Copper Creek Trail Attempt

Nice new handrails on the Copper Creek trail thanks to the Mount Rose Trail crew

I wanted to get up high enough to get into the snow and out of the rain. Well I succeeded on getting into the snow.  Wow, there was so much snow!   I had to turn around before I reached the loop because route finding was getting to difficult and the snow was getting too icy.  My GPS does not work well in the valley this trail goes through, so it was no help; in fact I think it misled me a bit!    I reached about 2,600 feet, but I never did get out of the rain.  Patches and I both got soaked today!  It never stopped raining.  I only took a five minute lunch break because Patches was shivering.  Maybe I need to get her a coat to wear on these hikes.  I did not realize how cold I was until I got home.  Every layer I had on was soaked!  I even managed to soak my spare "dry" socks inside of my pack!

Ah well, at least I kept my camera dry.  Silly me, I packed my heavy DSLR and external flash all the way up there with me.  I really was hoping to reach some dry snow, where I could take pictures.   There were lots of little waterfalls on the road next to Lake Cushman and the Skokomish river is flooding nicely.

It feels good to be home and dry!  My legs are aching so I know I got a good work out.

It was about 6 miles with about 2,000 feet elevation gain.    Four of those six miles were on snowshoes in sloppy snow.    The snow ate one of my snow-baskets and I had to do some digging to get it out.  Note to self: carry and extra snow basket.  I had to do a lot of tricky foot work today and  I fell to my knees several times. I  also tweaked my right ankle in every possible direction.  Three of the times that I tweaked my ankle were painful, but my ankle does not hurt now.  I hope that I built up some ankle strength and did not do any permanent damage.

When I first got to the trail head I was surprised to find two trucks parked there.  No one can park at the trail head without a key. It turned out that the Mount Rose Trail crew was up there hard and work making handrails.   Those guys are my hero's!   One of the crew members recognized me as Mossy Mom.  Another member warned me of a steep snow bank where I dare not slip unless I wanted to fall into the river.

I found that snow bank all right, plus several other hazards.   Then on the drive home the wind started howling and a stick came down and hit my windshield. Yep, me and Patches had quite an adventure today.

The GPS said I went nine miles, but it was not working well in the valley with the barometric pressure changing fast.  So I'm guessing on my mileage. My legs felt like they went closer to 14 miles, but I think I only went 6 miles.

I've been home about an hour and a half and I'm still cold!

6 miles
2,000 feet elevation gain

Today's track log is in red, it's not very accurate, the track points that are way off the trail have nothing to do with where I went.  The blue track is the real trail.  It looks like I missed the turn to start going up.

Where oh where, is the trail?

I don't normally have to duck to go under this tree

Snow hat on a tree

My snowshoe tracks

Cold and wet dog ready to go home

Nirada Falls

My class ended with a field trip to Mount Rainier.  Hiking with other people was really different for me.  The hike was tediously slow, but that gave me ample time to take pictures and the company was good.    The camp robber jays up there were much more aggressive than I am accustomed to.

The snow conditions were very nice. I enjoyed hiking in such dry snow.  I might go up there again on my own, but it's a long drive.

It was  a bit cloudy, but we got a good view of Pinnacle Peak and some other local views.

 We did a fun glissade at the end of the hike.

4 miles
600 feet elevation gain

Poles and shoes

Shoes

River

Trailhead

Camprobber Jay

Pinnacle Peak

pretty pointy tree

Sick as a dog on the Dosewallips

The road ends here

I woke up at 5am with a headache and could not fall back to sleep until after I got up (about 6am) and took some aspirin.  Then I had to get up again at 7:30 to get my little one off to school.  After getting the little one off to school I then had to decide if I should hike. I felt too ill to hike, (fever, headache, lightheaded and with the runs) but I could not pass up the opportunity to get out, so I went anyway. Even though I did not have a migraine and actually have some sort of cold or flu, I stopped in Hoodsport and bought some migraine medicine.  That medicine, some positive thoughts and a cup of coffee enabled to me to hike in spite of being ill.

I reached the “trailhead” at about 11:00 and made it to the ranger station by 1:00. I felt good hiking, but the second I sat down for lunch I felt terrible. It’s interesting how moving makes me feel better when I’m ill. I took a short lunch because I was worried about being so ill 5.5 miles into the “backcountry” all alone, on a weekday. I was also nervous at my lunch stop because I discovered that my first aid kit was not in my backpack and my personal becon was not working so had I left it in my car.  All those things together could have added up to disaster, but they did not.

My lunch spot with the Dosewallips trailhead sign in the back right

I headed back for the car at about 1: 20 and finished my hot lunch-time tea as I walked. I walked slowly and carefully on the way back so I would not injure myself with my nervousness. My perception was certainly a bit altered today because I was ill. I saw quite a few things that I had never noticed before, such as electric insulators on a tree and a huge dip in the paved road on the way to the trail head.

I met a local on the trail when I was about about a mile from my car, he had a Cajun accent and he said that he has invented a perpetual motion machine and once he gets a shed built he will start working on making his machine. He had an interesting dog with one blue eye and another eye that was half blue and half brown.  The local said that he sees a certain kind of wild life at the campground all the time.  I won't say what the wildlife is becasue I don't want hunters to be able to google on it.


Speaking of wildlife, I saw a giant heron lift up out of the riverbed when I was hiking in.

I got back to my car at about 45 minutes before sunset.

I drove home very carefully, immediately pulling over to let all tailgaters go by, I was too ill to cope with being dazzled by headlights and I know the drive home is statistically the most dangerous part of any hike. I had to stop and put some water (from constance creek)  in my car at Triton Cove because two lights on my dash were blinking. While I was putting the water in, I noticed that the overflow tank says my car needs some kind of special coolant. I never noticed that before, I guess I should find out what that is about and quit topping my car up with water.

I ran up a nice calorie deficit today and now I’m going to go to bed early. I wonder how I will feel in the morning after ignoring my body and hiking in spite of being ill?

My bad ankle did not flop over at all today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11 miles 1,100 feet elevation gain

It's the next morning and I feel pretty good, in fact I am less ill than I was yesterday.  But I am sore from my hike.

other times I have blogged this hike

Jan 09, 2011
Jan 29, 2010
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Wednesday, December 27, 2006


11 miles with
1,100 feet elevation gain

This campground is getting wilder by the week

The road is giving way here because a tree on the bank just fell

Mossy Rock

Insulators that I never noticed before

Contance Lake TH... maybe someday..

Constace Creek

This is the road!

Ten MPH sign is getting funnier all the time

Pay to hike up a motorcycle rut in a clear cut? No way!

Tell the DNR where to stick their user fees:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/greentahuyaplan  it's one of the last questions on the survey.

Two hour bike ride around town

My knee hurts for about a week after I am done hiking and then it feels better.  I wanted to get some exercise this weekend but I did not want to make my knee flare up again so I decided to go for a bike ride instead of hiking.  I have pilates tomorrow so I did not want over do it either.  I ended biking about 13 miles around town, I gained about 200 feet in elevation plus some ups and downs and I my average moving speed was 6.8 MPH.

I feel good after my bike ride.  My thighs are pleasantly tired and I got a nice mental break from my house and my kids.   My knee feels a lot better than it feels when I have hiked the same distance.  Maybe, if I spend the next two weeks biking, (and doing pilates and yoga)  instead of hiking my knee will get better.

A nice thing about biking is that I did not have burn any gas to get the the starting point, since the starting point was my driveway, but I got to go a lot further and see a lot more than I would have seen if I had started a hike from my driveway.   Also biking is a more intense workout, so I get the same amount of exercise in less time.  That means my house is less trashed when I get home and I have more time in the day to do other things.  The worst thing about biking is having to breath in auto exhaust and the risk of crashing.   It was a bicycle crash that weakened my ankle to the point that I had to go to physical therapy.

Even though I was surrounded by people and cars, I felt like I got more solitude than I get when I hike on a busy trail.  I don't have to interact much with the people around me when I am biking where I seem to have to interact a lot with the folks I pass when I am hiking.  One risk when biking is that people will yell nasty things out their car windows, I've had this happen a lot in the past, but luckily it does not happen to me as much now that I am older and apparently less attractive to bullies and living in a less urban area.

I can take some solace in the fact that even if I can't hike, I can still bike.  Biking is easier on my knees and there is no chance of my hurting my ankle, unless I crash.

13 miles
200 feet elevation gain