Soda Peaks Lake

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Water
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Soda Peaks Lake

Post by Water » December 6th, 2008, 10:47 pm

Aimed to go here last weekend when it was predicted:
Saturday - Cloudy in the morning, clearing in the afternoon (Misty early, Mistly late, with moments of sunbreaks at lower elevation)
Sunday - Sunny (Mostly cloudy all day - maybe others had better weather at other locales)

normally we bring our rain coats, but the weather god predictors had been reporting so confidently about great weather that we neglected them (as if for any reason not to just bring them).. we we spent a lot of our day in the car at the trailhead watching people cut trees and hoping for the rain to stop. it never did, but we read a bunch of our current books..

Instead hit it this weekend which
was predicted to be sat: partly cloudy, with much more clouds later, rain after midnight. Well we all know today was a glorious day without cloudcover until the late evening, and even then.. not much in the way of cover.

We slept in and arrived around noon - to 3 times as many christmas tree cutters than last weekend. i recorded a few license plates last weekend while we sat in our car waiting for the rain/mist to stop, but it seems futile when there are literally 100 people cutting..is it legal? i have no idea.. another post. Trailhead sign that is in the field guide no longer stands.. i can supply a high resolution image to replace it--vandalism? looks like it was cut at it's base, honestly.
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Soda Peaks Trail #133 Trail Head (big sign broken)
Passed through the meadow/field type area where everyone was cutting down multiple trees with chainsaws, including 15 foot trees that would fit in few houses without cathedral ceilings. Enjoyed the odd extruded ice in the ground.. have seen this before out east and here.. this was the thickest yet. didn't see it further along - wonder if it is due to the holding capacity of the soil more than anything..
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crunchy ground-extruded ice! odd that only the field area was icy .. but not anywhere else--maybe the soil there holds more water in general
Hike was brief, but steep up the first peak good views after you get up and then cross along it's backside (Southside) and hit the ridge again
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Adamski and Goat Rocks
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Lenticulars on Rainier
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Adams & shade
then we passed the turn to take down to soda peaks lake, stead heading onto the second peak on some shabby looking trail, if it was that at all--better for summer exploration with plenty of daylight hours. some good views heard a lot of loud rifle shots..not exactly relaxing, but if you hear shot after shot after shot, one would think someone is target practicing because any animals would be outta there. Anyways we turned around and on the way back we clearly saw the sharp sharp turn to take down to the lake..took that down, no snow except a few snowball sized spots along a north facing talus slope. lake was pretty well frozen with about a half inch of ice over the majority, the far northern side that caught some sunlight had about 3 or 4 foot of open water. the stream was heading out just fine, with a beautiful basin that looks about 2 foot deep that is pours into.
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Soda Peaks Lake
very beautiful.. want to fish there next summer! didn't see a person, a few nice looking campsites around the lake.
and on the way out some good ones, especially the sunset!!!
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Sunset and Hood.. and Jefferson way in the back..
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Bucket with a big tree and Adams
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self-pic --- cause the meetup is coming up!
Feel Free to Feel Free

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drm
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Re: Soda Peaks Lake

Post by drm » December 8th, 2008, 3:26 pm

This is one of my favorite local spots. I did another in a series of "last up-high hikes of the season" today, taking the longer route to the lake from the Government Mineral Springs campground area, also sometimes called Iron Mike.

And it was snowing up there! There was an inch or two of fresh powder in the final climb to the lake. So maybe this really was the last up-high hike of the season. It was real pretty with the new snow, but my newly-ordered camera has not arrived yet, so no pics to share. :|

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meana39
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Re: Soda Peaks Lake

Post by meana39 » December 8th, 2008, 5:31 pm

Last time I was at Soda Peaks lake I saw some of that same ice there near the beginning of the trailhead. I've never seen ice on the lake though....those photos are great!
I think the tree hunters would be less disturbing than the elk hunters were a few weeks ago!
I think it's a $5 permit and they can take 5 trees per family??
I could be wrong but that's what I heard.
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. ~John Muir

jley
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Re: Soda Peaks Lake

Post by jley » December 8th, 2008, 7:42 pm

I've always referred to that kind of ice as hoarfrost, but after just reading more about it now, I wonder if that's technically accurate... Since true hoarfrost would be deposited from the air/dew, and I think that kind of frost is caused by moist ground that freezes... Anyway, it is fun stuff to crunch underfoot!

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Grannyhiker
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Re: Soda Peaks Lake

Post by Grannyhiker » December 8th, 2008, 10:38 pm

Some of the big trees may have been for churches. Our youth group's December outing is to cut a tree for the church. It's usually about 15 feet. Several families go along to cut trees for their homes. Trees naturally grown in the forest look like Charlie Brown's tree, but they show off the ornaments a lot better than the thick, heavily pruned trees from the tree farm.

Me? It has been years since I had a tree. Instead, I prune branches off my Ponderosa pine tree (my last Christmas tree, which was a living tree) and my arborvitae hedge, pick up fresh boughs that have blown from the neighboring Douglas fir trees in our Troutdale east winds, and add some sprigs of holly and a poinsettia plant or two. The place looks decorative, smells wonderful and I haven't sacrificed a tree.

That ice can be slippery, especially when there's a little mud on top of it. Two years ago I slid on some of that stuff on the Naches Peak loop up in WA, and landed on my rear right in front of a forest ranger. Most embarrassing!

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