Ghost road walk

Road to Mount Ellinor still too Snow Covered

Big Creek Sunrise

 I used to hike this trail up to the overlook quite often in the winter.  It was my go to winter hike.  But then the trail started to get crowded and I quit coming.  The last time I drove past this trail head the parking lot was full and there were cars parked up and down the side of the road.  I miss this hike, but I hate crowds even more.  

I've thought about hiking earlier or later in the day, later in the day is bad this time of year unless I want to hike out in the dark.  Early in the day is hard for me always because I am a night owl.

I've had so much trouble sleeping lately due to the excitement of my upcoming move. Last night I was tossing and turning as usual up and down up and down.  Sciatica a mysterious new shoulder paid made it hard for me to get comfortable.  

At 6:30 am I decided to quit trying to sleep and instead go hiking.   I jumped up and packed my back quickly, normally I pack the night before, but this hike had not been planned at all.  I calculated how much time I had to get to the trail head before the sun rose, did I have enough time.  I checked my watch again and it was actually 5:30, so I had plenty of time to beat the sun and the crowds to the trail head.  

The weather forecast was for rain starting at noon so I packed my rain gear.  I also called and cancelled a medical appointment I had for the afternoon.  I put my boots and gaiters on in the house so I would not have to do that in the dark at the trail head.  I walked out to my car or tried to but my gate was frozen shut.  No problem I poured a bit of my coffee over the gate latch and it opened right up.  

My car was frozen and my bike was still in my car.  I had to take time to scrape the windows and put my bike back in the house.  The roads were icy too so I would have to drive slow.  Also I was almost out of gas, so I had to stop to get gas too.

With all of that, I still made it to the trail head and started my hike at 6:30.  It was still quite dark and I had to hike by headlamp.  I don't like hiking alone in the dark, I find it scary, but I also hate crowds and by starting my hike in the dark I was sure to avoid the crowds.  The parking lot was all mine of course.  As I plodded up the trail I tried not to think about cougars too much.  I've heard that they are most active at dawn and dusk, I tried not to think about that.  Instead I thought about how the only animal caused fatality in the history of Olympic National Park was caused not by a cougar or a bear, but by a goat.

45 minutes into my hike it was light enough to turn my headlamp off and to take some pictures.  The light from the rising sun was interesting.  It was nice to be able to take photos in the sweet light.  I was quite surprised that there was no deep snow on my route, there should have been some this time of year.  Honestly I would have been find without my gaiters, that is how little snow there was. 

I made it to my turn around point at 8:30 and I was not ready for lunch yet so I had a cup of coffee.  The sun had come out full and bright and the trees and the ground were frosted with snow, the view was lovely, there was no sign of the rain that was coming. 

  While I was at at the lookout I realized I still had plenty of time for my medical appointment so I called an uncancelled my appointment.  Next I headed for the lower Ellinor trail head to see what the road conditions where.  I knew that if I turned back by ten am I would have plenty of time to hike back to my car and drive to my appointments.  

I saw one car with a couple getting out and getting ready to start hiking at the lower trailhead so I did not linger.  I headed back to the overlook and then back down to my car.  I only saw one other hiker on the trail all day, it was great!

6 miles with 2,000 feet elevation gain. 

Since rain had been in the forecast I only brought a little camera for this hike. 

The rising sun lights up little patches of the forest with Orange

I was lucky this gal hung around so long so I could get an okay shot with my 18 mm lens

Road walk near Mount Washington

I have not been up to the Cushman area since SARS 2 Covid hit.  I did not know how crowded trails would be.  Sure trailheads are closed, but trails are not.  Would my normal hikes that I go on for solitude be crowded or less crowded.

More crowded was the answer.  I don't like crowds on trails in the best of times and certainly not now in the covid era.  Big Creek had 8 cars parked at it on a Tuesday morning!  The other trailhead in the area that is much lesser known had 5 cars and another car pulled it while I was sitting there trying to decide where to go.  I've never seen another car in that spot before.

I opted to go on a flat dusty hike to a lake instead, but I was not excited about it and I missed the turn off that I use.  My turn off is unmarked and goes down closed roads.  The lake is in an area that is entirely closed right now, so this would have been a stealth hike.

I looked up to the opposite side of the street I was driving down and saw an area that I keep meaning to explore. I never go there though because there is always logging or snow.

Well not today.  The loggers have cleared off,  their dirty work is done and the snow levels are up higher now.  The misty mountain tops looked much more inviting than the flat dusty logging roads that lead to the lake.

 Then I saw a sign that made me happy "Road Closed Ahead in  mile".  Oh good, a closed road, that means I can hike and not get run over by a car and there probably won't be many other people hiking there.

So I went up the road and found an amazing view point overlooking Duvall and Monroe,  then I found cement blocks closing the road. I parked at the blocks and started my hike, not knowing where I was going for sure.

Soon I deduced that the road I was on ended at the top of mountain or tall hill in 3.8 miles.  Perfect!  Lately my ideal hike has been about 9 miles round trip with a view at the top. 

I did not know if there would be a view at the top of the hill I was going up though.  There could be trees blocking the view.  How recently had the area been logged?

There were a few saw palmetto trees blocking it but mostly the view was just amazing.  The hill top had 360 degrees of prominence! 

There was a great view all around except for the clouds and there was a fire pit with split and stacked wood at the top.  I was low on stove fuel, I had meant to refill my fuel bottle but had forgotten.  The firewood and fire pit were very welcome.  I did not actually use any of the spit wood, I only needed a small fire, just enough to make coals to cook on.  Nearby scraps of wood were enough for that.

I'm glad I finally made it up to this area and I'm glad I found this new spot.  I will probably be back even though the vibes are a bit off in this spot.  Too much broken glass and toilet paper, ATV tracks and gunshots in the area for my liking.  There is also a dog buried at the top.  It is only buried by a mound of rocks and a bone was sticking out.

I moved the rocks enough so I could find the skull and confirm I had not stumbled onto a human burial.

I felt bad about disturbing the dog, but I really did need to know for sure that the bones were not human.

Thank covid-19 disease for leading me to this new spot I guess.

8 miles with 1040 feet elevation gain

or 18 kilometers with  315 meters

Mount Ellinor

Big Creek Trail

Prints Available

Big Creek trail.  Once again I needed to get in a hike but did not want to hike too hard because I did not want to be sore the next day.  I was hoping to get out and find some mushrooms too.

Once again I found no mushrooms in my spots but now I know why.  Others know my spot and beat me to it every year, I need a new spot.

In spite of finding no edible mushrooms other than a one, I had a nice relaxing hike.  Lots of inedible mushrooms were out and I had fun photographing them.

I hiked farther then I planned due to the lack of easy to find mushrooms.  With 1,000 people moving to Seattle every day the trails in Seattle are overcrowded with no place to even park at the trail head.

The result is that people are coming to the Olympics to get away from the crowds in Seattle and now the Olympics are starting to feel the pinch.  Good luck finding a parking spot at Mount Ellinor or Mount Rose on the weekend.   I miss Mount Rose so much, but can’t stand the crowds there.  I feel grief over my loss of solitude on that Mountain.

My images are available as prints.  I am a semi-professional photographer and I reserve all rights on my images.

7.5 miles with 2,400 feet elevation gain