Saturday July 05, 2003: Monte Cristo
What else do you do with a long holiday weekend but go hiking?
I decided to go to Monte Cristo this weekend, and I dragged Sterling and Chris along with me. As usual, we left at an ungodly hour of the morning--especially considering that I'd been up till 1:30 AM the night before. I was dragging, but so was everyone else, so it wasn't a big deal.
We drove through Everett and then on to Glacier Falls, a very tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Past the end of town, we drove through terrain that got wilder and wilder as we went, until finally we were in the national forest.
I stopped at the handy ranger station and finally(!) bought myself a annual Northwest Forest Pass. I'd been meaning to buy one for months, but somehow hadn't gotten around to it till today. so now i'm legal for the next year at all of the national forest trailheads, which means--you guessed it--I will be focusing on hiking the national forests around here for the next few months. Must get my money's worth out of the pass!
Anyway, there is a very nice restroom at the ranger station. Automatic flush toilets and everything! Hooray! And the folks there were very nice and pointed us at the little museum that they keep in the ranger station.
About 20 miles past the ranger station, the pavement ends--and that's the Monte Cristo trailhead. We locked up the car and started down the trail.
For the most part, this is an unpaved road hike, so the footing is sound and the trail is wide enough for four or five people to walk abreast without feeling crowded. There are a few hills, but nothing too serious. mostly, it's an easy, though long, flat hike.
There are outhouses scattered along the trail; an amenity much appreciated by me in particular today. Something I learned today--don't go on a long hike the day after you've eaten a lot of things your tummy isn't used to any more, and when it is also the second day of your cycle and you're having the usual, um, discomforts. Live and learn, I suppose. anyway, hooray for the thoughtful people at the Forest Service, etc.
There is a washout at the one-mile mark (it's a tame stream crossing rather than using the bridge, which is broken in the middle). Chris was taking pictures by this point, and found an interesting cairn, as well as a bunch of pictures of the misty morning around us. The weather cooperated with us, giving us thick cloud cover and a tiny bit of drizzle in the early morning, progressing to a bit warmer and sunnier by the time we hit the turnaround point and headed back.
The scenery was beautiful as promised, crossing several interesting little streams and generally menadering through thick, beautiful forest. Most of the trail is shaded, though there are a few places that are more open.
We saw very few people other than mountain bikers in the early morning, but there were a lot of people later on, and we passed quite a few groups on our way back.
So we hiked up the road, moving slowly at first but picking up speed as we warmed up and jackets came off. Chris stopped to take the odd picture and we did stop for hydration breaks on a semi-regular basis, which was a good thing.
We finally made it to the Monte Cristo townsite after four miles of hiking. The townsite itself is interesting, with cabins and the odd artifact to look at, and most importantly there were picnic tables to sit at by a rushing stream. My bug spray came in handy, as we were surrounded by an unpleasant cloud of teensy biting flies. We ate a quick lunch, stretched a bit, and then were on our way back.
We made excellent time on the way back--the last two miles, especially, we were booking pretty fast. We were all a bit tired, and footsore, and wanted to get back to the car.
On the way, though, we savored the most excellent scenery, I dug out my bandana to tie around my head (and managed to find a black one for Chris), and I polished off my water. We also saw an amusing sign that I know was meant in all seriousness, and about a subject that's really important. But, really...."Feces Alert"?
We got to the car, stretched out, and gratefully drove back to civilization. I dropped Sterling off, took Chris to Togo's, to my place to pick up the leftovers of the peach crisp I made yesterday, and then took him home.
And now, I am very, very tired. But happy. It was an excellent day.
Total mileage: 8 miles. Total time: 3 hours, 45 minutes.
most of the pictures were taken by Chris. I took the picture of the tiger lily, since I'm the one who's good at the macro shots, and the pictures of Chris.
I decided to go to Monte Cristo this weekend, and I dragged Sterling and Chris along with me. As usual, we left at an ungodly hour of the morning--especially considering that I'd been up till 1:30 AM the night before. I was dragging, but so was everyone else, so it wasn't a big deal.
We drove through Everett and then on to Glacier Falls, a very tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Past the end of town, we drove through terrain that got wilder and wilder as we went, until finally we were in the national forest.
I stopped at the handy ranger station and finally(!) bought myself a annual Northwest Forest Pass. I'd been meaning to buy one for months, but somehow hadn't gotten around to it till today. so now i'm legal for the next year at all of the national forest trailheads, which means--you guessed it--I will be focusing on hiking the national forests around here for the next few months. Must get my money's worth out of the pass!
Anyway, there is a very nice restroom at the ranger station. Automatic flush toilets and everything! Hooray! And the folks there were very nice and pointed us at the little museum that they keep in the ranger station.
About 20 miles past the ranger station, the pavement ends--and that's the Monte Cristo trailhead. We locked up the car and started down the trail.
For the most part, this is an unpaved road hike, so the footing is sound and the trail is wide enough for four or five people to walk abreast without feeling crowded. There are a few hills, but nothing too serious. mostly, it's an easy, though long, flat hike.
There are outhouses scattered along the trail; an amenity much appreciated by me in particular today. Something I learned today--don't go on a long hike the day after you've eaten a lot of things your tummy isn't used to any more, and when it is also the second day of your cycle and you're having the usual, um, discomforts. Live and learn, I suppose. anyway, hooray for the thoughtful people at the Forest Service, etc.
There is a washout at the one-mile mark (it's a tame stream crossing rather than using the bridge, which is broken in the middle). Chris was taking pictures by this point, and found an interesting cairn, as well as a bunch of pictures of the misty morning around us. The weather cooperated with us, giving us thick cloud cover and a tiny bit of drizzle in the early morning, progressing to a bit warmer and sunnier by the time we hit the turnaround point and headed back.
The scenery was beautiful as promised, crossing several interesting little streams and generally menadering through thick, beautiful forest. Most of the trail is shaded, though there are a few places that are more open.
We saw very few people other than mountain bikers in the early morning, but there were a lot of people later on, and we passed quite a few groups on our way back.
So we hiked up the road, moving slowly at first but picking up speed as we warmed up and jackets came off. Chris stopped to take the odd picture and we did stop for hydration breaks on a semi-regular basis, which was a good thing.
We finally made it to the Monte Cristo townsite after four miles of hiking. The townsite itself is interesting, with cabins and the odd artifact to look at, and most importantly there were picnic tables to sit at by a rushing stream. My bug spray came in handy, as we were surrounded by an unpleasant cloud of teensy biting flies. We ate a quick lunch, stretched a bit, and then were on our way back.
We made excellent time on the way back--the last two miles, especially, we were booking pretty fast. We were all a bit tired, and footsore, and wanted to get back to the car.
On the way, though, we savored the most excellent scenery, I dug out my bandana to tie around my head (and managed to find a black one for Chris), and I polished off my water. We also saw an amusing sign that I know was meant in all seriousness, and about a subject that's really important. But, really...."Feces Alert"?
We got to the car, stretched out, and gratefully drove back to civilization. I dropped Sterling off, took Chris to Togo's, to my place to pick up the leftovers of the peach crisp I made yesterday, and then took him home.
And now, I am very, very tired. But happy. It was an excellent day.
Total mileage: 8 miles. Total time: 3 hours, 45 minutes.
most of the pictures were taken by Chris. I took the picture of the tiger lily, since I'm the one who's good at the macro shots, and the pictures of Chris.
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