One of my long ago "lessons learned" was to avoid driving north on I-5 through Olympia/Tacoma on the end of a weekend - so I could only imagine Memorial Day traffic was to be avoided at ALL costs.For this reason, after Janet and I finished our Soda Lake trip, her husband met us in Carson to drive her back to Portland so I could continue east along the Gorge to make the long loop back via Hwy 97 to Yakima and across to I-90 and eventually up to my home in Skagit Valley. I was hoping to hit the famous Dog Mountain to see the balsamroot, but the permit God's had not favored me. |
I found one patch of balsamroot ha ha |
Janet recommended a lesser-known trail that is also right off of Hwy 14, and even though I had to double back because Google was confused, I couldn't resist giving it a go. I was a little surprised by the very large (and mostly full) lot, being as I thought this was more of a "hidden gem." It doesn't look like much of anything from the road, that is for sure.
I also was not expecting another unrelenting incline (a little over a thousand feet--most of it all at once) and after the near three thousand gain at Soda Peaks Lake (also all at once) I was pretty sure I was going to wimp out quickly. But the sun felt so nice, and the views kept pulling me upward.
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Up and up |
This trail boasts 6.5 miles of wandering can be done - though I am sure I didn't even do half of that. It's a shame I didn't have the time or energy to finish, since I had got through most of the hard part. But even with my knees screaming at me on the way down, I was still glad I squeezed in what I could.The drive home was LONG, but peaceful and beautiful; plus, it was lacking ANY stop and go like I-5 was sure to have. (Though I did have to stop in Ellensburg for about an hour to let the back up on I-90 calm down.) Descending into Mount Vernon at last and exhausted from a full day of driving, it was fun to remind myself that I had walked that entire distance (and then some!) on the PCT. With my knees getting more and more grumpy, I'm not sure how many more long distance hikes I have in me. But that's okay...I'll just keep doing what I can, while I can. Happy "bonus hike" trails!
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