Tag: GPNF
-
20201019-21 PCT – White Pass to Clear Fork Cowlitz
Winter is coming! Understandably, I am anxious to make one last trip up into the Goat Rocks – I had not quite gotten to all the places this summer I had wanted. The weather forecast offers the possibility of some mild weather after a weather system moves thru over the weekend. Not expecting the best,…
-
20200927-30 PCT – Walupt to Old Snowy, GPNF GRW
DAY 1 I took a long weekend to go hike the Goat Rocks Wilderness. I got turned around a bit sooner than I had hoped – the trail over The Knife looked sketchy after the season’s first snow, and I was not feeling like taking a risk. Regardless, it was a gorgeous hike. I parked…
-
20200920 PCT – Tipsoo Lake to Bumping River, WOD, GPNF OWNF
Autumn is here! I spent two days hiking the PCT from Tipsoo Lake, MRNP to the Bumping River at Fish Lake, GRW, and then back again via Swamp and American Lakes. Lots of elk bugling, a few hunters and a few hikers out.
-
20200907 Leech Lake to Shoe Lake via PCT, GPNF GRW
Memorial Day Weekend is a holiday in which I generally stay home. My favorite haunts are usually overwhelmed with Packwood Flea Market tourists and hordes of recreationalists. This year, however, the game has changed. The rules were tossed out the window. Packwood was practically deserted. I start my day by heading out the door at first light, hitting the…
-
20200723 Klickitat Trail, Cispus Peak & Pompey Peak, GPNF
Having left Summit Creek and passed thru Packwood, I hung a left at USFS 20 Rd, the Smith Creek Road. This road winds its way up into the mountains south of Hwy 12 a few miles before town. The road is long, and entirely passable. I was too busy drinking dirty chai to make good…
-
20200719 Carlton-Summit Loop via Historical Crossing, GPNF, WOD
Historical trails have been something of an interest for me for some time now. I’ve been researching and traveling the Cowlitz and Klickitat Trails in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, among some of the oldest in the region, dating to some thousands of years old. I’ve traced much of the Cowlitz Trail from Randle up to…
-
20200702 Packwood Lake, Chimney Rock, Lost Lake, GPNF
Desire to get very high and far away finds me setting off from the Packwood Lake TH around 11:00 AM – I had gotten there nearly 45 minutes earlier, but need to finish charging my phone and packing my food. While there, the parking lot fills. A steady stream of people are going up and…
-
20200628 Packwood-Art Lake-Snyder Mtn Loop, GPNF
Thinking I’d have a low-energy day in Packwood, having had a headache for days. In no hurry to leave in the morning, I arrived and parked at the Community Hall just before 10:00 am. A group of people were meeting outside the hall, using the picnic tables at the park – I don’t know if…
-
20200530 Cispus Valley Trail #270, Takhlakh Lake, GPNF
With a crash and a boom, I crossed the Tom Music Bridge over the Cispus River. No, it wasn’t my truck, it was the sky. Often, when I make plans ahead of time to take a long weekend, the weather gets the last laugh. Today, for example, with a very active day of thunderstorms forecast.…
-
20200526 Klickitat Trail #7, GPNF
The Klickitat Trail is an old one, known to be in use 2000 years ago. This trail follows the ridge of the mountains which separate the Cowlitz River Valley from the North Fork Cispus River Valley, which rises 5,000’ above the valley floors. The ridge runs E-W, the south face relatively uninterrupted above the NF…