Day 3
Day 3
We were up by 6:00 am and ready for breakfast. It always takes longer than expected to get packed up and ready to go. We were set by 7:13 am. The trail starts with the 360' climb out of the basin. After that it was downhill. We took advantage of the never ending supply of ripe berries. it is unlikely we will see this many berries for a long time. High bush blueberries, low bush, and dark huckleberries were all plentiful. We had some good views to the west. Looking back to Glacier Peak in the few places we saw it showed a very hazy peak. The berry picking did add a lot of time but we had a lot of time. We reached the junction with the Meadow Lake Trail and we turned right and began to descend. Most of the slick spots were on this .70 miles trail section. We reached Meadow Lake at 9:16 am. It was time for another break. It was already warm and humid. The humidity was worse than the heat. Now we just had to follow the outlet creek a short way and go up the steep 400' of way trail.
The uphill was not too bad as there are switchbacks most of the way, At the big lot across the trail we were able to get over it rather than crawl under. That saved us time and energy. At the top we had another food and water break. Now we just had the 700' steep descent. We were concerned about slipping with heavy backpacks on. It was not as slick as we recalled from the ascent. We went pretty slow but nobody slipped. Near the bottom there were several flat deep mud pits. Nobody dunked a boot in deep. We popped out at Crystal Lake 59 minutes after leaving Meadow Lake. Now we just had a normal gently graded trail back to the trailhead. At the lake we saw someone fishing on the opposite side of the lake. We did not come close but that was the fifth and last person we saw over three days. That's not bad for a sunny summer weekend. the route around the lake was in sunshine. After crossing the outlet it was time to go back into the shady forest.
On the hike back I noticed some queen's cup bright blue berries. There were some tall pinedrop saprophytes and some coralroot. There were definitely more ups that I recalled as downs on the way in. One big log was passable on the downhill side. Otherwise, it was just a nice forest walk back to the trailhead. We dropped to the road and walked back to the car, arriving at 12:00 noon. The car was in the sunshine but I was able to back up into the shade. With no side trips, our stats for the day were 6.12 miles and 1230' of gain. With some walking around Owl Creek Basin our totals for the trip were 19 miles with 5500' of elevation gain. Those are low for a three day backpacking trip but the views, ripe berries, and near total solitude more than made up for it. As warm as it was in the sunshine it was much worse back in Seattle.
The drive home was pretty easy. It was in the upper 80s most of the way. Traffic was not bad, even on I-5 through Everett. It was a very nice 80 degrees in Edmonds by the water where I left Gary and John but 88 degrees in North Seattle at home. We all recalled the fantastic views and flowers on our 2019 trip to Meadow Mountain. We homed to have clear views again and perhaps more solitude with the normal White Chuck Road access closed to cars. Both of those wishes came true. It was a terrific trip to high mountain views.
We were up by 6:00 am and ready for breakfast. It always takes longer than expected to get packed up and ready to go. We were set by 7:13 am. The trail starts with the 360' climb out of the basin. After that it was downhill. We took advantage of the never ending supply of ripe berries. it is unlikely we will see this many berries for a long time. High bush blueberries, low bush, and dark huckleberries were all plentiful. We had some good views to the west. Looking back to Glacier Peak in the few places we saw it showed a very hazy peak. The berry picking did add a lot of time but we had a lot of time. We reached the junction with the Meadow Lake Trail and we turned right and began to descend. Most of the slick spots were on this .70 miles trail section. We reached Meadow Lake at 9:16 am. It was time for another break. It was already warm and humid. The humidity was worse than the heat. Now we just had to follow the outlet creek a short way and go up the steep 400' of way trail.
The uphill was not too bad as there are switchbacks most of the way, At the big lot across the trail we were able to get over it rather than crawl under. That saved us time and energy. At the top we had another food and water break. Now we just had the 700' steep descent. We were concerned about slipping with heavy backpacks on. It was not as slick as we recalled from the ascent. We went pretty slow but nobody slipped. Near the bottom there were several flat deep mud pits. Nobody dunked a boot in deep. We popped out at Crystal Lake 59 minutes after leaving Meadow Lake. Now we just had a normal gently graded trail back to the trailhead. At the lake we saw someone fishing on the opposite side of the lake. We did not come close but that was the fifth and last person we saw over three days. That's not bad for a sunny summer weekend. the route around the lake was in sunshine. After crossing the outlet it was time to go back into the shady forest.
On the hike back I noticed some queen's cup bright blue berries. There were some tall pinedrop saprophytes and some coralroot. There were definitely more ups that I recalled as downs on the way in. One big log was passable on the downhill side. Otherwise, it was just a nice forest walk back to the trailhead. We dropped to the road and walked back to the car, arriving at 12:00 noon. The car was in the sunshine but I was able to back up into the shade. With no side trips, our stats for the day were 6.12 miles and 1230' of gain. With some walking around Owl Creek Basin our totals for the trip were 19 miles with 5500' of elevation gain. Those are low for a three day backpacking trip but the views, ripe berries, and near total solitude more than made up for it. As warm as it was in the sunshine it was much worse back in Seattle.
The drive home was pretty easy. It was in the upper 80s most of the way. Traffic was not bad, even on I-5 through Everett. It was a very nice 80 degrees in Edmonds by the water where I left Gary and John but 88 degrees in North Seattle at home. We all recalled the fantastic views and flowers on our 2019 trip to Meadow Mountain. We homed to have clear views again and perhaps more solitude with the normal White Chuck Road access closed to cars. Both of those wishes came true. It was a terrific trip to high mountain views.
 Leaving Owl Creek |
 Hazy Glacier Peak |
 Circle Peak |
 John Shoots Pugh |
 Sun And Shade |
 Long Berry Eating Stop |
 Framed Mt. Pugh |
 Lots Of Berries! |
 Lost Creek Ridge |
 Photo Time Again |
 Another Meadow |
 Fringed Grass Of Parnassus |
 Another Big Mushroom |
 Boulder Field Near Lake |
 Meadow Lake |
 John's Log |
 Meadow Below Lake |
 Cliff & Boulders |
 Starting Up Path |
 On Ridge Top |
 Over A Log |
 More Downhill |
 Crystal Lake In Sight |
 Back To Crystal Lake |
 Small Island |
 Big Cut Logs |
 Another Log |
 On The Boardwalk |
 Pinedrop |
 Narrow Section |
 Trail Register |
 Back At The Start |
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