   We decided to have a hot lunch and then make a retreat back to the Jeep.

After lunch, my daughter made a fun game out of sledding with her foam sleeping pad.  My irritation subsided a bit.  I packed up the tarp while my daughter went sledding on her  newly christened "bed sled".  Then we headed back down the mountain. 

My daughter kept stopping to play, my pack was so heavy, I got irritated.  My daughter kept stopping.  I kept wondering, why is my pack so heavy?

 My daughter kept stopping, I got more and more irritated.  I explained to my daughter that it hurts for me to just stand around when I have a heavy pack on.  We should try to hike at a steady pace with our packs and then from time to time stop and take our packs off and then rest and play.

Hot chocolate in the rain on the snow

  I remember having this conversation my my oldest daughter.  It did not sink in any better with my youngest daughter.  I got more irritated, my pack got heavier, I wanted a beer, I needed some vodka. I had no beer or vodka on me.  Why was my pack so heavy? Did it just feel heavy because I had hiked Mount Rose the day before?

My daughter stopped to pee 100 feet behind me and uphill from me and then she claimed she could not get her pants back up.  I knew better and  I did not want to backtrack uphill,  I was so tired and so frustrated.  I threw down my trekking poles, dropped my pack in the snow and planted my butt in  a snow bank and put my hands over my eyes.    Patches came up  tried to lick my face and console me.  Wow, what a smart dog! 

At this point, my daugther finally realized that mom was reaching ( or maybe had reached?)  her breaking point and then magically she managed to pull up her own pants and she even picked up the pace for the rest of the hike back down to the Jeep. 

After warming up in the Jeep I decided to try car camping at a lower elevation and we managed to get the beautiful campsite next to Cedar Creek.   Cedar Creek is the outlet stream for Spider Lake.   I have never seen that campsite be empty when the gates are open.  It made me so happy to see that campsite empty!  I've been wanting to camp there for awhile and I've had tea there many times.

 We car camped there for the night ( car camped with no beer!) and had a wonderful campfire.  We dried out our wet gear with the campfire.   I built the fire with the wood that I always keep in my Jeep. I pulled out the surpise package of marshmallows I had packed for the trip.  My duaghter was thrilled.  I had two lawn chairs in my Jeep , so even with backpacking gear we had a comfortable car camp in this non-developed campsite.

In the night my tarp leaked and a puddle of water formed near my fancy camera, I caught it just in time.  I cursed at my tarp tent.  I was glad that I was not camping in the snow two  miles from the Jeep with a  leaky tarp tent.  Later I figured out it was the way I had put my shoes next to the tarp wall that had let water in.  It was not entirely the tarps fault.

At 6am I woke up to the sound of a pick up truck in our campsite.  Oh crap, I thought, who has come to bother me?  Where is my bear spray?  Why isn't my dog barking? What stranger or ranger has come to ruin my day? 

None of the above!  It was my friend Dan, he got my satellite messages the night before and he decided to drive out and join us for breakfast.  What a pleasant surprise!  We had breakfast and packed up in the rain and headed back home.

We were back home by 8am.  That gave me enough time to go geocaching and get bitten by a tick.

3 miles with 500 feet elevation gain
The longest 3 miles I have ever hiked

It turned out that my pack was so heavy because it had soaked up a bunch of rain water.   Also I learned that my strategy of packing a short sleeping pad and using my backpack under my feet does not work  so well when my backpack is soaking wet.  Time to come up with a new idea  maybe.

I can not begin to describe how mentally and physically exhausting it can be to hike with a 9 year old.  What is needed is another adult and child to join us on these trips.  The children can entertain each other and the adults can drink vodka together.. yeah, sounds like a plan.

So close, and yet so far.  The camp waypoint was our destination

Bed Sled

She learned how to blow bubbles the night before

Car camping at a much lower elevation.  She cleaned up this
mess all  by herself with me even asking her to

Time for me to fly part II : Mount Rose

Lunch time view today

I made another quick run up and down Mount Rose today. I'm totally stressed out and hiking is one of my best remedies for stress.

  I left my GPS at the trail head at the start of my hike but realized it before I reached the trail register. I dropped my pack and found my GPS on my car.

  The view at the top was slightly cloudy, I love watching the clouds. My hike was slightly shorter today because I did not get quite as lost in the snow. Camprobber jays were on the summit again. I tied up Patches so I could have some fun with them.

I hiked back down the long way.  I did not see anyone else on the trail all day long.

Start time 9:15
Summit time 11:45
End of Lunch 12:45
Finish time 2:45

When I got home I realized I had left my GPS at the trailhead AGAIN. So I waited for my little one to come home and then drove all the way back out to Mount Rose and found my GPS waiting right where I had left it. Whew!

I'll put together a little movie of this hike later.  I'm packing for a backpacking trip with my daughter.

7 miles round trip with 3,500 feet elevation gain

This could have been the very last time I ever saw my GPS

 

Breaking a mirror gives you 7 years bad luck.. good thing I did not break it and I have a witness.

 

 

My one hour point

 

Time for me to fly: up Mount Rose that is..

tea time!

I really needed to hike, but my afterschool care decided to go live in hell for a couple of years.  That’s actually why I needed to go for a hike.  I really needed some exercise to deal with the pain and stress, but I did not have a lot of time.   I don’t want to leave my 9 year old home alone, but my neighbor says that my 9 year old is probably safer alone then with her old afterschool care. If this is true, I may need to get some counseling for my 9 year old.

But I digress; my allotted time for this hike was 8:40 to 3:15 school bus stop to school bus stop.  That’s not a lot of time, so I opted for Mount Rose.  Rose is short and steep and kind of close to home.  I’ve been avoiding Rose due to the crowds up there and the small summit that is not built for crowds.  I had hoped that getting off to an early start would help me to avoid the mobs.

I started my hike at 9:25, by my calculations that gave me 6 hours to hike and 45 minutes to drive, so I went up the Mountain at the fastest pace that I knew I could maintain.  That is the pace that is just slow enough to keep my calves from cramping.  I had hoped to make to the top in 3 hours; the goal was 12:30.  I generally am happy if I can gain 1,000 feet an hour.  Rose has 3,200-3,500 feet elevation gain, so I knew I would have to do slightly better than 1000 feet a mile.    

I made very good time at first, but after horse camp I lost the trail in the snow for  a bit, still I made it up by 12:00pm and ½ hour ahead of my goal.  It only took me 2.5 hours to summit. I think listening to my iPod helped me to power up the hill.  Thank you Jello Biafra and Lynyrd Skynyrd! No thanks to my IPod for being so hard to figure out how to use.

Pano shot with an iPod

As usual Patches turned her nose up at most of her dog food.  But camprobber jays were happy to eat her food.  Well Patches is a bird dog, so that pissed her off a bit, I mean, her food (birds) were eating her food!  She chased them off and finished most of her food.  Classic Dog in the manger.

How to piss off  a bird dog 101

  I figured I would need two hours to hike down the short route, or maybe 2.25 hours to hike down the long route.  I decided that 1:15 was my mandatory turnaround time.   On the way up I saw a rough skinned newt but I did not have time to photograph it.

I had the summit all to myself for 45 minutes, well all to myself  and Patches and the camp robber jays.   I had tea and a few handfuls of trail mix on the summit.  I began my trip back down at 12:45 and I decided to take the long route since I was a little ahead of time and I know the long route a bit better than I know the short route.  I had no trouble finding my way back down except were all the windfall was. 

It was a shame to have to rush through this beautiful forest:

There is wind fall on the long route; most of it is near the creek with the foot bridge not far from horse camp.  Only one of the windfall trees is large and it fell straight down the trail with a large rotten snag.

Smaller windfall trees over the bridge

 

As I headed down I saw another hiker (oh the horrors!) and his dog.  They were both sitting in the middle of the trail.  I leashed up Patches yelled down to warn them that I was coming through with a dog.  The guy really did not understand why I was warning him but he did hold on to his dog.  His dog was a black labs and labs tend to want to play with Patches, but Patches NEVER wants to play with other dogs.  After I had finished walking AROUND the hiker and dog in the middle of the trail I unleashed Patches.

Green stuff on the summit

 

I reached my car at 2:25 that gave me plenty of time to get stuck behind a log truck on the way home.  It also gave me time to get gas.  I should have bought gas in town but I did not know if I had enough gas to make it back to town. (I did) So I filled up in Hoodsport $40 to fill my little car.  Wow!  My Jeep is staying home for awhile.  They always raise gas prices before Memorial Day Weekend, but they really jacked them up fast this year.  I’m going to look into taking the dail-a-ride to some of my hikes.. I wonder if Patches is allowed on dail-a-ride?  I’m pretty sure I could catch dial-a-ride to the Big Creek trail head, but I don’t know if the times would work for me.

I took most of today’s pictures with my iPod as I forgot to put an SD card in my point and shoot (again!) and I opted to leave my heavy DSLR at home.

7 miles with 3,500 feet elevation gain

Track log as shown on Google Earth

Trees down over the trail

Paches with some lichens stuck to her mouth


 

GPS(r) on the summit

Jefferson Ridge

Lower Lena Lake Zoo, I don't go there in the summer

I don't like to hike on the weekends as we get close to summer and the crowds come out.  But I managed to find solitude on Jefferson Ridge.  It's been a really tough week.  This week my oldest child flew the coop in a very unpleasant way.

Anyway the road up is rough with big rocks. I'm glad I took my Jeep.  The roads are not what I remember either.  But with my GPS I found the trailhead quickly.  Problem was I had no water and everything looked so dry.  I made a .6 mile each way side trip down the Elk Lake trail to get water for my hike up Jefferson Ridge.  I heard shots being fired and had no way to know if they were being fired safely.

After fetching water I drove up to a blue ribbon that marks the start of the trail.  The actual trail register is even further up the road.  One can drive up higher than the register and nearly attain the ridge by car, but what fun is that?  I would like to find the trail where it joins the elk lake trail, I'm pretty sure they join up.

I hiked up slowly since it was hot and I was not in a race.  When I reached the top I was surprised to find that an old look out tower once stood here.  WHAT A MESS.  There was broken melted glass everywhere and all kinds of metal and wood left over from the lookout.  I had no idea the place was such a mess.  The only other time I went up there it was before the snow had begun to melt and the deep snow hid all the junk.

There are good views on both sides of the ridge, this is a fun hike and it is steep too, so it's a good place to get a work out away from the crowds on Mount Rose.  I've given up on Mount Rose, maybe I've blogged about it too much or maybe it's a result of Elinor being closed last summer, I don't know.  But Mount Rose is no longer a place of solitude.  People are on Mount Rose everyday of the year now.

I had tea on the ridge but added snow to it so I could have iced tea.  It was very warm today, the last bits of snow were very welcome.  Patches and I both utilized the snow to cool off.


5.2 miles with 2,500 feet elevation gain including my foray for water.




Amanita with lots of spores on the ground

Bear Grass

Clay Pigeon on the lower trail

Strange deep scary hole on the ridge

View looking towards Seattle telephone poles on the ridge

North Face of Mount Washington

This section of the trail does not get much use

All along the ridge living trees had been topped and used as
 power poles for the lookout at least that's my theory.

South Brother

Trail crosses the road for the last time here
One could drive up to this point

Slime mold

Forested ridge

deforested ridge

Our state flower

Patches finds a patch of snow to cool off in

Part of the old lookout

Oven from the old lookout

Time for some iced tea

The trail is brushed out now

Junk on summit

Junk on summit

Junk on summit

Junk on summit