Washington: Issaquah Rain Forest

In October I met my parents in Washington for a week long vacation.  We stayed near Issaquah in an area so dripping with moisture and so overgrown with vegetation, that I can't call it anything other than a temperate rain forest.  The house we rented backed up to the West Tiger Mountain State Forest and was very secluded.  I was enamored over all the critters I found just in the yard.

The back of the house looked out onto this lovely river that surged after several days of rain.

The back deck and thick trees

I was the only one willing to cross the wooden bridge to the other side.

View of the river from the bridge

Mushrooms in the grass

Close up of a fern

Banana Slug.  This specimen is not the bright yellow I am used to seeing in the slugs around Santa Cruz, CA.

Garden Spider.  This one had a web right by the door, which cheered my spider fearing mother no end. 

Where there is prey there are predators.  This attractive beetle (Scaphinotus angusticollis), which we saw everywhere is called the Snail Killer.  There were certainly plenty of snails to feed on!

Mt. Democrat

Distance: 4 miles round trip
Elevation: 12,006 ft - 14,156 ft
Elevation Gain: 2,150 ft
Date Hiked: 1 September 2011
Dogs: Off leash
Bathroom at Trailhead: Yes

View (looking north) from the summit of Mt. Democrat

Mt. Democrat is an easy 14er within striking range of the Denver Metro Area and is therefore rather popular.  I have long ago given up climbing 14ers on the weekends for this reason.  Even during the week, one is hardly alone.

The parking area.  The saddle and face are directly ahead.

Starting out, the lake is just ahead

The easiest part of the route is across the valley on a relatively soft trail.

The route gets rockier as you start to head up.

Looking back down on the lake

The trailhead to Mt. Democrat begins south of the Breckenridge Ski Resort in the town of Alma.   In the middle of the town, look for the road and small brown sign pointing towards Kite Lake.  It is 6 miles up a dirt road that is usually passable by a passenger car to the lake.  The forest service runs the campground, bathrooms, and parking lot.  There is a $3 fee to park there.  If such conveniences are above you, park down the road a bit where it is free.

Now we are really into the rocks.

Heading towards the saddle

Looking back down the valley

Looking up at the dots on the saddle

Democrat, Lincoln, and Bross have been are still are heavily mined.  That is one reason that Bross is still closed.  A mine shaft and sign occupy the saddle.

Democrat can be hiked by itself or part of the triad of Democrat, Lincoln, and Bross.  At the time I did the hike, Bross was still closed to the public, although that did not stop many.  Doing all three in one day is certainly doable, legal issues aside, and is primarily weather and time dependent.  In my case, my two hiking companions came up from Denver and got stuck in traffic caused by an overturned semi-truck.  We got too late a start to do more than Democrat.

There is a small "bump" before you start really ascending the face.  You can see the hordes going up and coming down.

Depending upon how you scramble over the "bump", you can look straight down into the opposite valley. That is actually Wheeler Lake in the distance. There are some great views of Mt. Democrat from that trail.

The "bump"

 Looking across to the route up Mt. Lincoln (14,286 ft).  That is actually Mt. Cameron (14, 238 ft) , a 14er that does not count.  Mt. Lincoln is out of view.

The face you see as you start to climb is not the face of Democrat. The actual summit is a small hump further up the ridge to the west. This becomes readily apparent when you reach the top of the face only to see folks heading off into the distance.

Heading up the face

Reach the top of the face, the summit is in the distance

Getting to the saddle between Lincoln and Democrat is the hardest part of the hike. That is why it is such a bummer NOT to do both in one day.

It is an easy walk to the summit from this point.

The summit

The summit view looking down the north valley

Looking down on the Climax Mine from the summit.  I have driven that highway many times and never knew I was looking up at Mt. Democrat.

Many of the folks that do Democrat, Lincoln, and Bross do so as a loop and come down Bross to Kite Lake.  Every report I have read about this indicates that sliding down Bross is not an experience most people care to repeat.

Argentine Pass

Distance: 5.2 miles round trip
Elevation: 11,100 ft - 13,200 ft
Elevation Gain: 2,100 ft
Date Hiked: 3 September, 2011
Bathroom at Trailhead:  No
Dogs: Yes

The precipitous trail to Argentine Pass

Argentine Pass is a destination most reach by driving their 4x4 or ATV up from Waldorf (out of Georgetown CO) .  The hiker can reach it, however, by hiking up the arduous goat track along the slope of Argentine Peak.  I have wanted to do this hike for years, and this year I got my chance.

Driving into scenic Horseshoe Basin at the end of Peru Creek

Walking by the ruins of the Shoebasin Mine

The trailhead for Argentine Pass is located at the end of Peru Creek Road near Montezuma in Summit County.  While this road is passable for passenger cars, at least to the trailhead for Chihuahua Gulch,  it becomes increasingly rough thereafter so don't try this in your passenger van.  It is only 4.6 miles in, but when you are traveling 5 miles an hour, it takes a while.

Walking up the road

White coated rocks.  The British geologists we met speculated it was due to  Kaolinite Clay coating the rocks.

At the end of the road is a large parking lot on the left.  Don't go beyond this.  The road drifts behind a hill just past this lot and there is a gate blocking further progress that you can't see until you make the bend.

The unmarked sign indicating the start of the trail.  The pass itself is visible to the left.

The route follows the hillside to the left

The trail itself begins at a small unmarked sign in the willows 0.4 miles up this road.  I ran into a volunteer ranger coming down who said it took her an hour to find this spot. We did not have this difficulty but kept wondering where it was as we slowly slogged up the very rocky road. Just keep going, you'll know it when you see it.

The first bend is just ahead.  Decatur Mountain is to the right.

Stunning views back down Peru Creek Valley

After the initial turn, the trail crosses the valley through willows taller than I was. It begins to climb quickly on the other side and will do so unrelentingly until you reach the pass.

The initial part of the route.   There are still plants on the slope.  Grays Peak is to the left.

Looking down on the route through the willows

Argentine Pass Trail has just one switchback and you reach this around 1 mile. The turn here was so rocky, it looked like a stream bed, which would make the route an ankle twisting nightmare. Fortunately, it is not. At the bend, you are already above treeline and a pleasant looking ridgeline is just ahead. It looks trivial to climb Decatur Mountain to the right and someday I hope to return and do just that.

The route becomes more barren, where is the pass?

Clouds loom where only the thistle bloom.  From this point we were still several crenelations away from the pass.

The views looking back down Peru Creek Valley are stunning from this point and if you are looking for a shorter outing, you could turn around right at the bend and call it a day. If you continue on, it is another 1.6 miles to the pass. Note, the guidebooks all say it is 2 miles to the pass, but add on the distance from the parking lot to the trailhead and another 0.2 miles of navigation error and my GPS said the distance was 2.6 miles one way.

Traversing a wide area.  On the very narrow spots, I did not take pictures.  I needed both hands at the ready in case I slipped.

At last the pass comes into view

The terrain on this part of the route is unchanging. It is rocky, very narrow in places, and devoid of vegetation accept for the mysterious Frosty Ball Thistle. You can't really see your destination from the trail because it continually weaves in and out of drainages that hug the mountain side and the ridgeline in the distance all looks the same.  This trip became an exercise in "are we there yet" as we took turns on point hoping the next bend in the trail would show us the pass.

Argentine Peak from the pass

Grays Peak (left) and Torreys Peak (just to the right of Grays) from the pass

The views from the route are amazing, so don't let the tedious nature of the trail itself deter you. The entire time you are looking down into a bowl bordered on the north by Grays Peak (14,270 ft) and Ruby Mountain (13,228ft). To the east is Mt. Edwards (13,850 ft) and of course Argentine Peak (13,738 ft) is several hundred feet above on the right.

Looking south at Mt. Wilcox (13.408 ft) from the pass. Silver Dollar and Murray Lakes are on the other side.

Reaching the pass is somewhat anticlimactic.   I have heard that Waldorf on the other side is stunning, but the slope is so gradual, you can't really see much from the pass itself.  I had hoped to climb Mt. Argentine from the pass, but we did not get started on the trail until after 1pm and pressed upwards despite the looming black clouds that always seem to shroud this area.  Going even higher was out of the question.

Back down now, admiring an old cabin in the meadow across from the parking lot

It is the history of this trail that makes it worth doing, however.  Initially a stagecoach route and later a railroad, there are places where the trail is still relatively wide and flat. Other places are so narrow a Pika would have trouble staying level. Every time I looked down I could not help but picture Grandma Moses bouncing along on those wagon wheels as the edge came in and out of view.  I have heard stories of pack animals being blown off the ridge and I could well believe it. The relentless snows in this area made this road unprofitable and it was eventually abandoned. The effort folks went to back then to traverse the Continental Divide just amaze me. And I bitch when I have to take Loveland Pass because the Eisenhower Tunnel is closed!

Late 1800's image of Argentine Pass by Chamberlain, W. G. (William Gunnison) -- Photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. 

Hiking to Argentine Pass is not an easy trail.  I had climbed Mt. Democrat two days before and my quads were wondering what on earth I was doing.  Knowing the route now, I might return to climb Mt. Edwards or Argentine Peak, but it won't be on the top of my list. Instead, I would rather continue up the road to several shelf lakes that nestle at the base of Grays and Ruby.  We ran into some Brits on the trail who have been in the area many times and have climbed Grays from that route. They were complaining about the altitude but once they told me that story, I knew their posturing was just for show.