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I am finally getting around to posting about my vacation which happened a couple weeks ago. For part of my vacation I visited the Enchantment Lakes once again. I know I go every year but I just can't get enough of the peace I feel sitting by a crystalline lake under a clear blue sky; Or just catching cuts from those crystal clear waters!
So I went to the Enchantments between September 6th and 10th this year. After my trip to the North Cascades (see previous post) I decided to run back down to Leavenworth and see if I could get a permit. I was surprised that so many people showed up at the morning lottery since it was a Wednesday. Fortunately, I took the ranger's advice, felt lucky, and drew the first name. This time I was lucky enough to get a permit.
Because I had been on the road for several days already, It took most of the morning to sort gear, buy food, and pack up for the trip, but I finally got on the trail between noon and 1. Even though I was tired from the previous day's N. Cascades dayhike I was able to hike to the upper end of upper Snow Lake where I set up camp for the first night. Snow lake was extremely low. It seems like every time I come here the lake is lower than before. If they don't stop draining if for the growing Leavenworth population, there won't be much of a lake left! Suffice it to say that the fish were few, small and uncatchable. The next day I huffed it up into the Enchantments only to find that my favorite campsite at Lake Vivianne was already taken! I set off in search of another favorite and ended up at Crystal Lake, wondering if everyone up there had a permit. Several people were fishing at the Crystal peninsula and a large group was at the good campsite. A person from the group even came over to grill me about my intentions immediately following my arrival. I grufly replied that I was going to get something to eat before deciding where I would camp and if I would stay at the lake. I really didn't want to hike back over to the main lakes, since I might not find a good site there either!
After catching a fish, loosing a fly and eating some food I packed up and hiked back over to the nearest large lake (I forget the name) where I setup camp on a knoll above the lake. I settled in to fishing here and really started to get into the 'enchanting' spirit. I had a great time that night, hanging out under the stars and watching the amazing moonrise on the granite. I truly felt like I had found my own personal paradise or shangri-la.
The morning of the 3rd day I woke up with an immediate and overwhelming urge to vacate my bowels (a nice way of saying I had to go!). I really didn't think anything about the diarrhea I had until later in the day when I started feeling terrible. I dayhiked over Prusik Pass and went exploring on the Lost World Plateau. I nearly found a back way around to the snow lakes trail below Nada Lake, but I turned back after travelling for quite some time off-trail. On my way back I thought I was suffering from heat exhaustion. After taking several rest breaks and stopping to treat some water (iodine) I finally made it back to my camp around 5 pm. I was in a world of hurt: throbbing headache, diarrhea, dizziness and an overwhelming fever. I suffered through that night, the next day and the following night, eating very little and wandering from my tent only far enough to open the proverbial flood gates!
It was an extreme relief on my final day, when I felt well enough to hike out. I have never been quite so sick, and especially not 10 miles from a trailhead. Boy was I glad to be back to my car and starting to feel better. After a doctor visit and some tests I find out later that I had a bacterial infection: camplyobacter. The doctor prescribed some antibiotics and I am now fully recovered, thank goodness. I think I may have picked it up when eating out in Winthrop, at the barbecue with Micah, or from the water at the Hart's Pass ranger station.
Although I had an amazing time up until I got sick, I still haven't decided if the beauty was worth the pain. I hope I never run into one of these debilitating bacteria (or parasites) again! But I can't wait to enjoy the beauty of the Enchantments again. I probably will have to go back soon, so that I can truly explore the Lost World Plateau. This area was nearly as awesome as the main enchantment lakes but almost completely unvisited!
On Labor day weekend (2006) I took a nice day hike with my friend Heather at the relatively relaxing Mt. Adams in SW Washington. At Heather's insistence we woke at 3 AM and were on the trail around 3:45. We had a great day plodding up the mainly volcanic scree covered slopes to the summit at over 12,000 feet.
I had forgotten that there is an old building on the summit leftover from some miners. It is unfortunate that those who came before, primarily my parent's and grandparent's generations, feel it is ok to just leave evidence (I'll call it garbage) of their passing. Why is it that so many people think it is just ok to leave their garbage, whether it be a candy wrapper or a mine shack out in the wilderness? It seems more than a little ironic and idiotic that the Forest Services requires visitors to pack out all garbage, including used toilet paper, but does nothing to require that resource users like the miners who left decades ago, pack out their garbage. This is to say nothing of the hypocrisy of the fee system. Now I pay $15 for the privilege of walking up a publicly owned mountain, whereas people who dig, mine and generally make a mess are still beholden to the 1872 mining law which requires a pittance in yearly fees to maintain a claim! I could go on and on, but I won't. Here are a few of the choice photos.
August 18-20, 2006
Last weekend I had an almost perfect and almost enchanting weekend in the mountains. I say it was almost enchanting because I was near the Enchantment Lakes Basin but actually in a completely different basin which has some of the same benefits: rocks, cold clear lakes and high alpine scenery. It was almost perfect because the weather was spectacular and the fishing was a blast, but my fish cooking didn't work out too well!
I went to Leavenworth with the intention of getting an Enchantments permit. Unfortunately I did not win the morning lottery so I had to pick a different destination. I decided to do a thru-hike into the Mormon Ladies Lakes. I started at the end of the Icicle Creek Road on the Icicle Creek Trail, hiked up Icicle Creek and French Creek then took a right on the trail to Frosty Pass. I passed Lake Margaret and ended up camping my first night at Lake Mary which is just past Frosty Pass.
The fish at Lake Mary were really fun to catch even though they were pretty small. I think the largest one may have been 8 to 10 inches (probably 8). These fish weren't afraid of anything. One nearly swam right up to my leg when I was wading in the lake!
On Saturday I continued on up over Mary Pass and dropped down to Upper Florence Lake. I also took a few minutes to run up the ridge near Mary Pass. I can't remember the name of the peak on the ridge but I decided not to go to the top as I didn't really feel like scrambing up the loose rock.
I dropped down to Upper Florence Lake and started to have some lunch. While eating I noticed that the fish were humongous (at least relative to those at Lake Mary). So I had to throw on a fly and try to catch them. It took awhile but I finally caught a whale of a cutthroat off a large boulder at the rock slide. Unfortunately, he slipped away after I de-hooked him as I was thinking about keeping him for dinner. I never quite figured out what these fish wanted to eat but I was able to catch a few (3 on Sat. and 1 on Sun) off a couple flies. These fish were challenging but really fun to catch since they were so large, especially for a high alpine lake. So I decided to stay at this lake on Saturday night and keep stalking the fish.
In the late afternoon when the fishing was really frustrating I took off on a great trail run over to the next lake, Lake Edna. Running on the wide open trails up on the ridges here was spectacular. It was even more fun with Dylan on the MP3 player! After my trail run I came back to the lake and finally landed a pan-size fish; a nice cutthroat of 12-14 inches. I kept him and quickly got to work cleaning and cooking him up for dinner. The gutting, cleaning and filleting didn't go so smoothly, primarily because I didn't know what I was doing and also because my knife was dull. But that was nothing compared to trying to fry the fish on top of my whisperlite. After a lot of burning I finally gave up on creating the perfect fish and just made sure it was over-cooked by setting the pan (lid) on top of a pot of boiling water. I ate most of the fish and a freeze-dried dinner as well.
On Sunday I hiked out passing Lake Edna, going over another pass and descending the Chatter Creek trail. I stopped at Lake Edna for a very cold skinny-dip before hurrying toward the car. On the way down Chatter Creek I met some other hikers: Jennie, Lindsay and Wendy along with Max and Heidi the dogs. After passing them I stopped on the trail for a snack and was surprised to hear loud scratching on a nearby tree. I looked over only to find that a bear cub was up a tree about 20 feet off the ground. Since I had no idea where mama bear was I quickly threw the food back in the pack and headed back up the trail. I waited with J, L, and W for a couple minutes before heading back past the spot where I saw the bear. Then amazingly, less than 5 minutes later I was startled by heavy crashing through the brush. I knew what it had to be. It was the mama bear. The only problem is that I had no idea if she was headed towards me or away from me so I backtracked quickly. After running into J, L, and W for the second time I set off down the trail which was now clear of bears.
An added bonus to the great weekend is that I went out to dinner with J, L, and W at Gustavs in Leavenworth. These three had spent a night up on Chatter Creek and had apparently had a pretty good time as well.
This year I couldn't run the White River 50 miler on July 29 so I decided to try and help out instead. I volunteered and was assigned to work at the Fawn Ridge aid station (mile 31.7). Like I have done on several other weekends this year I planned to save gas (money!) by going away for the whole weekend instead of taking two trips from home on saturday and sunday. So I planned on staying at White River after the race on Saturday evening and exploring in Mt. Rainier N.P. on Sunday. All went as planned except the weather kinda cooled things off a little.
On Saturday morning I got in a 10 to 11 mile run by running from the Fawn Ridge aid station up to the Sun Top lookout (aid station). I got back just in time to help setup the aid station and before long the front-runners came breezing through the station. Mike Wolfe was in the lead by 2 or 3 minutes and went on to hold onto the lead for the win. He had a pretty impressive race, but I couldn't help but be a little more impressed with his fashion style. He was wearing a snap-button down shirt! I have virtually no fashion sense but for some reason this shirt just seemed to be cool (both figuratively and literally) for the occasion. Here is a very fuzzy photo of Mike.
Unfortunately, I got bamboozled into following one of the runners over halfway to the next aid station. This particular runner, who I won't name, came into our aid station in a slightly disoriented and panicked state and requested that someone go with her because she was worried for her safety. She went on to explain she had a rough patch in the same area when running the race the year before. She had already vomited several times and appeared to be likely to collapse anytime. So without thinking too much about the alternatives I followed her up the trail and ended up running/hiking maybe 3.5 miles with her before I finally refused her pleas that I continue and I turned around. I did not provide aid to her or support her run when on the course. When I made it back to the station I was informed that she had done something similar the previous year. I understand that she made it to the Skookum Flats aid station before she dropped or was pulled from the race. I learned my lesson. I don't plan on following a runner out of an aid station in the future unless absolutely necessary. Next time I will insist that they drop if the feel that they cannot continue without support. In my opinion, an important part of the ultra-racing is that a person understand themselves and their limits. The trick is to keep expanding your limits in terms of endurance, speed, distance and fun without putting yourself into a bad state from which you won't recover. It is an individual sport and as much a race inside your mind as it is on the trail. So for those reasons I think the runner has to take on total responsibility for themselves between aid stations, if not during the entire race.
Anyway, I had a great time seeing lots of runners I know and hanging out with some great characters. In fact I found, Ultrarunner and Race Director extraordinaire, James Varner, lounging in my chair when I returned to the aid station. He had decided to drop since things didn't seem to be going right on that day. It takes a smart ultrarunner to stop before truly hurting themselves. I have learned this the hard way considering that my current injuries are likely the result of over-training and continuing when I should have stopped in my last race. I got to see and talk to quite a few running friends and meet some of the finest runners in the NW if not the country. I had fun even though I wasn't running!
On Sunday I woke up to a slightly wet and gray morning so I chose to take it easy and do a roughly 8 to 10 mile loop hike/run in Mt. Rainier. I went up the Glacier Basin trail, climbed up the Burroughs Mtn. trail and traversed over near Sunrise before dropping back down to the White River campground on the Wonderland trail. I didn't get any real views of the mountain but I did get a little bit of solitude on some sections of a trail which is usually packed with people (touristas). I have got to get back there and run the entire Wonderland trail! Here I am sitting in a rock chair on top of Second Burroughs.
I have finally recovered from most of the mosquito and fly bites I received on the weekend of July 22-23, 2006. Or at least I have recovered enough to post this bit of commentary on a wonderful weekend at Cougar Lakes, just East of Mt. Rainier.
I was guided by two intrepid explorers from a place they called Walla Walla. Last I heard this was somewhere near Bugs Bunny's home and was full of sweet onions. Anyway, these two, 'Brielle and Beezer, we'll call them B+B for short led me into one of the horsiest, hottest, bug-infested wildernesses I have ever seen. I had a FANTASTIC time!!
Actually I was a little worried when I arrived at the trailhead on Friday evening and promptly was bitten by at least 5 skeeters before I had even opened my first beer! But I made it through that first hot and buggy night by convincing myself that if I turned off the lights the bugs couldn't see me and they would just go away. At some point during the middle of the night they did go away or at least take a short nap.
On Saturday we hiked up to Cougar Lakes and were pleasantly surprised to find slightly fewer bugs at the higher elevations. We did however meet several large stinky animals which carried some lazy wilderness visitors. When passing Swamp Lake on the way to our destination, the stinky animals became quite agitated at the sight of Mr. Beezer. I can only presume it was due to his fondness for trail apples. On several occassions he reminded us that the smell of horse excrement made him hungry! I was afraid to ask if eating the horseshit would satisfy his hunger.
We found a nice secluded camp near the beach at the larger of the two Cougar Lakes. From here we set about trying to catch the fabled wild mountain trout with our fly rods. That evening I caught one 6-7 inch Brookie and Beezer caught two large minnows (5-inchers) before it became too dark to fish. During the afternoon on Saturday, while my inexhaustible guides slept, I ran up to the top of the ridge near the lakes and got an awesome view of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. I nearly made it to the Pacific Crest Trail before I turned around so that I could make it back in time to wake up the guides for dinner.
On Sunday we spent a lot of time wading into the lake and swatting the air with our fly rods, but didn't have much luck with the fishing. We got a little sun and did a little bit of bathing or wading in the cool clear waters before heading back down the dusty stinky trail. I had a great time on this trip but am still wondering if the B+B guide service is not just a front for a minnow-poaching horseshit-eating couple of onion smugglers. I have posted some of the photos here. You be the judge.
On Sat. July 8 I planned on hiking to Lake Byrne which is near Glacier Peak. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the White Chuck River road had been washed out at least a few years ago! So when I arrived at the road washout, at 1.7 miles from the road beginning, I was a little pissed to say the least. The trailhead is at 10 miles from the road beginning!
Because I got there at the relatively early time of 8:20 AM I decided to try and make it to Kennedy Hot Springs which is at around 5 or 5.5 miles from the beginning of the trail. This means that a total round-trip distance of 26 to 27 miles would need to be covered.
So I took off running up the old road. The road was washed out at two locations in the first couple of miles but was in relatively good condition all the way to the trailhead. In fact the road was actually pleasant as the area does not appear to get many visitors, the forest was lush and the river rumbling could be heard at all times. The first mile of the trail was relatively nice if not a little over-grown in spots but thereafter the route became downright challenging and dangerous. I counted 11 landslides which I had to either skirt around in the riverbed or climb up and over. A few of the slide areas were a little nervewracking to cross below as rocks were heard falling! I made it to the confluence of Kennedy Creek and the White Chuck River only to find that most of the manmade structures and the trail had been obliterated by the river. I found the remnants of a camp area and a toilet (wallowa) after crossing Kennedy but I couldn't find a way to cross the White Chuck River to get to the hot springs. Besides I was worn out and it was already 2 pm, so I started back. I found an interesting cache near the Kennedy creek camp area: A USFS owned First Aid kit and backpack stored in a bucket. It appears that this is all that is left of the USFS patrol cabin which reportadly was located near here. I ran back to the car, pleading with my left groin adductor not to give up until I made it back.
Besides the fun of the trip and the beautiful scenery an added bonus is that I think I figured out the cause of my injury. The groin pain or tendinitis must have developed due to the metatarsal pads and superfeet insoles which I have been wearing. It may even be partly due to my trail shoes which don't provide nearly as much support as my road shoes. So, although, I have a long road to recovery, at least I think I have a clue as to how to overcome the injury. I was able to overcome the adductor pain by adjusting my gait as I ran. This is what led me to think that the pads and insole were causing an unusual stride which may have in turn led to the groin tendinitis.
I am betting that the White Chuck Road will never be repaired, unless a timber sale goes through. That road will never be repaired or re-routed for the sake of hikers or wilderness enthusiasts. Unfortunately this is not me being cynical. This statement is just based on reality. At least now I know where to go to get some solitude!
