July 20th, 2022 - 5.6 miles, 1,600' gain: Teneriffe Falls is about played out by the end of July but its a nice hike that takes you to the base of the kamikaze route straight up to the summit of Mt Teneriffe. We didn't opt for that level of torture but I did take the long way round to the summit last winter. On the way to the falls, its pretty limited for views as you march up through secondary forest but the falls are plunging over an impressive rock face and worth a look, especially earlier in the season.
August 12th, 2022 - 10.5 miles, 4,070' gain: McClellan Butte is one of the more interesting peaks to look at from I-90 and if you will permit me a brief digression, its namesake has a surprising Washington connection. In 1853 Washington Territory was carved from Oregon Territory and its first governor assigned the future, underwhelming Civil War general George McClellan (at this time only a captain in his 20's) to find viable railroad routes through the Cascades to reach the Puget Sound. The obvious route is through the Columbia River valley but Washington didn't want to share a line that would pass through Portland. McClellan's team took a flatlander's approach and followed many of the east Cascade rivers into the foothills but turned back each time they reached some real mountains. Their conclusion was that Washington was out of luck and there were no routes for trains to reach the Puget Sound. After McClellan's failure, a second team lead by Abiel Tinkham was dispatched which made it over Snoqualmie Pass in 20' of snow but correctly identified it as a viable route and eventually three major east-west lines would be completed (Stampede Pass & Steven's Pass being the other two).
Our hike started at a trailhead just off Tinkham road and featured a gentle grade to begin as we followed the old rail bed that took advantage of the route Tinkham surveyed. That turned out to be the only shallow grade of the hike and I was caught by surprise as in my head the elevation gain was 1,000' less than what it actually was... For about half the hike I was trying to resist the temptation to leash up the hound and steal some of that puppy power. Instead, I kept the old ticker under control with frequent blueberry and thimble berry breaks as well as an excessive amount of picture taking (see Exhibits A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, etc.. below).
Being a summit south of I-90, this trail runs up against the boundary of the Cedar River Watershed which is kept off limits to filthy humans to protect Seattle and surrounding towns' primary water source. At over 73,000 acres, its a big chunk of real estate and that doesn't include the 10,200 acres on the South Tolt River (the source of my drinking water) which are similarly restricted. If only Seattle was looking to hire someone to be in charge of their mountain security division.
We stopped just short of the summit as the rock scramble didn't look very dog friendly and the cost of failure looked pretty steep:
Overall, a great alternative to the packed hikes I'm going to quit naming. I did run into a few other people that looked both younger and significantly fitter. Something I'm slowly coming to terms with as its a trend I don't expect to reverse.
