HILLS HURT, COUCHES KILL hiking log

Nice. Remember, burgers and fries never taste better then after a long alpine trip. lol

 

Honestly it was pretty brutal. My muscles and joints feel OK but the bottoms of my feet are a crime scene

I'll put up some pics tomorrow

 

After big trips my calf and quad muscles usually feel pretty good. It's about 2 days later that they finally start to feel kinda beat up. I've never really had issues with my feet but I hike in trail running shoes or flip flops. What where you hiking in?

 

Trailrunners

 

PCT Section J - Snoqualmie Pass to Stevens Pass - 75 miles / 16,000 ft elevation gain. Finished in under 3 days

Friday started hiking at 6:30 am. Treated to some cool fog above the Gold Creek Valley







Mt Rainier to the south



Lunch at Spectacle Lake. This is the farthest I've gone up the PCT, 16 miles from Snoqualmie






Saturday morning campsite






Passing Cathedral Rock Saturday afternoon










Sunday morning campsite, Deception Lakes





Trap Pass and Trap Lake





Mig Lake





Almost home



Buddy's girlfriend hiked up to meet us and brought us trail beers



Got to Stevens Pass at 5:30 pm

 

Apologies for the big photodump, but I rarely get really good hiking photos because I'm typically doing it in much less scenic places. From the past week: One hike in the Rockies, five in The Maze, two in Capitol Reef, and one in Red Rock Canyon. Felt so much better on the body than hiking near sea level at home.

 

19 miles to Necklace Valley again yesterday. Rained almost the entire time










Fungi

 

Your pics as always are awesome. The one of the fungi is kind or surrealistic. Great photography

 

Back way to Lake Melakwa since Denny Cr TH is closed. 18-19 miles in 7 hours. Mostly fog and rain with some sun breaks

 

Alpine Lakes High Route - 28 miles, 7,200 ft climbing, took me just under 13 hours. Most people backpack this in 2-3 days. The middle 1/3 of the loop connects Chetwoot Lake with Necklace Valley, traversing a ridge with faint boot path, a few cairns and plenty of cliff exposure. Definitely tested my route finding skills

Left a bike in the bushes at the Necklace Valley TH (East Fork Foss River) and drove to West Fork Foss River TH. Started hiking around 6:30 am.

Copper Lake at sunrise





Big Heart Lake





Starts to get really pretty between Big Heart and Chetwoot, up and over Atrium Peak



Angeline Lake


Above Big Heart






Chetwoot Tarn



Leaving Chetwoot behind and gaining the ridge, the beginning of the traverse


Entering the cirque that holds Iron Cap Lake


Iron Cap Lake


Now the challenge of getting around or over the eastern flank of Iron Cap Mtn. Since I was solo and doing this section for the first time I decided climb up and over the flank and bypass the notorious exposed section above the cliff. Not many pictures through here, put my phone away to concentrate and get through the crux

Looking north


Almost off the boulders, Iron Cap Gap in the distance





Iron Cap Gap area was absolutely stunning. Finally had a view south across the valley to Chimney Rock and Summit Chief. I didn't want to leave but I had to keep moving.






Glad to be back on a trail, heading up to Tank Lakes, the high point of loop around 6,000 ft



Tank Lakes




Made it to Tank by 3 pm which was my objective. All downhill from here, back into the Necklace Valley and out to the trailhead where I stashed the bike

La Bohn Peak and going down the moraine into the valley

 

Ingalls Lake, 9 miles in 5 hours with some moderate climbing

Esmerelda Peak, climbing up out of the basin to Ingalls Pass







Through the pass, right across the valley from Mt Stuart


Larches turning yellow in autumn. They're strange deciduous conifers, the needles are super soft to touch, not pokey at all. And they shed like deciduous maples, yellow needles all over the trail and floating in the streams. Very pretty



You can see some snow on the northern aspects, first of the season. We're above 6k ft up here








Ingalls Pass on the right, Stuart on the left



Ingalls


Turned overcast and chilly on the way out

 

Hiked up Gold Creek Valley again to Alaska Lake. 14 miles in 6 hours. First winter storm is supposed to come tomorrow and Wed, possible 6-12" snow and freezing level around 3,600 ft

Gold Creek Valley






Abandoned mine

 

Back up to Kendall Catwalk in the rain, found snow at 5,000 ft

 

Red Pond at dusk



Brad figuring out snow


Commonwealth Valley, Mt Rainier in the distance

 

Half the ski hill is still closed so we toured up and over to the backside. There was actually some good soft snow back there. We did have to cross a couple small creeks. 6 miles in 4 hours, lots if climbing

 

I miss the pines and the snow!

 

Got hikes in Big Island, Oahu, and Maui back in October. Mostly short hikes, especially up on Mauna Kea - the hike up at the summit is only a few hundred feet, but between the cold, 50mph wind, thin air, and lack of proper acclimation, it takes some effort. We did get some night hiking in at Kilauea Iki, though, complete with a tree frog orchestra.































Bonus: We didn't have enough time to hike the trail end-to-end, so we rented bikes in the Glades after Thanksgiving.

 

Quick 6 miles with the dog today, Talapus and Ollalie Lakes








Broke a ski pole


Brad looks concerned

 

Touring at Mt Baker

 

How is this possible