KUOW Hike of the Week: Noble Knob

To contact us Click HERE
Updated Monday 8-6-2012
Visit this old lookout which is off of Highway 410 just east of the town of Greenwater.
Photo below is view of Mt Rainier close to  the top, photo by Dennis Long
Green Trails Maps- One of the 10 essentials
Check out Green Trails Maps for directions. Map for this week's trip is 238 and 239. Click link below for complete list of maps.http:// http://greentrailsmaps.com/maps/index_Map_wa/
Photo below is view down to George Lake, photo by Karen Sykes


Photo below is view from the top of Noble Knob, photo by Karen Sykes
Photo below is view of Mt. Rainier from close to the top, photo by Michael Fagin

Photo below is bear grass flower, photo by Dennis Long
Driving Directions via Short cut: (Provided by Karen Sykes and Dennis Long) Getting there: From Greenwater on SR 410 continue about 2 miles to FS Road 70 and turn left. Take FS 70 for 5.8 miles then turn right on FS Road 72. Take FS 72 for 0.6 miles to FS 7220 and turn left. Take 7220 for 1 mile to FS 7222 and turn right onto FS 7222. Finally take FS 7222 for 5.7 miles and look for wide spot and park. There is an unsinged trail going up on the right and this is trail 1184. .
Trail Stats via short cut(provided by Karen Sykes and Dennis Long)
4 miles round trip with starting elevation at 4888 feet and Noble Knob at 6011 feet
GPS waypoints: Trailhead: where we started along Rd 7222
N 47-03-55 W 121-30-06 (4,888 feet)


Directions via longer hike via Coral Pass From Enumclaw, drive east on State Route 410 about 31 miles and turn left (north) onto Corral Pass Road (Forest Road 7174). Drive 6 miles to the trailhead on the left, near where the road hooks south (elev. 5700 ft).

Trail stats via long way: About 7.4 miles and 500 foot gain

Directions and trail stats are our best estimate however please have a good local map and or a GPS unit.

Extended Weather Washington Cascades

To contact us Click HERE
Issued August 8, 2012
Extended forecast models through at least August 18 indicate a strong ridge of high pressure that will remain over the Northwest for much of the time. We will get occasional weak troughs of low pressure (like today 8-8-2012) that move into the region for some minor cooling and chance of a few mountain showers. However most of the period we can expect warm and dry conditions. The 500 mb chart below (18,000 feet) confirms this ridge of high pressure over the Northwest which generally brings dry and sunny conditions.

Email (click below) us and get your free mountain weather forecasts delivered to you via email. Special for Seattle Backpackers magazine readers




West Coast WeatherEmail us to get on our free mountain weather emailed. Limited offer for non members

Extended forecast Washington Cascades

To contact us Click HERE
Updated Monday 8-13-2012

Extended forecast models  keep the ridge of high pressure in place for much of the period between now and August 27. The ridge will periodically break down, like this weekend 8-18 and 8-19 for some minor cooling and chance of showers. However the tendency will be for the ridge of high pressure to rebuild. Thus, temperatures will tend to be above average and below average precipitation with this type of pattern. See forecast map below which is the average postion of the ridge of high pressure at 500 mb (18,000 feet).

KUOW Hike - Bear Cr. Mt & Annette Lake

To contact us Click HERE
Updated Tuesday 8-14-2012
Bear Creek Mountain east of White Pass in Goat Rock Wilderness. Best days to go are Tuesday through Friday. Chance of thundershowers this weekend.
Photos and directions from Dennis Long
Photo below is lupine field with Goat Rocks in background
Green Trails Maps- One of the 10 essentials
Check out Green Trails Maps for directions. Map for this week's trip is 303 and 304 . Click link below for complete list of maps.http:// http://greentrailsmaps.com/maps/index_Map_wa/
Photo below is on the way to the top through the meadows
Photo below no shortage of lupine
Photo below is from the top with Goat Rocks in background
Driving directions: From Seattle to go Highway 12 to White Pass and drive east till you get to FS 1200 (Clear lake Rd.) Take this to FS 1204 all the way to the trailhead near Section 3 Lake. Need high clearance vehicle for last several miles. Good map and directions Critical. . There was a Subaru at trail. Trailhead waypoints . coordinates. 46-33'-21", 121-18'-43" Trail Stats: Start at 6000 feet go to 7337 feet. 3.5 miles one way. Trail 1129 to trail 1130 to trail 1130A.Directions are our best estimates. Please bring map and compass and or GPS.

Option 2 Hike: If you are looking for a hike that is closer to Seattle Lake Annette is a good oneThe Annette Lake Trail climbs steadily and sometimes steeply up the western slope of Silver Peak. The first 0.75 of a mile crosses old clear-cuts, finally entering into old growth on the south side of the Iron Horse Trail. From here, the switchbacks continue up the mountain for two miles and level out in the last mile before the lake. It ends near the lake outlet. Good campsites exist beyond the outlet, on the southwest section of the lake shore.
Driving directions:Exit #47 from I-90. Turn south at the first stop sign and then turn left on FS Road #55. Drive 0.25 mile to the large parking lot on the right. The trail begins at the east end of the parking lot, up the gravel road and to the left.
. Just click link below for more detailshttp:// http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/annette-lake>
Photo below is of Lake Annette, Photo by chienhtsai

Visibility: Its Back!

To contact us Click HERE
Both Sunday and today, something very precious returned to us.

It has been gone for weeks and months.

Visibility.

Mount Rainier was back in all its majesty, Mt. Baker jutted out to the north, the Cascades seemed close and well defined, and the Olympics again towered over the Sound.

Compare images from Puget Sound Clean Air Agency's visibility cam today and only a few days ago (Thursday). 



Why so good?

We have had a fairly major change in the trajectories of the air over us, with the flow in the lower atmosphere now from the north and northwest, thus pushing the smoke from the eastern Washington fires towards the east and south.  For example, here are the winds aloft over Seattle from 11 AM on Friday to 11 AM on Saturday (heights are in meters and time increases to the left).  Substantial wind change.


During the summer we often had bad visibility when air came off the Pacific as well, due to the enormous amounts of smoke coming from the Siberian fires.  But those fires are mainly out now.

In addition to clear skies, we had other visual treats....wonderful displays of jet contrails, and some of them were clearly apparent from space, particularly late Friday and Saturday.  First, a few contrail shots from my department.


Here is a MODIS visible satellite image for Friday afternoon over western Oregon...the white lines are contrails.  Lots of north-south tracks towards California.


Sometimes the contrails show interesting substructures.  I saw this one yesterday.
 Looking closely one can see two lines, one from each engine.  As the contrail aged, wavelike undulation appeared in the lines and then they appeared to revolve around each other.  I understand these are called contrail instability waves and represent some kind of shear-flow instability.  Pretty neat.

KOUW Hike of the Week- Spray Park

To contact us Click HERE
Updated Tuesday 8-21-2012

Hike is Mt. Rainier National Park. Flowers are still abundant and so is Mt. Rainier view.
All photos are from Nick Eckstein.

Photo below is view of Mr. Rainier from Spray Park
Green Trails Maps- One of the 10 essentials
Check out Green Trails Maps for directions. Map for this week's trip is 269S . Click link below for complete list of maps.http:// http://greentrailsmaps.com/maps/index_Map_wa/
Photo below is of Mowich Lake-this is where trail starts
Photo below is of Spray Falls
Photo below are the  flowers in Spray Park
Photo below are Avalanche Lilies in the Park
Photo below is of Hessong Rock from Spray Park


Driving directions: From Enumclaw drive  west on State Route 410 to Buckley. Turn Left (south) onto SR 165 and proceed through Carbonado. Just beyond the Carbon River Gorge bridge, bear right onto Mowich Lake Road. Follow the road about 17 miles to its end; the trailhead is at the far end of the Mowich Lake Campground.

Trail stats:  7.5 miles roundtrip with a 1600 elevation gain. High point 6400 feet.

Extended Weather Cascades

To contact us Click HERE
Issued Wednesday 8-22-2012
There will be some cooling over the region during the next several days and chance of some mountain showers on this Thursday and Friday. Then some warming over this weekend followed by chance of showers early next week 8-27 and 8-28. The extended models bring some warming and dry conditions by September 1. The map below indicates this dry pattern for 9-1 with a strong ridge of high pressure.