I’d climbed it before, but only in winter, so I was on board as soon as I saw Mark’s email. We had planned to go to Portland this weekend, but that was scuttled in favor of finishing up the work around the house that was left undone from last weekend. No sense doing today what can be put off until Moving Day, at least when there’s some peak to bag. We headed up fairly early, and started up the climber’s descent path between Guye and Snoqualmie. Hitting the split, we took of to the south and continued our way over the top of a waterfall and up to the treeline, where we broke through the clouds. It was pretty foggy, and weather was moving in, so we pushed it as well as we could up to the summit. This season’s outings hadn’t been as regular as last years, so after a while I was sucking wind and ready to eat something. We stopped beside the trail and threw down some water and snacks for a few minutes before heading up. The summit was much closer than we’d thought when we stopped, so we topped out only a few minutes later. The summit was socked in pretty quickly though, and the few pictures we pulled out didn’t have much of a view. The wind had picked up as well, so we didn’t spend a lot of time there before heading down. As we came back down the trail, the sun started pushing clouds around and we were allowed some pretty cool views of Commonwealth Basin and the rising sun. The Pass really is a beautiful area, and a place I’m going to miss once we’re down south… The rest of the trip down went quickly, as we both had chores waiting for us back at home, but we both left with the satisfaction of putting in a solid seven miles before breakfast.
Dean and I took a new (to us) route up (and down) Rattlesnake Ledge this morning, covering a little less than four miles and over 1100 vertical feet gain in about an hour and 45 minutes. After heading up the main trail for around half a mile, we cut up (and I mean UP) to the right and followed a narrow and infrequent boot track until we hit some gravelly ledges. Once on the rock, it was a quick scramble up to the ledge where the sun was already over the tops of the Snoqualmie Pass summits. We spent some time exploring the large cave-like crack in the rock, which led out to a lower, more exposed ledge. The rock at the end of the ledge was climbable, so we did our best to create a more interesting exit for ourselves. It only took us about twenty minutes or so to make it back down, so we ended up doing a little more exploring of older trails before heading home to families and breakfasts.
Enjoy.
Quickly Now, Ascend! on Vimeo
Last minute preparations
pretty dang cold
bluebird skies
quick mostly flat hike up
big ol’ snow patch
flattened trees
lotsa’ wildflowers
keep going
through the canyon
dogleg right
wolf tracks
bugs in the horseshoe print
the meadow
The plan had been to meet at 6, but when I showed up at the trailhead at quarter after, there wasn’t anyone waiting. Mark’s car was there though, and after waiting a bit, I headed up solo. Slightly overcast, but nice temps and everything had that post-rain glow thing happening. The weather has been so wonky the last couple days, but the way the rain makes everything smell and look when it’s over is worth the wetness sometimes. Started with a good pace – cruised up the first mile to the old trail and then off up to the right. Hit the first ledge and took some photos and fueled up, and then upward and onward to meet Mark at the upper ledge. A quick trail up the ridge pops you out slightly northwest of the first ledges, so the view was pretty cool, as we’d never been up there before. Back down, but this time staying right near the edge of the main ledge all the way back down the steeps until it crosses back up with the trail far below. Easy hike, good leg and lung stretcher.
Five o’clock came around very quickly this morning, and the sound of rain outside my window didn’t make it any easier to roll out of bed. It had been way too long since I’d made it out for one of these early morning dawn patrols though, so I was going, regardless of the weather. Quick pack, quick breakfast, out the door.
Met up with the Crew at the trailhead under a steady drizzle, and off we went up the logging road. Not too dark, but light enough to not need headlamps. Gotta love spring mornings. Up the road, stay to the left – then right at the big puddle and into the trees. The creek was coming down pretty good today; lots of water, and getting nice and close to the trail in spots. Slick roots, mud bogs, high steps – all of it good and wet.
We made it up to Kamikaze in short order and were pretty much drenched by the then. Not really wanting to push along another 3 hours in the rain without a hope of a view up top, we made the decision to cut the morning short and head back into town for breakfast at Gordy’s. After a couple of eggs, hashbrowns, toast, and 5 pieces of bacon the morning was complete and it was back to the fam, just waking up and turning on the Saturday morning cartoons…
Another good weekend begun.