Days 14-16 of Lupe’s 3rd Summer of 2021 Dingo Vacation to the West Coast!
8-19-21, 69ºF, 1:15 PM, Upper Dungeness trailhead, Olympic Peninsula – SPHP regained consciousness. A lovely blue sky day!
How you feeling, Loop?
Awake already, SPHP? I’m better, a lot better, but was hoping you’d stay conked out.
How come?
Because I’m not feeling too ambitious. Don’t get me wrong, Grey Wolf Ridge was so worth it, but what a doozy!
Heh. No worries, Looper. No big plans today. Positioning day, or what’s left of it. I assume you have no objections to a scenic drive?
Oh, that sounds great, SPHP! Especially if there are cows and horses!
Doubtful to say the least on that score, Loop. The Olympic Peninsula isn’t exactly cattle country.
Hope you can stay awake while driving then, SPHP. Don’t be surprised if it turns into a snooze fest for me!
8-20-21 – Mount Rainier National Park was a bust. Just a drive through for Lupe in any case, but would have been nice to at least get a good look at mighty Mount Rainier (14,411 ft.). The American Dingo did get to see it from Hwy 410, but practically enveloped in clouds. As the road wound higher, SPHP drove into fog and mist.
E of the park, thousands of feet lower, it was a completely different story. At the turn off Hwy 410 to Bumping Lake, fire fighters had set up barriers. Road closed indefinitely. Raging forest fires in this region. 134 mile long perimeter being defended. Should all be over and done with when the snow flies.
Heh. No choice.
Guess Mount Aix (7,766 ft.) gets the axe, Loopster. Sorry about that!
Back to Mount Rainier National Park, then S for many miles.
8-20-21, 1:16 PM, USFS Road No. 2324 – Got here early enough, but, yeah, this wasn’t happening, either. Not today.
Can’t do Sunrise Peak (5,892 ft.) at sunset anyway, SPHP! Wouldn’t be right, would it?
Rules are made to be broken, Looper! Unless our luck changes in the next few hours, though, looks like this rule is going to hold.
SPHP had parked the RAV4 along a wide spot along USFS Road No. 2324 just past where No. 063 took off to the L curving steeply up a hillside.
Sunrise Peak trailhead is supposed to be up at the end of No. 063, Loop. It’s not very far, not even 0.2 mile. Want to go check it out?
Might as well, SPHP.
A sign at the start of No. 063 revealed that the RAV4 was parked at the trailer trailhead. Probably OK, not a single trailer there at the moment.
A foggy sniff along No. 063 got Loop up to not one, but two small parking areas near the start of Trail No. 262. SPHP was surprised to see that both were nearly full. 4 vehicles at the lower one, and 6 at the upper, where Trail No. 262 took off from the far end of the lot.
At the moment, no one was around. A quick look at Trail No. 262, which started off going downhill as it disappeared into the foggy forest, and there really wasn’t anything more to do here.
Guess we’ll head back, Loop. Learned one thing.
What’s that, SPHP?
Unless some trailers show up, no point in bringing the RAV4 up here just to try to cram it in among all these other vehicles.
Back at the RAV4, SPHP worked on the trip journal while waiting for the weather to clear. Soon bored with staring into the fog, Lupe snoozed. Fog was better than smoke! Not as likely to persist, but as the afternoon dragged on, the mood grew darker. A heavy mist developed, dampening hopes. Sunrise Peak was not going to transform into Sunset Peak.
8-21-21, 8:13 AM, Sunrise Peak trailer trailhead – Sunrise at Sunrise Peak hadn’t happened, either. No mist, but still foggy. Frustrating! More trip journal work, then suddenly, the day brightened. A lovely patch of blue sky appeared, furnishing all the encouragement required.
Hey, hey, Looper! We might be in business! Maybe these clouds are finally about to burn off? Wanna try it?
She did.
Blue sky vanished, though, even before Lupe completed the short trek to the upper trailhead. Hmm. Well, no matter. Still hopeful that the clouds would clear out before too long, Lupe ventured into the foggy forest.
After an initial dip of 20 feet followed by a flat stretch, No. 262 started to climb. The trail became quite wide, sort of a big, smooth rut. No stones at all, just soft dirt. Hexagonal or diamond-shaped grids were embedded along some stretches, perhaps to reduce erosion?
Lupe trotted along through the dim, damp forest for 0.25 mile before the trail leveled out at an opening overlooking a 50 foot cliff. Ordinarily, there must have been a view here, but only a soft, featureless, gray was on display now.
Although the American Dingo didn’t see much of anything, she could hear. Something was coming! A roar of engines got louder and louder. Stepping off the trail, 4 dirt bikes raced by. 2 riders had rifles. All wore camouflage.
Hunters? This time of year? On noisy dirt bikes? Made no sense.
Guess they do things differently here in Washington, Loop.
The hunters vanished as quickly as they’d appeared, the roar of their bikes fading away after them. The Carolina Dog returned to the trail, which now trended SW. She was soon climbing again, but before too long came to more level terrain, and even a minor downhill stretch.
Lupe wasn’t much beyond the cliffs when the trail went past a stand of strange plants with 3 – 5 foot tall stalks that shot up from a base of long, thin, grass-like leaves. These plants resembled sort of a tropical or rain forest version of a yucca plant.
Bushes with clusters of bright red berries added color to the gray day, but the plants that interested SPHP the most bore dark purple berries.
Not another blueberry trap, SPHP!
Heavens, no! Banish the thought, Looper! This is a huckleberry trap!
Oh, and were the huckleberries ever scrumptious! Plump, ripe, fresh and juicy! Progress slowed so much that Lupe took to simply laying on the dirt path wearing an expression of boredom and disgust.
Meanwhile, intent upon conducting a thorough huckleberry taste survey of statistically significant sample size, ol’ purple fingers munched away.
And why not? What’s the rush? Sunrise Peak was a mere 2 miles from the trailhead. The longer it took Lupe to get there, the more likely the fog would clear off. Still, SPHP did make some progress in a dawdling sort of way. Every now and then more dirt bikers appeared. Lupe kept having to scoot off into the bushes until they roared by.
Loop was on a flat section of trail when she finally came to a junction where an old wooden signpost was leaning against a tree.
Lacking arrows, the signs attached to the post were initially confusing. Trail No. 262, which Lupe had been on ever since leaving the trailhead, wasn’t even mentioned.
Happily, the topo map sorted it out. Trail No. 262 continued straight for another 0.33 mile to Trail No. 261, which could then be followed either N to Juniper Ridge (5,611 ft.), or S to Jumbo Peak (5,801 ft.). Both were potential destinations on a sunnier day.
However, neither were today’s main objective. Lupe needed to turn R here, taking Trail No. 262A roughly 0.75 mile to a second junction with Trail No. 261A, where another R turn would get her to Sunrise Peak (5,892 ft.).
Trail No. 262A climbed more aggressively and relentlessly than No. 262 had. Trending NW now, Lupe passed more of the tall stalk plants. To SPHP’s delight, plenty of delicious huckleberries, too! Although starting out as another big rut full of tire tracks, no dirt bikers came this way.
The forest began thinning out. Soon Lupe was traversing a steep slope with only scattered trees. Still foggy, but directly ahead a blue tinge was visible along the rough outline of a big rock formation.
Hopes for sunshine were immediately dashed. By the time Lupe got to the rock formation, the fog was thicker again.
Turning W along the base of the rock formation, Trail No. 262A topped out. From here, the trail dipped then leveled out as it curved N.
Two minutes from the high point, Lupe reached the junction with Trail No. 261A. A L turn would have been a shortcut to Trail No. 261 and Juniper Ridge. Staying R, Loop continued her ascent of Sunrise Peak.
Not much farther now! The summit was only another 300 feet higher. In forest again, Trail No. 261A switchbacked tightly up the NW slope.
Near the top, the trail broke out of the trees, heading SE across an open slope. Lupe could see her shadow! Blue-tinged fog had returned, and a bright white disk glowed in the clouds above!
Luck of the Dingo! Might have timed this just about perfectly, Loopster!
Oh, I hope you’re right, SPHP! What do you think we’ll see up here?
Great question! Magnificent sights, Loop! On a clear day, 3 enormous peaks. Mount Rainier (14,411 ft.) is due N. Mount Adams (12,276 ft.) is SE. And to the SW, a mountain you haven’t seen since your first Dingo Vacation way back in 2012.
When we went to the West Coast with Lanis?
Exactly right, Loop! Remember when we went to see Mount Saint Helens (8,333 ft.), and you met Gary Rosenquist who had been in the area taking pictures of the massive violent eruption on May 18, 1980?
Oh, yes I do, SPHP! The volcano that blew its top!
Yup. Rainier and Adams are volcanoes, too! Just haven’t blown their tops off recently.
Sounds like Sunrise Peak is volcano central, SPHP! Maybe we’ll see some fireworks?
Heh. No doubt we would, if we could hang around on a geological time scale. Today, I’ll be thrilled if the fog disperses.
Despite hopeful signs, the fog hadn’t dispersed yet. Trail No. 261A soon led up to Sunrise Peak’s final rocky summit knob, approaching it from the SW. At one time there had been a fire lookout on Sunrise Peak. An old metal railing still provided assistance getting to where the lookout once stood.
The Carolina Dog scrambled up without any such assistance. SPHP made full use of it, glad the railing was there.
10:40 AM, 65ºF, Sunrise Peak (5,892 ft.) – Various anchor bolts stationed around the perimeter of a flat summit 25 feet in diameter were all that remained of the old fire lookout. Sheer cliffs were present along all edges, except where the railing came up, which was mighty steep, too.
Another massive knob of rock 4 or 5 feet higher was instantly visible less than 100 feet away. That other knob was actually the apparent current summit of Sunrise Peak, although before the mountain was decapitated to accommodate the lookout, the natural true summit might well have once been where Lupe was now.
Peering over the edge of the gap separating these high points revealed a drop of 30 or 40 feet. Even if there was an easy way to get to the base of that other high point, it was much steeper than anything Lupe or SPHP could attempt.
Don’t be a fanatic, SPHP! This is close enough for Dingo work. We’re not going over there!
The top of Sunrise Peak was roomy enough, but wasn’t up to American Dingo standards as far as comfort was concerned. Small rocks, gravel, and bits of broken glass covered the roughly leveled solid rock site. Not terrible, but certainly not soft or cushiony, either.
With nothing else in sight, Lupe made do as best she could while waiting for the fog to clear, an eagerly anticipated event expected any time now.
Lupe waited and waited. SPHP shook her paw, congratulating her on her ascent of Sunrise Peak. She shared the only chocolate coconut bar SPHP had brought along, then had some Taste of the Wild. When the rocks got too uncomfortable, Loopster curled up on SPHP’s lap.
Still no sign of any volcanoes, or anything else, either. The air was calm. Clouds moved slowly, if at all. Now and then a light mist fell. Later on, the sky above was so blue, and the rays of the unseen sun felt so warm, that SPHP applied sunscreen.
Suddenly, there was movement! Right along the edge, over toward the true summit, a tiny visitor appeared.
Fortunately, the chipmunk vanished before Lupe saw it. The innocent little creature made SPHP uneasy. If Lupe had seen it, she would have raced over to the brink of the cliff in an instant, abandoning all caution. Could have been a disaster!
More dangerous than a bear!
Sorry, SPHP! I’ve been dozing. What did you say? Something about a bear?
Oh, nothing. Just muttering to myself, Loop. I ought to comb my hair.
Up here? Why? That’s silly! Seen any volcanoes yet, SPHP?
Not a one, Looper. You’ll be the first to know, if I do.
45 minutes of staring into the whiteness drifted on by. Several times, the top of the cloud deck had been briefly visible far off to the NW, but other than that, nada. However, a large region of hazy territory could now be seen to the W and NW. No volcanoes, it was all lower than Sunrise Peak, but this vision persisted long enough to encourage an extension of Lupe’s usual summit hour.
Another 5 or 10 minutes, and it all vanished again.
Sunrise Peak isn’t quite high enough, SPHP!
I know it, Loop! Another 1,000 feet would do it. Bet we’d be above this soup with a grand view of 3 massive volcanoes floating on a sea of white.
Oh, that would be awesome, SPHP!
No doubt, but that wasn’t the case. Not quite high enough, was. Several more times fleeting glimpses of distant lower hills and ridges appeared to the W and NW, followed by a dim view E.
Lupe’s wait continued, but an hour and a half after arriving, the clouds welled up. Blue tinged sky vanished, replaced by a darker, somber gray.
Guess we can’t win them all, Loopster. Not happening! Too bad!
Between smoke and fog, winning any at all couldn’t be taken for granted on this Dingo Vacation. Gray Wolf Ridge had been a big win, but other than that, Lupe was having to settle for a lot of partial victories.
Nothing to be done about it, except face reality and keep trying. Lupe had come tantalizingly close here on Sunrise Peak, but the reality was that it was time.
Onward, puppy ho!
The return was fast and easy. On departure, Sunrise Peak looked the same way it had when Lupe arrived. Foggy, but like it might not last forever.
Still foggy now, though, was all that mattered. Descending the winding path, Lupe was soon back in the darker, foggier forest.
It was an amazing place, too! Towering trees! Ripe huckleberries! Tall stalk plants! Dripping, brooding silence. The wonder and mystery of what else might be out here?
Until, of course, the roar of engines approaching, warning that dirt bikes were on their way. Better get off the trail! (1:44 PM, 52ºF)
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GPS Track by Joanne Najdzin (11-2-19)
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