Hiking up James Creek

Today started out foggy here in the valley, but you could see blue skies above, so I knew it was going to be a nice day for a hike with the dogs. Yesterday we walked down the Chiwawa River snowbanks to the Phelps Creek campground, the snow is hardpacked enough you don't need snowshoes or have to worry about punching through and post holing. These are the conditions usually not seen until late Mar, early April after the snow basically has stopped falling but before the melt out. It's the time to go snowmobiling and not have to worry about getting stuck, you can go up hills and all normally impassable because the snow snow is so soft and deep POW.
Once we stared out we walked up the river until we found an area to cross on snow, not a downed tree and then we walked as far up the west side of the river as far as we could without going up the mountain just yet. The dogs had a great time chasing snowshoe hares, squirrels, and the martens across the snow. Since last Easter when some friends and I hiked up there in white out conditions so they could ski while walking the ridge above the creek and looking down on the creek I've wanted to hike it. It is almost impossible in the summer because of the mountain alder being so thick only deer and small creatures and my dogs can get around through it, I haven't tried but know those that have to their painful regret.


Today was perfect but almost dangerous, it was 18 when we started out, the hoar frost looked like diamonds, you could see how high the river had been running because of the mud on the ice & snowbanks, and the alder were buried and held down by the hard packed snow that is almost ice due to wet snow and rain last week and the 20 degree temp swings each day, warming to 40 and down to 18-20 overnight. I didn't have to worry though I had my ice traction studs on , they are great best I've had or needed being here. Today though we walked up the creek from the bottom up either walking beside or right up the middle on the snowpack. We found several small snow sides not big but slides none the less and because they are basically frozen now made nice stairs for climbing up once we got to the bottom of the waterfall, the dogs and I investigated as much as felt safe. We actually were standing right below where Grant, Ivan & I took a breather last year just before they skied down, one of the slides was at 3 Dog Run which we named last year after the dogs took off and ran to the bottom and back up again. These are just a few of the photos to show how gorgeous it was there today, you can see more on the web album online. Today's hike was a blast temp was 25 when we returned 2 hours later, the snow was just starting to get soft enough to see where we had been. The only thing that would have made today better would have been to have someone to share it with.

We found our Paradise, hope you find yours too. Peace

Old Friends Remembered

The snow here is very firm with 23 degrees, you can basically goo anywhere because the snow is compact, more like springtime conditions than what you would normally expect for mid-January. No new snow and lots of sunshine and plenty of early morning Alpenglow.
I often get asked about the wolves I shared Trinity with for a couple of years, so here are some photos of Kaia & Nashaba, thanks Ted and everyone else.
This is the time to get outside and enjoy what snow we have. Peace

Are You Kidding Me !!!

I normally keep a pretty close eye on several different forecast to get a good idea of what the weather is supposed to do, but then I also watch what is going on around here at the same time. The forecaster's missed this by a mile, it was supposed to be in the mid 20's last night, instead it stayed above 40 all night with crazy winds some over 30 mph. It has made the snow very slick and glazed, from firm to soft and we are now below 4' on the gauge. The road here was groomed last night and if it had gotten as cold as forecast would have set it up nice, since it is so warm I don't even want to go out walking around much due to severe risk of post holing which is something I prefer to avoid, evenn the dogs are having difficulty with keeping their footing and sliding around, it is funny though. In just over a month we have gone from lows of -9 to now highs of 49, making it very hard on the water supply for summer. Like I've said the macro-climate here at Trinity is so very different from anything you will find in this area, Fish lake is at 36 with 1mph winds and Steven's Pass it's 32, yet it feels like I went to sleep and woke up and it's late April the snow is dirty with debris fom the trees, the snow is melting due to the strong winds and if you are walking in this snow wear snowshoes or sink, the advantage is I can go just about anywhere on my snowmobile and not have to worry about getting stuck in bottomless POW. If this keeps up we will not have any snowpack by the time April gets here which reminds me of the first winter I was here, I hope we don't have a repeat. This continues to be a crazy winter and everything that normally takes 5-6 months to happen here has now happened in one month.
We found our Paradise, hope you find yours too. Peace

Beautiful Day @ Trinity

Today was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and the snow was firm but not frozen like it was yesterday, and for the first time we could get to the foot bridge without punching through post holing. Now that the temps have gotten warmer the ice dams are melting somewhat revealing the creek a little more everyday. The dogs love it too, they can go anywhere they want which means they can hunt without having to snowplow to get to the smells and have fun playing in the snow without getting wet. Bear found something he liked in the snow by the foot bridge digging as deep as half of his body as you can see in the photo of him, Lillie likes to belly slide on the snow, Peace was out hunting somewhere else. I was able to drag around Trinity and even started getting things ready for the sled dog races that will be happening in the next few weeks, it's called the Cascade Quest. With all of the snow we have had I haven't been able to keep it knocked down and with the rains the snow is like Big pillows of snow, not very even and so it will take some work to get it ready for the dog teams. I hadn't been out there very long and the temp was hovering around 32 so that it was firm but still soft enough for the drag to cut the snow down some without being so hard it does nothing. That only lasted about 45 minutes and then it warmed up and got very soft so that I went from barely making a mark to cutting a 10" trough, so I decided it would be better to stop before I messed up what I had done already. The rest of the day we kept an eye out for any sledder's that might make it out this far but so I could find out what the road south of here was like, probably not passable due to slides and possible downed trees. There is always tomorrow and with the warming trend expected this week I'll only be able to drag early in the mornings and only if it drops below 30 at night. We'll just have to see what happens and hope they groom this week all the way out here then for sure friends can come in to visit without difficulty. All in all today was a beautiful day and the dogs had a blast gettting to go places thaty haven't been able to for a while. The marten has been around here causing Peace to go a little nuts, once she winds something she wants to find it no matter how far away it is or where it has gone. I believe Peace would be great at an extreme obsticle course the way
she, Bear & Lillie travel through the woods, they are all bushwackers, I don't think she would find a closed course very challenging, especially since she uses downed trees as bridges and highways through the woods, deer trails, the creek and river to get around in the brush, and she just loves to run, not bad for a Lab/Rott/St.Bernard mix but she has the heart and soul of the wolves I've had, she just stays closer to home. Well that will be someting else to write about another day. The snow and rain is gone but the winds are picking up getting stronger keeping the wind chimes singing their songs which I love to hear, but it also knocks the snow down compacting it even more.
We found our Paradise, hope you find your's too. Peace