July 8, 2008, Mt. Pilchuck

After a leisurely morning and a rather tough time finding a parking space at the 65th park and ride, unlike a winter Saturday morning start, I met up with fall_line for an adventure on Mt. Pilchuck. Oh, the joys of having the summer off!

In the trail head parking lot we met up with group of hikers and discussed appropriate footwear while strapping on the boots and skis, and saw them again, when they exclaimed that the "footprints just ran out. I thought this was a well-established trail!" Indeed, this well traveled trail is still holding snow well. So much so, it looked like we would skin early on and donned the skins. Our footwear friend passed us, smiling, "I guess you found your snow early." We rounded the bend and... skis back on the pack.

We booted up following intermittent orange flagging until we couldn't find them anymore, traversed over to gain a great view of the lower lake which remains 4/5 frozen, and there the , slushy above the final saddle as a bevy of summer clad teens in Vans and gym shorts passed us coming off the summit nearly jumping down in Johnny Mosley style leaps.

To say the least, duck-billed boots and skis scraping over large granite boulders (a chance to practice basic rock skills and fancy footwork) made for a clean finish to the look out. This was Emily's first experience with the stunning 360 degree views from this vantage that included , and (from the gong show of a start--gotta love the repair kit!). Shaded sun cup city made for to the car.

Another great day in our backyard! WOO HOO!
more photos here:

edited to add photo in text! yeah. thanks ronj