|
HIKE |
Snoqualmie Mountain |
|
ROUTE |
Main path |
|
DATE |
5/19/2005 |
|
ATTENDEES |
Don, Joan, Larry, Mark and Tom |
|
NOTES |
Snow?!? In May! |
PHOTOS
TRAIL REPORT
Hello, TNAB'ers:
I can only guess that many of you in the Seattle area have been wondering: What's the weather going to do next? The last couple days have been marked by unpredictable patterns in which bright sunshine is soon followed by bruise-ugly thunderheads, and everything in between. Just imagine trying to hike under these conditions!
Yet Thursday rolls around, and we go hiking, bad weather or good. Yeah! This week, five riders of the storm (Don, Joan, Larry, Mark and Tom) gathered to try their luck with whatever Mom Nature had in store. Early indicators were not promising as large, dark masses of angry water vapor moved with impunity across the Eastside sky, bringing thunder showers to the lowlands.
Undaunted, we made our way to Snoqualmie Mountain. Outside Issaquah, the weather seemed much better than a few miles to the west - there's hope! However, Snoqualmie Mountain is over 6200 ft in elevation, and NOAA was predicting a 5000 ft snow level. Hmmm.
We started out just before 6:00 PM at a pace even faster than usual - uncertainty will do that. Even though it was evident that the area had seen recent precipitation, the trail was still in fine shape for navigation. According to one description, the summit is only 2.5 miles away, but the 3200 ft of el gain makes it feel like you're hiking straight up. I took a brief pause at the waterfall (which is in fine form) to take a few pics, then continued to chase the others.
Around 6:45 PM, we broke out into a clearing to begin switching up the ridge. I had the opportunity to take a few more pics, then it seemed like someone dimmed the lights. A few moments later, the sky began to unload. The first drops seemed like the beginning of a regular rain shower, but the consistency didn't feel right. Sure enough, the rain soon transformed into an unqualified snow flurry!
It would continue to snow for the rest of the ascent, leaving a trace of accumulation on the otherwise mostly bare peak. With little reason to dally, we gained the summit in under 90 minutes - woo! Wind, cold and the dissipating flurry severely curtailed our summit stay to about 10 minutes - just enough time to eat and pose for more pics. I did not let the shark off his leash, but he still tried to take a bite out of Larry. Meanwhile, Don made an attempt to find the geocache (supposedly hanging from a tree near the summit) but was denied.
If you think we summited fast, we descended even faster. It was no longer snowing by the time we were off the ridge and into the trees again. Limbs and extremities warmed up enough to take off a layer or two. Sunset was scheduled for around 8:45 PM, which is exactly when we exited the trail, making the roundtrip in under 3 hours. Look Ma, no headlamps! Feeling good, and with time to kill, we retired to the North Bend Bar & Grill (NBBG) for quesadillas, beer, and to toast Larry's birthday (he's 35 again).
Great hike, good times - wish you were there!
Next Hike - Mt Persis! The posted schedule is off a bit. At the very least, the Granite Mountain Summer Solstice hike will be 6/23. Since we skipped Rattlesnake earlier, there's a gap that needs to be filled. I suggest, with the Memorial Day weekend looming, that we take a break from I-90 hikes and hit one of my favs on Hwy 2 - Mt. Persis. When we've done a Hwy 2 hike in the past, we've met up at the Woodinville P&R at 4:30 PM, to compensate for travel time. No reason to change that. I'm looking forward to introducing a new hike to TNAB, but I'm willing to go with popular sentiment if it proves too much of a hardship. Vote now!
TNAB Gear Reminder: Please remember to include a two-way radio with your gear (along with a headlamp, water, food, and boots). Bring an extra to lend, if you have more than one. We are currently set to 20-5. Good communication is essential to a great TNAB outing. Thanks!
R&R,
-Mark