John Guilford's Hikes

Date: 1999-04-24

Location: Mt. Higgins

People: (including myself): Gene Obie, Joe Tarantino, Jay Wardle, Ginger

			My Alt.	Real Alt.	Miles
Start:		9:30	1420	1460?
Clear cut:	9:50	2000
Out of clr cut:	10:10	2340
First snow:	10:30	2640
Dick's Creek:	10:45	2800	2800
Meadow:		12:15	3580	3600
Summit:		1:45	4720	4849		4 miles
Leave summit:	2:35	4740
Meadow:		3:10	3660
Dick's Creek:	4:10	2900
Clear cut:	4:40	2440
Out:		5:05	1520

The trail wastes no time in gaining elevation.  The first section starts off somewhat steeply.  Except for a respite at the meadow area, you pretty much grind upwards the whole way. 

The day was sunny and warm, with the forecast calling for the mid-to-upper 70's.  It was a bit crisp at the trailhead and we started up with sweatshirts that only lasted about ten minutes before they became too hot. 

Shortly after the start, the trail crosses a clear cut that provides the first views of the valley, with Whitehorse prominent further to the east.  As this is a south facing slope, the clear cut can also be rather warm, particularly on the climbing traverse on the way up.  About 3/4 of the way across the clear cut, one can find a large rock with "S. Strom 8-1917" scratched in it with "K. Neste" also engraved on the corner of the rock, both of whom were early prospectors-settlers. 

After the clear cut, the trail enters relatively cool forest.  Up till here, the trail had been remarkably dry and mud free.  After entering the forest after the clear cut, that changed.  There were more muddy places and several small creeks that had to be crossed.  With waterproof shoes we just walked across.  It might have been hard to cross with non-waterproof shoes w/out getting wet feet. 

We had brought snow shoes in case of soft snow and initially I had wondered whether I would be using them.  Looking at the mountain from the approach there didn't seem to be much snow.  It turns out I needn't have worried.  Once the trail got off the exposed south face, we got plenty of snow. 

A short ways after leaving the clear cut we started picking patches of snow that quickly became constant snow.  The trail crosses over several wooden bridges over minor creeks.  With in a half hour we came to Dick's Creek, a relatively large creek that needed to be crossed.  This is where Gene says that the serious snow generally starts when he's been up here before.  Gene crossed over jumping on wet rocks in the stream bed.  Joe didn't like the looks of that and used a large tree that crossed the worst of the water.  The tree was a bit slick and both he and I found it best to crawl over on hand and knees. 

Shortly after the creek crossing we got tired of punching through the snow and put on the snow shoes.  I ate one of my two apples here.  I can't really say what the real trail does past the creek as we were in snow from then on and kind of made it up ourselves, but I'm sure we basically followed the trail.  The trail bears left and roughly follows the creek (staying up out of the little gorge the creek runs in).  After another steep ascent, the trail enters into a meadow whose relative flatness gives the hiker a bit of a breather. 

The meadow is a bit above Myrtle Lake (I think).  The details of the meadow were hard to see as it was laying under about 8-10' of snow (judging from occasional holes in the snow caused by running water).  It was good to get out into the sun, as it was relatively cool in the forest.  There were times when we were stopped when I got a bit chilled but resisted putting on heavier clothing as I knew I'd warm up as soon as I started moving again.  I brought my XC ski poles this time (having learned a lesson on my previous hike) which made using the snow shoes much easier.  My biggest difficulty was that on the ascent my poles were about a foot too long.  I ended up having to grasp them a foot below their grip which was a pain as I had to count on the friction between the poles and my hand.  If I do this much, I'll have to get adjustable poles. 

At the far end of the meadow we paused for another food break where I ate the first of my two bagels.  The way through the meadow was very picturesque, with the (relatively) untrodden snow, the blue sky, and the green trees.  Weather-wise, we had pretty much an ideal day. 

Past the meadow the trail again relentlessly climbs.  The forest was more open here, with some long stretches through the sun. We started feeling the sun more here and paused to put on sunscreen.  Near the top, the trail bears to the right just before a bowl and does the final ascent to the summit, which was a rounded ball of snow.  In places the snow was pretty soft, and even the snow shoes tended to slip a bit, though they mostly gripped pretty well.  Someone had come up before us, without snow shoes, each step punching a hole almost a foot deep in the snow.  Gene's thermometer read 60F though it felt warmer in the sun. 

The day was pretty clear and we had good views from Puget Sound and the Olympics, to Rainier (peeking over the top of Mt. Pilchuck), to Three Fingers and Whitehorse, to Glacier Peak, to Mt. Baker and Shuksan in the north, not to mention the valley below us from Darrington most of the way to Arlington.  The south side of Mt. Higgins is a pretty precipitous drop off to the valley floor 4500 feet below. 

Here I ate my second bagel and some very good cantaloupe that Pam had fixed for me, took some pictures, and took in the sights. 

I decided to leave the summit a bit early as I was hiking slower than Gene and Joe, and Jay decided to accompany me down.  Ginger (Gene's dog) decided to come down with us and abandoned her master up on the summit.  The way down was faster and easier than the way up.  This was much easier than the descent into Lake 22 that I had done a couple weeks ago.  The slope here was such that I could just stride down with a little bit of slipping.  There were a few places where the trail traversed a slope where the going wasn't as easy.  With the soft snow, one would some times slide several feet sideways.  Down at the meadow, I ate my last apple, took some pictures, and Joe and Gene caught up to us. 

This is where we started meeting other people (coming up).  Up till then we had met no one.  We never did meet whoever left the foot prints before us. 

The way down from the meadows to Dick's Creek was relatively fast, meandering through the trees.  At Dick's Creek the others crossed wearing their snow shoes.  I wasn't comfortable with that and changed out of mine, handing them to Jay before crossing on the same log I crossed over earlier on.  Jay was going to go on before changing his, but I ran into him 100' down the trail, having just changed them. 

From the start of the clear cut, the trail is just a pleasant down hill run to the trailhead. 

A few notes to myself: I brought 2L of water which was just about right for this hike.  I probably would have drank more if I had it, but I really didn't need more.  I tried my large internal frame pack with the snowshoes hung on the side compression straps.  While that seemed to work okay on the way up, on the way down they refused to hang straight and were annoying.  Next time try hanging them on the back of the pack.  The internal frame pack is really too big for the amount of stuff I carry on a day hike, and my normal day pack is a bit small for carrying snow shoes.  I probably need something in between for doing these kind of hikes.  I got a bit of sun, particularly on the ear lobes and lips.  I'll have to watch those areas next time.

Joe, Gene, and Ginger approaching summit. 

Joe, Gene, and Ginger on summit. 

View from summit towards Darrington.  Whitehorse and Glacier Peak are visible. 

Jay, John, Gene, Joe, and Ginger on summit. 

Jay and Ginger descending from summit.