Dayhiking the Mt Walker (5.5 miles with 2100 ft elev gain) 0830-1130- Saturday, 5 Jaunuary 2013
Starting in Nov, I sponsored a Half-Day Hike for the weekend (for the PWC) when I did not have any particular outdoor activities. Last weekend (Sunday, 30 Dec), 6 of us hiked the Ueland Tree Farm. For the weekend, I wanted to hike a short trail on Saturday since I would be Nordic skiing with Paul at the Cabin Creek Sno-Park on Sunday. Joseph King on the Kitsap Hikers Facebook wanted to join the Climbers' group for the Mt Walker hike. The Climbers' group started late meeting around 0900 in Poulsbo. I want to hike earlier and make a half-day hike. Joe talked about leaving Silverdale at 0730, so I joined him for the hike.
I hiked the Mt Walker trail with my wife on October 2010. It's fairly a steep short trail. To the North peak, it's about 2 miles with 2000 ft elev gain. Joe and I hiked at a reasonable pace. We left the trailhead at 0830 and arrived at the North Peak at 0940 and 1010 at the South Peak. As we arrived at the North Peak, we met a couple hikers from the Climbers' group who started a littler earlier than us. When we retuned back to the North Peak, a bunch (7-8) of the Climbers' group hikers just arrived and everybody were in good spirit. On the way down, we met a few more hikers from the Climbers' group and 2-3 parties of hikers.
It was drizzling when we left the trailhead (700 ft elev). Temp was mid 40, not particularly chilly or cold. Of course, I had an umbrella. There were lots of snow above 1500 ft elev. Snow was compacted on the trail, so no traction device was required but would be helpful. Certainly, many of the climbers' group had such traction devices. My new boots helped a bit for traction. The bottoma of my first boots were almost worn out and not water proof anymore since I put in about 1200 miles for hiking, backpacking, and climbing.
Well, it was my first hike of the year and nice to exercise. Thanks to Joe for posting for the hike on the Kitsap Hikers Facebook.
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