Green Lake

My first visit to Washington State was in the summer of 1992 and I spent a week with my best friend staying with his aunt and uncle. His uncle took us out on a few tourist type outings down to Mount Saint Helens and to Mount Rainier National Park. I was in awe of everything I saw but what left a lasting impression on me was a simple hike to Green Lake in the northwest corner of Mount Rainier National Park. I can't explain it but the stillness and peace of the setting has always been something I've looked forward to. Now that I live here, the opportunity to visit Green Lake in a winter setting is really special to me.


View Larger Map

Back in 1992, accessing Green lake was pretty easy. The trailhead lies at the side of the road halfway between the Carbon River Park Entrance and the end of the road at Ipsuit Creek Campground. Flooding in the late 1990s changed all of this and sadly, the road can no longer be driven (and most likely will never be repaired). What used to be a 1.8 mile hike is now requires a 3 mile hike along the road just to reach the trailhead. The extra hike along the road makes this a long day but the flip side is that it allows you to enjoy the temperate old growth forest that would normally blur past you while driving the road.



On this particular outing, I expected rain and hoped for snow at the lake (both of which I got). I also enjoyed the entire day in solitude. At the lake, the weather was steady light rain with some brief sleet. After 2 1/2 hours of hiking in the rain, I was saturated and slightly chilled so I was not able to stay as long as I would have liked. After some quick pictures and lunch, I was headed back and trying to take photos of all the things I made a mental note of. I'll have to make a return trip just to explore the forest along the road..

Frog Mountain and the Upper Beckler Watershed

Having studied the weather forecasts, Saturday was projected to be a dry day as a lull between storm systems. The snow level would also drop so I figured some early snowfall shots might be in order. During my visit last week, I noticed a mountain just east of Jacks Pass which had red tinted meadow slopes near the summit. The mountain is named Frog Mountain and, from looking at maps, it could be scaled halfway on a series of abandoned logging roads.

On my way to Jacks Pass, I could see that portions of the very top did have fresh snow and the weather seemed to be clearing out more. I was hoping that somem visual navigation would be possible once the old roadway faded away. The first challenge was finding the entry point of the road. From Jacks Pass, the old road begins clearly but that leads to a huge open area littered with way too much target practice debris- shell casings, clay pigeons.



This made me very nervous because I didn't want to be heading back only to be BEHIND some people firing guns. Anyways, I found the entry point which had grown over, making it less obvious. Once on the old road, however, it was still fairly well defined. Yound alders are filling in the road surface but the going isn't too bad. Without signage, some decisions had to be made at a few of the road spurs but I made good time along the road section.

I reached what I decided was the end of the road in short order but was not encouraged by what I saw. Above me, the more mature forest above the regenerating clearcut I was in was pretty thick, and there was no direct line of sight to the upper slopes. Being alone and without my GPS, I thought better of continuing. After that decision, I did spy a road spur that continued further upslope. I determined that one spur deadends in a clearcut but the second spur is promising. I will have to check it out some other time.

I made it back down fairly quickly and still had most of the afternoon so I explored some of the other Forest Service roads in the area. Always good to know what's out there for future pursuits!









The next storm system starting making its appearance in the late afternoon and on my way home, I across two rainbows at two different locations. Pretty cool!..

Rapid River

I wanted to do some additional exploration of the Beckler River area so I headed towards the Rapid River road. Surprisingly, the wonderful fall colors of last weekend were largely gone. In a week's time, lots of leaves fell and those that remained had morphed into more faded colors.

Finally Fall

As I eluded to in my previous post, I was so encouraged by what I saw up and down the Beckler River valley that I returned the next day to spend more time exploring. Here are the results....

Soggy Cascades

Despite the 100% certainly of rain, I ventured into the Cascades for a forest hike. The heart of the Central Cascades and the end of Forest Service Road 63 is what attracted my attention. At the end of that road are several trailheads: West Cady Ridge, North Fork Skykomish River, and Quartz Creek. Of those options, I decided on Quartz Creek after some research on the web. The normal access to this area is provided by the Index-Galena Road near the town of Index (also identified as Forest Service Road 63) but an alternate route is now required due to the 2006 flood damage.

Access is now achieved via the Beckler River Road (Forest Service Road 65) which goes up and over Jacks Pass (2,000 feet) and then intersects FS Rd 63. This was my first visit to this area and it's simply amazing. Fall color is now really taking off all along the Beckler River as well as the upper North Fork Skykomish River valley and the road is in really great shape. In what seemed like short order, I arrived at the trio of trailheads.

I was surprised by the absence of rain at the trailhead. After gearing up, I headed out on the trai, which was also in great shape. The Quartz Creek trail makes its way up the valley towards Curry Gap, a distance of about 4.5 miles. Not too long after starting, the rain began and alternated between stronger and lighter cells.


During my research, one of the trip reports I read mentioned a log which was large enough and hallowed out that it allowed someone to get inside of it. After finding it along the trail, I decided to get in for a photo opportunity:


I pushed further along on the trail and was taking some additional photos when thunder and lightning made an appearance. It was loud and it was close so I immediately packed up and scampered back to the trailhead. Since I had some extra time, I looked a little closer at the surroundings as I headed home. I was so impressed by what I saw, I returned the next day to take more photos (which I'll post later this week).

Mount Beljica

View Larger Map

Hoping for a third sunset in as many weeks, I decided to head south to Mount Beljica.

Mount What??

That's the reaction I seemed to get by everyone I mentioned this to. It's ironic since this is a location that's included in the 100 Best Hikes in Washington book. Mount Beljica is a small mountain located just outside the Southwest corner of Mount Rainier National Park and was the site of a former fire lookout. It is also located just inside the very small Glacier View Wilderness which is wedged between the massive clearcut logging of decades past and the protection of the National Park. It may just be one of the best kept secrets!

Access is provided by the Lake Christine Trail and is reached by the Copper Creek Road (Forest Service Road 59). The former lookout is reached in a very short 1.5 miles with about 1,100' of elevation gain. The lake is reached in a short mile through a very nice forest with plenty of interest in the understory. Prior to reaching the lake, the trail enters the wilderness.



The lake is good sized and located in an attractive setting with meadows located along its eastern shore. The only views to behold are those of Mount Beljica itself. Beyond the lake, the elevation gain begins again and, in short order, a fork in the trail is reached. The junction is unsigned but the right trail leads to a saddle and then descends down to the Meljica Meadows. The left trail (technically, straight ahead) leads to you to the former lookout.

The trail to the top ascends through some huckleberry slopes before finally arriving on the summit outcrop. The views are fantastic, especially considering how easily they're attained. Mount Rainier dominates the landscape but Mount Adams, Mount Saint Helens, and Mount Hood are also visible. On this particular day, luck was NOT with me and the sunset on this particular evening did not happen. The day was beautiful but clouds thickened during the late afternoon and effectively blocked and direct sunset on Rainier.









As an epilogue, if this location peaks your interest, GO. The road to access the trailhead was severely damaged by a slope failure 2 miles before the trailhead. The Forest Service lists it as a closure but it can be passed (but not by much). In short, one of the two lanes slumped away and a steep dropoff is all that remains. I had a brief conversation with someone while out there and they indicated that the Forest Service will not repair the road once it completely gives out.

Once this finally happens, the 3 mile roundtrip hike will become a 10 mile roundtrip hike. This will be sad since this kind of easy access to the highlands is pretty scarce..

LINK: Forest Service Trail Description
LINK: VisitRainier.com Trail Description

Winter's return

Earlier in the week, winter returned to the mountains. At Artist Point near the Mount Baker Ski Area, 4" of snow fell. My highly anticipated Lee Graduated ND filters also came this week after a lengthy production delay so I was eager to get out and try them. The unsettled weather from the week was forecasted to spill over into Saturday but, as Saturday morning developed, the weather looked MUCH more promising than the forecasts so I decided to roll the dice and head out for sunset.

My destination would be the Bagley Lakes area of Heather Meadows. I wanted to find out how the fall color was developing in the Nooksack River valley (it's about 2 weeks off) but I was also hoping to include the new snow as part of my compositions. A beautiful fall afternoon followed me and seeing most of Mount Baker from the outskirts of Glacier was a good sign. These first snows of the season also brought the closure of the Mount Baker Highway at the ski area so my hike would be starting from the ski area.

Photographers of all abilities head to Heather Meadows, primarilly to capture their own version of the famous photo of Mount Shuksan and Picture Lake. Today was no exception and both visitors and photographers were scattered all over the trails around Heather Meadows. For me, I wanted a bit more solitude and less crowds so I opted for a slight cardio workout and made my destination the saddle that divides the Bagley Lakes basin and the Chain Lakes basin.

From the ski area parking lot, this amounted to a 2.1 mile hike with about 1,300' of elevation to gain. Although I've been here too many times to count, I've never explored this trail. Almost from the start, I realized there were many, many interesting compositions. I'll have to return next summer during the peak of wildflowers. The trail starts by paralleling Bagley Creek for a half mile or so.


Upon reaching Upper Bagley Lake, the trail winds around the base of Mount Herman and the elevation gain begins...



After some switchbacks, the views get bigger and the saddle comes into view. The upper basin is notable for the high concentration of volcanic rock. There's still a couple hundred feet of elevation gain and it's accomplished by a few, drawn out switchbacks.



The snow deepened before the saddle but was no more than 2-3" deep. From the saddle, the race was on to find compositions for both Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan. I felt it was just a bit too far to drop down to the Chain Lakes (although it did look interesting!). After deciding on a location, the show began. This sunset easily surpassed last week's sunset and was one of the better ones I've been able to photograph in a while.



Alpenglow was present and strong and the scattered cloudcover kept providing highlights to the changing light. It spectacular but made it chaotic because I rapidly kept changing positions to photograph Mount Baker to the south and Mount Shuksan to the north. Sunset passed and just about the moment I decided to pack my gear, a full moon broke through the building clouds to the north. I decided to snap only a few quick shots since I still had a ways to hike out with wet & icy conditions. About an hour later, I was back safe and sound in the parking lot. I was so glad that I rolled the dice for this outing!