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Hike Of The Month 2012

TotemLake

By TotemLake
in Northwest

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lamoracke

+lamoracke

Posted
Posted

I believe the HOTM hikes are welcome to all, but I won't officially speak for Totem Lake, but its been clear anyone is welcome to me reading all the posts over the year(s). If nothing else, you can join our group if they are faster than us.

 

If you read the logs on GCD (I would recommend this), you will see how long some folks took. The ascent will take about 90 minutes to 2 1/2 hours I would say. The way down about an hour. You can't be much slower than my group will be, I can't speak for the HOTM folks.

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

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These hikes are open to all and as Lamoracke pointed out, the time varies. I'm typically the slowest of the group but if not, I don't leave anyone on the trail alone unless I can trust their skill set.

 

Lamoracke, I will need a head count of your group please if you want to be officially in the HOTM.

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

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Thanks. For those not in the know, I traditionally hand out a signature item at the beginning of the hike and custom make them for each hike. No two are alike. If you have received ten of these from me, then you will be eligible for a custom made signature item as a charter member of the HOTM.

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hydnsek

+hydnsek

Posted
Posted (edited)

Next hike is to GCD on the 19th at 6AM to accomodate the timing of WSGA's event at the Ape cache. Other obligations and events have eaten up the other opportunities.

 

We'll meet up at 6AM with a hike time of 6:30.

 

It looks like the trail starts at

N47° 22.1076'

W121° 21.1112'

 

which indicates the road may be closed off from that point, but I have no problem with shortening the hike down if we can get closer.

I'm sending interested folks your way, although I'm a little confused on the start point. Are you meeting at the Mount Margaret trailhead, which is where this cache is? There's a parking lot, and might be the best gathering point. (Sorry, I don't quite grok your coordinate format.) From there, the hike to GCD is 2 miles each way, with 1600 ft of elevation gain going in.

 

For Going APE attendees who are early risers, the good news is that GCD is accessed from the same I-90 exit as the APE event (exit 54, Hyak) and you can auto-route to the trailhead cache, which is a few miles up forest roads.

Edited by hydnsek
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TotemLake

+TotemLake

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Posted (edited)

Next hike is to GCD on the 19th at 6AM to accomodate the timing of WSGA's event at the Ape cache. Other obligations and events have eaten up the other opportunities.

 

We'll meet up at 6AM with a hike time of 6:30.

 

It looks like the trail starts at

N47° 22.1076'

W121° 21.1112'

 

which indicates the road may be closed off from that point, but I have no problem with shortening the hike down if we can get closer.

I'm sending interested folks your way, although I'm a little confused on the start point. Are you meeting at the Mount Margaret trailhead, which is where this cache is? There's a parking lot, and might be the best gathering point. (Sorry, I don't quite grok your coordinate format.) From there, the hike to GCD is 2 miles each way, with 1600 ft of elevation gain going in.

 

For Going APE attendees who are early risers, the good news is that GCD is accessed from the same I-90 exit as the APE event (exit 54, Hyak) and you can auto-route to the trailhead cache, which is a few miles up forest roads.

DeLorme takes the coordinates to 4 decimals. Just drop off or round the last number. It's a matter of 6 feet either way.

 

The coordinates are where NWT showed the trail to be. I didn't know there was a different location adding to the distance in. Is it safe to assume the road is gated at that point?

Edited by TotemLake
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TotemLake

+TotemLake

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I'm not sure if you need a head count but I have wanted to get this cache while in the area so I would love to join up with your group taking this hike on Sunday morning. Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Excellent. Looking forward to meeting you.

 

For now, let's all meet at N 47° 21.835 W 121° 21.494 where the Mt. Margaret Trail Head cache is at.

 

Speaking of which, Abbey, how many people have inquired? I'd hate to be caught short.

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Mr&Mrs 4RFUN

+Mr&Mrs 4RFUN

Posted
Posted

We (2) are coming from Salem and have no information of the area. Saw this post on ape event this am. Sounds fun. But wondered how long the total trip will be for middle aged beginner hikers? Also is this the shortest route or is there a shorter way? The cords stated for meeting place is this by the ape event? How is parking? Any other info we need? On iPhone so can't see much at a time. Thanks

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lamoracke

+lamoracke

Posted
Posted

the trailhead and the place you want to route to for parking is the Prying Pandora cache Mt Margaret Trailhead.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC1GMZN

 

There is only one obvious way to GCD, well, at least to the point where its less than 500 feet to go. Its a very easy trail to follow (assuming not snow which is not now). As far as time goes, I would recommend you read the past logs, they give an indication of speed. When I went there it took us 2 1/2 hours but a lot of that was DNFing all the caches on the way. There are not as many now (though we may replace one if not two of them), so that should help on the time. I would say a little over 2 hours on average. The way down, much quicker. 3 to 3 1/2 hours is what I expect the time to be, round trip.

 

Some folks are much faster up than me though. I am middle aged and not an expert hiker either, but have done this trail. I got my bug spray, water, and am ready to go.

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LandRover

+LandRover

Posted
Posted

We (2) are coming from Salem and have no information of the area. Saw this post on ape event this am. Sounds fun. But wondered how long the total trip will be for middle aged beginner hikers? Also is this the shortest route or is there a shorter way? The cords stated for meeting place is this by the ape event? How is parking? Any other info we need? On iPhone so can't see much at a time. Thanks

 

There is a shorter way but it's not for the faint of heart or the family Prius. You can park just below Wonkatania or Living on the Edge and bushwack your way straight up the hill, but again not for the faint of heart and the road is not for the family sedan.

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hydnsek

+hydnsek

Posted
Posted

For now, let's all meet at N 47° 21.835 W 121° 21.494 where the Mt. Margaret Trail Head cache is at.

 

Speaking of which, Abbey, how many people have inquired? I'd hate to be caught short.

I don't know if the road is gated further up, but there isn't any parking, esp for a group. The Mt Margaret TH is probably your best rendezvous point, as you've noted.

 

I didn't keep count of who inquired across the event page, email, and Facebook. Some folks who inquired have posted here now, but you might have a dozen extra goodies (or not).

 

Have fun!

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B+L

+B+L

Posted
Posted

There is a shorter way but it's not for the faint of heart or the family Prius. You can park just below Wonkatania or Living on the Edge and bushwack your way straight up the hill, but again not for the faint of heart and the road is not for the family sedan.

Shorter is going to be much slower. Take the Mt. Margaret trail from the trailhead to the ridge top where there is a signed junction. Left goes to Mt. Margaret and Lake Lillian. Straight ahead to Margaret Lake. To the right is a fainter boot path along the ridge that goes towards the cache. Some people start bushwhacking when they get directly below the cache, but it's not saving them any time.

 

Bring plenty of water.

 

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AHAA57

+AHAA57

Posted
Posted

Looking to do the hike Sunday am. Can you send Coors for trail head? We plan on attending ape tunnel of light parking in forest service area. Also probably camp out nearby Saturday after leaving the block party. Pls email us not familiar with area from out of town.thx

Ahaa57

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

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Posted (edited)

Looking to do the hike Sunday am. Can you send Coors for trail head? We plan on attending ape tunnel of light parking in forest service area. Also probably camp out nearby Saturday after leaving the block party. Pls email us not familiar with area from out of town.thx

Ahaa57

 

Sorry for the late response. Coords to meet at 6AM were posted above your post but they are:

 

N 47° 21.835 W 121° 21.494

 

with boots on trail at 6:30

 

Hope to see you there!

 

PM also sent.

 

TL

Edited by TotemLake
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TotemLake

+TotemLake

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Posted

My car is in the shop until October. There will be no HOTM by me for September. If anybody else wants to initiate one, please feel free.

 

That's what car pools are for!

 

Maybe we can plan a hike to go check on Shaddow's caches. :)

I'm liking this idea. I'd like to make a first for the HOTM series and call this a cache maintenance run for the hiders that made this Hike of the Month event possible all these years.

 

I also have the OK to borrow my wife's Subaru which is a tough little car but I'll have to take it easy on it as the solo vehicle. So here's the sketch:

 

Let's plan for the 29th and build a list of the high risk caches we need to focus on. It looks like we have a tentative OK from Shaddow to check on his caches and I'll point him to this thread to give us the nod. Other caches we'll need to get the CO's OK prior to taking them on so we don't step on any toes.

 

Start Time to be determined by Wednesday next week after we know how many caches we'll be going after. This could be a long day.

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_Shaddow_

+_Shaddow_

Posted
Posted

My car is in the shop until October. There will be no HOTM by me for September. If anybody else wants to initiate one, please feel free.

 

That's what car pools are for!

 

Maybe we can plan a hike to go check on Shaddow's caches. :)

I'm liking this idea. I'd like to make a first for the HOTM series and call this a cache maintenance run for the hiders that made this Hike of the Month event possible all these years.

 

I also have the OK to borrow my wife's Subaru which is a tough little car but I'll have to take it easy on it as the solo vehicle. So here's the sketch:

 

Let's plan for the 29th and build a list of the high risk caches we need to focus on. It looks like we have a tentative OK from Shaddow to check on his caches and I'll point him to this thread to give us the nod. Other caches we'll need to get the CO's OK prior to taking them on so we don't step on any toes.

 

Start Time to be determined by Wednesday next week after we know how many caches we'll be going after. This could be a long day.

 

The answer would be a grateful yes though I've archived all three affected caches. Two I'm thinking about seeing if I can bring back but not 100% decided on that yet, those would be the two PCT Trailhead caches both which are minutes from the respective parking areas so won't make much of a hike anyway.

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_Shaddow_

+_Shaddow_

Posted
Posted

PCT Point of Entry Snoqualmie Pass North

PCT Point of Entry Snoqualmie Pass South

 

I'm going to try and bring these back, people really like these because they can say that they were on the PCT while visiting WA State. If I do, and then you do, I could get you loaded containers ready to go and figure out how to get them to you. I do live in Totem Lake after all...

 

Maybe you guys might consider a summer run on Halfway To Kendall Katwalk? Though I placed it so it can be found in the winter and mentioned it in the description, that one was never intended to be a snowshoe cache, it's just that I noticed a lot of people like to shoe the general area and thought I'd make all the caches I placed up here available for winter finds. It has been quite a 'fun' one though hasn't it?!

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

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Yup, that one has been a challenge and I was looking forward to tackling it again this year on snowshoes, but we can easily make a run to it while the weather holds out for us. A PM has been sent for a possible meet up. There's a nearby dollar store I can use to help stock the cache and I do have a little something something for a first to find the replacement.

 

Cheers!

 

TL

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_Shaddow_

+_Shaddow_

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Posted

Yup, that one has been a challenge and I was looking forward to tackling it again this year on snowshoes, but we can easily make a run to it while the weather holds out for us. A PM has been sent for a possible meet up. There's a nearby dollar store I can use to help stock the cache and I do have a little something something for a first to find the replacement.

 

Cheers!

 

TL

 

I'd like to see you get it on shoes, you've definitely earned it

 

Thanks TL, I'll be sure to return the favor or pass along the karma

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

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Thanks, Shaddow. I always ask to pass the Karma forward.

 

I have two lock n locks filled with goodies and an unactivated SuperChips TB in each as the First to Find Replacement prize and I'll post here when both caches are placed so you can create a new page for them if the reviewers won't let you reactivate the old. I'd suggest you start making your case now so you have time if you need it.

 

I'll be at the parking lot of PCT Point of Entry Snoqualmie Pass South by 7AM on Satuday the 29th, to replace the cache, then I'll find my way to the parking lot of PCT Point of Entry Snoqualmie Pass North, between 7:30-8:00AM to be ready for the hike and replace the cache there. I haven't seen this part of the trail without snow, so it should be an interesting journey.

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_Shaddow_

+_Shaddow_

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Posted

Thanks, Shaddow. I always ask to pass the Karma forward.

 

I have two lock n locks filled with goodies and an unactivated SuperChips TB in each as the First to Find Replacement prize and I'll post here when both caches are placed so you can create a new page for them if the reviewers won't let you reactivate the old. I'd suggest you start making your case now so you have time if you need it.

 

I'll be at the parking lot of PCT Point of Entry Snoqualmie Pass South by 7AM on Satuday the 29th, to replace the cache, then I'll find my way to the parking lot of PCT Point of Entry Snoqualmie Pass North, between 7:30-8:00AM to be ready for the hike and replace the cache there. I haven't seen this part of the trail without snow, so it should be an interesting journey.

 

Excellent thank you. I've sent a request to RockRabbit asking to unarchive both of them. BTW for the south cache, I'm open to a new nearby location if you find a better one (though on the north I like the location and it's one that would allow snow finds)

 

FYI that logs on my halfway cache say that there is a lot of blow down on right to the cache, the old 'easy' way, so probably best to hit it directly from the trail below. Have fun!

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

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South is placed 20 feet from original location 100 avg coordinates are N25.628 W25.324 new hint suggested look for young with old uphill side.

North is placed where hint is described and my coordinates match, but this not where we located the cache on the first snowshoe hike. O checked to be sure the cache wasn't still there. The hole is empty. Found a spot that looked obvious but risked exposure from bend on trail. Cache is placed with no exposure based on current hint.

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