Vital Stats
November 18-22.
18: Drive to Denver
19: Drive to Santa fe to meet up with my aunt & uncle, pack their car, and change around our trip plans
20: drive to Carlsbad Caverns- Hall of the White Giant Tour. Camp in main campground of Guadalupe NP
21: Solo hike up Guadalupe mountain - 8.4 miles, 3,000 ft elevation gain (up to 8,749 feet) ascent 1 hr 50 minutes; descent 1 hour 40 minutes. Trail is has a fairly continuous but reasonable grade through its length.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park - Spider Cave Tour. Stay in Roswell overnight
22: Drive to Santa Fe, move stuff into my car & drive back to Ft. Collins
Showing posts with label trip stats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trip stats. Show all posts
Monday, November 22, 2010
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Mt. Rainier National Park - Vital Stats
5 day trip to Mt. Rainier National Park
30 June - 4 July 2008
Click on heading to read details.
Monday
30 June
Seattle to Cougar Rock Campground, Mt. Rainier National Park
Park Entrance Fee - $15 (good for 7 days, or "America the Beatuiful Parks pass"
Camping Fee - $15
Drove: 105 miles
Hiked: 3/4 mile - Longmire interpretive trail
Biked: ~4 miles, from Campground, down to Longmire, and back up to the Campground
I got lots of good info from the backcountry ranger station in Longmire, including a backcountry permit to camp at Nickel Creek the following night. There is no charge for backcountry permits, but you must register with the park to spend the night in the backcountry. They had a map of highlighted trails where snow was known to have melted out, which was quite useful.
Cougar Rock Campground is your standard National Park frontcountry campground, including evening ranger programs. However the layout was such that some of the sites were quite far from the bathrooms; I cut through an unused site that was behind mine to shorten my hike.
Tuesday
1 July 2008
Cougar Rock Campground to Nickel Creek backcountry site
Camping fee - none (free permit required)
Drove: 21 miles
Hiked: about 5+ miles
Hike in from road to site: Slightly less than a mile, took about 1/2 hour each way due to snow and swampy areas.
Nickel Creek backcountry campsite is along the wonderland trail, about 1 mile from the box canyon parking area, just east of a short tunnel on the road. There are two box canyon parking areas, however the eastern one is directly across from the trailhead. The hike is fairly easy, gaining most of its 400 foot gain early on. About the last 1/3 of the trail was snow covered, and the bridge across Nickel creek (which was about 20 feet wide and running fast) was missing a handrail, which I had been warned about. It was still a fairly easy crossing, but the bridge was only about 2 feet wide. With snowmelt full-on upstream (despite having 2-3 feet of snow on the ground) I had to do some route-finding to get past a very marshy area and up onto dry land. The toilet for the site was easily visible, and my only indication that I was actually there. The bear pole had probably fallen over and was under snow.
I spent most of the day at Paradise, hiking upwards on snow and learning things in ranger programs. I hiked up to near Panorama point, up to around 6800 ft, gaining something like 1,600 feet over just over 1.5 miles. Thankfully going down on the somewhat wet snow was much easier than going up.
Wednesday
2 July 2008
Nickel Creek backcountry site to Lower Crystal Lake backcountry site
Camping fee - none (free permit required)
Drove: 19.7 miles
Distance from road to campsite: 2.3 or 2.5 miles to lower crystal lake, 3 miles to upper crystal lake. 1 hr 20 minutes to lower crystal lake, about another 15-20 minutes to upper crystal lake (Includes time to stop & check out lower crystal lake campsites.) The hike down took just under an hour.
Hiked: 7+ miles
Lower Crystal Lake campsite is near the NE border of the park on crystal mountain. When chatting with a ranger my first night I was warned that the parking area is one of the few places that they have had theft problems, as it is on the main highway (and by theft problems its been about 2 "smash & go" situations of small valuables over the course of about 5 years.) Hiking up I passed several dayhikers on their way down, as well as two backpackers who were going without a permit, and who didn't seem prepared for how hard the hike would be, possibly due to elevation.
The hike is fairly continually up, with an elevation of 1,900 feet (up to 5,400 feet) over 2.3-2.5 (signs & maps dissagree) to lower crystal lake, and a total of 2,300 feet over about 3 miles to upper crystal lake. The trail was almost completely snow free, which was a nice change from all my snowy hiking earlier in the trip. I went all the way to upper crystal lake, but decided to head back down to lower for more solitude (and thats where my permit was actually for, although I basically was told by the ranger I got it from that it didn't really matter.) I was glad of my choice overnight when massive thunderstorms rolled through, as the sites at lower crystal lake are a bit more protected than the ones at upper crystal lake.
On my way I stopped at the Grove of the Patriarchs, which is a 1.5 miles fairly flat trail that leads to a suspension bridge across the Ohenapacosh river onto a small island with 1,000 year old trees. The grove is amazing and I spent quite a bit of time there.
Ohenapacosh proper, one of the 4 visitor centers in the park (Longmire, Paradise, Ohenapacosh, and Sunrise) was a bit disappointing, as was the small guided trail there. I'm sure if I had just entered the park I would have enjoyed it more. The visitor center is quite small and in the midst of the campground there.
Thursday
3 July 2008
Lower Crystal Lake backcountry site to Sunrise walk-in backcountry site
Camping fee- free, backcountry permit required
Distance to campsite - 1.3 miles, -100 feet of elevation from parking lot. It took me around 30 minutes to go each way, with snow slowing down sections of the trail.
Drove: 26 miles
Hiked: ~5.5 miles
I slept in quite late due to lack of sleep from the massive thunderstorms overnight. I arguably chose either a really good or really bad night to test out a few things in how my tent was set up. I am continually impressed with how well it does in wet weather, even when not set up quite right (It is the Tarptent Contrail). It does MUCH better than the "standard" tents I've slept in under inclement weather, is super light weight, and was relatively inexpensive.
I spent the afternoon wandering about paradise and checking out ranger programs. I learned a lot of cool things about glaciers, including that there are ice worms that live in the glaciers in the cascade range. I got a lot of good info as far as finding my campsite for the night from one of the rangers.
A good portion of the trail out was snow free, and I managed to find a space just big enough to squeeze my tent into that was snow free in one of the campsites. I did the 1.3 mile hike in about a half hour. However, most of the ground in and around the campsite was covered in about 2 feet of snow.
Friday
4 July 2008
Sunrise walk-in backcountry site back to Seattle
Drove: 107 miles
Hiked: 1.3 miles
The hike back and drive back were both uneventful. There is NPR reception from Seattle for the entire drive back, and there are several forest service land campsites just to the north of the park, some of which are free.
30 June - 4 July 2008
Click on heading to read details.
Monday
30 June
Seattle to Cougar Rock Campground, Mt. Rainier National Park
Park Entrance Fee - $15 (good for 7 days, or "America the Beatuiful Parks pass"
Camping Fee - $15
Drove: 105 miles
Hiked: 3/4 mile - Longmire interpretive trail
Biked: ~4 miles, from Campground, down to Longmire, and back up to the Campground
I got lots of good info from the backcountry ranger station in Longmire, including a backcountry permit to camp at Nickel Creek the following night. There is no charge for backcountry permits, but you must register with the park to spend the night in the backcountry. They had a map of highlighted trails where snow was known to have melted out, which was quite useful.
Cougar Rock Campground is your standard National Park frontcountry campground, including evening ranger programs. However the layout was such that some of the sites were quite far from the bathrooms; I cut through an unused site that was behind mine to shorten my hike.
Tuesday
1 July 2008
Cougar Rock Campground to Nickel Creek backcountry site
Camping fee - none (free permit required)
Drove: 21 miles
Hiked: about 5+ miles
Hike in from road to site: Slightly less than a mile, took about 1/2 hour each way due to snow and swampy areas.
Nickel Creek backcountry campsite is along the wonderland trail, about 1 mile from the box canyon parking area, just east of a short tunnel on the road. There are two box canyon parking areas, however the eastern one is directly across from the trailhead. The hike is fairly easy, gaining most of its 400 foot gain early on. About the last 1/3 of the trail was snow covered, and the bridge across Nickel creek (which was about 20 feet wide and running fast) was missing a handrail, which I had been warned about. It was still a fairly easy crossing, but the bridge was only about 2 feet wide. With snowmelt full-on upstream (despite having 2-3 feet of snow on the ground) I had to do some route-finding to get past a very marshy area and up onto dry land. The toilet for the site was easily visible, and my only indication that I was actually there. The bear pole had probably fallen over and was under snow.
I spent most of the day at Paradise, hiking upwards on snow and learning things in ranger programs. I hiked up to near Panorama point, up to around 6800 ft, gaining something like 1,600 feet over just over 1.5 miles. Thankfully going down on the somewhat wet snow was much easier than going up.
Wednesday
2 July 2008
Nickel Creek backcountry site to Lower Crystal Lake backcountry site
Camping fee - none (free permit required)
Drove: 19.7 miles
Distance from road to campsite: 2.3 or 2.5 miles to lower crystal lake, 3 miles to upper crystal lake. 1 hr 20 minutes to lower crystal lake, about another 15-20 minutes to upper crystal lake (Includes time to stop & check out lower crystal lake campsites.) The hike down took just under an hour.
Hiked: 7+ miles
Lower Crystal Lake campsite is near the NE border of the park on crystal mountain. When chatting with a ranger my first night I was warned that the parking area is one of the few places that they have had theft problems, as it is on the main highway (and by theft problems its been about 2 "smash & go" situations of small valuables over the course of about 5 years.) Hiking up I passed several dayhikers on their way down, as well as two backpackers who were going without a permit, and who didn't seem prepared for how hard the hike would be, possibly due to elevation.
The hike is fairly continually up, with an elevation of 1,900 feet (up to 5,400 feet) over 2.3-2.5 (signs & maps dissagree) to lower crystal lake, and a total of 2,300 feet over about 3 miles to upper crystal lake. The trail was almost completely snow free, which was a nice change from all my snowy hiking earlier in the trip. I went all the way to upper crystal lake, but decided to head back down to lower for more solitude (and thats where my permit was actually for, although I basically was told by the ranger I got it from that it didn't really matter.) I was glad of my choice overnight when massive thunderstorms rolled through, as the sites at lower crystal lake are a bit more protected than the ones at upper crystal lake.
On my way I stopped at the Grove of the Patriarchs, which is a 1.5 miles fairly flat trail that leads to a suspension bridge across the Ohenapacosh river onto a small island with 1,000 year old trees. The grove is amazing and I spent quite a bit of time there.
Ohenapacosh proper, one of the 4 visitor centers in the park (Longmire, Paradise, Ohenapacosh, and Sunrise) was a bit disappointing, as was the small guided trail there. I'm sure if I had just entered the park I would have enjoyed it more. The visitor center is quite small and in the midst of the campground there.
Thursday
3 July 2008
Lower Crystal Lake backcountry site to Sunrise walk-in backcountry site
Camping fee- free, backcountry permit required
Distance to campsite - 1.3 miles, -100 feet of elevation from parking lot. It took me around 30 minutes to go each way, with snow slowing down sections of the trail.
Drove: 26 miles
Hiked: ~5.5 miles
I slept in quite late due to lack of sleep from the massive thunderstorms overnight. I arguably chose either a really good or really bad night to test out a few things in how my tent was set up. I am continually impressed with how well it does in wet weather, even when not set up quite right (It is the Tarptent Contrail). It does MUCH better than the "standard" tents I've slept in under inclement weather, is super light weight, and was relatively inexpensive.
I spent the afternoon wandering about paradise and checking out ranger programs. I learned a lot of cool things about glaciers, including that there are ice worms that live in the glaciers in the cascade range. I got a lot of good info as far as finding my campsite for the night from one of the rangers.
A good portion of the trail out was snow free, and I managed to find a space just big enough to squeeze my tent into that was snow free in one of the campsites. I did the 1.3 mile hike in about a half hour. However, most of the ground in and around the campsite was covered in about 2 feet of snow.
Friday
4 July 2008
Sunrise walk-in backcountry site back to Seattle
Drove: 107 miles
Hiked: 1.3 miles
The hike back and drive back were both uneventful. There is NPR reception from Seattle for the entire drive back, and there are several forest service land campsites just to the north of the park, some of which are free.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Vancouver Island Bike Trip - Vital Stats
Sunday June 15 - Wednesday June 18th
Bike trip to Vancouver Island from Orcas Island
Click header to read full post
Sunday
27 miles
Start: Camp Orkila, Orcas Island
End: Island View Campground, Vancouver Island
Cost of Camping: $25
Trail Notes: Sections of the trail are difficult to follow through residential areas. Watch carefully for the Lochside street signs and trail signs. About 5 miles south of Sidney (roughly), at Mt. something crossroad make sure to re-find the trail near the Esso station & pedestrian overpass across the highway. The signs for the trail are confusing and appear to point you onto the highway, which you do not want. Going through customs is very easy by bike.
High Points: Seeing Orcas Island from Vancouver Island
Monday
23 miles
Start: Island View Campground, Vancouver Island
End: Thetis Lake Campground, Vancouver Island
Cost of Camping: $18 for a tiny hiker/biker camp site surrounded by RVs
Trail Notes: Sinage of trail is generally better while weaving through the sprawl around Victoria.
High Points: Saanich Historical Artifact Society
Tuesday
12 miles
Start: Thetis Lake Campground, Vancouver Island
End: Sam's apartment in Victoria, Vancouver Island
Cost of Camping: N/A
Trail Notes: Cars in Victoria are generally considerate to bikers. The Abkhazi Gardens give you a dollar off admission for showing up on a bike (or by bus or foot).
High Points: Abkhazi Gardens, Beacon Hill Park
Wednesday
35 miles
Start: Sam's apartment in Victoria, Vancouver Island
End: Camp Orkila, Orcas Island
Trail Notes: Rails-to-Trails bike trails are awesome for covering mileage quickly. Customs are again easy via bike, however you go through checkpoints in both Canada and the US. We arrived about 30 minutes early for the ferry, and we would have been fine if we arrived a little later.
High Points: Seeing a house being moved up from Seattle while on the ferry, which we had seen on the news earlier that morning; riding down hills on Orcas.
Bike trip to Vancouver Island from Orcas Island
Click header to read full post
27 miles
Start: Camp Orkila, Orcas Island
End: Island View Campground, Vancouver Island
Cost of Camping: $25
Trail Notes: Sections of the trail are difficult to follow through residential areas. Watch carefully for the Lochside street signs and trail signs. About 5 miles south of Sidney (roughly), at Mt. something crossroad make sure to re-find the trail near the Esso station & pedestrian overpass across the highway. The signs for the trail are confusing and appear to point you onto the highway, which you do not want. Going through customs is very easy by bike.
High Points: Seeing Orcas Island from Vancouver Island
23 miles
Start: Island View Campground, Vancouver Island
End: Thetis Lake Campground, Vancouver Island
Cost of Camping: $18 for a tiny hiker/biker camp site surrounded by RVs
Trail Notes: Sinage of trail is generally better while weaving through the sprawl around Victoria.
High Points: Saanich Historical Artifact Society
12 miles
Start: Thetis Lake Campground, Vancouver Island
End: Sam's apartment in Victoria, Vancouver Island
Cost of Camping: N/A
Trail Notes: Cars in Victoria are generally considerate to bikers. The Abkhazi Gardens give you a dollar off admission for showing up on a bike (or by bus or foot).
High Points: Abkhazi Gardens, Beacon Hill Park
35 miles
Start: Sam's apartment in Victoria, Vancouver Island
End: Camp Orkila, Orcas Island
Trail Notes: Rails-to-Trails bike trails are awesome for covering mileage quickly. Customs are again easy via bike, however you go through checkpoints in both Canada and the US. We arrived about 30 minutes early for the ferry, and we would have been fine if we arrived a little later.
High Points: Seeing a house being moved up from Seattle while on the ferry, which we had seen on the news earlier that morning; riding down hills on Orcas.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Moran State Park Backpack - Vital Stats
3 day "backpack" in Moran State Park
May 2008
Click header for full post
Saturday
Milage: 2.5 miles
Trails Taken: Mountain lake parking lot to Orkila campsite on Twin Lake
Notes: I started in the evening after working a full day.
Suday
Milage: About 17 Miles
Trails/Route
*Twin Lakes to West Boundary Trail - 2.2 miles
*Wrong turn onto Access Trail to private land ~2 miles
*Section of North Trail (down to intersection and back up to west boundary turn off) - 2 miles
*West Boundary Trail - 2.5 miles
Cold spring trail from cascade lake to summit - 4.3 miles
*From trail Jct. of cold spring trail & pwarking lot to south summit & back - 2.2 miles
*Mt. Constitution summit to twin lakes 1.5 miles
*Milage from campsite to trail juction (both ways) 0.6
Total approximate milage - 17.3 miles
Monday - Total milage about 8 miles
Twin Lakes campsite to trial - .3 miles
South along trail to Mt. ?
Along hiker-only trail
down to southern trail junction of Mountain lake.
From southern point of Mountain lake counterclockwise around lake back to mountain lake parking lot.
May 2008
Click header for full post
Saturday
Milage: 2.5 miles
Trails Taken: Mountain lake parking lot to Orkila campsite on Twin Lake
Notes: I started in the evening after working a full day.
Suday
Milage: About 17 Miles
Trails/Route
*Twin Lakes to West Boundary Trail - 2.2 miles
*Wrong turn onto Access Trail to private land ~2 miles
*Section of North Trail (down to intersection and back up to west boundary turn off) - 2 miles
*West Boundary Trail - 2.5 miles
Cold spring trail from cascade lake to summit - 4.3 miles
*From trail Jct. of cold spring trail & pwarking lot to south summit & back - 2.2 miles
*Mt. Constitution summit to twin lakes 1.5 miles
*Milage from campsite to trail juction (both ways) 0.6
Total approximate milage - 17.3 miles
Monday - Total milage about 8 miles
Twin Lakes campsite to trial - .3 miles
South along trail to Mt. ?
Along hiker-only trail
down to southern trail junction of Mountain lake.
From southern point of Mountain lake counterclockwise around lake back to mountain lake parking lot.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Olympic National Park - Vital Stats
Olympic National Park
April 13 - 18th 2008
Click on header for details
Note: we used my parks pass to get in, and therefore didn't have to deal with the park entrance fee.
Sunday April 13th
Start: Camp Orkila, Orcas Island
End: Elwa Campground, Olympic National Park - $12 per site
Travel Notes: After ferry hopping we stopped into the Backcountry office in Port Angeles, where we got our backcountry permits and borrowed bear cannisters. Permits cost $5 for the group, plus $2 per person; bear cannisters are free to borrow. The people in the backcountry office were very helpful in suggesting routes for our trip when I said we wanted to do an x night trip covering y miles per day.
Monday April 14th
Start: Elwa Campground, Olympic National Park, Drove to 3rd beach
Backpack start: 3rd beach trailhead off LaPush road
Backpack End: Toleak Point
Backpacking Mileage: 6 miles
Trail Notes: The trail alternates between beach hiking and crossing headlands to navigate around steep rocky precipices. Headland trails were very muddy. Most of the rope ascents on this section aren't too bad, however just down the beach from Toleak point is a much more difficult rope & ladder ascent. If it was wetter out some of the sections would have been very difficult to ascend/descend. The Toleak point area is amazingly beautiful and I highly recomend it for camping.
Tuesday April 15th
Start: Toleak Point
End: Scott's Bluff
Mileage: 3 miles
Trail Notes: Today was super mellow and we explored the beach around Toleak point before heading back north to Scott's Bluff. As far as camping goes, we camped up on the headland, but apparently there are also some sites closer to the freshwater source and the beach. This area isn't nearly as nice to camp at as Toleak Point, although one of its downfalls was the distance we had to walk to get water.
Wednesday April 16th
Backpack Start: Scott's Bluff
Backpack End: 3rd Beach Trailhead
Day End: Hoh Rainforest Campground - $12
Backpacking mileage: 3 miles
Frontcountry trails hiked in Hoh:Hall of Mosses trail (1 mile)
Trail Notes: Hall of Mosses Trail - Winds amazingly through the rain forest, a great easy hike that feels like you suddenly were dumped on another planet. Total milage is more like 2 miles because of the distance required to get to the trail head.
Thursday April 17th
Start: Hoh Rainforest Campground
Day End: Deception Pass State Park - $18
Day Hikes from Hoh Rainforest Campground/Visitor Center: First ~3 miles of the Hoh river trail to the waterfall, Spruce Nature trail -1.2 miles (Note, again mileages are a bit deceiving because they start off of other short trails, not at the VC)
Trail Notes: I did the section of the Hoh River trail solo in the morning and I really would love to return and backpack up into the park. The waterfall I turned around at was wonderful, as was the whole experience of being in a rainforest. The trail itself is fairly easy terrain; I ran sections of it so I could get as far as I did and make my return time. The Spruce Nature trail is also something I highly recommend as an easy loop to get out into the rainforest. We stopped at the Backcountry office to return our bear cannisters. Even if you can't return while they're open they have an return area so you don't have to plan you trip around returning the cannisters.
Friday April 18th
Start: Deception Pass State Park
End: Camp Orkila, Orcas Island
Travel Notes: Today was mostly a travel day, with two of us starting work at 4 that afternoon. We briefly stopped at Deception pass itself to take pictures and be amazed at the narrow passage.
April 13 - 18th 2008
Click on header for details
Note: we used my parks pass to get in, and therefore didn't have to deal with the park entrance fee.
Sunday April 13th
Start: Camp Orkila, Orcas Island
End: Elwa Campground, Olympic National Park - $12 per site
Travel Notes: After ferry hopping we stopped into the Backcountry office in Port Angeles, where we got our backcountry permits and borrowed bear cannisters. Permits cost $5 for the group, plus $2 per person; bear cannisters are free to borrow. The people in the backcountry office were very helpful in suggesting routes for our trip when I said we wanted to do an x night trip covering y miles per day.
Monday April 14th
Start: Elwa Campground, Olympic National Park, Drove to 3rd beach
Backpack start: 3rd beach trailhead off LaPush road
Backpack End: Toleak Point
Backpacking Mileage: 6 miles
Trail Notes: The trail alternates between beach hiking and crossing headlands to navigate around steep rocky precipices. Headland trails were very muddy. Most of the rope ascents on this section aren't too bad, however just down the beach from Toleak point is a much more difficult rope & ladder ascent. If it was wetter out some of the sections would have been very difficult to ascend/descend. The Toleak point area is amazingly beautiful and I highly recomend it for camping.
Tuesday April 15th
Start: Toleak Point
End: Scott's Bluff
Mileage: 3 miles
Trail Notes: Today was super mellow and we explored the beach around Toleak point before heading back north to Scott's Bluff. As far as camping goes, we camped up on the headland, but apparently there are also some sites closer to the freshwater source and the beach. This area isn't nearly as nice to camp at as Toleak Point, although one of its downfalls was the distance we had to walk to get water.
Wednesday April 16th
Backpack Start: Scott's Bluff
Backpack End: 3rd Beach Trailhead
Day End: Hoh Rainforest Campground - $12
Backpacking mileage: 3 miles
Frontcountry trails hiked in Hoh:Hall of Mosses trail (1 mile)
Trail Notes: Hall of Mosses Trail - Winds amazingly through the rain forest, a great easy hike that feels like you suddenly were dumped on another planet. Total milage is more like 2 miles because of the distance required to get to the trail head.
Thursday April 17th
Start: Hoh Rainforest Campground
Day End: Deception Pass State Park - $18
Day Hikes from Hoh Rainforest Campground/Visitor Center: First ~3 miles of the Hoh river trail to the waterfall, Spruce Nature trail -1.2 miles (Note, again mileages are a bit deceiving because they start off of other short trails, not at the VC)
Trail Notes: I did the section of the Hoh River trail solo in the morning and I really would love to return and backpack up into the park. The waterfall I turned around at was wonderful, as was the whole experience of being in a rainforest. The trail itself is fairly easy terrain; I ran sections of it so I could get as far as I did and make my return time. The Spruce Nature trail is also something I highly recommend as an easy loop to get out into the rainforest. We stopped at the Backcountry office to return our bear cannisters. Even if you can't return while they're open they have an return area so you don't have to plan you trip around returning the cannisters.
Friday April 18th
Start: Deception Pass State Park
End: Camp Orkila, Orcas Island
Travel Notes: Today was mostly a travel day, with two of us starting work at 4 that afternoon. We briefly stopped at Deception pass itself to take pictures and be amazed at the narrow passage.
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