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Sucia-Clark

I had to cancel a trip I was leading earlier in the month but was invited along on this little 3 day as a make-up paddle. The trip was planned to Sucia which I was excited about because my only previous trip to Sucia had to be cut short due to weather.

We launched from the small beach area next to the Lummi island ferry. Total of 8 paddlers and we knew we might need to change plans due to some predicted high winds. The original plan was Day 1 Sucia, Day 2 Patos, Day 3 return. Instead we did Day 1 Sucia, Day 2 Clark, and Day 3 return. Moving to Clark placed us much farther south so the wind would blow us in the correct direction on day 3.

On our way we stopped at Matia Island and despite a lot of discussion on the topic I’m still not sure how to pronounce it. It had a beautiful forest loop, a large boat dock, and limited forested camping.

The loop trail on Matia

Sucia was lovely again. Soon after landing we made camp, hung our gear to dry and set out exploring. First we explored the shell fossils along the beach but I mentioned to Steve that there was a really nice fish fossil on the other side of the island and we decided to go see it. It’s a small island, how far could it be? It had seemed pretty close when I paddled over there before.

It was 3 miles each way. So we got a good hike in. Still worth it.

The next day we checked the weather forecast and our trip leader decided the best option was to wind up on Clark Island to the south so that the following day the winds would be blowing us toward our destination and not into Canada. That meant Day 2 was a much longer day than originally planned.

First we headed over to Patos Island where we met some other paddlers we knew, scoped out the campsites, and met the docent at the lighthouse who opened it up a few minutes early so we could have a tour. See those two solar panels? They replaced an entire room full of machinery that the lighthouse used to need to function. The light is now LED and only about 5 inches high.

Patos Lighthouse

Steve’s favorite madrone tree on Patos

We then turned back east, paddling along the north side of Sucia and stopping for lunch so everyone could check out the fish fossil (without a 6 mile hike). We passed by Matia toward Clark, making a 6 or 7 mile crossing. Here’s where I found out I was getting too much sun or not enough water or something: I got a migraine that did not go away with medication. A few miles in and I was struggling – everyone could tell and offered to help out with a tow. We set the lines up and while I never quite stopped paddling, several people traded out giving me an assist so we got where we were going. So when you see our slower time for that day – this is why.

As soon as I was able to sit down in some shade for a decent amount of time I felt better.

Clark Island

This time we were able to snag some of the beach sites out of the wind. They were not as private and the toilet was farther away, but building a fire on the beach was pretty cool. We had a firelog along, this time courtesy of Susan. And we had an excellent view of Baker.

The next morning was windy but not as exciting as we had feared. The whitecaps settled down while we made our crossing toward Lummi and we made it back to our launch site a little early.

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Clark Island Overnight

This summer I really want to explore the San Juan Islands by kayak – as much as possible! And if I’m able to do it without getting onto a ferry, even better. Yesterday I left for a 1-night (Sat-Sun) trip from Anacortes to Clark Island. Clark is located just off Orcas Island and isn’t far from Sucia (where I need to get back to).

Our route as mapped on Gaia. Anacortes to Clark (orange), 15.2 miles in 2 hrs 57 min. Average moving speed was 5.4mph with a max speed of 7.9 mph. As you might guess we had a substantial current pushing us along.

Return trip (red) 15.36 miles in 3 hours 43 minutes. Average moving speed 4.4mph and max speed 6.8 mph. We still had the current with us but had a substantial headwind until we were close to Cypress Island. We also stopped for lunch at Cypress Head.

Setting sun catching the madrone trees on Clark Island.

We launched at 2pm to take advantage of the current assist. There was no rain or wind but it was overcast the whole way. We passed by a spectacular view of Eagle’s Cliff at the north end of Cypress and I hope to go back to hike it soon. North, near Lawrence point the currents were confused – first pushing left, then right, then left again, but it was slow enough that it was hard to see which direction they were going before they caught you. I’m told that it can be MUCH more exciting than what we experienced. We arrived a little after 5pm and found, to our surprise, that the entire beach area was filled up!

There were many empty sites, though, up the little hill in the forest and I picked one that had a view of the rocks to the east and south to Orcas.

View from in front of our campsite

It rained overnight which meant it was kind of gross to pack up, but it didn’t rain ON us, at least. THere was a pretty brisk wind from the SSE (but less than 10 kts).

Dave and Jeff, north of Cypress
Fred, Susan, and Terri

I was a little cold when we started, but, as usual, working hard warmed me up. By the time we reached Cypress the wind had died down and we could see some sun start to break through. We stopped for lunch at Cypress Head, paddled through some confused currents to the east of it, and then rode the last of the ebb back to Anacortes. We only had to dodge one ferry (and it was quite far away). By the time we returned to the launch it was warm and sunny.

This felt like a pretty ambitious trip to me, and we got quite far into the San Juans. It makes me confident that I can do a lot of exploring without always having to take a ferry. I guess the trick is the weather and timing the currents.

No photos of these, but we saw porpoises, lots of seals, and two sea lions who came very close to the boats.

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Kayak Surfing!

On April 18-19 I took an “Introduction to Surf Zone” kayaking class with Fidalgo Paddle Sports. There were only 3 students plus the instructor and we met at Crescent Beach, west of Port Angeles.

I had some misgivings about this – I can do some distance but I’m not a very technical paddler – and the closer we got to the date the more concerned I was about the weather. First – it’s mid April and I was worried I’d be too cold to camp, or that I’d get too cold falling in the water and then never warm up at night, and second, I checked the surf forecast for this beach and it was predict 4-6 foot waves when I thought maybe half that would still be a challenge for me. But I spoke to the instructor and he was still enthusiastic so in I went!

I’d never been to this beach before and it was beautiful, even with the clouds and the snow line only a hundred feet or so above sea level. More importantly, when I got there Tuesday morning (after taking the 5:35 ferry!) the waves were small. No more than 1-3 feet and I was very grateful for that. We could see whitecaps out in the straight, but the beach was sheltered from the worst of the wind and waves.

Crescent beach looking much less scary than predicted. This photo was taken during a relative lull, we had more than this but it never got really big.

The other two students were Audrey and Erik, a couple, but she lives in Canada and is a kayaking guide on Vancouver Island, while he is currently still working in Seattle. They (and Jesse, the instructor) were all great to work with.

All 3 students at once!

Our first task was to practice paddling parallel to the beach in the soup/wash zone where we had to learn how to do an effective low brace or get rolled over. I was pretty successful with this (not that I was able to keep it up once things got bigger, but I started well). Having a wave break right next to you and shove the whole kayak sideways was actually pretty fun.

Things I learned:
I habitually edge to the wrong side when I’m ruddering – I think it just never mattered when I’m going slow, but it absolutely matters when I was trying to keep myself straight down a wave.
Three foot waves are still a bit scary and much more likely to turn & roll me.
I don’t drop my paddle when I get rolled! (yay! I was worried I might)
I do, however, see that I’m about to roll and dive out of the boat completely. (Probably not terrible but not really great either)
Getting dumped and having to drag the boat around, empty it, and launch again got tiring quickly.
Falling out isn’t as scary as I was worried it would be – which is good because I fell out a lot.
Paddling OUT through the surf, even when it was 3 feet, was a blast.
Even though my drysuit is nearing the end of its life and I was getting a bit damp, I wasn’t cold.
I need to start edging a lot more aggressively – I think I may need to add padding to snug up the fit in my kayak to be able to do this effectively.

Not my biggest ride, but a successful one! Also – this wave FELT bigger when it was behind me and I couldn’t see it.

Our campsite was right across the road from the beach and there was very little traffic on the road – at least in April. The weather was much better than expected but it still hailed on us a little. I brought two sleeping bags and still slept warm – so that concern was also mitigated.

I had to get up from supper to take a picture of these amazing clouds.

Conclusion:
I would absolutely do this again and it did a tremendous amount for my confidence in what I might face while touring.

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Wonderland Trail – Day 10

Summerland to White River (our last day)

We had word (from a bit of cell service back on day 8) that N, K’s sister was going to try to hike up to Summerland camp before sunrise on our last day to bring us breakfast and also to get some early morning photography. Thus we all got up super early to watch the show. My iphone wasn’t really up to the task, so trust me that it was far more spectacular than what you see. For starters there were, as you might imagine, so many stars. We sat in the darkness looking up at the mountain and I saw more stars! It took me a moment to realize that I was seeing the headlamps of climbers on their way to the summit. We were able to make out more the longer we looked, at least a dozen, and we could see that they were making progress and see a rough outline of the route all of them were taking. I also turned and saw another night hiker’s light up at Panhandle gap, where we’d been the day before.

The rising sun turned the mountain pink
Our campsite at Summerland
Searching for the best view

A bit after sunrise N turned up with, I kid you not, a charcuterie board. Not exactly a board – but crackers, brie, prosciutto – the works. You know how any regular food tastes like the best food you’ve ever had right after you’ve been eating, for example, rehydrated rice and beans for 10 days? This was amazing. Also that light I’d seen at Panhandle Gap? That was N. She’d gone past us all the way up to the gap to catch the sunrise, then hiked back DOWN to bring us food.

Best breakfast ever
N showing me how crossing bridges is done

Half of this hike was familiar to me. I’d been as far as Panhandle gap with K in the past, so it wasn’t until we passed the trailhead and kept going toward White River that I was in new territory. But I can see why K chose it – it’s one of the prettiest places in the park. The hike to White River was mostly deep forest, with only one ominous warning sign that the White River bridge was out and impassable. We deduced that this sign was old, since we’d seen the bridge when we started the first day and there hadn’t been any significant weather since then. Also, we spoke to almost everyone going the other way and you’d think someone would have mentioned it.

A bit of celebration at the last scary bridge (3 banana peels)

And we were done. Time to return to everyday life. On the one hand, I really wanted a proper shower, but on the other hand, I wasn’t looking forward to returning to the world and its problems.

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Wonderland Trail – Day 9

Nickel Creek to Summerland, Aug 16

This was going to be a big day and one that I’d had some concerns about. We needed to travel over 11 miles and had at least 4000 feet of elevation gain, which put it at the top of the range of any day hike I’d ever done before. It would also take us to the highest elevation on the entire trip, about 7000 feet. On the other hand, some of my concerns were because I’d been initially misreading the map and thought we had more than 5000 feet of gain and I’d been steeling myself for that. When I realized the error and that it was ‘only’ 4000 feet I felt much more optimistic about it.

Uphill, out of Nickel Creek and it wasn’t long before the trees started to thin out and we reached a ridge where we had some views of the area. We also passed a family of marmots who were almost completely unconcerned about our passing by. Mom and dad sat on a rock while two kids played. There was still a lot of beargrass in bloom, amazing views everywhere, and we began our descent to Indian Bar.

Above Indian Bar

Indian Bar and Summerland are the two most popular campsites on the entire trail, and they fell last on our hike because placing them that far out was the only way we could complete the circuit when I went to get the permit. I can see why they are so popular. The downhill to the camp was a nice respite.

We had lunch at the little creek below the cabin. The downside of having that bit of downhill was that now we had to go back UP, and the climb out of Indian Bar was long, steep, and exposed. K & I suggested to the two younger members of the group (younger than me by 15 and 30 years) that maybe they should go ahead at their own pace to get to Summerland before us and try to grab one of the better campsites. I handed over the permit and they started out.

Climbing up out of Indian Bar
Looking back the way we had come

The climb was hot and we decided to go as slowly as we wanted and to take many breaks. We eventually got up into some snowfields to cross which gave us the opportunity to cool off. Kim made a snowball and started to carry it with her so I dubbed it the ‘snow baby’. Looking out at all the open grass below us, I started to talk about how we hadn’t seen any mountain goats on the trip and I was somewhat disappointed. I’d seen some at a distance on a day hike to Burroughs and thought we would encounter more. While talking, and scanning the fields far below I finally saw a little white speck of ‘snow’ that I realized was moving. We watched for a while and confirmed that there was, indeed, a single goat visible far, far away. But there was no point in trying to take a photo. It didn’t look like anything. I promised to work on my goat-summoning magical powers, and we hiked on.

Now and then we’d catch a glimpse of hikers ahead of us which we presumed were S & R, but we weren’t able to confirm that until we reached Summerland and could talk to them.
But my goat summoning paid off! Just before we reached Panhandle Gap, the highest point, I looked to my left and there was a goat RIGHT THERE walking almost parallel to us. We were in a very open area so he had to have been following alongside for quite a while before we noticed him. Once spotted, and once it became apparent that our paths were slowly converging, he ran to get ahead of us.

He decided to run to get ahead of us just as we reached the gap. We stopped here for a break and to survey our options. We knew there was a hazardous ‘snow bridge’ here and one look at it told us we weren’t going to take that path (photo below). This is the main path, but the snow that lingered on it had melted out below so to stay on the path you had to walk on a bridge of snow of unknown thickness while everything underneath it had melted out. It looked very easy to either slip off of it or punch through unexpectedly.

Instead of risking that we opted to scramble down the talus slope to the left. This was slow going, and I heard later, S’s least favorite part of the trail. I thought she’d love it because it reminded me of jumping around on the boulders at the Carbon River, but apparently, during her descent, she rested her weight on a very large boulder and it MOVED. And that made her very untrusting of everything around her.

This part of the landscape looked like the surface of the moon to me, and made me a little sad because I imagine it used to mostly be glacier, but now we could see Summerland below us. We had one more dubious crossing – it was only a creek, but there was no bridge and the rock-hopping prospects were not great. K finally decided to go for it and jumped onto some big rocks. I considered it, then chickened out and instead put on my sandals and waded across at a spot where I could see the bottom.

Summerland

S & R had a great spot for us. It was a little far from the toilet, but also far from other campsites for privacy and close to a nice view. We had our supper near a marmot friend and they told us about the slight incident. Apparently when they got there and started setting up camp, another hiker kept aggressively asking, multiple times, if they were going to stay *there* and if they had a permit. (They were and they did). From the tone of it, I think this hiker might have thought that both S & R were teenagers off on a lark. In reality: S is a Jr in college and R is a PROFESSOR.

This was our last full day so I did my best to eat as much food as possible so I wouldn’t have to carry it. We planned to get up early the next morning to watch the sunrise and we were expecting K’s sister to hike in to meet us.

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Wonderland Trail – Day 8

Paradise River to Nickel Creek, August 15

The good: waterfalls with narrow steep sides, reflection lake, Box Canyon, Sylvia Falls, Martha Falls. There was a bathroom with flush toilets and a sink!

Our destination was Nickel Creek, a short way past Box Canyon, which is one of the potential trailheads for those starting on the Wonderland Trail. That means it has some facilities and parking. If I was going to bail because of my ankle, Box Canyon was my last chance. I decided that I could just take a little more naproxen and it’d be good despite being a little concerned about our upcoming 12 mile day. The day started cold but then warmed up so by the time we got to reflection lake I wanted to change my shirt. The problem is that it’s right by the main road and tourists kept walking up. I just tried to be quick about it.

The bad: Eroding, scary trails that crumbled beneath us. Toothbrush failure. I’m still lactose intolerant and apparently the cheese in the 4-cheese mashed potatoes is an issue. Someone opening a cooler at the parking lot asked if ‘anyone’ wanted snacks but didn’t mean us. And we wanted snacks.

The photo doesn’t really show how bad that section of trail was. Even my friends who were striding confidently across all those questionable bridges thought this was sketchy. 10.9 miles

Friendly NPC here to give us a quest.
Box Canyon
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Wonderland Trail – Day 7

Pyramid Creek to Paradise River, Aug 14

Today was a cache day! We left Pyramid Creek, crossed the terrible Kautz creek (no bridge), and headed to Rampart Ridge – a place I’ve been snowshoeing before but I didn’t recognize any of it without snow. We encountered more and more people until we finally reached Longmire and the bathroom with flush toilets and a sink! We dubbed this destination “Lothlorien” – a place for rest and recovery. K’s sister and her fiancee were there to meet us with supplies (drinks, chocolate, baby wipes, extra toilet paper). We picked up our second cache, washed up as much as possible in the sink, and then had a little party at a picnic table.

K’s sister walked with us part way to our next campsite before turning back and we kept going through a flatter, more forested part of the trail following the Paradise River. When we stopped to rest at a waterfall we met several groups going the other way and exchanged information. One of these was a group of two ladies who stopped to chat with us. Becky and Kathleen were both in their early-mid seventies and were doing the full circuit in 13 days (with a stay at a lodge in the middle). They were so sweet, told us about how they had a mix of ultra lightweight gear combined with some really antique stuff that weighed far too much. I’d been stressing a little bit about my ankle, but this screwed up my resolve to see it through to the end. This was also when we decided that our group should do this hike again, as a reunion, in 20 years. I’ll be the same age as Kathleen and Becky. 6.9 miles

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Wonderland Trail – Day 6

S Puyallup to Pyramid Creek, August 13

The next morning we began the climb up from the South Puyallup river along Emerald Ridge, and this was one of the most spectacular views in the whole park. It was also a little sad because we could see where the glacier USED to run straight down the valley and it has retreated significantly. The Wonderland Trail was originally a service trail for park staff to monitor the park and wasn’t designed for tourism. When they decided to open it up for public use the goal was to have the trail ‘kiss’ the edges of the glaciers, and I’m sure it did when it was built.

Edge of the glacier visible on the left
Friendly Marmot checking us out

All things must end, and after skirting Emerald Ridge we dropped back into the trees by crossing this moderately scary bridge.

We then passed into another very pretty area, “Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground” which featured one of the old patrol cabins that still looks to be in use. And we made a small detour to visit Mirror Lakes.

From here we wound up back in some rather buggy forest, past Devil’s Dream Creek and to our campsite on Pyramid Creek. I wasn’t able to get a good photograph but these creeks were in very deep slot-like canyons that I found fascinating. I might need to hang around all day waiting for good light to do them justice. This was also around the time I noticed my ankle was bothering me but since we had a few short days ahead I wasn’t too worried about it yet.

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Wonderland Trail – Day 5

Golden Lakes to S Puyallup, Aug 12

Berries! Early we went through an area called the Silver Forest – named for dead, bleached-white trees. It was hot enough to swim in St Andrews Lake and we had fantastic views of Bear Rock, Tokaloo Rock and Spire. Much sturdier bridges today and we passed the remnant of a ruined stone bridge and road that used to lead to the N Puyallup. We passed through Klapatchee Park which was another highly rated campground with a lake and unobstructed views of Rainier. The pond was full of tadpoles. We spent the night at S. Puyallup, which didn’t have high ratings from other campers, but did have a very interesting basalt column formation located near the toilet called the “colonnades”. We opted to have dinner down there and referred to it as “dining at the colonnades” which sounds a lot like a posh restaurant. 12 miles total

We were now half way. S was feeling much better about our pace and had started to lead the group.

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Wonderland Trail – Day 4

Mowich Lake to Golden Lakes, August 11

We woke up to wet tents and gear and slept in a little to try to let things dry. It was much warmer today but shady. Early in the day we met the trail crew that had been working on rebuilding bridges. Just the day before we’d learned from another ranger that the bridge across the S. Mowich was in. Back when I was booking these trips I knew that sometimes the bridges hadn’t been placed and you might have to ford the rivers, and I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting that to look like, but on day 0, when we were camped next to the White River, I knew that I did NOT want to ford anything here they called a ‘river’. The White River was a boulder field with a jet of rock sludge shooting out of a glacier. It was a gray-brown cataract and standing next to it I was aware of a vibration and a low rumble, which I realized was the sound of boulders rolling beneath the water. Now I presume that they wouldn’t be advising hikers to cross exactly THAT, but so far the Carbon and a few other crossings had looked just as bad.

No matter how much I complain about the bridges being scary, they are a big improvement!

The crew did a great job with this bridge. Not scary!

We climbed a long uphill to Golden Lakes where we met a ranger in residence at a little log cabin. Golden Lakes was lovely. We were so hot when we got there that we jumped into the water. I don’t have many photos from today and it’s partly because I didn’t want to start snapping away when we (or other campers) were partially undressed. There were mosquitos at the campsite so we stayed near the lake where there was a breeze to cook our dinner. We met several other hikers sharing the site with us and also spoke to some trail runners. There were a ton of people we’d passed on the trail, carrying almost nothing and heading north past us. At Golden Lakes we met one of the organizers who was running ‘sweep’ to make sure all their runners made it safely to Mowich. They were doing the whole loop in 3 days: 31 miles per day. And they said, ‘well, it’s easier because we aren’t carrying all that gear’. Friends – let me tell you that I would not be covering 31 miles with or without gear.

We went up to a lookout point near the tents to watch the sunset with other campers. Two of our fellow campers were from BC and had suggestions for hikes there: Porto Cove, Garibaldi, and the West Coast Trail, all in BC