GC1169 Question

[+QW1RKY]

I'm coming to Seattle July 11-14 and I plan on going to HQ but I'm also doing the GC1169 Tunnel of Light hike. Which trailhead would you recommend for a non-hiker? Can you buy your day pass, Discover pass or whatever is needed for either trailhead at REI in Bellevue? Or can a taxi take me there and skip all that pass business?

[+Mineral2]

I think there are shuttles that will take you up to the pass, but I don't know how much they cost. If you are planning to rent a car anyway, then it's probably not worth the extra cost of the shuttle.

The coolest way to experience the trail is to park at the pass and go through the tunnel. The tunnel is over 2 miles long, though, which means you could be walking under the mountain for about an hour each way. You could also look into renting bicycles and riding the trail to the cache and back - or taking a shuttle to the pass and riding the trail back into the Seattle metro area.

[+QW1RKY]

Is the cache located in the tunnel? I don't think I want to rent bicycles for the trail. So do people normally go all the way through the tunnel or do they get the cache and then just turn around and go back? I don't think I understand how this cache works.

 

Anyone want to take the hike with us? We're from Texas and don't have hiking trails like this one nor have I hiked this long before. Am I over my head for wanting to get this cache?

[+Mineral2]

The cache is on the other side of the tunnel, and the trail is actually a rail bed converted to a bike trail. 

As per the description of each hike on the cache page, hiking through the tunnel is 6 miles round trip, but with minimal elevation gain/loss.
The other trailhead will be a 4 miles round trip hike, climbing about 575 feet up. That's not really too bad, but if you have any aprehensions about elevation, take the tunnel route. There are other caches to find on the way. You'll just need some flashlights or headlamps and a jacket for the tunnel.

 

[+hydnsek]

OK, I'm late to the party but: What Mineral2 said. The APE cache is called "Mission 9: Tunnel of Light" for a reason: the Snoqualmie Tunnel, which is a cool (literally and figuratively) 2.25-mile flat hike through an awesome railroad tunnel, now part of the Iron Horse Trail. Not many of those around! No, the cache is not in the tunnel (altho there is a cache inside).

 

This is a super-easy cache for anyone who can walk on flat ground six miles, and you can stop for lunch or snacks along the way. Thousands of people have done it, many who never hike at all otherwise. 

 

Best approach is to park at the Hyak parking lot of Iron Horse State Park (exit 54 off I-90, same place as the coords for the Going APE mega, which you can look up). It is a six-mile round trip to the APE cache, but it's a wide, flat gravel trail. It's most fun (and fastest) on a bike, but YMMV.  Bring a jacket and flashlight for the tunnel (internal temp's in the 50s, even if it's 80 outside). There are several other caches along the way, including one in the tunnel and one of the oldest in Washington outside the western portal.

 

Route: Park at Hyak, go 0.25 mile on the trail to the tunnel entrance, go 2.25 miles through the tunnel, then 0.5 mile on trail to the APE cache (impossible to miss). Repeat backwards. You'll need a Discover day pass, which you can get online or at any REI, Big 5, or the Shell gas station in North Bend, among other spots. The other option is to park at Annette Lake trailhead (exit 47 off I-90), and then climb up that trail to the intersection with the Iron Horse trail and go left (east) to the APE cache. Nearly the same distance either way, but one has significant climb and the other doesn't. (If you have two cars, you could through-hike from Hyak to Annette Lake TH, which would be downhill the entire way.)

 

Many folks think the tunnel + APE cache is a highlight of their caching careers. Have fun!

Edited July 13, 2018 by hydnsek