Palouse to Cascade Trail, Hyak, Snoqualmie Pass, 2024

 

 

 

 

 

Palouse to Cascade Trail, Hyak, Snoqualmie

 

The trail, now called the Palouse to Cascade, was previously called the John Wayne Trail.  Located just east of the Snoqualmie Summit, it is in the Iron Horse State Park and requires a Discover Pass or a day use fee.  The picture shows the almost empty parking lot.  We cross-country ski here often in the winter when the lot is nearly or completely full of cars.  In addition to the groomed cross-country trail there is a sledding hill and snow shoe trails.  The orange building is a replica of an old railroad depot and is a public restroom that is open all year.  It has unheard of luxuries like heat in the winter, flush toilets and sinks with running water and hot air blowers.  Two of the six unisex units also have showers. 

 

Part of the trail is used as a short cut between Tacoma Pass and Snoqualmie Pass for Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) thru hikers, some having spent the previous night at Tacoma Pass.  We had a nice visit with a couple from Switzerland.  Most thru hikers try to go 20 miles or more each day putting their goal of the Canadian-US border about 10 days to 2 weeks from the day we met them. 

 

 

 Most of the trail looks like this

with views of Lake Keechelus here and there.

 

Since it is an old railroad, it is mostly flat with gentle curves and very gradual or minimal elevation changes.  There are views of Lake Keechelus, mixed forest, and little streams feeding into the lake below.  This week Bob timed our hike to extend our distance a bit to approximately 5.3 miles RT. 

 

 

 

 

There are informational placards in a couple of places along the route.  This one featured information about the electric trains.  The original line was called the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific, known as the Milwaukee Road.  The passenger train was named the Olympian-Hiawatha.  This particular passenger train was one of the fastest and most luxurious transcontinental trains during the era of the Milwaukee Road, 1905-1974. 

 

 

 

 A little fall color, mostly on vine maples, a few late flowers, lots of brilliant blue sky with clouds, cool breeze, sunshine and comfortable temperature.  

 

 

 

A little fall color, vine maple

 

Daisies

 

Mullein

 

Spotted Knapweed

 

Butter & Eggs, Toadflax

 

Spotted Tussock Moth caterpillar sometimes called "woolly bear"

 

Count for the day:

30 people total, 18 mountain bikers, a few were on electric bikes, 7 were thru hikers, and 5 day hikers

No dogs

Our timed hike = 5.3 miles RT 

 

If this is Thursday it must be poscards, 676

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yellowstone National Park, illustration by Heinrich Berann

 

Featured on this Yellowstone Forever unused postcard above is an aerial view illustration by Heinrich Berann.  The number 43 appears on the center line on the reverse.  There is also a blurb on the reverse at the upper left corner:  “Yellowstone—the world’s first national park—encompasses an area of over 2.2 million acres and is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined.  The park’s landscape is also diverse, from the forest and rolling hillsides surrounding Reese Creek at the park’s lowest point at 5,282 feet to the mountainous terrain of its highest point of 11,358 at Eagle Peak.” 

 

Yellowstone National Park is such a fascinating and amazing place.  The overview view on the card helps to show how vast and varied the area the park encompasses.  There are animals such as bison, deer, elk, moose, antelope, bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars, fish, reptiles, amphibians and many different kinds of birds. The landscape is almost surreal with mountains, geysers, boiling mud pots, rivers, meadows with hundreds of flowers, and forests.  

 

 

 This second unused postcard is also a Yellowstone Forever product.  It has a collection of 10 acid free stickers and are "perfect for Scrapbooking" according to the blurb at the upper left on the reverse.  From the left top row:  Canary Spring, American Bison, Emerald Pool, Black Sand Basin.  Middle row:  Wolf, Grand Prismatic Spring, American Grizzly Bear.  Bottom row:  Castle Geyser, Cow Elk with Calf, and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone (river).  The stickers were produced by Pigment & Hue, Inc.

 

 It is not possible to see everything in the park on one trip there.  On a previous visit we saw entirely different parts of this huge park.  This time we had opportunities to make multiple trips into the park during our 10-day stay as part of an extended family gathering.  Bob and I probably had more ventures into the park than most of the rest of the group since we were interested in the park itself rather than shopping or exploring neighboring areas.  Although, as previously noted, we also went with the group to visit Bear World, and spent part of one day in the town of West Yellowstone visiting the Bear & Wolf Museum as well as getting a few postcards and souvenirs. 

 

As expected, there were many people and lots of cars in the park.  Huge crowds waited for Old Faithful to erupt.  Boardwalks around geyser basins were crowded too.  We were stopped more than once by “bison (or buffalo) jams” as the animals lumbered across the roadway seemingly uncaring of cars or gawking people with cameras.  Once three bison mamas, each with a calf, started across right in front of our car.  One of the babies decided to dance around unpredictably in the roadway, darting in and out of road and the forest alongside the road.  We did not dare to drive forward until it crossed over to join its friends and then the mother ambled slowly after once the dance was done. 

 

Some days there were long lines of cars at the entry gate.  Thankfully there is a separate gate for people with National Park passes, so we could get through quickly and did not have to pay an additional fee.  On the day we carpooled as a group to the park, each car had at least one person with a pass making it much easier and less expensive than it could have been otherwise. 

 

The park spans the northwest corner of Wyoming and extends into Montana and Idaho.  The 42^nd U.S. Congress established the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act which was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872.  The park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.  “It is the largest remaining nearly intact ecosystem in the Earth’s northern temperate zone.”  It is believed that Native Americans lived in the Yellowstone region for more than 11,000 years. 

 

For more information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park

www.pigmentandhue.com

 

 

 

 

Paradise, Mt. Rainier National Park, 2024

 

 

 

Mt. Rainer National Park entry sign

 

 

Beginning this year reservations to visit Mt. Rainier National Park during the high-volume summer months were required.  There was a two-hour window for arrival time.  Bob made a reservation with an arrival window between 9 am and 11 am.  That meant we had to get up around 6 am for the long drive, about 2 ½ hours, not counting an accident on the freeway that resulted in the closure of two lanes and cost us another half hour of creep and stop traffic; however, we still made it by 9:30 am.  

 

We did several short "walk-abouts," that included Christine Falls, Paradise Falls, Narada Falls, Myrtle Falls, part of the Lily Trail, and Reflection Lake.  We stopped at Christine Falls first, walking down to look at the lower falls and then up and across the roadway to see the upper falls.

 

 

 

 Lower Christine Falls

Upper Christine Falls 

On the way up to the main day use parking area at Paradise, we stopped at Paradise Falls.  The trail down to the viewing area looked rough and a little eroded, so I remained up while Bob went down and took some pictures.   Then we drove to Reflection Lake hoping to get some pretty shots of the mountain and lake, but the mountain was being shy and invisible as shown in the picture below.  So, we got back in the car and headed up to Paradise to park.  We held on to the hope that the clouds would dissipate and we could return to Reflection Lake later in the day and get some pretty pictures of the mountain and lake. 

 

 

 

A shy Mt. Rainier poking out of the clouds above Reflection Lake

 

 

After parking in the very full parking area, we headed up to Myrtle Falls.  We have been here several times and usually see marmots and sometimes deer near the falls.  There is a steep stairway down to a viewing area.  The bottom portion of the stairs is not in good repair.  Once again, I stayed up on top and Bob went down.   

 

 

 From the bridge looking up from Myrtle Falls

Bob's photo of Myrtle Falls from the lower viewing platform.  I stayed up by the bridge.

Looking up at lower Myrtle Falls from the road below

 

 

 

 

 Buck

A beautiful antlered buck posed and nibbled on shrubs near the bridge that crosses over the top of the falls.  Later, we also saw a doe and fawn on the road as we drove down to exit the park.  But still no marmots. 

 

 Doe crossing the road

 

followed by the fawn

 

The Lily Trail or Nisqually Loop was another short hike that we have done before.  Earlier in the summer this trail winds around through thousands of lilies and marmots like to eat the lupine that grows here too.  But the lilies were finished for the year and we did not see marmots or much lupine.  However, there were still flowers, gentian, lupine, asters, foraging golden rod, hellebore or corn flower, magenta paintbrush, fireweed, rosy spirea, pink monkey flowers, besides the pearly everlasting growing near the parking areas, on the various trails, and along the road everywhere.

 

 Gentian

 

Fireweed

Asters and False Hellebore, also known as Corn Lily

Closer look at the Corn Lily flowers

Magenta Paintbrush

Lupine

Foraging Golden Rod

Rosy Spirea

Mountain Arnica

Pink Monkey Flowers

The mountain, which should be huge and dominate the horizon this close, was still mostly invisible, shrouded in mist and clouds.    

 

On the Lily Trail, Mt. Rainier still being shy

On the way out we stopped at Narada Falls and walked down the rocky, steep, trail to the viewing areas. This is low water season but the falls were lacy and very pretty.  There was even a little rainbow in the falling water. 

 

 Narada Falls

 

Count for the day:

Note:  Since hundreds of people visit Mt. Rainier National Park, we do not attempt to count the people. No dogs are allowed on the trails in the park.  

 

 

Sheep Lake, Chinook Pass, 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Approaching Sheep Lake

 

This week our destination was Sheep Lake.  This trail takes off to the right, while the Naches Loop trail goes left from the parking area at Chinook Pass.  It is part of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) where hikers who start at the Mexico-California border and aim for Canada are nearing the end of their long trek. 

 

Bob checked the weather report and said it was predicted to be cold, so we had better dress warmly.  We did.  However, the “best laid plans gang aft agley” and it was not cold at all but ended up around 75 F instead of in the 50s F.   There is not much in the way of shade on the first section of the trail, so we got pretty hot and started shedding some of our layers.  

 

Most of the flowers are finished for the year but we saw plenty of Pearly Everlasting, some lupine, orange paint brush, arnica, asters, marsh marigolds, larkspur, pentesmon, and some wispy, fluffy, seed stage unknown plants. 

 

 

 

Asters

 

Larkspur

 

Marsh Marigolds

 

Pentesmon

Pearly Everlasting

Sheep Lake is a 4-mile RT hike that gains about 600 ft as it goes up and down a bit instead of steadily up or down.  The trail is narrow in places, alternately sandy and rocky.  It eventually goes into a forest where there is more shade before ending at the lake.  From the lake it is possible to continue on the PCT over Sourdough Pass and toward Snoqualmie Pass, Stevens Pass, and eventually Canada. 

 

 Stream entering Sheep Lake

 

The far end of Sheep Lake

 

There are foot paths around the lake, little streams, and places by the shore where one can sit and enjoy the views or count pollywogs.  We had one place in mind and headed for it.  Unfortunately, there was a new addition to “our” private spot, a yellow-jacket hive!  We both got stung and did not linger in that area but scuttled away as fast as we could.  We encountered a catch & release fly fisherman by the lake and had a very nice visit with him, his wife and in-laws, in the shade, by the lake, sans bees, before heading back to the car.   

 

One very plump chipmunk, living high on handouts perhaps?  Posed for pictures.  The chipmunks were not particularly shy around people and all of them looked well fed.  Gray Jays, aka camp robber jays, were also in evidence.

 

 Plump Chipmunk

 

It was sunny with bright blue sky and the mountain (Mt. Rainier) was out, so we stopped at Tipsoo Lake, and got some nice photos.

 

 Tipsoo Lake and Mt. Rainier

 

Count for the day:

30 hikers, including 14 through hikers

5 dogs

4 miles RT, 600 ft elevation gain

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 675

 

 

 

 

 

Lion Geyser, Yellowstone National Park

 

Featured on this week’s postcard is a photo by Tom Murphy of Lion Geyser found in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park.  The card is a Yellowstone Forever product.  A blurb at the upper left on the reverse:  “Heart Spring’s vibrant hues bring color to the surrounding snow-covered landscape at Yellowstone’s Upper Geyser Basin.  The colors of the deep spring come from thermopiles—heat loving organisms that live in the park’s geothermal features.  Behind Heart Spring, Lion Geyser is erupting.”  The number 29 is found on the back center line.

 

The Upper Geyser Basin is also home to the famous and predictable Old Faithful.  Lion Geyser gets its name from the roaring sound it makes as the steam is released during an eruption.  The steam can reach up to 90 feet or 27 meters and lasts anywhere from 1 to 7 minutes.  It is a cone geyser and is the largest one in the Lion group which also includes Little Cub, the inactive Big Cub, and Lioness geysers.  There are several other geyser basins throughout the park.

 

 

Boardwalk around the Norris Geyser basin

 

 

 

 Grand Prismatic Spring

 

 

Geyser basins are places where rainwater and melting snow collects and percolates into the ground.  There are super heated hot spots underground in Yellowstone Park that cause the seeping water to erupt at the surface as geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles.  Boardwalks are found around these areas, with warning signs posted about how dangerously hot the ground is. 

 

 

 Water boiling in stream

 

 Yellow monkey flowers growing next to boiling water in stream

 

 In some places one can see fumaroles, mud or water boiling, and when the wind blows the steam toward visitors on the walkway the smell of sulfur can be strong.  It was amazing to see yellow monkey flowers growing so close to the boiling water.  We normally see these along cold water streams. The days we walked around on the boardwalks were windy with a cool to cold outdoor temperature making the warmth of the steam welcome, but not so much the smell.

 

 

 We could still see the beautiful blue of the pool as the steam started blowing on this day.  On another day the wind was so strong and the steam so thick the pool could not be seen at all.

 

 In the distance steam can be seen rising from small geysers or pools

 

The card was purchased a Yellowstone gift shop in the park this past June.  It is impossible to see all the features in the park on one trip.  The last time Bob and I were here we spent more time in other sections and only had a couple of days to try and see as much as we could.  This time it was for a 10-day extended family gathering where we stayed just outside the park boundaries in Island Park, Idaho.  It was a short drive to the West Yellowstone Park entrance that gave us the opportunity to take several trips to see various sites and animals.  With 20 people in our group, we carpooled with at least one person in each car having a National Park pass.  It was a wonderful time with wonderful people.  We feel especially grateful to have been included.

 

For more information, see:

 

https://en.wikpedia.org/wiki/Lion_Geyser

https://en.wikpedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_areas_of_Yellowstone