Crunch time with MAG

Crusty, crunchy snow, that is. And, MAG stands for Marie's Adventure Group. I had to escape the cold, fog that has settled in over the Puget Sound region and if I wasn't on the next plane to a tropical destination, the second best option was to head up and get above the cloud bank. So, I replied to Marie's mass email blast for some snowshoe fun up at Snoqualmie Pass. Marie is one of my teammates from one of the hockey leagues that I play in Seattle. At the Issaquah park and ride lot, I met up with her and five other shoe'ers (I apologize in advance for any misspellings :-)): Josh, Gary, Jean, Sharon, and Katie.

Then, we headed east on I-90 to Summit East, aka Hyak. For the non-Puget Sound residents, Hyak made the news recently when a huge rainstorm caused a massive mudslide which took out 3 towers of one of their chairs (Keechelus) and damaged some vacation houses located towards the base of the hill. The downhill ski area is now closed for the season as you can see in the pictures I took, but the nordic trails remain open on the weekends for the season. From the lodge, you either ski up or hop on a shuttle to the Silver Fir Express chair for an easy ride to the top.

We chose the latter and it was also my chance to ride the newly, opened Silver Fir Quad. Back in the day, that area to the east of Summit Central was a little known stash of some fun runs through the trees....but through the years the word got out and now it's a quad :-( Oh well...today, I was happy to be on snowshoes and not on my skis. It's been a very disappointing year for skiing. Since the first part of this new year, we've had rain up in the passes, and then nothing since and today is Jan. 19!! I looked over some of my favorite runs and saw a lot of exposed trees, rocks, and a lot of ice. I still have to bring my skis in for repair after Blackcomb shredded the bottom over New Year's.

At the top, we hooked up with the nordic trail system and meandered starting first with the Rockdale Loop. I've forgotten the names of the other trails because I too busy trying to stay up with Josh when we jogged or sprinted on some parts of the trail (the uphills were especially fun...love hills even off the bike!). Afterwards, we returned to Issaquah and headed to Issaquah Brew House for a round of their home brews (we tasted everything from chocolate porters, hazelnut ales, and 'Dead Guy' ales) and some good grub.

It was a cold, blustery day, but the sun came out at the top, the clouds parted for a while, and good times added to the warmth. It was great meeting you all and I look forward to more outdoor fun.