Tebo Mountain Lookout

Mount Ranier and Adams at sunrise

I decided I needed to get in another hike before the wildlife gates shut.  I pondered where to go, church creek, upper skok, dry creek?  In the end I picked dry creek and Dry Mountain.  My plan was to brush crash up to the top of Dry Mountain and spend one night up there enjoying the views.  On my last overnight trip I was perched high on a ridge, but the forest blocked all of my views.

This was to be a short hike, so I did not get started until 10am.    The actual road to the trail has huge horrible water bars that could cause the rear bumper on my Jeep to drag in the dirt.  I don’t own a Jeep anymore, all I have now is a low clearance car. So now I have to start my hike 1 mile before the trail.

Here is a video of my hike:

As I started hiking up the road I noticed that my pack felt heavier than it was and I was struggling.  I was carrying extra gear for Patches and soon I would have to get water, about 4 liters to carry to the top of the mountain.  I decided I just was not up for such a trip.  I changed my mind and decided to hike to the end of a road on the flanks of Mount Tebo.  I was told it had a nice view, especially at night.  Changing my plans cut a few miles and about 1,500 feet in elevation gain off of my hike.

The road up Mount Tebo is slated to be turned into shit by the forest service, but they have not done it yet so the hike was nice.  

The washout on the road has been repaired and I could have driven my Jeep all the way to the start of my hike, but I don’t have a Jeep anymore.  This could have been a .5 mile hike with a Jeep, but I wanted a longer hike than that.  With my low clearance car this hike turned out to be about 3 miles. 

I veered off of the main road up Tebo and onto a decommissioned spur road to reach the viewpoint.  The going was hell as it always is on the decommissioned roads, brush, slanted terrain and huge ditches are the norm. I nearly poked both of my eyes out several times.  Ticks are the norm too.  Ticks love to live in the brush that grows on the old roads.  Animals use the old roads, so the ticks sit in the brush waiting for an animal to drop on to.

When I finally made it through brush to the viewpoint, I saw that the camping was not so great.  There was just a tiny somewhat bare patch with lots of huge sharp rocks and probably a few ticks. 

However, my topo map showed a nice flat spot in the forest above the trail.  So I thought I would camp there.  But the flat spot never materialized, instead the terrain got so steep that I had to leave my pack behind.  Next the terrain turned into a knife edge ridge!  My topo map had lied to me!  I was out of my comfort zone in this terrain.

I went back down to the road and set up camp there.  I made a bed of Douglas-fir and Hemlock branches, due to all the large sharp rocks on the road bed.  I’ve never done that before, I don’t like to harm the vegetation.  I was sure to not take the tops off of any little trees and just to take branch tips of big trees.

The branch tips made a wonderful soft bed that smelled like a Christmas tree!  I turned the worst possible place to sleep into one of nicest places I have ever slept and helped to clear the road at the same time.  Soothing Christmas tree bed.

There was a steep drop off in front of my tent and Patches decided to run down it to chase a rock I had tossed to the side while clearing a spot for my bed.  

Patches was too long in coming back, I was afraid she had fallen off a cliff.  I called and called for her with no response.  I could hear rocks falling down the hill.  Had Patches fallen to her death?  

I went down the hill as far as I felt safe going and I called for Patches.  Then she started barking the way she does when she is stuck. From the sound of her barks I could tell that she had gone way down the hill. 

I could not go down to help her, the terrain was too steep and I was too tired and clumsy.   Eventually Patches freed herself and I kept her tied up for the rest of the night and the next morning.  She loses all common sense when her prey drive tells her to chase something.

After I was done eating dinner I read from a book called “A Feather on the Breath of God”  by  Sigrid Nunez .   I sobbed and sobbed when the author’s mother died at the end of the first chapter. I knew that was how the chapter was going to end, but still the way the author worded it it really set me off.

Message on my answering machine: Mom fainted again today.  Please call.

Frued says the most important event in a man's life is the death of his father.

          Oh, Mother.

Oh what an ending.  Yes, losing your mother may be the most important event in a woman's life.  I lost my mother three months ago and I still cry nearly every day even though I barely knew her. It turns out that sobbing is a bit like shivering, it really warms you up. 

I picked this book to read because of all my unread books in my book shelf, this was the lightest one. I did not want to carry a big heavy book with me. I carried this same book up Prospect Ridge on my last hike.

When it got dark I kept reading, but paused from time to time to take pictures of the stars and the moonlight.  I think I finally fell asleep at about 10pm.  I woke up a few times in the night to answer the call of nature and to take pictures; I was also hungry in the night. 

I knocked down the pole that holds up my Duomid about half a dozen times.  I had put the pole off to one side and out of the way.  When the pole is to the side it is too short, so I propped it up on a little rock.  The rock was not very stable.  I don't like having a pole in the middle of my living space.

Moonrise

The full moon came up and it was orange.  It stayed in the sky all night and I did not need my headlamp to see.  The moon crossed the sky right in front of my tent. What a magical night!

Patches stayed warm all night and she did not need the sleeping bag that I packed for her.

Sunrise came first thing in the morning like it always does.  I was not very impressed with the sunrise, but a lot of people like the pictures I took.  Am I getting jaded?

After my sunrise photo session I went back to sleep for a bit.  Then I got up and did some sunbathing on my sleep pad.  

 I could see a bank of clouds moving in and smothering the cities below me and I was in no hurry to down there and be smothered.

I sunbathed and read my book until the book was finished.  It was a good book and with a name like “A Feather on the Breath of God” I felt like tossing it off the cliff to float back down to my car, but I packed it out instead.  I want to read other books by this author. 
 

When my book was done and I felt I had procured enough vitamin D to get me through the winter, I got dressed and packed up. My trip out was easier, my load was lighter with most of my water and food gone and the route was down hill.

I took my time picking my way through the brush so I would not risk poking my eyes out.  I really need to start wearing goggles on these road hikes.

Just before I reached the main road I heard the voices of several men who were standing around a couple of trucks.  I paused and listened to them.  I want to assess how safe I would be revealing myself to them as a lone female backpacker.  Finally I realized that one of the men might be forest service worker so I came out of the bushes while yelling “Don’t shoot, I’m a human.”  It is almost hunting season and I was wearing a bright orange shirt for that reason.

One man was a forest worker, another worked for the tribe and the third was “Pyrites” from Nwhikers.net.  Pyrites had been looking for the Dry Creek trail and he was way off course.  The forest worker he was talking too also had no idea where the trail was! 

 All they do these days is destroy roads?  

I showed Pyrites where the trail was as I hiked out.  It was nice to meet you Pyrites! I made it back down to my car at some unknown time in the afternoon.

I really enjoyed this trip, the view point was very nice, the full moon was great, and the solitude was welcome.  Thanks to the bright full moon and thanks to my reading a book until I could not keep my eyes open, I did not get scared at all in the night.  

 I’m getting better and better at staying calm while sleeping alone in the woods.  Still, I would not dream of doing a trip like this without my 12 year old dog Patches.

I might repeat this hike next year when the gates open up.  I left a geocache where I camped.

About 6 miles with 1,400 feet elevation gain.

just before moon rise

sunrise

Patches keeping warm, city lights below

My teepee

My teepee

dinner

Sunrise

Old road to Mount Tebo

Salsify is a Mediterranean native but it has spread everywhere.
This Salsify is waiting to be destroyed by a bulldozer.

Word is that this road will be decommissioned this year.  Once a road is decommissioned hiking down it is miserable, so I thought I would see where this road goes before it is destroyed.  During the winter this road is much prettier and there is water ever where.  But, as we learned, during the summer water is scarce and this road it hot and dry.  I expected to find Tetraplodon moss as it was almost the perfect habitat for it.   But I did not find any, I think it gets too dry for Tetraplodon here. 

We hiked to the end of the road and then back.  There was one really nice view, but it was hot and we were out of water so we went to Lebar for Lunch and a quick dip in the cold waters.  We found a nice shady spot to have lunch but there were too many bugs.  So up went the tarp tent with its bug netting and we were able to eat our lunch without being eaten for lunch by the bugs.  We saw mosquitoes, black flies and giant deer flies.

The road was not very exciting but still I am unhappy to see it destroyed.  Flowers have popped up everywhere and there is stone crop in the middle of the road.  When they destroy the road they will churn up all the streams and kill all the vegetation on or near the road.   They will make the road slant in a way that will make it very difficult to walk on and they will add whoop de doos every 50 feet.   Then  when they  are all done, they will spread a layer of hay filled with weed seeds over the old road bed.   Greenwashing at its best!

I took a bunch of pictures so I can show before and after pictures.  My goal is to highlight the destruction caused by road decommissioning.

5.5 miles with 800 feet elevation gain

Bonfire moss Funaria hygrometrica in an old campfire pit.  This
was a nice place to car camp

Garter snake waits to be crushed by the coming heavy machinery

Paint brush and moss wait to be killed by the decommissioning process

There is a pile of wasted old growth hemlock at the end of every
high country logging road in this area thanks to Simpson and the 100
year sustained steal

Road has already  decommissioned its self

At the turn off to go up mount tebo a pretty meadow waits to be destroyed by the decommissioning process

Stone crop and other succulents grow in the middle of the road.
 They will be killed by the decommissioning process

Before they can start decommission work  they will have to install a culvert here. 
Later they will rip out the very same culvert, all at taxpayer expense.

This old growth Hemlock tree will serve as a good reference point after the destruction
if it is not destroyed in the process



This and other old logging roads naturally decommission themselves.
Let's spend the money feeding all the hungry children in Shelton instead!

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

Misadventures on Upper Lebar Creek (snow lake)

View looking up from the meadow

I‘ve been wanting to reach a lake that I can see on Google earth.  I thought the route would be up past Staircase, but then I realized the lake is just north of Mount Tebo.  So today I had a go at getting to the lake by heading up the Lebar creek drainage.  I had a good GPS route in hand but instead of following my GPS I confidently headed up the wrong branch of Lebar creek, or something like that.  But I did not realize my mistake until I got home and could see my track on my computer.

After leaving the road I headed up the hill following Lebar creek.  The undergrowth was not too bad and the going was fairly easy for an off trail route.  Before long I reached a beautiful meadow.  The meadow had lush growth and I could hear water everywhere.  There was a very strong smelling plant in the meadow that I think was in the mint family.  I crossed the meadow on a meandering route and eventually started walking up a dry creek bed.   Eventually I decided it was time to cut up the hill to the right and head into the timber.  I turned way too soon. 

Where I hoped to top the ridge

The woods were pretty but very steep.  There were many signs of a fire going through there in the past.  At one point I realized I was too far to the right so I went to the left and had to go down into and back up a small ravine and then back into the woods.  Eventually I began to hit large rocks and the terrain was getting steep.  I was still in the timber and it was hard to see where to go next.  I was only ¼ of a mile from the saddle and only had 300 feet left to gain but the route began to get too precarious for me.   I also had begun to get eerie feelings near the start of my hike.  I decided to go back home. 

  It's been a long time since I've had such an eerie feeling in the woods.  Before I left for my hike I told a friend that I was a bit scared but he was able to encourage me to keep going by telling me to frame it as a scouting mission.  I don't have a lot of experience going off trail and this entire route was off trail so I think that is what was bothering me.

Now at home I can see that I went way off course.  I might go back up there again with a better track log.  I would love to have someone to do it with me.

3 miles of bush wacking with 1,000 feet elevation gain.  I got a good all body workout.  This was probably worth hiking  6-8  miles on a good trail.

My intended route is in pink
my actual route is in purple

Ganoderma

Devils club that I had to walk through

Watering the dog not far from where I turned back

The view heading back down the dry creeek bed

Strange growth on a blueberry

Lebar Creek

Beautiful Patches