The last Solstice hike and party was in the middle of summer on Granite Mountain. Wow. What a difference six months makes. This time is was cold, wet, windy, and there were only eight of us stupid enough... er... brave enough to show up.
The destination was Mt. Si via the old trail. The old trail is a great way to avoid the crowds. The last time (I've got to find some new routes since all these stories include a "last time I was here" link) I was on the old trail was in January of 2004 during a big ice storm. This time it promised rain down low and snow on top.
We started at about 6:15pm. On most days in the winter that's guaranteed to be dark, but this was the Winter Solstice aka the longest night of the year so there wasn't even a question of natural light.
With headlamps blazing eight of us walked along the road from the old Little Si parking lot to the new Little Si parking lot. (We parked in the old lot because the new lot is gated at some point in the evening.) Surely, drivers must have shaken their heads as they sped past us.
The rain had been falling pretty consistently for a few hours in North Bend so the brush along the trail was soaked. Luckily, all eight of us were well provisioned with waterproof pants, jackets, gloves, and all that.
I led for the first few thousand feet of gain, but then ran out of steam and dropped toward the back of the first pack. Among the hikers were three I had hiked with before (Mark, Carla, and Don) and two I'd heard of (Linda and Randy), and two who were new to me (Roland and Mark G).
The rain turned to snow and the leaves started to show accumulation. In the small cone of light from a headlamp it's difficult to pick out landmarks. Even more so when the landmarks are covered in snow. I was surprised when I joined the real trail (the one run by the State) and then entered into the boulder field just shy of the summit.
The actual summit is atop the Haystack, which is a scramble, but not one that should be attempted by yahoos like me in nasty conditions like the snowy darkness. Instead, we sheltered in a clump of trees just to the north of the Haystack and started the party.
Even at the back of the first pack I made the summit in under two hours.
Mark, the TNAB organizer, busted out the traditional tiki torches. Alcohol, tea, cookies, and hot chocolate made the rounds. Logan, Carla's dog, showed off her party tricks that included humping other hiker's packs on command. Strange trick for a female dog, but since my pack was left pure I'm not arguing too much.
After about an hour on top we started back down. With no good way to put out the torches we carried them down. The trick, for me at least, was to carry the torch so the flame was behind the plane of my face. That way the light didn't mess with my eyes.
Aside from a few acrobatics descending through the boulders on an icy trail the trip down was little to talk about. We were back at the cars in no time and after wishing people a Happy Solstice I headed home.
Total distance was about six miles and 3,400 feet of gain. Not bad for the longest Thursday night we'll see for a whole year.
