Tripping in Annie #4. Introducing Tana and visiting the Cascade River basin

 Kya

First the sad news. Kya, the junior member of the aesthetics committee, loyal pack member, and cheerful travel companion, died at the end of last year.  She was a bit over 10 years old, and had been fighting cancer for the last 9 months. Kya was a rescue; we adopted her when she was about 2yo. For the next 8 years, we made her happy, and she made us happy. She is, and always will be, held in our hearts.

During her illness, we decided that we wanted to give another rescue Malamute the same chance to spread cheer as Kya did. So, in mid January, we drove out to Spokane to adopt Tana from WAMAL. Wonderful folks...visit their site: Washington Alaskan Malamute Adoption League.

Introducing Tana.
First meeting at the rescue kennel:

Lunch break in Annie on the way back home:

 

Tana is about 2.5 years old, and is very sweet, smart, and affectionate.

She clearly had a somewhat hard life before coming to us, multiple owners with no Malamute experience, before being given up to WAMAL and living in a kennel for 3 months. So, she has a few issues, like separation anxiety, fear of being brushed, almost no training, and perhaps a touch of ADHD. 

Nevertheless, she is a wonderful girl, and is already starting to calm down, learn manners, and trust that she will not ever be hurt again.

We just came back from a 5 day trip up the Cascade River basin (in the MBSNF) as Tana's introductory taste of camping in Annie. As with most of our trips to date, this is pretty close to home, under 2 hours drive time. But it is true Cascade back-country, with relatively few visitors. Just the way we like.

It's still pretty early in the year, and most of the week was wet and rainy, with occasional blue sky. 

We took road 1570...badly rutted and potholed, until a washout, probably Vee Creek, and set up our camp just before the stream.

The creek feeds the Cascade River, not far below our campsite.

The map shows that 1570 ends not too far ahead, at the junction with 1571.

Next morning, Tana and I crossed the washout and walked down the road to the end of 1571, at Kindy Creek.

Multiple smaller streams cross the road, with their own mini washouts and water bars.

In any case,there was a very nice camp spot right near Kindy Creek, if only we could get to it.
Kindy Creek:

Tana and I carefully considered the appeal of the new site vs. the risk of getting Annie stuck across the washouts and rough spots. Remember, Annie is an extended length Transit with a 6ft rear overhang and a nominal 16deg departure angle.

We had recently replaced Annie's OEM highway Hankook tires with Nokian WR-C3s, specifically for improved wet and rough road handling. We decided that, with the new tires and with Annie's airbags inflated to the max, we would probably survive the trip...chances were possibly as good as 80%.

We went back to Annie, and informed Renee of our conclusion. She was nervous about crossing the washout, but Tana was very persuasive.

So off we went. Turns out we were correct. Some bottoming out at a couple of the  smaller stream water bars, but that only caused some scraping at the trailer hitch. We'll get a hitch mount roller before our next outing.

Set up at the new spot. Kindy Creek is just beyond the trees.

Now to explore the creek. The map claims there is a trail that runs upstream, after a bridge that used to cross Kindy. The bridge is long gone, and the water was way too cold, deep, and fast to try wading across. So we admired and explored from this side.

There is no doubt that spring is springing, even though the temperature never hit 50F, the hills had fresh snow, and it mostly rained.

We continued to explore, interrupted only by telling jokes,

taking naps,

 and watching a Springsteen acoustic concert.

We explored road 1570 after it's closure at the 1571 intersection. It turns into a trail, with a lot of water bars.

The trail formerly known as road 1570 switches back, climbs and climbs, and then meets up with Vee creek again...which completely wiped it out.

It would have been a real mess to get across the washout, and climb back up to continue the hike. So we didn't.

Instead, we broke camp and headed down to road 1550.
Unlike the 1570 area, where the river valley is pretty narrow and deep, the valley widens into a fair size flood plain. Road 15 is up on the eastern hillside, and1550 crosses the Cascade river a bit south of Silby Creek. Our campsite is on a raised bit of land, shortly after the river bridge, and barely above the wetland. Fortunately, this early in  the year, mosquitoes were not yet a problem.

1550 then climbs steeply up to a trailhead leading to some mountain lakes. This early in the year, we did not want to go that high, because the trailhead itself was likely still snowed in.

So instead, Tana and I walked a ways up the road to get some nice views of the river valley.

We also took a trail which runs along the river.

 There is a marshy lake adjacent to our spot which reminds me of the Dead Marshes northwest of Mordor.

Ah, good times, good times...

Actually, the area is quite pretty, with skunk cabbage in the bog,

 

lot's of interesting things to sniff,

fresh spring growth,

and Misty Mountains

 

When you think about it, not Mordor-like at all. The lake, breaking into spring, and surrounded by misty mountains, is downright fine looking. 

Tripping in Annie #3 - South of the Skagit, west of the Sauk rivers

There's a relatively unused little hunk of MBSNF that's almost directly across the Skagit River from our home. We just spent a week there.

While it's not the most spectacular, high country area, it is very pretty.
 Since our preferred camping is boondocking where few (ideally no) other folks will pass by, it makes for a nice peaceful week's outing, without much traffic to disturb our navel gazing.

So in that spirit of peace, I'll mainly just post pics, with a few distracting comments thrown in.

Camp One:
We camped just before a washout on this road (NF1755).

Celebrating the official declaration of "We're Home!"

Exploring our new digs.

Enjoying a refreshing beverage after a long walk.

Next morning was clear, cold and frosty.

Which must have made at least one spider's feet very uncomfortable

We spent another day at this camp, walking and noting the onset of Fall.

 

  

Camp Two:
After a relaxed morning, we headed to our next camp. This was a quarry at the end of NF1740, a short, but steep climb above Finney Creek.

Higher altitude and more exposed than Camp One, so the Fall foliage was more like Fall foliage.

We explored the quarry, and generally took it easy the next day.

After our fill of exploring, we settled in to read some adequate books, drink some adequate wine, and look at the more than adequate scenery.

Camp Three:
We had originally hoped to settle at NF1715. It looked like a good possibility on the maps, across Finney Creek from the main NF17 with one direction washed out by another creek. But when we got there, we found it was an active logging area. So we backtracked, found an unmarked stub road right near where NF17 crossed Finney creek. It was OK for an overnight, but nothing special.

 But it was a short walk down to Finney Creek.

Camp Four:
We decided to move to NF1820 the next morning.
We found a nice spot right where the road crosses Deer Creek.

By all appearances, the road had not been traveled for a week or more before we went and disturbed the tranquility.
Time for more reading and more wine.

On the way down the road, we saw a pretty little lake off to the side. So we walked back to it, after setting camp.

Rounding out the day with a nice dinner.

Then it was Saturday, and we had to decide if we wanted to try and stretch to Sunday. A few 4x4's in a line came grumbling down the road, shortly after we heard gunfire by the lake. This proved it was the hunting season opening weekend, and reminded us why we don't like to camp on weekends. Forecast also predicted rain coming in, so we decided to wrap up and head home via the Saulk River and Rockport. We did a nice day hike at Rockport State Park, and drove home.

But we didn't leave before sitting and recollecting the nice time we had.