Day 9. July 4, 2020. Sitting Bull Mountain to Suiattle River.
We were up early, packing quietly in the gray morning. Apparently Lobster was an experienced backpacker in this area. The warning about the snow and turning back cast a pall.
Within a quarter mile, we had to cross a creek by walking right through it. You may have had mornings with bad hair, lumpy oatmeal, or burnt toast. I would suggest that an even worse way to start your day is to walk through a stream of ice melt, soaking your socks and shoes in preparation for a day of walking in snow. Try it for yourself sometime.
After we climbed above patches of snow, it became continuous. That created two problems: a buried trail and slipping.
While yesterday was marked by fairly easy travel along an obvious trail, snow changes the game. All you see is snow. It is not clear where the trail goes. Fortunately, we have an application (Guthooks) that uses a smart phone’s GPS to provide a location. It displays this over a very precise map of the trail. Thus, a user can travel in the direction the trail should go, and then check the app to see what course corrections, if any, are needed. I call this route finding. It slows things way down because you stop every 250 feet to check. But the alternative is to be off course because you “think” the trail goes one way and then you keep going off course.
The other problem is slipping. Late in the spring, the snowfields have consolidated and compressed from warmer weather and rain. Depending on the air temperature, the snow ranges from firm to sloppy. A regular trail shoe can slip esaily. Thus, we all had a product called “microspikes” that are a collection of about 20 metal teeth connected via metal chain. They slide over our shoes like galoshes. They greatly increase the grip and grab of a footstep. When crossing a snowy slope, using a “kick step” and the spikes makes for slow, but much safer, travel. Plus, we all have ice axes that provide walking support and a life-saving “self-arrest” function, more on that to come later.
My three travel companions from Texas were already skilled in the process of snow travel. They had tried to go north to reach the canadian border. While unable to reach their goal, they gained valuable experince traveling on snow and snowy slopes. Thus, I was glad and confident when they started kicking steps in the snow to lead the way. We made our first pass and were relieved. Later, we had our first mistake of thinking the trail went one direction in the snow. By the time we checked Guthooks, it looked like we were not far off, maybe 300 feet. What that didn’t reflect was there was a 50′ cliff as part of that difference. Eventually we slipped and bushwhacked our way back to where the trail was buried. As we descended, more of the trail would be visible.
Later in the day, we descended even further. We were hoping to reach campsites where the trail crossed the Suiattle River. Unfortunatley, it was the 4th of July. Our destination was easily accessible to weekend hikers. That is why all the developed campsites were taken. We ended up stealth camping on the shores of the river.
I was tired from the stress of snow, the energy expended crossing snow, and the downhill descent to the River. We were all beat up. Cole had some nasty blisters on his feet. Brad and Josh were a little beat up. We ate our dinners talking about today, planning tomorrow, and thankful we didn’t turn back.
I fell asleep quickly. The Suiattle River rushing by 10′ away blocked out all other sounds and all other thoughts. I was asleep by 9.
backpacking over the hill 