May 18, 2008, - Yellow Aster

Just like a lot of other people, the Highway 20 closer changed our plans this weekend.  We shifted our focus to 542 and settled on Yellow Aster Butte.  The Forest Service road report said the road was open for only 100 feet past the WSDOT shed.  Convinced we knew better we headed up the road only to find a downed tree about 500 feet in.  After a half an hour of manual labor we cleared the tree and actually made it up to an elevation 2300€™.  From there we were on foot.  The road should be able to be cleared at least up to the old trail fairly easily.  With only two downed trees and continuous snow from about 2700€™ (road only) we were able to skin from there to about 3100€™ where we started up the old trail.  Unable to locate the trail after the first couple hundred feet, we put the skis back on our backs and booted strait up over a mixture of patchy snow/underbrush and steep crusty snow cups.  Finally at 4500€™ the terrain mellowed out and the trees opened up, we switched back to skinning and made it to the tarns around 5400€™ in good time. 

After some lunch, we decided to reap what we had sowed.  Apparently, yesterdays crops were not great.  1000€™ of mash potatoes followed by 1500€™ of steep crusty forest snow cups covered by tree debris (aka survival skiing) followed by another 500€™ of road slush/walking. 

When it was all said and done, it was still a great trip.  We filled our lungs with fresh mountain air, got some exercise, our skis were on our feet and smiles on our faces.  Can€™t ask for much more (except maybe some good turns ).  We are so very lucky to live where we live.


Here is the link to some more pictures.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/26707310@N07/