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Hike of the Month 2007


TotemLake

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It was a great hike with great hiking companions! Snow was anywhere from scant to knee deep, but not enough of it to switch to snowshoes. It snowed most of the day on the trail. On the way back, the sun started to come out and turn everything into wet snow bombs and slush.

 

Sometime tomorrow, I'll compare tracks and see how much was done looking for caches.

Edited by TotemLake
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What a day for a hike and I almost didn't get out of bed this morning. I couldn't miss the hike so got up and got dressed and headed out. Every thing was turning out to be a great Hike of the Month until we turned around and started back down the trail. The sun came out just long enough to turn every thing to slush and it just sucked the heat right out of you. By the time we got down the hill and stopped to eat dinner we got some hot coffee and felt much better. I have never wanted a hot cup of coffee more in my life.

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What a day for a hike and I almost didn't get out of bed this morning. I couldn't miss the hike so got up and got dressed and headed out. Every thing was turning out to be a great Hike of the Month until we turned around and started back down the trail. The sun came out just long enough to turn every thing to slush and it just sucked the heat right out of you. By the time we got down the hill and stopped to eat dinner we got some hot coffee and felt much better. I have never wanted a hot cup of coffee more in my life.

 

I enjoyed meeting all of you and hope to hike with you again next month.

 

I was so cold when I got home and all my stuff was wet. I spread out the contents of my pack in front of our gas insert and my SO made me a hot cup of tea. Some of my stuff it still wet I might just have to put it all in the dryer.

 

Here is our track for the two caches I looked for (on max zoom) :

 

Water Emerges:

wateremerges.gif

 

Mikes Miracle and some wandering around the I or maybe just my GPS did (one trackpoint seems to be in the middle of the lake) at lunch rock.

 

mikeandlunchrock.gif

Edited by luckykoi
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I had a great time! I love the snow and did very well even if I sprained my ankle just a month ago. This hike also gave me a reason to try out my new El Diablo hiking staff. It was real helpful on the steeper portions.

 

Thanks for organizing this hike TotemLake. <_<

 

We did lots of wandering both on and off trail. I hope Totemlake emails me the photos of the birds eating from my hand and trying to get my sandwich right out of my mouth while I was eating it!

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Hey sorry you couldn't find that Water Emerges cache on the way to Lena Lake.

 

Let me tell you what I remember about it. It was on the west side of the creekbed-heading uphill, you cross the bridge first then scramble down to the creekbed. It was a small tupperware container- white I think. It was in a place that fit the hint- in the fork of a cedar tree- streamside of tree, just upstream from where the water emerges- although not quite in view of the outlet.

 

I'm not a very patient or thorough geohunter, and I found it pretty easily with the clue, so my sense is that it is gone if the group of you couldn't find it.

 

regrets...

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We're pretty sure we looked in the wrong spot. We didn't carefully read the cache description and made some assumptions. We walked away from it believing we missed something and couldn't figure it out until Ironman and I collaborated after the fact.

 

No worries though. It was all good even for a DNF. I did more scrambling around those rocks and trees than my age would have called good sense. :)

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Ressurecting an original suggestion for the year...

 

Stevens Pass; GCM1V2 - Skyline Lake and GCM1TX - Skyline View look tempting.

 

Targeted date is 3/24 with a meet up at the trailhead at 9 AM.

 

Bookmarked

 

Sounds Kewl.. I've not been up there ever. I always thought that highway 2 closed in the winter? If I can go I will want to carpool with someone, (I'll be coming from Shelton) but that can be worked out later.

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Ressurecting an original suggestion for the year...

 

Stevens Pass; GCM1V2 - Skyline Lake and GCM1TX - Skyline View look tempting.

 

Targeted date is 3/24 with a meet up at the trailhead at 9 AM.

 

Bookmarked

 

Sounds Kewl.. I've not been up there ever. I always thought that highway 2 closed in the winter? If I can go I will want to carpool with someone, (I'll be coming from Shelton) but that can be worked out later.

Looks open according to this web site. There aer some low impact events that are happening that might cause unavoidable delays.

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Ressurecting an original suggestion for the year...

 

Stevens Pass; GCM1V2 - Skyline Lake and GCM1TX - Skyline View look tempting.

 

Targeted date is 3/24 with a meet up at the trailhead at 9 AM.

 

Bookmarked

Sounds Kewl.. I've not been up there ever. I always thought that highway 2 closed in the winter? If I can go I will want to carpool with someone, (I'll be coming from Shelton) but that can be worked out later.

Hwy 2 is not closed in the winter; it's a major trans-Cascades route from the Wet Side to Wenatchee and points east. It has a large ski resort at Stevens Pass, not to mention a few snow caches like the ones TotemLake mentioned, which were placed in winter. Like I-90 over Snoqualmie, Hwy 2 can sometimes be temporarily closed in a big storm (usually around Stevens Pass), but only for hours or a day.

 

Perhaps you are thinking of Hwy 20, the North Cascades highway, which does indeed close in winter.

Edited by hydnsek
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Ressurecting an original suggestion for the year...

 

Stevens Pass; GCM1V2 - Skyline Lake and GCM1TX - Skyline View look tempting.

 

Targeted date is 3/24 with a meet up at the trailhead at 9 AM.

 

Bookmarked

Dang, you picked the one day with another caching event scheduled. I would love to go on this HOTM, since those caches are next on my snowshoe list, but I'm already committed to a team for the geo car rally.

Edited by hydnsek
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Ressurecting an original suggestion for the year...

 

Stevens Pass; GCM1V2 - Skyline Lake and GCM1TX - Skyline View look tempting.

 

Targeted date is 3/24 with a meet up at the trailhead at 9 AM.

 

Bookmarked

Dang, you picked the one day with another caching event scheduled. I would love to go on this HOTM, since those caches are next on my snowshoe list, but I'm already committed to a team for the geo car rally.

You mean I get to maybe find a cache before you? :D

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Ressurecting an original suggestion for the year...

 

Stevens Pass; GCM1V2 - Skyline Lake and GCM1TX - Skyline View look tempting.

 

Targeted date is 3/24 with a meet up at the trailhead at 9 AM.

 

Bookmarked

 

This looks like fun...may try to make this and get some use out of my MSR Ascents if schedule allows.

It would be very cool to see you again EGH! It's been a while!

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Ressurecting an original suggestion for the year...

 

Stevens Pass; GCM1V2 - Skyline Lake and GCM1TX - Skyline View look tempting.

 

Targeted date is 3/24 with a meet up at the trailhead at 9 AM.

 

Bookmarked

 

This looks like fun...may try to make this and get some use out of my MSR Ascents if schedule allows.

It would be very cool to see you again EGH! It's been a while!

 

Clarification... normal hike or snowshoe hike? KidAce is kinda out for snowshoe hikes.

 

cheers,

Poppa J

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Ressurecting an original suggestion for the year...

 

Stevens Pass; GCM1V2 - Skyline Lake and GCM1TX - Skyline View look tempting.

 

Targeted date is 3/24 with a meet up at the trailhead at 9 AM.

 

Bookmarked

 

This looks like fun...may try to make this and get some use out of my MSR Ascents if schedule allows.

It would be very cool to see you again EGH! It's been a while!

 

Clarification... normal hike or snowshoe hike? KidAce is kinda out for snowshoe hikes.

 

cheers,

Poppa J

As of this morning, 110" base at the bottom at Stevens Pass and 128" base at the top. It's all snowshoe. If it all melts, waterwings. :P

Edited by TotemLake
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Ressurecting an original suggestion for the year...

 

Stevens Pass; GCM1V2 - Skyline Lake and GCM1TX - Skyline View look tempting.

 

Targeted date is 3/24 with a meet up at the trailhead at 9 AM.

 

Bookmarked

 

This looks like fun...may try to make this and get some use out of my MSR Ascents if schedule allows.

It would be very cool to see you again EGH! It's been a while!

 

Clarification... normal hike or snowshoe hike? KidAce is kinda out for snowshoe hikes.

 

cheers,

Poppa J

As of this morning, 110" base at the bottom at Stevens Pass and 128" base at the top. It's all snowshoe. If it all melts, waterwings. :P

These are $35!

819480.jpg

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Ressurecting an original suggestion for the year...

 

Stevens Pass; GCM1V2 - Skyline Lake and GCM1TX - Skyline View look tempting.

 

Targeted date is 3/24 with a meet up at the trailhead at 9 AM.

 

Bookmarked

Good luck with finding those caches - Cache Ahead and I snowshoed up the steep slopes today and no joy at either cache. Just too much snow. I posted our DNF logs, with photos - we dug an 8-ft-deep trench at Skyline View and still couldn't reach the cache (we thought about filling it back in for you, but decided to give you a head start :rolleyes: ). Cache ahead had found them both before, and she and GeoRoo (cache owner) confirmed we were in the right spots.

 

I emailed GeoRoo, and his response: "There's an exceptional amount of snow this year, so I wouldn't think that either could be found."

 

Just thought I'd let ya know our experience, so you can come prepared - or choose another outing.

 

BTW, I would pay good money if you find the View cache and Crim signs my name (want photo proof!) and says I can claim a find for digging the ditch for him. (Knowing his feelings on this, I am sure my money is safe. :rolleyes: )

Link to comment

Ressurecting an original suggestion for the year...

 

Stevens Pass; GCM1V2 - Skyline Lake and GCM1TX - Skyline View look tempting.

 

Targeted date is 3/24 with a meet up at the trailhead at 9 AM.

 

Bookmarked

Good luck with finding those caches - Cache Ahead and I snowshoed up the steep slopes today and no joy at either cache. Just too much snow. I posted our DNF logs, with photos - we dug an 8-ft-deep trench at Skyline View and still couldn't reach the cache (we thought about filling it back in for you, but decided to give you a head start :P ). Cache ahead had found them both before, and she and GeoRoo (cache owner) confirmed we were in the right spots.

 

I emailed GeoRoo, and his response: "There's an exceptional amount of snow this year, so I wouldn't think that either could be found."

 

Just thought I'd let ya know our experience, so you can come prepared - or choose another outing.

 

BTW, I would pay good money if you find the View cache and Crim signs my name (want photo proof!) and says I can claim a find for digging the ditch for him. (Knowing his feelings on this, I am sure my money is safe. :lol: )

Yah I saw you couldn't resist getting up there before us. :rolleyes::lol:

 

Good logs and pics! That's one heck of a trench and a good start. We'll try to finish that up for y'all so you can come back and collect your find. :rolleyes::lol:

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Ressurecting an original suggestion for the year...

 

Stevens Pass; GCM1V2 - Skyline Lake and GCM1TX - Skyline View look tempting.

 

Targeted date is 3/24 with a meet up at the trailhead at 9 AM.

 

Bookmarked

Good luck with finding those caches - Cache Ahead and I snowshoed up the steep slopes today and no joy at either cache. Just too much snow. I posted our DNF logs, with photos - we dug an 8-ft-deep trench at Skyline View and still couldn't reach the cache (we thought about filling it back in for you, but decided to give you a head start :P ). Cache ahead had found them both before, and she and GeoRoo (cache owner) confirmed we were in the right spots.

 

I emailed GeoRoo, and his response: "There's an exceptional amount of snow this year, so I wouldn't think that either could be found."

 

Just thought I'd let ya know our experience, so you can come prepared - or choose another outing.

 

BTW, I would pay good money if you find the View cache and Crim signs my name (want photo proof!) and says I can claim a find for digging the ditch for him. (Knowing his feelings on this, I am sure my money is safe. :lol: )

Yah I saw you couldn't resist getting up there before us. :rolleyes::lol:

 

Good logs and pics! That's one heck of a trench and a good start. We'll try to finish that up for y'all so you can come back and collect your find. :rolleyes::lol:

I'll pack the metal detector, hopefully it's an ammo can.

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Ressurecting an original suggestion for the year...

 

Stevens Pass; GCM1V2 - Skyline Lake and GCM1TX - Skyline View look tempting.

 

Targeted date is 3/24 with a meet up at the trailhead at 9 AM.

 

Bookmarked

Bump.

 

Meet up time will be 9AM at the trailhead on Saturday as described from the Skyline Lake cache page:

Park at the NW side of the Stevens Pass ski area and find the gravel road that goes west past the ski cabins.
That's approximately N47° 44.769' W121° 5.393'. FRS channel 2 will be on.

 

It sounded like a fair group of maybe's; so if y'all can give a definite yes here, we'll know who to wait for.

Edited by TotemLake
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Does anyone have any intel for the trailhead and the road leading to it? If I can get the car in there, I can drive my car for the carpool. It gets better mileage than LR's Land Rover.

Either way my home coordinates are N47 20.086 W122 18.110.

Green house with the Land Rover and an Orange VDub in the driveway.

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Does anyone have any intel for the trailhead and the road leading to it? If I can get the car in there, I can drive my car for the carpool. It gets better mileage than LR's Land Rover.

If y'all are still doing the Skyline caches, then you park at Stevens Pass, north side parking lot. Same place the PCT takes off. It's a big lot. The Green Egg...Without Ham cache is there.

 

Be sure and get lots of pics of the snowduggery for the caches, so cache ahead and I can cache vicariously. :D

Edited by hydnsek
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Does anyone have any intel for the trailhead and the road leading to it? If I can get the car in there, I can drive my car for the carpool. It gets better mileage than LR's Land Rover.

Either way my home coordinates are N47 20.086 W122 18.110.

Green house with the Land Rover and an Orange VDub in the driveway.

OK, I'll be there at or around 0630 (isn't that a bit early fopr a 9am show?). We'll figure it out from there.

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Weather forecast makes this hike questionable today. Call me on my cell phone (edited) for backup plans. I'm still planning on heading out to Stevens Pass as a jump off point.

 

Jeff Renner's forecast last night which is being repeated this morning on KING5.

(edited)

Edited by TotemLake
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An eventful day starting off with waking up to my Jeep being stolen sometime last night. Reporting it to the KC Sheriff Dept, waiting for them to show up to sign some paperwork, to have Criminal and Landrover agree to picking me up to continue on with the march and THEY find the Jeep .3 mile from home.

 

I lost both my GPS receivers and all associated power adapters for all my electronics and all of my geocaching swag including coins that were given to me over the past year.

 

Get to the hike and the stress of the morning was too much for my back and I strain it a third of the way up. Fortunately, I had the good sense to turn back while the other guys continued up. My back is out. I barely have any lifting power in my legs right now.

 

All in all a very interesting day and eventful day.

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