yesterday in the wilderness
I wrote about yesterday's routine activities in my previous message. But the most notable activity yesterday was an expedition into the wilderness.
I drove north to Everett, then east to Granite Falls and stopped at the parking lot. A couple of guys seemed just a little too curious about my unremarkable vehicle, and I was warned of reports of trail-head car-prowling, so I waited for them to drive away from the lot before I left sight of the car.
I walked down the little trail to the fish ladder deck, sometimes looking down through the grating at the rushing water (no obvious fish right now), but mostly looked around at the scenery. The flow of the river varies seasonally, and was fairly low when I was there. The falls were a pretty series of cascades, and there was an interesting rock cliff on the opposite side of the river. It was a short walk to the end of the fish ladder, which also worked as a nice observing platform. I took some pictures, some of which came out nice. I'll share them when I get a chance.
The entire stop there was fairly brief, but it was a nice, scenic break. I returned to the car and continued along the road, through the city of Granite Falls, and continued on toward the Lake 22 trail-head. I don't know why it's called "Lake 22"; none of the resources I've seen have explained that. Again given the reports of car-prowling, I made a point of parking near a Corvette, figuring that my car would look less interesting than a bright yellow sports car.
The car thermometer said the temperature was 76°F (about 24°C) when I turned off the car. The clock on my Blackberry said it was 6:50 pm when I started up the trail.
The trail-head was a nice little space, with a good parking area (said to be very full at times, but not too busy when I arrived), a not-too-smelly toilet house, and a lot of signs. Some of the signs were boring stuff like rules and regulations, and others were more interesting, with information about the site. Except for signing in at the guest register, I skipped past most of them to get on with the hike.
The lower part of the trail went through beautiful old-growth forest. I didn't realize that it was old growth right away, because a lot of the trees weren't all that large. I guessed that it had regrown after being cut many years ago, and that the few huge trees were ones that either grew back exceptionally quickly, or that had been left behind by the lumberjacks for whatever reason. But later I learned that the entire area was an old-growth preserve, I had to assume that there had been a forest fire at some point, and that the huge trees were the survivors.
Fairly often along the way, I was greeted by people coming down the trail. Most of the greetings were just exchanges of smiles and a simple "Hi!"
Getting up higher, there were more and more of the really large trees. That conflicted with my initial guess that it was long-preserved second growth, rather than genuine old-growth forest. The understory vegetation was interesting too, with lots of mosses, ferns, small plants, shrubs, and younger trees. In the wetter areas, I saw quite a few skunk cabbages, past their blooming season. The trail was very well-maintained, with a clear path, rock stepping stones in some steeps, log terraces in some straight stretches, and a surface that kept the trail from getting muddy.
Further still, the trail opened up into a mountain meadow. The trail through there was fairly rocky, with some smaller stones that were a bit unsteady, but it still wasn't terribly difficult going.
There were not nearly as many people coming down the trail at that point; I suppose most people were trying to finish up so they could head home and relax before heading back to work. One who was memorable was a somewhat overweight guy, running down a boardwalk in a switchback between stretches of the rocky meadow trails. A bit later was another guy, walking fast, who asked if I had seen his large friend.
Finally the rocky stretch ended, and it was back to thick, beautiful forest. Then the trail crested a small rise, and opened onto a view of the lake. It was really pretty. It was surrounded by a boardwalk. Above the lake on the opposite side was a steep mountainside, with snow-pack in patches. There was a layer of cloud shrouding part of the mountain, then a clearer patch that showed the upper reaches of the mountain.
I stopped to take a bunch of pictures, including a self portrait video because I couldn't remember how to set the auto-timer on my Canon 5D. I also had a snack of trail mix, which felt really good after all that hiking, and some water from my water bottle.
I noted the time: about 9 pm. It was still light out, but the light would be fading on the return trip, so I didn't stay at the lake very long. I skipped the walk on the boardwalk around the lake. Maybe I'll go that way on another visit.
The beginning of the descent was pretty easy. The forest was fairly thick, but it was still light enough that the trail was easy to see. The rocky part got more difficult, but because the mountain meadow was fairly open the light was still good; the main difficulty was just that it's tougher to hike on the rocky path downhill than it was uphill. As it got darker, I thought about the possibility of predatory wildlife. I don't know whether there are any bears, cougars, or anything else in the area, but the general rule is that they'll stay away from people if they make a lot of noise, so I tried to make more noise than necessary.
As the trail returned to the heavy forest, it got pretty difficult. Even though I had just been through the trail a few hours earlier and had an idea what was there, and there was still a little light left, it was pretty dark. My eyes adapted to the dim light, so I could see the way, but eventually I gave up on trying to make it on twilight and eyes.
I had no flashlight, but I had my Blackberry. I switched it to a screen with a lot of white space, and kept clicking the keyboard when it dimmed to save power. It wasn't very bright, but it was enough light, particularly if I swept it around to highlight the contrast of the shadows of rocks and roots, and swept between the view ahead and the view immediately under-foot.
I noticed occasional flashes of light in the forest, and doused my own light for a better view. It seems that someone was off in the forest camping - or maybe it was just highway lights peeking through the wood. I never figured that out for sure.
Eventually I made it to the trail-head. I took a little time to read the interpretive signs at the trail-head park, using my phone as a flashlight. Then I learned of my mistake about the nature of the forest. It was actually an old-growth forest, set aside as a reserve for study of old-growth forest in 1947.
When I got back in the car the thermometer said it was 68°F (20°C) and 11:04 pm. I drove back to Seattle; the trip took about an hour. I posted a two-sentence message promising more later, which I've now written.