06-19-23
On
Saturday John Sluder and I scrambled up Three Brothers Mountain. The
12.5 miles and 5300' of gain wore me out. Sunday I rested. Monday was
Juneteenth. I don't think most people get it as a holiday from work but
I do. I hoped for a bit of solitude on a close in hike. It rained on
Sunday and overnight. I had rain on my drive to Issaquah. It was dry
when I started hiking and stayed that way all day. I did see the upper
part of the mountain was buried in thick clouds. I brought an umbrella
and started up the trail at 8:55 am. The brush was wet but there was
little that encroached on the trail. The trail is really green. In many
places the trail is a brown line in a sea of green. I set a moderate
pace and kept it up. I had all day and tired legs.
I have been seeing saprophytes on most of my trips the past four or five weeks. There are two spots on my route that have nice displays of Indian pipe. I usually don't see then until mid July but with the recent rain I hoped to see a few a little early. At the first patch I saw nothing. On the way down the other patch had nothing too. Perhaps in a few weeks they will be above ground. I passed Ruth's Cove and headed higher I went right on the TMT to Fred's Corner, though there is not longer a corner. A sign requests staying off the old trail though it is completely lost blackberries and devil's club.
As I ascended towards the top of the K-3 Trail I entered the clouds. At Tom's Crossing I looked at the Mt. Si view and could not see anything but white clouds. I saw one person coming down. Coming out of the forest below Tiger 2 I had almost no visibility. I could not see the tower. I could not see the trail up ahead. The wind picked up and it was quite cool I continued with just a light long sleeve shirt. Where the trail reaches the carved bench I could see it but not much more. I arrived at the summit at 10:53 am. I had slowed considerably over the last mile and ended up taking 1:58 to summit. That is one of my slower times. I also saw a second person. The solitude part worked out well. I immediately put on my rain jacket. It was just a couple days short of summer and it was cold in the wind.
I took a video describing all the views. Tiger 1, Squak Mountain, Issaquah, Tiger 3, and more. I could only see about 50' in any direction. Some views. I had a food and water break and a few minutes later I could now see the tops of clouds across from me. The cloud cap was breaking up. Over the next 10 to 15 minutes the clouds mostly blew away. I don't recall going from white out to blue sky and views in so short a time. I took some videos and photo st catch the rapid change. A lone woman hiker reached the top just as a runner arrived from Tiger 3. We chatted for a short while.
At 11:15 am I headed down. At Tom's crossing I turned left and explored the TMT. Crews have been rebuilding this section wrecked by logging coming from the other end. It was about half rebuilt on my last visit. I went to the end of forest and stopped. A little exploring and I found that there is still about 60' of trail to build before the route can be opened. It should be down in a few weeks if they are still at work now. The rest of the hike down was easy enough. I passed half a dozen hikers coming up, and one group of runners.
I detoured onto the Lingering Trail near the bottom. I looked in vain for the patch of Indian pipe. Some large trees have been cut out on the LT and it is completely open. I arrived back at my car at 1:07 pm. I-90 was down to one lane westbound from Preston to near Issaquah. It took my 20 minutes to merge down the on ramp. By Issaquah it was back up to full speed. That was a small price to play for a fun hike. The rapid change form white out winter to sunny spring in just a few minutes was quite a thing to see form 2747'. I had my views after all.
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Trips - 2023
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I have been seeing saprophytes on most of my trips the past four or five weeks. There are two spots on my route that have nice displays of Indian pipe. I usually don't see then until mid July but with the recent rain I hoped to see a few a little early. At the first patch I saw nothing. On the way down the other patch had nothing too. Perhaps in a few weeks they will be above ground. I passed Ruth's Cove and headed higher I went right on the TMT to Fred's Corner, though there is not longer a corner. A sign requests staying off the old trail though it is completely lost blackberries and devil's club.
As I ascended towards the top of the K-3 Trail I entered the clouds. At Tom's Crossing I looked at the Mt. Si view and could not see anything but white clouds. I saw one person coming down. Coming out of the forest below Tiger 2 I had almost no visibility. I could not see the tower. I could not see the trail up ahead. The wind picked up and it was quite cool I continued with just a light long sleeve shirt. Where the trail reaches the carved bench I could see it but not much more. I arrived at the summit at 10:53 am. I had slowed considerably over the last mile and ended up taking 1:58 to summit. That is one of my slower times. I also saw a second person. The solitude part worked out well. I immediately put on my rain jacket. It was just a couple days short of summer and it was cold in the wind.
I took a video describing all the views. Tiger 1, Squak Mountain, Issaquah, Tiger 3, and more. I could only see about 50' in any direction. Some views. I had a food and water break and a few minutes later I could now see the tops of clouds across from me. The cloud cap was breaking up. Over the next 10 to 15 minutes the clouds mostly blew away. I don't recall going from white out to blue sky and views in so short a time. I took some videos and photo st catch the rapid change. A lone woman hiker reached the top just as a runner arrived from Tiger 3. We chatted for a short while.
At 11:15 am I headed down. At Tom's crossing I turned left and explored the TMT. Crews have been rebuilding this section wrecked by logging coming from the other end. It was about half rebuilt on my last visit. I went to the end of forest and stopped. A little exploring and I found that there is still about 60' of trail to build before the route can be opened. It should be down in a few weeks if they are still at work now. The rest of the hike down was easy enough. I passed half a dozen hikers coming up, and one group of runners.
I detoured onto the Lingering Trail near the bottom. I looked in vain for the patch of Indian pipe. Some large trees have been cut out on the LT and it is completely open. I arrived back at my car at 1:07 pm. I-90 was down to one lane westbound from Preston to near Issaquah. It took my 20 minutes to merge down the on ramp. By Issaquah it was back up to full speed. That was a small price to play for a fun hike. The rapid change form white out winter to sunny spring in just a few minutes was quite a thing to see form 2747'. I had my views after all.
 Very Green Trail |
 Twinflower |
 Wild Ginger |
 Fred's Corner |
 Closed Trail |
 Green Higher Up |
 Mt. Si Viewpoint |
 Just Below Tiger 2 |
 Spot The Tower? |
 Tower Above |
 Bench & Clouds |
 A Little Blue Sky |
 More Blue |
 Getting Better |
 Puget Sound |
 Tiger 3 In Sight |
 Tiger 1 Tower |
 Sun Shines On Bench |
 Cloud Show Improves |
 Tiger 3 & Lake |
 Great Lighting |
 Blue Sky Overhead |
 Big Trillium |
 Salmonberries |
 Mushrooms |
 Ruth's Cove |
 Bleeding Hearts |
 Sword Fern Land |
 Logs Cleared |
 New Memorial Bench |
Trips - 2023
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