Black Diamond NOW

Taking Time To Get Out - A Hike To Jellum

For some reason I seem to have succumbed to the malaise of the wet and dreary PNW weather and lost sight of what lights my fire - getting out and enjoying our wonderful natural areas.  Where else in King County or any Urban Growth Area within the state for that matter, can you drive in a circle of less than 10 miles and experience so much natural wonder that we have readily accessible to our community.  So I said the heck with it.  No more meetings today, no committees tonight or worrying about this or that problem we face here in Black Diamond. Time to get out and about and recharge my batteries.

My hike of choice this day - Jellum.  What's neat about hiking to Jellum is that it has some wild trail up on the ridge overlooking the Green River, there is an abandoned processing area for extracting mercury from Cinnabar mined along the rivers edge and then you have access to get down to the river itself - raging today.  Round trip - about 2 to 2 1/2 hours depending on how much time you take exploring the old Cinnabar mine processing area.  With all the wind and ice damage from earlier storms, hiking the trail made it a really special adventure.  Why do I enjoy this so much?  Following are a few pictures.

Beautiful natural forest.  You can just smell the freshness in the air.

Cinnabar processing area with concrete block in the back.

Hoping for something inscribed on this block, but no luck.

Landslide that occured last year pretty much eliminating any beach near the old Jellum mine.

Wow, what power when the Green turns brown.  Special thanks to Lisa Parsons for opening up so many wonderful places for Judy and I to explore.  If you want to search for more local hikes and natural areas, just click on Local Trails and you will have lots of choices.

 

Landsburg Headworks Circa 1899

In an earlier post, I focused on Taylor - A Mining Town Condemned.  Though once a thriving community of nearly 1,000, concern existed that coal and clay mining in the area was contaminating the Cedar River and the City of Seattle's principal water supply source.  Located just a few miles south of Taylor between Hobart and Ravensdale is Landsburg where the diversion dam, an intake canal, settling basin and gatehouse were built across the Cedar River in 1899 to supply Seattle's growing water needs.  This turned out to be quite a public works project as can be seen in the following photos.

Photo courtesy of University of Washington Libraries, WWDL0568, Anders Beer Wilse, cira 1899

The above photo shows the headworks under construction.

Photo courtesy of University of Washington Libraries, WWDL0541, Anders Beer Wilse, circa 1899

The above photo shows the intake diversion dam underconstruction.  The two holes you see in the brick structure divert flow into pipe that ultimately extends the 29 miles to Seattle.

Photo courtesty of Museum of History & Industry, SHS8670, circa 1930

Additional expansion occurred in 1930, further increasing the size of the transmission pipe.  Now that's what I call big pipe, especially for the time!  I wonder if the shift from clay pipe to concrete pipe had occurred about then?

The adverse consequence of this new dam was that it effectively blocked salmon spawning on a prime 17 mile segment of the river further upstream.  Correcting this and providing fish passage upstream has been one of the early priority salmon restoration projects in the Puget Sound region.  Quoting from Seattle Public Utilities:

"The construction of Landsburg fish passage facilities at the dam and aqueduct crossing were completed in 2003. The facilities are comprised of four primary components:

1. A full channel, boulder/chute fishway downstream of the aqueduct crossing to provide easy passage over the aqueduct and improved habitat conditions

2. Fish ladder and sorting facility at the diversion dam,

3. Tip-out downstream passage gate to provide safe passage for downstream migrating fish, and

4. Special screens on the municipal water intake to route downstream migrating fish away from the municipal water intake and safely back into the river.

The numbers of fish passing above the dam have generally increased since construction of the passage facilities. Early monitoring suggests that fish are performing well in this new habitat and recolonization is progressing well."

If you have an opportunity, be sure to visit Landsburg where you can connect with the beginning of the Cedar River Trail that can take you all the way to Renton and Lake Washington.  We have logged many a mile on this trail and consider it one of our funner jogging and biking trails.  The many river crossings also make it a great place to go if you want to observe fall Sockeye salmon runs.  Enjoy.

Historic Franklin Walking Tours Scheduled for February 4 and March 4

The Black Diamond Historical Society is once again planning to take people on a walking tour of the old historical town of Franklin on Saturday February 4 and Sunday March 4.  For more information on specific schedules, just follow the link above.  If you haven't been there yet, it's a absolute must do.

State Recreation & Conservation Office Grant Funding - Firearms?

I was recently doing some homework about grant funding for 2012 provided by the State Recreation & Conservation Office.  Of particular interest to me was funding provided for Salmon Recovery efforts.  In the process, I learned about some surprising if not disturbing projects that are currently being funded.  Topping the list for me of questionable spending was the category Firearms and Archery Range Recreation.  I'm not a firearms enthusiast but the issue for me was not so much whether firearms and archery qualify as bonafide "recreation" that merit state recreation funding but that the funding was going to private gun clubs.  If you don't belong to any of these clubs or pay a fee to them, you can't use their facilities.  I don't get it.  And consider how are State Parks are now being decimated. 

Following is the full list of funded projects:

Why in the world should the public provide grant funding to upgrade the Clubhouse of the Renton Fish and Game Club or any of these clubs for that matter?   For more detail on these projects and others, follow this link to Recreation and Conservation Office.

I did find that there is quite a lot of funding going directly and indirectly to salmon recovery as the following summary  list illustrates.

I believe that the roughly $540,000 grant awarded to purchase an easement for trails in the Icy Creek area came through the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program.  Hopefully, such acquisition can be completed as this would be a significant asset to our community.

Regional Trails - Lots of New Opportunity Ahead

The above trails map is excerpted from a county wide map of trails prepared by King County and focuses on south county.  As you may note, we have three major trail systems in our tri-city area - Soos Creek, Cedar River and the Green to Cedar Rivers trail.  Our long term dream is to connect all three of these trails and extend the Green River trail south through Black Diamond and on to the river itself.  There is also a potential opportunity to extend east from Black Diamond on to Franklin.  What a trail system this would be for bikers, joggers, walkers and equestrians. 

It would also serve to further unite our tri-cities of Covington, Maple Valley and Black Diamond.  Cooperation among our cities is strong today and growing.  Among the issues currently being discussed (also including Enumclaw) is the potential for uniting and cooperating on a locally based animal control services system.  This would replace the services currently being provided by King County.  Nothing definative yet, but a good example of how our cities are actively working together for our common good.  Will provide an updated report near the end of February.

Let's work to keep trails as among our highest regional priorities.  The following map focuses more specifically on our tri-city area.

More Adventures Hiking Into The Gorge Along The Green

It's after 10 pm and well past my bedtime following our open community forum but couldn't resist posting a couple of photos from my hike last weekend into the gorge.  The big hole you see is an old mine entrance about where the Kummer mine was located decades ago.  This area is incredibly beautiful!

Notice the Kyaker near the hole.

This site seemed so weird.  The river at this point divides into two distinct paths.  The upper area just flowed gently, divided by a rocky shoal that separarated it from the lower and much deeper and bigger flow area near the opposite shore.  What made it so unusual was that the farther channel was at least a couple of feet lower in elevation than the upper area.  To catch the current, the kyakers obviously stayed in the deep and big flow channel.

More on this hike and area in future posts.

Another Adventure Hike - State DNR Land Along The Green River

With sunshine on Sunday, staying home was not an option.  I took a couple of hikes yesterday and the first of these is an old campground on land owned by the State Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR).  Apparently this site was once an area where DNR maintained camping sites, but no more.  To get there, follow SR169 south toward's Enumclaw.  After crossing the bridge over the gorge, you will see three access areas toward your right.  The first is a paved sliding gate entrance to residential areas.  The second is a yellow gate to Palmer Coking Coal Land and third you will see a blue gate to DNR land on your right.  Take this blue gate exit on your right and follow the trail.

Lots of big cottonwood and mostly desiduaous trees which have lost their leaves by now.  The trail is only about 1/2 mile (1 mile round trip) and serves as an arc that eventually connects Hyw 169 at two points.  Given the beautiful day, great to get out here in sunshine and enjoy the natural beauty.  Probably an even better hike in the summer when the trail is a little less muddy and all of the alder and cottonwood trees have their leaves.  Get out there and enjoy the sandstone cliffs!

Anybody know what these mushrooms are?  Are they edible?

 

Taylor Mountain - Great Winter Hike

Photo taken Dec. 31, 2011 near the top of Taylor Mountain

Looking for a fun hike this winter?  I recommend that you head to the Taylor Mountain Forest owned by King County.  Acquired in 1997 apparently just after the site was logged, the forest consists of 1,822 acres, includes trails extending approximately 30 miles and is available for equestrian, hiking and mountain biking use.  Trail access is very close - just 10 miles from our home and easy to find at the intersection of the Issaquah-Hobart road and Hwy 18.  A map of trails can be  downloaded at the King County Map site.  Kudos to King County for having such good information readily available to us (more on this in later posts as the amount of valuable information provided by King County re natural areas and parks is exceptional).

We took the hike to Holder Ridge and the loop up and around Holder Knob - a round trip of 5.1 miles with about 500 feet of elevation gain to the top. 

Because the elevation at the peak is just 1,000 feet, the trails should be accessible through most of the winter.  Do wear boots as you will need to navigate around a few muddy patches.  The trails are fun and the views of Mt. Rainier and the valley are wonderful.  Highly recommended and close to home.

Lot's of beautiful cedar trees along the way.

A view of  the valley and Judy.  We could see all the way southwest to Tacoma including plumes from the pulp mill and northwest for a great view of the Olympics - and this on a cloudy day.  One curiosity - many of the trees replanted after the harvest were cedar in addition to Douglas fir, even in areas that were not particularly wet.  I'm not sure that you would find this in private tree farms.  I wonder what the thinking here was.  Forest production was apparently not the only criteria.

A view of Holder Creek near the trailhead.  Go discover!

31 Days Of Adventure In Our Community - My January 2012 Challenge To All

The web is all astir offering numerous 31 day challenges entering January and the New Year.  Using the above graphic as a boundary map to help define our broader community, I offer the following 31 day January 2012 challenge (opportunity).  Whoever takes advantage of the most of these opportunities in January will receive a $25 gift certificate to the restaurant or other establishment of your choice in Black Diamond.

Hiking Trails for Natural Beauty & Exercise

• Jellum & Cinnabar Mining Hub (for more info beyond this link, search this blog for "Cinnabar")
• Hanging Gardens
• The Cathedral
• Icy Creek (for more info beyond this link, search this blog for Icy Creek)
• Ravensdale Creek (the "slatted bridge" loop)
• Ravensdale Lake (the lake and creek east of SR 160)
• Frog Lake
• Franklin Heritage Area (also, follow the link to the Black Diamond Historical Society who sponsors two tours each spring, typically one in February and one in March - credit to those who go on either of these in 2012)

Area Parks To Visit & Enjoy

• Lake Sawyer Regional Park
• Nolte State Park
• Kanaskat Palmer State Park (winter camping and Yurts here)
• Flaming Geyser State Park
• Lake 12 King County Lake Access

Entertainment & Culinary Delights

• Friday night Dinner & Jazz at Black Diamond Pizza & Deli and Baker Street Books (live jazz most Friday or Saturday nights and no cover).  Baker Street Books is directly across the street from Michael's place 
• Breakfast, brunch or dinner at the Black Diamond Bakery
• Awesome Italian at Mama Passarelli's
• Awesome BBQ at Rooters Famous BBQ

Enjoy & Contribute To The Future Of Our Community

• Visit & become a member of the Black Diamond Historical Society
• Volunteer and/or contribute to the Black Diamond Community Center (gas vouchers for the needy are particularly in demand)

For The Adventurous

• Paddleboard around Lake Sawyer ( you can borrow our paddle board)
• Kayak to where Ravensdale Creek and Frog Lake/Rock Creek dump into Lake Sawyer (we would be happy to lend you our two kayaks)
• Enjoy the Lake Sawyer Community Club Polar Bear swim New Years Day (a certified goose-bump event)
• Participate in one of the Yarrow Bay MPD special citizen committees (attend the Water Quality committee formation meeting on Wed. January 4 at 6:30 pm at the Black Diamond Elementary school or attend the Green Valley Road commitee formation meeting on Tues. January 10 at 6:30 pm at the Black Diamond Elementary school)
• Go skateboarding with local kids or just stop by the skateboard park downtown next to the elementary school.  Extra credit if you actually give it a try
• Bicycle, jog or walk any of the cross country trails on or around Ravensdale Creek between Lake Sawyer and SR 169 (credit goes to each outing)
• Bird watch at Frog Lake
• Try fishing in Lake Sawyer - catching a fish is worth extra credit
• Run, jog, walk around Lake Sawyer
• Enjoy a lazy explorative day at the Black Diamond Public Library

And last but not least, attend a City Council meeting (Jan. 5 and Jan. 19 beginning at 7 pm), attend a City Council Open Community Forum (Jan. 12 beginning at 6:30 pm at the Black Diamond Community Center) or just give any of your Councilmembers a call to share what is on your mind.

 

Lake Wilderness Overcrossing - Then and Now

Photo courtesy of King County Archives

The above picture was taken in 1934 and shows the overcrossing and railroad tracks that once connected all the way to Black Diamond and Franklin.  Located just northwest of the Maple Valley Library and roundabout that was recently constructed, this old railroad bed has been turned into a trail for use by bikers, joggers and walkers.  You can actually hit the trail at 288th and eventually connect with the Cedar River Trail that will take you all the way to Renton and Lake Washington.  As the tri-cities of Covington, Maple Valley and Black Diamond work to connect all our trail systems, this is a key artery for linking us all together.  Following is a picture taken earlier this week of this same overcrossing as it is today.

State Parks - A Disaster In The Making

In our community, we are blessed with some of the most beautiful scenic areas and natural wonders in King County, if not the entire State of Washington.  The Green River Gorge spanning the 12 miles from Kanaskat-Palmer State Park in the northeast quadrant to Flaming Geyser State Park in the southwest is an amazing area.  We even have Nolte State Park and the Bass Lake, Beaver Lake and Dandy Lake complex located in between.  In total, we have over 1,000 acres of spectacular open space.  So what does the future hold?  Good question.  Some of this open space land is owned by State Fish & Wildlife, some by State Dept. of Natural Resources, some by King County and by far the biggest chunks by Washington State Parks.  For those not aware, our State Parks are now in fiscal crisis.  Historically, Parks have relied on contributions from the State's General Fund.  Given the State's current fiscal crisis, State Parks have been asked to transform itself from a "State Supported Agency" into a "Fee For Service Agency".

This transition is proving to be much harder than policy makers would have hoped.  Tuesday morning, Courtney Feeney (Friends of Flaming Geyser) and I attended a special session of the Washington State Parks & Recreation Commission in Olympia.  How depressing.  I fully understand the difficulty of making major organization transformations such as this but even with all my grey hairs and scars from leading past organization change efforts at Weyerhaeuser and elsewhere, I couldn't believe what I heard today.  THE key to success of any fundamental organizational change/business transformation is that leadership take responsibility for making the changes necessary.  Clearly, this is not the case for State Parks today.

First, we heard a diatribe from Parks Commission Chairman Joe Tallar about how unfair this all was and how current circumstances were the direct result of failures of legislatures in the past and present.  Teapartyesk in its blaming of the dems.  If you are a Parks person, not very inspiring or constructive leadership in the evaluation of alternatives given current realities.  Then we heard from staff.  Though I understand current angst, I once again heard the theme "it's not our problem", "we are victims" - we know that we are going to destroy your Parks, but blame the legislature, not us.  So long as this attitude remains, we are headed for disaster, at least in my opinion. 

So we then got the numbers.  Guess how many permanent employees are being cut from on the ground field employees?  Over 220 out of just 300 field personnel are being axed - these are our park rangers and maintenance personnel.  The dollar savings of these cuts as presented by staff is $7 million.  How many are being cut from HQ staff - 15 or less.  The dollar savings of HQ staff cuts is $1.3 million. H'mmm.  Let's cut our field staff nearly 75% but headquarters staff cuts are less than 17%?  What's wrong with this picture?   I am more than upset - not because the legislature is requiring that State Parks become a self supporting entity, but because the Park service is headed in the direction of absolutely descimating and destroying our parks system while retaining a large HQ staff - and even worse, they deny any responsibility to fix it.  It's time for a change in Parks leadership!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For more on the numbers, follow this link to State Parks.

Crummy Weather - Take At Hike In The Park

Lake Sawyer Regional Park is one of our community's real jewels.  With over 168 Acres Of Open Space, it's a great place to get out and about whatever the weather.  For those who have not been there yet, a parking area was established about 18 months ago with a great trail that leads you down to the lake.  No more need to disturb residents living along 312th by parking in the street.  The parking area is located just east of the Lake Sawyer Black Diamond road between Lake Sawyer Christian Church and the Lake Sawyer Elementary school.  Take advantage of this unique area asset and brighten your day.

Trail to the lake.

Frog lake during the fall, right below one of the two eagles' nests.

State Parks - What Does The Future Hold?

Given Washington State's current fiscal challenges, the future of State Parks is very much in doubt.  Following is a summary of Parks funding originally passed by the Legislature for the mid year 2011 to mid year 2013 biennium.

Unfortunately, there are two big problems.  Discover Pass revenues are coming in well below expectations and may not reach even $20 million over this two year period.  In addition, due to the State's current fiscal crises, further cuts in funding from General Fund sources must be made and will go away altogether in the next biennium.  Fortunately, fees from direct park services such as revenue from camping and $5 license tab donations seem to be holding up reasonably well.

As a result, it would appear that a fundamental restructuring of how State Parks conducts its business is needed.  Recognizing how important it is that we keep all three of our local State Parks open (Flaming Geyser, Nolte and Kanaskat Palmer) and keep them in good operating condition, I have been doing some research re how Parks currently spends it's money and where human resources are now allocated.  Here is some of what I am finding:

For your reference, our area parks are located withing the Northwest Region.  Kanaskat Palmer actually generates revenue exceeding direct park expenditures.

From the chart above, you can see that our parks overall generate quite a bit of revenue for direct services provided, like camping fees, conference center fees etc.  Looking at it this way, keeping all of our parks open with current on the ground staffing levels is not nearly so daunting.  Current levels of income from the Discover Pass (even at today's low levels), parking tab fees and dedicated funds substantially exceed this gap.  So where is all the money being spent?

Well, as you can see, current direct spending on parks is actually less than money now being spent for other things in State Parks - principally overhead.  If you look at current staffing levels and where they are located (thanks to the help of Senator Pam Roach and her staff), this is what we find:

What the above data seem to tell us is that Region and HQ staffing currently eats up what appears to be a substantially disproportionate share of Parks resources compared to most other organizations.  At least intuitively, we might also expect that the average compensation for each HQ employee to substantially exceed that for direct on the ground park employees - Rangers, maintenance personnel and park aides.  In private business - if we have 1 staff/management position for every 8 to 10 on the ground operating personnel, this would be high overhead. In schools, 1 administrator to 5 teachers would seem to be high.  In State Parks, it's currently 1 staff/management position for less than 2 on the ground personnel.  H'mmmmmm!

More on this subject in later posts.

 

Hiking To The Old Johnson Coal & Clay Mine

Picture of Gomer Evans taken on Wednesday during our hike to the old Johnson Mine

On a beautiful fall day, Keith Watson, Keith's brother, Gomer Evans, Bill Kombol and I had the opportunity to hike to the location of the old Johnson Clay Mine.  Gomer worked here during the 1950's, so we were anxious to see if we could find any remnants of the mine now located on Washington State Parks property.  It's on the south side of the Green River just east of Flaming Geyser State Park.  Thanks to Gomer's memory and the sleuthing/bushwacking skills of our team, I think that we did great and now have a pretty good understanding of how this facility all laid out - at least at the big picture level.

The old haul road that once connected the mine to SR 169 is still there.  In the picture that follows we see where the haul road decended into the area of the mine up on the ridge, about 600 feet above the river, that contained the burn pile areas, hoist, bunkers for loading mined coal and clay, the wash house etc. as sketched by Gomer in the link provided above.  We are hoping that Gomer might put together a more detailed sketch focused just on this area.

Bill Kombol gets the "discoverer" award for finding what clearly appears to be the area where coal/clay cars where hoisted up from the mine on rail to the ridge top.

The picture that follows shows just how steep this incline was for pulling cars up from the mine, which was located pretty close to water level in the river.

If you look near the top center, you will be able to see the river below - way down there.  Among Bill's discoveries was also what could have been a vent or just caved in area - big hole that went well into the hillside.  Notice the clear coal seam.

And for the last picture let me show some of the remnants pulled from the site including nuggets of clay left over from the burn piles, coal remnants and what we might best call a "klinker" that had been heated through the burn process but that contained other minerals like silica that would cause it to fuse and look "glazed" in appearance.

It appears that the best way to get there without having to cross private property is from Flaming Geyser - but I'll save that trail for another day.

Pinnacle Peak - Popular Enumclaw Hike

View from along the trail to Pinnacle Peak, looking south and west toward Sumner

If you hadn't noticed, it's getting colder now and there are signs of snow in the foothills.  As you plan your explorations for this winter and spring and are looking for a hike with some steepness to it but no snow, Pinnacle Peak is worth the trek.  Pinnacle Peak Park is a 256 acre volcanic cone that rises out of the plateau in Enumclaw and one of the many open spaces and trails maintained by King County in our area.  This peak is also known locally as Mt. Peak or Mt. Pete, but its all one and the same.  The hike is only one mile up (2 miles round trip) but you also climb 1,000 feet to the 1,800 foot summit - enough to get a sweat up.  And then you can always try running it.  Because of it's proximity, it's well used but typically still not too overcrowed.  At the very top we were fascinated to see extruded outcroppings of columnar basalt.  They were so uniform in shape as you can see in the picture that follows.

The Cal Magnuson trailhead is at the corner of 276th SE and SE 472nd Street not far from the old Pete's Pool in Enumclaw. We took this hike earlier in the year and found the flora and views to be wonderful.

A grove of devils club.

Judy at the summit.

Beautiful maiden hair ferns and lush understory.  Anyone know what this green leaved plant is?

Getting To Know Flaming Geyser State Park

In a past post A Sunny Day At Flaming Geyser State Park I focused primarily on the area of the park located very near the park entrance.  This includes wonderful stretches of the Green River, prime fishing areas and a Remote Control airplane center.  Beautiful.  But prior to last week, I must admit that my exploration of the park was pretty limited.  The park area totals 480 acres and includes some fun trails for hiking, pristine wetlands, prime sidestreams for salmon spawning and a conference/retreat center that makes an ideal get-away for organizations of all sizes and makeup.  Last week, I had the opportunity to explore the Park a bit further.

To some, the above picture may not be particularly "sexy".  But to me, this speaks volumes about how our natural areas are being maintained within the Park and how critical these areas are to maintaining suitable fisheries and wildlife habitat.  Trout Unlimited even maintains conditioning ponds for both winter and summer run steelhead within the Park.

Following are a couple more pictures of the natural area located within the park at the eastern end.  Nice trails and beautiful streams as shown below.

Christie Creek is an important salmon and steelhead spawning stream.

As we all know, our State Parks are now struggling for survival.  The Discover Pass is helping with funding, but is also unlikely to be an adequate source of revenue for our Parks in the years ahead.  What's the answer?  At least in my view, Park survival will increasingly depend on the ability of each Park to be self sustaining revenue wise.  For example, Kanaskat-Palmer State Park located about 16 miles upstream of Flaming Geyser has lots of campsites and Yerts that each year generate total revenues that exceed the direct cost of keeping the park open.  As it now stands, Flaming Geyser has no comparable revenue generating capacity, be it camp sites or conference facilities.  The retreat/conference center - not currently available due to lack of water and sewer capacity within the park.  Fortunately, I have learned that new wells were finally drilled this year (though not yet approved for use by King County) that will eventually be able to supply water to the conference center - hopefully very soon.  For sewer, more investment is still required to make this adequate, but if this becomes a constraint to finally opening the conference center, then Honey Buckets or other portable toilet companies can certainly help us bridge this gap at affordable cost until capital funds are available. 

We need to get this center open NOW for Flaming Geyser State Park to become more fiscally viable and to remain open in the future.  I will admit to having first hand knowledge of how some of the very significant expenditures on capital improvements within the Park system have been made in recent years.  Though I am troubled by what I see and the lack of return on many of these investments, at least as I perceive it, we need to look ahead.  Flaming Geyser State Park has largely been left out of the investment equation so far.  This needs to be reprioritized and corrected in the future.  We should demand it.

In addition, there is an important role in the future that can also be played by the community.  Whether it be a Foundation or some other local funding/sponsorship mechanism, our Parks' future may well rest with community support and help.  Our Middle Green River Coalition fully intends to play an active role in helping to create this future.  It's absolutely imperative that Kanaskat-Palmer, Nolte and Flaming Geyser remain open and available to our community in the future - whatever happens in Olympia.

Fall Color & Salmon On The Green

Please be sure to join the Middle Green River Coalition (MGRC) for several fall fun hikes now planned along the Green River. 

• Flaming Geyser State Park - Saturday Oct. 8, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
• Icy Creek & Hanging Gardens - Sunday Oct. 9, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
• Kanaskat Palmer State Park - Sunday Oct. 16, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm

Learn more about the history of these areas and discover/enjoy the beauty of the Green River Gorge.  These hikes will be suitable for young families and a wide range of hiking skills.  For more information and to sign up, please visit the MGRC website linked above. 

Following are a few pictures to wet your appetite, first from Flaming Geyser State Park.

Next, we have photos from Icy Creek.

Next, Hanging Gardens - a must see.

And finally, Kanaskat Palmer - a real jewel.

For more on all of these areas, just click on the category "Local Trails" and you will find links to these any many more wonderful hikes in our area.

A Big Picture Of Greater Black Diamond's Natural Resource Gems

In the last year, I have focused a number of posts on the wonderful natural resource areas we have available to us in our community - open space, trails for hiking, biking and equestrian use, unique wildlife habitat areas, numerous lakes, streams and fisheries and Agricultural Production Districts/Preservation areas.  So much of our area is unspoiled with many acres set aside and protected for the long term.  Using King County's Property Services web site, you can see where these areas are and just how close they are to Black Diamond.  Use the iMap feature if you want to explore yourself.  The following overhead aerial views were taken in 2005.  To make it easier to get your bearings, I included major highways, highlighted county and state parks/open space areas and identified many of our area lakes.

By clicking on the picture, you will be able to enlarge it and locate these features more clearly.  Notice that you can see Kanaskat Palmer State Park on the far upper right, Jellum, the one lane Green River Gorge bridge, Hanging Gardens area, Beaver Lake (the subject of several posts regarding current restoration efforts there) and then on to Flaming Geyser State Park as you move west along the Green.  Nolte State Park is shown just above the label for Muskrat Lake, though the lake there is today more commonly known as Deep Lake.  The Franklin Heritage Area is also not labeled but is the green area on the north side of the Green River just southwest of the single lane Green River Gorge bridge (by the Green River Gorge Resort).  Sinkhole Lake shown just above Beaver Lake is now more commonly known as Dandy Lake.

By reducing the iMap enlargement a bit further, we can get an even broader view of our watershed extending further west of Flaming Geyser.  Covington Creek, the outlet of Lake Sawyer, flows into Soos Creek prior to merging with the Green.

One of the interesting things for me about this picture is that it shows just how close the Green River and White River are today - perhaps less than 5 miles separating them at one point.  As you may recall, at one time they merged into one river flowing to Elliott Bay and Puget Sound.  But in the early 1900's floods, which were common at the time, formed a new channel for the White River and it now flows south into the Puyallup. 

The Cedar River also once flowed into the Duwamish River.  But, with the dredging of the ship canal connecting Lake Washington to Puget Sound, the Black River dried up and the Cedar now flows directly into Lake Washington.  Salmon that once spawned up the Duwamish, into the Cedar or through the Black River into Lake Washington now have a totally different path that they must follow - and they have to make it through the ship canal locks to boot.  Aah, the hand of man has had no small impact on our fisheries.  The following graphic illustrates this.

 

One More Reason To Celebrate Turning 62

As if remaining vertical isn't enough, the bargain of the century for Seniors is a lifetime federal pass that costs all of $10 as a qualifying senior over age 62.  To be clear, this is $10 for the rest of your life!  It's called a Senior Pass and provides unlimited access for your lifetime to all federal lands including the National Park Service, the  U.S. Forest Service, Federal Fish & Willdlife lands, the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Reclamation.  Entering Mount Rainier National Park, no problem, you are covered.  Heading for a tour of  the Everglades in Florida or national forests or parks in Maine, your vehicle, driver and passengers are covered.  There is probably no bigger bargain out there for seniors today.  That's how we made it to Norse Peak, parking with a valid Senior Pass on Saturday and now we have a lifetime pass to any of these sites anywhere in the country.  Pretty cool.  For those qualifying, I encourage you to take advantage.  Another picture of Mount Rainier from the Norse Peak trail about 2/3rds of the way up this past Saturday.

If you qualify, my advice is to get the pass now.  Who knows what will happen given current political trends.

A Hike To Norse Peak - Awesome Views

The above picture of Mount Rainier was taken Saturday from the top of Norse Peak

If you are looking for spectacular views of Mount Rainier and a complete 360 degree panaorama, try the trail to Norse Peak.  To get to the trailhead, drive highway 410 east through Enumclaw heading toward Crystal Mountain.  Turn left on Crystal Mountain Road toward the ski area.  Look for the 4 mile marker.  Just past this, about another 1/10th of a mile, look for road on your left.  Park in this lower area just off the dirt road.  The road is called Gold Hill road but is unmarked.  You will need a Trail Pass to park here - available at the Enumclaw ranger station.  Annual passes are $80 and one day passes will run you $10 per car.  Walk up the road about 2/10ths of a mile and you will see the trailhead on your left.  Head up the trail here.

One word of caution, this isn't a beginner hike with your kids but it should be easily doable for most regular hikers.  The trail is about 6 miles with an elevation gain of 3,000 feet (12 miles round trip).  This means switchbacks all the way but with only 500 feet of elevation gain per mile, it's not too steep - just steady.  Elevation at the top is about 6,800 feet and we did see a few pockets of snow on the way up.

The meadows in the upper half were beautiful.  They must be in their prime right now - 5 to 7 weeks later than is typical.  The lupin (Lupinus lepidus otherwise known as Elegant Lupin) in particular were amazing - I have never seen such lush growth in our many years here.  We saw literally thousands and thousands of these beautiful plants blooming in the meadows on our way up.

Indian Paintbrush was also very common

Almost as spectactular as Mt. Rainier was the view from Norse Peak of Mt. Adams.  Be sure to click on these pictures to enlarge.  With an enlarged view, the lupin in particular show just how beautiful they are.

The development that you see to the bottom right is part of Crystal Mountain.  One hiking tip, the trail is not well marked, particularly finding your way to the peak and the best views.  You all of a sudden come out the trail and find yourself on a ridge that falls off dramatically on both sides - and I mean steep.  If you continue just a little more, you will see a bit of a rise on your left.  Clamber up the rocks and this is where you will get your 360 degree views.  We could see the North Cascades and Olympics from up here as well.  A few more pictures from the day:

View of the North Cascades

View looking northeast

Crystal Mountain resort from Norse Peak with Mt. Adams visible in the far upper left

A closer view of Mount Adams

Credit to NPR and Fagin's Weather World for the tip on the Norse Peak trail.