Snow hiking is a little slower than hiking, but it is faster than snowshoeing and we were at the Yurt quickly despite one blowdown to navigate along the way.
We dropped our packs, had a quick bite and used the low snow conditions to explore the Griffin Mountain area above the Yurt. We followed the road to a likely trail and followed it to a peak only to realize that it wasn't Griffin Mountain but a lower peak instead.
We headed back down and around scouting other ways up Griffin Mountain and ended up finding some fantastic views of Mt St Helens, Adams and Mt Rainier. We eventually headed back down to the Yurt and met up with the rest of the group.
We busted out tons of appetizers and transitioned into dinner. Our group did themselves proud as usual and we ate like royalty. Wine and whiskey and port followed along with a game of Cards Against Humanity which matches its name quite well.
The next morning we had lots of coffee and tons of food choices and a large group headed up the Griffin Mountain Trail. Five of us with the intent of bagging Griffin Mountain and the others to enjoy the great views the trail has to offer.
Sherrie, Garry, Rob, Dave and I headed up a "route" that Sherrie and Rob saw to the ridge. I use the quotations there because a scramble route is not like a trail. We all made the ridge and began scouting a route to the main peak and quickly realized we would have to descend 100 feet and then navigate some trees for a couple hundred yards and then make our way up a rocky, icy approach to get the peak. Time constraints kept the peak of Griffin Mountain out of our reach this time, but we did bag the lesser peaks on either side of it.
We met back up with the group at the Yurt as people were packing up for their trip back to their cars. Four were headed via the Lower Yurt Trail and the rest of us were heading to Snow Bowl. Pam, Garry and I were staying another night at Snow Bowl and Sherrie wanted to show the cabin to Rob and Ryan.
We arrived and had a snack before the three of them headed back down. Shortly after they left a group of 4 arrived that were staying the night so we gave them the rundown of how things worked and headed down to the Ski Patrol area for the night.
At 7 AM Monday we headed down the trail. At the junction where we could go down to the car - 2 miles- or head up to High Hut - an additional 3 miles - we headed up. The views were magnificent and one of the folks who spent the night was kind enough to take a picture of us.
On the way down we took another turn and opted for the Anderson Lake trail which meant adding another 3 miles to our route. The trail had some strangely cut brush which had some pointy, 1 inch diameter, 12 to 15 inch tall "stumps" left behind. I would NOT hike that trail again because a simple fall could result in a serious injury. It actually looked like an animal trap in some denser areas.
Once past the lake you are back on a forest service roads. We encountered a crew that was readying to take out a beaver dam. There were lots of cat tracks on the trails all weekend including some very well defined bobcat tracks.
By the time we got back to the car we had turned a 3.5 mile walk out into over 9 miles and a mainly downhill walk into 1930 feet of elevation gain. All in all, we hiked over 28 miles and 7150 feet of elevation gain in the 3 days of hiking.
Be very well and more soon....
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