Author Archives: Andrew Ziehl

About Andrew Ziehl

An avid outdoorsman.

Yodelin Wednesday

On the Wednesday after Catherine and I’s return from Leavenwroth, I decided it was time for a tour. The snow had piled up and settled down since the weekend, and despite the relatively low base compared to last spring, I gave Yodelin another try. There were two other groups skinning up, and the whole area is relatively protected, so my biggest concern was falling in a tree well, but luckily at least most of those were filled in. Route finding was a bit difficult since its turns out the access road is full of brush when it’s missing 5-8 feet of snow. It was a true East Coast skin heading in: frozen solid, and lots of thick brush. Luckily the higher elevations had over a foot of light and fluffy powder on top.

Conditions in the PNW have been even worse than last January , so it’s been tough to get the touring in. People have been doing it, but finding good routes as a difficult challenge and I’m not that familiar with the early season routes yet, aside from Rainier. This was my first tour since late last June, early July when I skinned up to Camp Muir. Taking a few laps at Yodelin is certainly a different sort of tour, but it was fun nonetheless.

Heading out was just as hard as skinning up due to the low coverage, but in between I got a few creamy turns. It was a fun walk in the woods and certainly an interesting way to start the touring season. Though it was fun, in retrospect I perhaps should’ve waited to go touring a few more days. It rained everywhere the day after, but I was also just shaking off a cold, which has since turned into a chronic cough probably due to spending the day inhaling cold mountain air…

Leavenworth Weekend

After our weekend in Vantage Catherine and I had a weekend of R&R planned, courtesy of her Mom’s Christmas gift. With brand new all season, all weather tires on the Subaru, we followed a storm over Steven’s pass to once again enjoy the beauty of Leavenworth.

We arrived just in time for the afternoon Ice Festival events, including live ice carving and smooshing. The snow falling in town was picturesque and after grabbing some tea we hung out downtown for awhile.

That night we sampled some delicious Bavarian style meals, and then warmed up in our room with a fireplace. By the next morning there was over a foot of fresh snow downtown! Time for some adventures.

We drove up to Lake Wenatchee to hike around and soak up the views. Upon arriving we realized we haven’t yet mastered the Washington parks pass system. The snow truck driver turned out to be a park ranger who kindly explained that we needed both a Discover pass AND a sno-park day pass (a $20 value) just to park in the campground lot. Oh, and stay off all the cross-country trails. Luckily he was nice enough to explain to us, and we were under-geared for the unexpectedly deep snow anyway, so we went down the street, grabbed the required passes, since our Discover pass expired, and then were able to explore.

We stayed the night again in Leavenworth, where it was much quieter after the firework conclusion of the Ice Festival. Catherine and I enjoyed the local brews, and really had a chance to relax. On Monday morning, we headed home, and caught up with an incoming storm hitting the pass again, so we really got to put the Subaru through it’s paces, and it did great. It was nice to see fresh snow in Leavenworth, but we really need a lot more of it this winter!

Vantage Camping

To escape the Seattle area weather, it was time for some winter camping! Also, it was Atlas’ first camping experience, and thus the first time he has made it on the site. Last September Catherine and I got Atlas as an eight week old German Shorthair Pointer puppy! Now he’s old enough to come with us on some adventures.

Dylan, Catherine, Atlas and I loaded up and headed out just before a huge rainstorm hit, and absconded to the desert of Vantage for camping, hiking, and maybe some bouldering. It was cold, hovering around freezing, but not terribly cold for winter camping.

After unpacking, we cooked up some food and got Atlas used to the idea of sleeping on his bed on a rock. Cue photo montage.

Views of the Feathers across the way, and an empty camping area

Dylan and Atlas wait for us to catch up

That night, Atlas stayed with us in the tent and slept through the whole night! Luckily we’d brought his own personal down blanket because his short hair left him shivering without it.

The next day Atlas, Dylan and I got up early to revisit some cool spots by the Sunshine Wall. First Atlas had to make it through the crevice, though, which involved a puppy hand off.

Afterwards we walked along the base of the cliffs and above the talus field. I’m not sure if Atlas would’ve ventured down onto the Talus, but we kept him on the lease just in case.

We inspected some new routes and scrambled our way out, which required some overhead puppy presses. Atlas was apprehensive, but still lead the way back.

By the afternoon, we decided we’d enjoyed the quiet but had enough of standing around in the cold. We packed up and headed out, but not before driving down the road to check out a view of the Columbia river.

All in all, Atlas’ fist trip went great! We know he’ll be ready for some hikes come this summer.

Fall From Different Heights

October is always a month of transition, especially in the PNW. I love the shoulder season, with the crisp Fall air which eventually brings snow and the anticipation of winter. It’s still surprising what a difference one week can make, and a few thousand feet of elevation.

Two weeks ago Catherine and I did the enjoyable Iron Goat loop hike, a 6 mile jaunt. The trail follows the old railroad bed used by early steam engines to climb over Steven’s Pass until the tunnel construction finished. It also officially terminates at Wellington, the site of the largest avalanche disaster in the US, in terms of fatalities. We caught great fall scenery on a relatively clear day! Of course in true PNW fashion, it rain the week before and the week after.

The caboose marks the turn around point, after which Catherine and I hiked the upper railroad grade and detoured to Windy Point. There we enjoyed some great views and met a trail crew volunteer. He told us a bit of history of the iron Goat trail restoration, and helped remind me that next summer I want to be more involved in hiking trail crews to give back and help others enjoy the great hikes out here.

Windy Point used to be a precipitous turn for the railroad, until a tunnel was excavated into the hill the make the turn less sharp and protect trains from winds and weather.

Iron Goat trail was full of remnants of structures, tunnels and history, which you’ll have to go investigate for yourself! I don’t want to give it all away but there was a lot of signage and great stories from the past.

Kendall Katwalk

Last weekend I convinced Tim and Dylan to do a more typical PNW hike-in the rain. We headed to Snoqualmie Pass to investigate the Kendall Katwalk near where Sweeney and I skied last April. The hike was serene, if lacking in views, and we had an awesome time! We also got soaked. We encounter rain, sleet, and heavy snow, with below-freezing temps and lots of snow at the Katwalk.

We knew there was a possibility of laying some tracks in the North Cascades, but I’m glad we did this hike and content to wait a few more weeks until there’s more snow to go crazy over. We’ve got a whole winter ahead of us!

The Katwalk proper looked a bit less striking in the low-visibility conditions. “I think…this is the catwalk?”, I exclaimed as we passed across it. We decided to go a bit further and hang out in a grove of trees to have a snack before descending.

Turning around we encountered a few other groups, and we were glad to have made the first tracks up for the day and have the trail to ourselves for the most part. On the descent the snow, and then rain, really turned up a notch.

With the high country getting hit by snow, this probably marks the last high elevation hike, and the start of touring season on the horizon! Bring on the snow! Here’s praying we don’t fall prey to El Niño.