Getting Out

In between visiting, beer drinking, and digging clams (more to come on that later), it seemed that a good way to enjoy my time back in the Emerald City was to get out of the Emerald City. And so, with borrowed dogs, car, and hiking partner, I set off for a day in the Cascades. It's been a few years since I had done Lake 22, but remembered it being a pretty good early season hike, with lingering snow and some nice flowers...I apparently failed to remember that it had stunning views (I think it may have been foggy/cloudy the last time I was there). And at 2.7 miles and 1,500' up to the low-elevation (2,400') tarn, it's a good bang for your buck--always a plus, given finite time. The area is right below Mt. Pilchuck, one of my favorite easily accessible Cascade day hikes, but being nestled into the side of Pilchuck, Lake 22 affords an earlier approach. That being said we still found plenty of snow!

The area was set aside in the 1940s for research, so the trees are big and the forest looks more like the Olympics than the Cascades, with lots of grand Bigleaf Maples (Acer macrophyllum), ferns, and lots of moss. The first 2 miles are all forested and we were lucky that the bugs didn't find us and that there was plenty of fresh water for the dogs to slurp up! We missed the trillium by a bit, so only saw leaves, but there were some other wildflowers that were starting to show their little heads. As we approached the lake, the snow got pretty thick and I was grateful for my loaner hiking poles, given the lack of tread on my shoes! It was warm and there was a lot of melting going on, so some of the snow bridges resulted in a pole poke, a soft step, and crossed fingers hoping they would hold...kept it exciting! Twenty-two Creek was beautiful, with snow still along the banks, the striations showing off layers of winter accumulation.

As we sat at the Lake and enjoyed lunch and a Simpler Times, we saw small avalanches tumbling down from Pilchuck's flanks. Even at the great distance we were at, the sound was incredibly loud, like thunder claps and then rumbles. We sat in the sun for a while watching the spazzy pup chase snowballs, and then decided to make our way back down. As we rounded the first corner we heard a huge crash and realized we got up 2 minutes too soon and missed a huge show! Oh well. It was a beautiful day to be out enjoying a hike, with a view of some real mountains!

The Salty Dog's arch nemesis, Stella. SD would have liked the hike, but not the airplane to get here!