Home > Trip Reports > October 27, 2011, Mount Ruth

October 27, 2011, Mount Ruth

10/27/11
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
45231
14
Posted by dberdinka on 10/27/11 12:25pm
A solitary day of wandering in my favorite valley.  A dusting of snow overnight in the parking lot slowly increasing to an inch on trail and somwhere around 2-4 above Hannegan Pass.  Visions of boot top blower on the glacier were not to be as a steady wind had reduced it to sanstrugi on boiler plate.  Fortunately the leeward east side of the peak was butter and excellent skiing was to be had.  Not a person in sight and I was a bit shocked to discover that no one else had even bothered to hike up to the pass.   













Mouth-watering! Beautiful area...

author=dberdinka link=topic=22092.msg94511#msg94511 date=1319772302]
I was a bit shocked to discover that no one else had even bothered to hike up to the pass.   






Looks like a cougar or lynx was out enjoying the day as well!  Great photos, thanks!

Awesome photos!  Looks like you got a wonderful day up there.

About my favorite place of anywhere.

Well played, and documented.

Nice. Ruth is a nice ski early season...and you can't beat the views. Thanks for sharing.

What a great trip report, this is the second TR of Mt Ruth of late, and it looks like such a great ski. I have never been, but It sure is on my list, thanks.


author=J.P. link=topic=22092.msg94516#msg94516 date=1319776423]
Looks like a cougar or lynx was out enjoying the day as well!  Great photos, thanks!

Are you sure that's a cat print, with those claws?  We're wondering if it was a bear, out snacking before hibernating....under all those mountainous snowfalls starting any day now....

Definitely a beautiful trip.  Thanks for taking the time to share.  I can't wait to try that area out myself.

author=telemack link=topic=22092.msg94629#msg94629 date=1320008050]
Are you sure that's a cat print, with those claws?  We're wondering if it was a bear, out snacking before hibernating....under all those mountainous snowfalls starting any day now....


Definitely with claw marks.  But doesn't look like a black bear:


So it was a very large dog or



Problem is are there 4 or 5 toes?

But definitely not a cat?



Martens have 5 toes, but their tracks are small:



How about wolverine?



... nothing like hijacking your stepson's trip report :-)

Long as we're nitpicking, quibbling and hijacking, I believe that's "Ruth Mountain."  "Mt. Ruth" is located elsewhere.

Mark

Thanks Andy for bringing up an interesting subject (the claw marks)

I was puzzled by the claw marks but dismissed the idea that it might be a wolf simply because that doesn't seem particularly reasonable.  They were large, much bigger than the coyote tracks I've seen in the past .It certainly was a not a dog, I was the only car in the lot and they appeared only briefly maybe 1-2 miles up the trail.  Wish I had taken the time to find the clearest print. 

In that shot the bottom track is I think two tracks partially overlayed, the top one might be better for identification. The wolverine idea seems promising as it's hard to tell if there are 4 or 5 toes in those tracks.

I showed the track to a friend of mine who does a lot of animal tracking, and she said it's likely that it's a wolverine. Which is pretty rare... you got lucky! Any additional pictures?

I was going to say definitely not cat since the claws are showing.  At first I was thinking large coyote or wolf but the 5 toes makes that seem unlikely.  My best guess was wolverine as well.  I have seen one in the Mt. Baker area and my dad saw another up on Cougar Divide last August.  They are around...

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october-27-2011-mount-ruth
dberdinka
2011-10-27 19:25:02