Hyak
- Roaring Creek
01-10-26
Gary
and John invited me to come
along on our first cross country ski trip of the year. The Hyak
Sno-Park opens at 8:00 am so we met in Issaquah at 7:15 and headed
east. To complicate things, I-5 northbound through Seattle was closed
for the whole weekend. Traffic would be interesting on the way back. We
arrived at about 7:52 am. The gate was not closed as we have seen most
of the time. It was right about 32F but would soon be well above
freezing. Another reason to go early. A frozen groomed track is much
faster than a thawed one. The lot was mostly empty. It would be full
when we finished. We almost always walk across the icy parking lot to
where the groomed track starts. There the snow is four or five feet
above the lot. Not this time. There is enough snow to groom and ski on
but not much. I just walked in front of the car onto packed snow and
put on my skis. The forecast was for fog at Snoqualmie Pass and down at
Hyak we had it. The wind was very calm however. Just after 8:00 am we
were on our way. I reached the start of grooming and the guys joined me
at 8:05 am.
There was one skate ski track on the freshly groomed snow. We had very
good conditions. We set a good pace. The fog was not pea soup though it
was quite visible. We made good though not great time as we headed
south. As expected, some skaters passed us by. A couple people passed
us coming back already. This grade is nearly flat. The only thing to
slow us was the fact that we had not skied in a year. Certain muscles
make themselves felt. By hiking constantly I do not have to worry about
building up hiking muscles. When we had a view out to Lake Keechelus,
the fog blocked a clear view of the other side. By the time we reached
the open spot where the snow sheds once stood, a cold headwind was
felt. Other than that, the temperature was fine. The route goes in and
out of forest farther down. The Roaring Creek Bridge came into view
about a half mile before we reached it. The bridge, at about 4.7 miles
makes a good turnaround spot for a first trip of the year.
We arrived at about 9:35 am. That is pretty early to reach the halfway
mark after driving to Snoqualmie Pass and skiing 4.7 miles. By the time
we ate brunch and started back the fog was burning off. There was even
a little blue sky overhead. John mentioned seeing some big geese or
swans on the lake water. We all saw them on the way back. The
temperature had risen above freezing and our frozen ski tracks were
turning mushy. That slowed us down a bit. We were fortunate as few
skiers turned around and skied back slowly in the track. We only had to
pass three or four groups. I am a lot slower in the mushy skate lane
than in the grooved track and passing can be tedious. I was as bit
faster than the others but I kept stopping to take photos. Stopping,
taking ski loops off my wrists, and taking off a glove proved time
consuming. It took just as long to replace them and get skiing again.
each time I would see Gary 150' or more out ahead of me and I would
speed up. I would catch him and see another photos opp and repeat the
slow stop.
By about 7 miles I was feeling those recently used muscles rebelling
more. We kept up a steady pace with few stops. In the last couple miles
the crowd grew. Not many heading back but a lot of people still heading
out. That was fully expected. I was glad when we reached the sno-park.
The lot was now about full as a few people were heading out. Back near
the highway, the road coming in was blocked by an official vehicle. It
seems that once the lot is full they turn away new cars. We had a few
short peek-a-boo views of the mountains coming back in but they were
still mostly in clouds. We did have some sunshine in the parking lot.
This was a good first ski trip. We got back into a kick and glide
groove without any downhill yet. I hope to get back to Amabilis
Mountain soon. That has about 2000' of descent from the summit. I am
glad we started early as the frozen snow was faster and easier to ski
on the way out than the mushy snow coming back. We were back at 11:07
am. We came back in 1:16. The drive home was not as bad as feared. With
I-5 closed there was more traffic in the toll tunnel under Seattle but
it only added about 10 minutes to our trip. With the month 1/3 over, I
still only have 1,400' of elevation gain in. I will need to get back to
hiking some steeper routes to get my 10,000' of gain this month. For
this day, a flat 9.4 miles was just fine.