John Bair
Day Hiking
Successful
Icy road. Nice powdery snow. Mostly decent weather. Pleasant woods walk with territorial views.
Our group of seasoned Mountaineers enjoyed a casual hike to Poo Poo Point with better weather than expected (just some occasional light rain and snow). There was a thin layer of snow on the trail for the upper 2/3 of the hike, but everyone had traction devices and trekking poles and we had no issues.
A 5-Peak hike of Tiger (East, Middle, 1, 2, and 3) on snow-covered trails and dirt roads. Trip was 18+ miles and took around 10.5 hours at a moderate pace.
We met at Cowan Park and walked the trail through the ravine as far as the small waterfall. A bright, sunny day despite the threat of snow and rain. Great for photography.
With winds from the south at around 8 to 10 kts, we found the waves along the west side of Governors Point were a bit much at the start so we returned to the rock just outside Wildcat Cove to wait for conditions to calm down. After exploring the tide pools there, our brave team headed back up the west side of the point and found the conditions much improved, enough to make the short trip to Chuckanut Island easy peasy. We took advantage of the low tide to land on the beach for some snacking and picture taking. The weird erosion of the coastal rocks in the Chuckanut Formation look like something out of the sketch books of the late artist H.R. Giger, of Alien fame. Some of the sandstone features are nightmarish enough to make one wonder if he ever paddled in the area. Next we checked out the northern part of Chuckanut Bay before returning back to Wildcat Cove. With the changes in route, made enroute, we still managed to meet the published 7.5+ nm distance goal and finished less than an hour later than originally planned. Pix from the paddle are posted on the EMSK Facebook group site, including the original trip plan, wind condition forecast histogram and trend chart from Wind Alert, and the actual route traveled.
Successful 9 mile paddle to mysterious Goat Island, starting and ending at La Conner. The weather was glorious and the tide ever in our favor, with our speed often exceeding 4 mph (and at one point well over 6). We did have to change the return route due to some serious driftwood blocking the fishway. Great for some on the water practice taking bearings, using the rule of thirds, course correcting with ranges, and taking advantage of tidal current assist. Thanks to Bill Coady for running sweep on this paddle and to participants Sara, James, Kathryn, Colleen, Celeste, and Josh for their willingness to flex on the trip plan. Pix from the trip are posted on the EMSK Facebook group site.
Good class. Shawn Raybell from Tacoma branch SS had great gear table, Did emergency shelter lecture. Kirk Peterson added his 3 cents to lecture. Thanks Shawn and Kirk. Chris Finley and Jeff Peterson had gear tables too. Good job guys, thanks. Shawn saved the day with his PC. Tim forgot his PC power cord.
Road required chains on or 4wheel drive. High wind, High avi danger,COLD, so- 9am start, camped at Heather Meadows. High wind setting up tents. Wind down so could cook supper. 2 or 3 feet of snow. One cave slept in, 3 built. Morning beautiful, backpacked out 9:30am. Everyone did great. Winter Survival Badge should go to this group.
Nice paced walk around discovery park. Light snow and cloudy skies.
Cold day, with rain and snow. Gusty winds as we reached higher elevations. Lots of hikers from boeings climbing program. Stayed together as a group- both up and down
The gate to the Kamikaze (Teneriffe) Falls trailhead parking lot was locked with no explanation or signage so we went to Mount Si to hike an equivalent distance.
Great scenery. Nicely groomed trail.
Field Trip One Breakdown
Very pleasant day with sunshine and fresh snow.
Heavy snow closed I-90 eastbound about 15 miles from Snoqualmie Pass. Although the closure was lifted, chains were required for a time, so I canceled the trip. It was sad.
Planned hike was Cedar Butte, and our group met at the Cedar Falls trailhead about 10:15am. Winds were very gusty, and some hikers or mountain bikers coming into the parking lot reported trees down on their routes. We decided to stay on the John Wayne Trail for safety reasons (wider and more clear of trees than the Cedar Butte trail would be). We hiked to Ragnar site, had lunch there, and returned, for a 5.5-6 mile roundtrip hike with no elevation gain.
We had to use an alternate trail due to windy conditions, so can’t talk about planned route. It was raining off and on with no chance of seeing views.
We planted about 100 trees and mulched them to restore some urban forest.