Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Pacific Northwest Winter Hiking: Quiet on the East Fork Foss River

With snow falling deep and fast in the Cascade Mountains now, winter is a good time to explore lower elevation hikes and enjoy more solitude than normal on the trail. While I often head to higher elevations with my skis during the winter, in some ways it's the best hiking time of the year too.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, between heavy rainfall, a couple friends and I enjoyed a quiet, lovely hike through lush forest and encountered no other hikers in over 5 hours on the trail. With the massive influx of people moving to the region, that's a real treat now within a few hours of Seattle or Portland.

In the rush of the holiday season, walking in intentional silence in the Cascade foothills was a much-needed balm. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I was affected by a scary traffic accident recently.

After leaving Seattle in a driving rain, we were surprised to arrive at the empty trailhead off Highway 2 near Skykomish under a sky that wasn't dark gray and weeping. Everyone else must have been scared off by the rain or out shopping.

So we set off along the mostly level trail without talking, just walking and absorbing the green dampness of moss and evergreens, crossing streams swollen with recent rain.





The forest offered up wondrous and strange fungi, a lovely large wetland beneath craggy snow-dusted cliffs, and the sweet scent of pine, cedar, and logs decomposing into soil.


Every 30 minutes or so, we stopped and plopped down on our sit pads on a log or boulder and just sat in silence for 10 minutes, meditating on each precious moment in such a beautiful setting.


After a couple hours of hiking, the valley narrowed. While skirting along the edge of big rockfalls from the mist-enshrouded cliffs above, we passed immense boulders that came crashing down here some years ago. I was glad to not be around when the cliffside gave way and plunged into the valley.

   
When we reached a couple logs spanning the river (or was it a tributary?), the thought of crossing slick mossy wood gave us pause. With just a couple hours left of daylight on a late November day, we turned around. Meg, who has been up this trail before, thinks we were just short of where the trail starts climbing steeply to the Necklace Valley.

On the way back, we repeated the drill:  walk 30 minutes, stop and sit in silence, get back up, and do it again. Which, in a beautiful, verdant western Washington forest, is always a pleasure.

 
By the time we got back to the car about 3:15, the daylight was already dimming. I actually started noticing it around 2:30 p.m. Based on time hiking and Meg's recollection, we covered about 9 miles roundtrip, perhaps a bit more.

Our quiet day hiking was such a sweet contrast to the hectic frenzy of holiday shopping/traffic and the warm weather crowds that have packed our more popular trails these last couple years. 

BTW, I organize and lead these silent hikes for Blue Heron Zen Community, and everyone is welcome. Just leave a comment below if interested in future hikes!

Happy trails and thanks for visiting Pacific Northwest Seasons! In between blog posts, visit Pacific NW Seasons on FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram for more Northwest photos and outdoors news.

When You Go
It took us about 90 minutes to get to the trailhead from north Seattle. To get there, head east on U.S. Highway 2 toward Stevens Pass. After passing the Skykomish Ranger Station on the left, continue another 0.5 mile and turn right (south) onto Foss River Road (Forest Road 68). The clearly marked parking lot and trailhead will be on your left at about 4 miles. A Northwest Forest Pass is required to park. The restroom at the trailhead is locked for the winter.

AND special thanks to my hiking buddies Paul and Meg, whose photos are featured on this post along with a few of mine. I forgot my "real" camera, so all these shots were taken on smartphones. 




 






5 comments:

Unknown said...

silent hikes --excellent. The phone pictures really lack true color and textures of foliage that your camera picks up but I'll enjoy whatever you send along. Sylvia

Anonymous said...

Great post Jill! Thanks! MaryMac

Anonymous said...

Mmmmm. Jill, thank you for this lovely reminder of the value of silence; and awareness--of what really matters.
Politics and its pendulum swings matter so little when you're in your seventh decade.. and you realize we still live in the best country possible, and friends and family are the important things.
All else is small stuff.
I'm envious of your ability to do a 9 mile trip, while still appreciating that I have better health than many my age. Life is so good--& up here on the mountain, it's glorious.
Let's plan a Seattle visit for me in January. I'd like to go to your Zen place; it looks very interesting.
I'm investigating Tibetan Buddhism, with my friend and TT therapist, (& Ikebana teacher), Joan Stamm. She and her sister have a pied a terre in Seattle, where Joan goes to the Ikebana Society meetings.
I really want to get to the aquarium--I'm fascinated by octopuses lately.
Call when you can; I'd love to catch up--and tell you personally how grateful I am that you survived that trauma.
Hugs
C


Anonymous said...

Mmmmm. Jill, thank you for this lovely reminder of the value of silence; and awareness--of what really matters.
Politics and its pendulum swings matter so little when you're in your seventh decade.. and you realize we still live in the best country possible, and friends and family are the important things.
All else is small stuff.
I'm envious of your ability to do a 9 mile trip, while still appreciating that I have better health than many my age. Life is so good--& up here on the mountain, it's glorious.
Let's plan a Seattle visit for me in January. I'd like to go to your Zen place; it looks very interesting.
I'm investigating Tibetan Buddhism, with my friend and TT therapist, (& Ikebana teacher), Joan Stamm. She and her sister have a pied a terre in Seattle, where Joan goes to the Ikebana Society meetings.
I really want to get to the aquarium--I'm fascinated by octopuses lately.
Call when you can; I'd love to catch up--and tell you personally how grateful I am that you survived that trauma.
Hugs
C


jill said...

Sorry to not respond to your comments! Just saw them today! Spam filter out of control. Hugs to you Carol and Sylvia!