Subject: Chinook Pass, E. of Mt. Rainier
Date: Jul 12 08:52:44 1999
From: Roening, Marcus (US Sales - MDR51044 at glaxowellcome.com


Dear Tweets,

We've all heard there is lots of snow in the Cascades, but 8' of the stuff
still covering Tipsoo Lake and walling in Hwy 410 is quite amazing. Last
year at this same time, I was doing a scouting trip for an Alpine wildflower
field trip.

Therefore, Heather and I strapped on our regular XC skis and did the west
side of the Naches Loop trail on skis. It was a glorious day to have a
whole mountainside to ourselves in July. Wildflowers were rather scarce,
but the yellow Glacier Lilly could be seen poking up in the tree wells and
the False Hellbore were just starting to poke up there heads.

I was quite curious to see which birds would be setting up territory in such
deep snow conditions. Since the shallow lakes were all covered in snow, no
American Dippers or Spotted Sandpipers were at their usual abodes. Here's
what we did find: several male Blue Grouse booming from the subalpine firs,
singing Dark-eyed Juncos, a singing Winter Wren (earning its name), singing
Fox Sparrows and Hermit Thrushes in full voice. Additionally, there were
Common Ravens and Clark's Nutcrackers working the pitiful Parking Lot crowd
trying to picnic on the narrow pullouts of the road.

If the thought of cross country skiing in July interests you, here's a few
of the details. This route is of moderate difficulty and can be done by an
intermediate skier that has confidence in their abilities to get back down
moderately steep slopes. If you're uncertain, make sure its a sunny day and
wait until the snow softens up, which will makes the hills much more
manageable. Directions: Take Hwy 410 East out of Enumclaw, until the last
hair pin curve before the summit. Normally there would be a large parking
lot and picnic tables available for Tipsoo Lake, but right now the space is
only big enough for about 8 cars to pull in. Walk the road south about 200
yards to get up on the snow bank and head towards the large snow bowl.
Contour up the West side of the bowl and get up into the trees long before
the large cornice. Contour around the backside of the Cornice hill and keep
heading up and south around Naches Peak. You can go 2-3 miles in this
direction with sweeping views of Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier and the
Cascades. While the summer time trail goes all the way around the north and
east side of Naches Peak, it is quite steep and full of avalanche shoots and
not recommended for skiers.

Good Skiing,

Marcus Roening Tacoma,WA
MDR51044 at GlaxoWellcome.com