Mike's bday camp and hike Aug 9 2014

Mike wanted to go hiking for his birthday and Jim wanted to go camping..  An idea was hatched.. Camp AND hike! 

Jim took off early Friday am for Staircase campground.  It was full, everything was full.   Six hours later he found a place at Falls View campground.  

The journey begins

The next am,  Mike and I met up with Jim at the campground.  We set up our tents and headed for the trail.  We chose Tunnel Creek Trail.  Bronwen, Coltrane and I attempted this many years ago, but didn't make it very far.  Mike has been on this trail before.  He wanted to go all the way to 5050 ridge.  That's 5,050 feet up. We started around 2000 feet.  

The first part to the shelter, 2.7 miles was a steady grade uphill.  We kept a good pace and had lunch at the shelter.   We headed out for the lakes.  Suddenly the trail changed from a gradual, well maintained trail to a serious climb.  At one point we had to scale up a rock!

Tiny pond/lake

The first lake was tiny.  More of a pond.   The next lake was bigger, and there were some campers there.  We relaxed here for a half an hour and then decided to go the next mile to the top.  It was brutal.

We made it up in about 4 hours, and 2 hours to get down.  Down was hard too due to the steep grade.  my knees hurt.

When we got to the bottom we celebrated with cold beverages I had in the car.  My left front tire was low, so we ran into Quilcene to get air.  There is no gas station in Quilcene!  doh.   Jim had an air pump in his car and was able to get my tire inflated enough for me to get home.

We stayed up late at the campground. It was a super moon.  We ate hotdogs and sausage, corn and baked beans.

The next am, I left early to go home and rest my sore muscles and watch baseball.  

Mike reads notes from his journey here a few years ago

Mt Constance

5050 ridge. As soon as we pulled out a snack, this fella popped up next to us!

Mt Baker in the background