Stupidest. Hike. Ever.
So, for starters, I totally underestimated how long it would take to get to the trailhead. It was four and a half hours of driving. Each way.
I had two sets of driving directions to get to the trailhead. Both were wrong. One said to turn right on Clear Lake Road (FS Road 1200) from highway 12. The other said to turn right on South Fork Tieton Road (FS Road 1000) from highway 12.
1. There is no Clear Lake Road.
2. South Fork Tieton Road does not intersect with highway 12.
Also, one of them said to turn after Hause Campground, which also doesn’t exist, or there are just no signs for it.
After taking a few turns that turned out to be wrong, I gave up and decided to hunt for a different hike in the area. While driving up and down highway 12, I noticed that Tieton Road intersected highway 12 twice, so I turned right on it and decided to just follow it back to the other end and see if there was anything interesting along the way. First thing I saw was FS Road 1201. Thinking that maybe FS Road 1200 would be next, I continued on. The next road was FS Road 1202. Then 1203. I decided that I’d had enough of this crap and decided to just go home. It was getting a little late to start a hike in that heat anyway. Thirty seconds later (if it was even that long) I ran across South Fork Tieton Road. Hey, it turns out that Tieton Road IS FS Road 1200!
So I drove down the road to the parking area. Finally something was going right.
Then it got really fun.
The trailhead is not at the parking area. You have to walk up the road, go around a gate on the right, go left, cross two creeks, hang a right, and walk forever through a gigantic cattle-grazing area to a logging road. From there, the directions say to go left and take the first right. That’s supposed to be the trailhead.
I got to the logging road. I went left. I took the first right. No trailhead. I checked my GPS unit, which said I was pointed in the right direction, so I just kept following the road. It kept splitting. After one brief and disastrous foray off on a left-hand fork, I kept going right, going directly toward Surprise Lake, staying near the South Fork Tieton River, which we had crossed. Did I remember anything in the directions about crossing the river? No. But my memory sucks.
Then the logging road turned into a very nice little boot path. Ah, this I remember from the hiking book. I just thought my time on the logging road would be shorter. So all was well, right? Uh, no. Because the trail ended. I stood there, staring at the river. I had to cross it. I couldn’t see a trail on the other side. I was damn well not going back.
I crossed the river. No problem, it was reasonably shallow. Duncan waded and drank, I just plowed across without taking off my boots. (It was so hot, they dried out almost immediately.) Once on the other side, I pondered. I had been thinking the whole time that I was on the wrong side of the river. Now I was on the right side of the river. Right? So if I just kept heading off to the right, I’d cross the real trail, right?
Yep. It was about 50 yards away. So we were finally on the right trail, after 3 miles on the wrong trail. We followed the trail to the lake without incident other than the terrible bugs. Also, no views of anything. Just trees and dirt. Also, it is a horse trail, so I had that tasty, crunchy dust made of dehydrated horse shit and ash from Mt. Saint Helens.
The lake was pretty, but not fantasic. Just a little green lake surrounded by trees. No view of the mountains. Nothing. That was the 6.2 mile mark of the trail.
Hey, wait! The book said it was only an 8.5 mile round trip! I knew I couldn’t have added that much mileage on the logging roads, so it occurred to me that they were saying it was 8.5 miles only if you don’t count the mile and a half to and from the trailhead from the parking area.
So we turned around and headed back. What a waste.
Did I mention cattle grazing land? Yeah. Lots of cattle. Some skittish. Some bored. Some a little pushy. All hot, stinky, dusty, and chewing on stuff. Duncan behaved pretty well after he realized he was not there to herd them. One cow got a little stompy when Duncan startled a calf and I had to use a harsh tone to get her to back off, but other than that (and the creepy way they stare) there were no cattle issues.
We got back to the real trailhead, then back to the logging road. I saw a trail that I think I was supposed to have come out onto the logging road from on the way in. If I had come out on that trail, then the book’s directions would not have lead me wrong. However, there were so many trails across the cattle land that I took one that landed me on the logging road in the wrong place.
Since it was hot and dusty, I took Duncan back to the river to cool down, rest, and fill up on water. It was just a few yards down the road, so we didn’t have a lot of backtracking to do. Duncan waded and drank while I drank without wading. While we were resting, I noticed a cloud over on the horizon. It was the only cloud, big and puffy. I thought it looked a little odd, all by itself over there. So I took a picture.
After that, we got back on the trail with just 1.5 miles back to the car.
On the way back across the cattle land, I heard a noise I couldn’t identify. My first thought was farm equipment, or a really bad-sounding truck. We popped out of the trees into a big meadow and I glanced off to my right. Hey, look at that. A giant wildfire. That was totally not there on the way in that morning. (Another idiot hiker/camper/hunter strikes again. Or maybe lightning. Who knows. I prefer to blame idiots.) Flames twice as tall as the trees. Right there. I could walk right up to it if I had a death wish. That was the source of the odd cloud we’d seen earlier. Still further on, we ended up stopping to wait for the helicopter to get out of the way. They were using the cattle grazing land as a staging area to air-lift supplies to the firefighters.
Eventually, I made it back to my car. My GPS unit said we did 12.5 miles. That’s a bit longer than 8.5. Stupid hiking books.
Surprise Lake, July 29 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Dewey Lakes trail, July 28 2009
Duncan and I stupidly headed for Dewey Lakes today. Both the WTA website and the Best Hikes with Dogs book list it as OK for dogs. Oops. Dogs are allowed on only the first half of the trail. The rest of the trail passes through National Park Service land. No dogs allowed.
We followed what appeard to be a game trail that stayed in the William O. Douglas Wilderness Area, but it petered out before we made it to the lake, so we turned around and went home. It was already 89 degrees at 9 a.m., so that was probably for the best. Yesterday Duncan got a rather severe haircut to keep him cool, but the poor guy was still really hot.
The wildflowers are going insane up there right now, so it was worth it in spite of the fact that we did not reach the lakes.
Dewey Lakes, July 28 2009
We followed what appeard to be a game trail that stayed in the William O. Douglas Wilderness Area, but it petered out before we made it to the lake, so we turned around and went home. It was already 89 degrees at 9 a.m., so that was probably for the best. Yesterday Duncan got a rather severe haircut to keep him cool, but the poor guy was still really hot.
The wildflowers are going insane up there right now, so it was worth it in spite of the fact that we did not reach the lakes.
Dewey Lakes, July 28 2009
Noble Knob, July 25 2009
Yesterday, Duncan and I hiked up to Noble Knob. It's a pretty easy 7 mile round trip to the top of the Knob at 6011 feet. The wildflowers are still blooming up there, but the wild strawberries have yet to bear fruit. It was a very nice hike. And there's a geocache at the top!
Except that I picked exactly the wrong day to do it. It turns out that there is an annual "fun run" of 50 miles that runs along part of the trail. So for 2 miles, I had to deal with 200 trail runners. I kid you not. That's how many people signed up. I was leaping off the trail constantly to get out of the way. If it wasn't for them, it would have been a very nice hike. I saw only 4 other hikers and a group of maybe 6 mountain bikers. The weather was nice, but not too hot.
Oh, and I dehydrated myself. There was no water anywhere along the trail, so I gave most of my water to Duncan. I was fine when I got home and I ate lunch and drank quite a lot, but it was too late. Barfing ensued. I've got to be more careful about that. I've had more than enough to drink today to make up for it.
Noble Knob, July 25 2009
Except that I picked exactly the wrong day to do it. It turns out that there is an annual "fun run" of 50 miles that runs along part of the trail. So for 2 miles, I had to deal with 200 trail runners. I kid you not. That's how many people signed up. I was leaping off the trail constantly to get out of the way. If it wasn't for them, it would have been a very nice hike. I saw only 4 other hikers and a group of maybe 6 mountain bikers. The weather was nice, but not too hot.
Oh, and I dehydrated myself. There was no water anywhere along the trail, so I gave most of my water to Duncan. I was fine when I got home and I ate lunch and drank quite a lot, but it was too late. Barfing ensued. I've got to be more careful about that. I've had more than enough to drink today to make up for it.
Noble Knob, July 25 2009
Beverly Creek and the County Line trail, July 19 2009
Duncan and I headed up to the middle of nowhere today. This was not intentional. I had a specific destination in mind, but we didn't make it.
The hiking book had what seemed to be a pretty clear description of the trail, but it didn't tie much to reality after about a mile away from the trailhead. I got there OK only because the same parking lot is the jumping off point for 2 other hikes I've done. After that, the rest of the description was off. The elevations and distances they provided were totally wrong. The description says to follow a particular trail, but you should only follow that one for a short time and then turn onto another trail.
I managed to turn onto the correct trail in spite of the book not saying to go that way, but since my elevation and distance were off from what the book said (by 500 feet of elevation gain and about a mile of distance) I decided that I might be on the wrong trail, so I turned around and went home. It turns out I was in the right place, and I had another mile and another 1,000 feet of elevation gain ahead of me. No thanks to the hiking book.
It is a nice area, and the view was good, but the bugs were even worse than last week. (How do mosquitos breed when there's no standing water for miles?) They bit my face so much that my temples of my glasses are digging into my face. It isn't pleasant.
Wildlife sighted: chipmunks, possibly a marmot or groundhog, and a lot of cows. Other hikers saw bears, but I didn't. I also saw elk and deer prints in the dust, and lots of butterflies and moths. One great thing about hiking on a trail used by horses is that when the horse poop dries out, it turns to dust and you get to inhale it and get it stuck in your teeth.
I saw one person on his way out, and only six hikers on their way in. That's the kind of population I like to see on my trails.
Beverly Creek and the County Line trail, July 19 2009
The hiking book had what seemed to be a pretty clear description of the trail, but it didn't tie much to reality after about a mile away from the trailhead. I got there OK only because the same parking lot is the jumping off point for 2 other hikes I've done. After that, the rest of the description was off. The elevations and distances they provided were totally wrong. The description says to follow a particular trail, but you should only follow that one for a short time and then turn onto another trail.
I managed to turn onto the correct trail in spite of the book not saying to go that way, but since my elevation and distance were off from what the book said (by 500 feet of elevation gain and about a mile of distance) I decided that I might be on the wrong trail, so I turned around and went home. It turns out I was in the right place, and I had another mile and another 1,000 feet of elevation gain ahead of me. No thanks to the hiking book.
It is a nice area, and the view was good, but the bugs were even worse than last week. (How do mosquitos breed when there's no standing water for miles?) They bit my face so much that my temples of my glasses are digging into my face. It isn't pleasant.
Wildlife sighted: chipmunks, possibly a marmot or groundhog, and a lot of cows. Other hikers saw bears, but I didn't. I also saw elk and deer prints in the dust, and lots of butterflies and moths. One great thing about hiking on a trail used by horses is that when the horse poop dries out, it turns to dust and you get to inhale it and get it stuck in your teeth.
I saw one person on his way out, and only six hikers on their way in. That's the kind of population I like to see on my trails.
Beverly Creek and the County Line trail, July 19 2009
Greenwater Lakes, Quinn Lake, Lost Lake; July 10 2009
Last Saturday, Duncan and I headed up to Lost Lake. It was an 11-mile round trip to a relatively pleasant lake. I'll probably never do this one again.
1. Mosquitos. They bit me through my clothes. They got in my eyes. They even bit the palms of my hands.
2. The first 2 miles of the hike are really easy. This draws too many people. Loud people. People who have no trail etiquette. People who shit two feet from the water sources the campers use and then leave their used toilet paper in plain sight. Boy scout troops. People with off-leash and/or aggressive dogs.
3. The last couple miles are fine, but right now there are about two dozen blowdowns, some of which are hard to get over, under, or around. I got to exercise my mad ninja skilz and walk down the very long trunk of one of the trees blocking the trail, but that was pretty much the highlight of the route. Lost Lake is pleasant, but the bugs were murder. Quinn Lake was prettier, but still, too many bugs. There's no view of anything along the entire trail, unless you count the bugs in your eyes.
If I ever bother with this one again, it will be only as an early season hike, or to go to the alternate Echo Lake, or to do the Noble Knob loop. It might even make a decent snowshoe trip.
After 10 miles, Duncan took a break.
1. Mosquitos. They bit me through my clothes. They got in my eyes. They even bit the palms of my hands.
2. The first 2 miles of the hike are really easy. This draws too many people. Loud people. People who have no trail etiquette. People who shit two feet from the water sources the campers use and then leave their used toilet paper in plain sight. Boy scout troops. People with off-leash and/or aggressive dogs.
3. The last couple miles are fine, but right now there are about two dozen blowdowns, some of which are hard to get over, under, or around. I got to exercise my mad ninja skilz and walk down the very long trunk of one of the trees blocking the trail, but that was pretty much the highlight of the route. Lost Lake is pleasant, but the bugs were murder. Quinn Lake was prettier, but still, too many bugs. There's no view of anything along the entire trail, unless you count the bugs in your eyes.
If I ever bother with this one again, it will be only as an early season hike, or to go to the alternate Echo Lake, or to do the Noble Knob loop. It might even make a decent snowshoe trip.
After 10 miles, Duncan took a break.
Lake Melakwa, July 3 2009
July 3, 2009 - Friday
Lake Melakwa, July 3, 2009
The Dunkman and I headed up to Lake Melakwa today. We started up at 6:15 and got back to the car at about 1:30. It took longer to get down than it took to get up because I spent 1.5 hours walking the 1.5 miles from Keekwulee Falls to the car because I had to step aside every 5 feet to let groups of 4 or more with toddlers in tow on their way up to the Waterslide.
Note to "hikers" on this trail: if you have to ask how much further it is to the Waterslide, you have a problem. See your doctor. It is only a mile from your car, you shouldn't be breathless and fatigued 100 yards from your car.
Anyway, depending on your information source, Lake Melakwa is either 4 or 4.5 miles from the parking lot. You gain a couple thousand feet of elevation, so it is a nice climb. Right now, there's not much snow on the trail, but the lakes are still mostly frozen, so the very hot hike up was rewarded with the opportunity to make snow angels in the 88 degree heat.
Lake Melakwa, July 3, 2009
The Dunkman and I headed up to Lake Melakwa today. We started up at 6:15 and got back to the car at about 1:30. It took longer to get down than it took to get up because I spent 1.5 hours walking the 1.5 miles from Keekwulee Falls to the car because I had to step aside every 5 feet to let groups of 4 or more with toddlers in tow on their way up to the Waterslide.
Note to "hikers" on this trail: if you have to ask how much further it is to the Waterslide, you have a problem. See your doctor. It is only a mile from your car, you shouldn't be breathless and fatigued 100 yards from your car.
Anyway, depending on your information source, Lake Melakwa is either 4 or 4.5 miles from the parking lot. You gain a couple thousand feet of elevation, so it is a nice climb. Right now, there's not much snow on the trail, but the lakes are still mostly frozen, so the very hot hike up was rewarded with the opportunity to make snow angels in the 88 degree heat.
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