Mt. Lafayette via Skookumchuck Trail

It's been a while since I've done a 4000 footer, let alone a 5000 footer. I was going to do one over July 4 weekend, but then instead I was a complete blob and lay on my couch instead. So, today was the day! I've been wanting to do the Skookumchuck Trail for a while - it goes up Lafayette, but supposedly almost no one uses it. It turns out that is true - while there were a million people on top of Lafayette, I only saw about a dozen on the trail up, probably about half trail runners. I don't think it was as pretty as Falling Waters, etc, but it was a much more zen experience.

I managed to get up a little before 7, and was out the door by 7:15. When I got in my car, the tire sensor went off, which was really annoying, but I stopped and put air in my tires and discovered the sensor was right - they were low on air! My car is about to reach 100,000 miles - yikes! It has less than a thousand miles to reach the big milestone. On the way back the passenger side airbag light kept coming on - I guess if the worst thing is some sensors, that's not too bad.

Anyhow, I got to the parking lot at about 9:30, which wasn't bad. It was so empty, which was crazy because they were sending people to a backup lot at the other trail. These two trail runners got there as I was putting on my shoes - apparently they were just finishing! They had started at like 6:30, gone up to Lafayette, down the trail by the hut, to a second car. Crazy!

I thought the trail was pretty hard - not at first, the first 1.8 miles was pretty easy - there was even some downhill. The trail follows the highway for the first mile or so, and you can hear the cars. Then it hits a pretty brook that drowned out the noise. At mile 1.8 there are stairs - a lot of stairs. I think it was the highest grade of the hike. After you hit that set of stairs, it gets real. Mile 3 has the most uphill - none of it too killer, but relentless until you get close to the tree line. 

I was getting so hungry by this point, I had to stop and have a snack - I had a bunch of nuts which were very good. As I got to the top, I saw this woman, wearing jeans and very new boots, she was moving even slower than me - I actually passed her! I got to the ridge in about 3 hours. I do like a good ridgeline usually, but I was so hungry I wasn't sure I could make it to the top without eating - and in fact after realizing that what I thought was the summit of West Lafayette was a false summit, I had to sit and eat some sugar. Then I made it up West Lafayette where I had a cheese sandwich with avocado,  a pickle, and some more nuts. I was so hungry I was shaky, and for a bit I thought about not going to the top. But then I remembered that I had climbed Lafayette for my 50th, and I'm going to have my 55th (how did 5 years go so fast?) in two weeks. And I was all "Is that it? 55 and I can't do these hikes?" So of course I had to, and I was so glad I did! It wasn't that hard to get to the top, the view was amazing - there were all these puffy clouds that were so low you could almost touch them - but not really. As I was eating a glider plane flew overhead and it was just so nice. I love how you can see the hut on Lafayette, and it looks so small. I hung around for an hour or so up top between the two summits (I had an orange on Lafayette, and it was delicious!) then I headed down.

Down was so much easier for me on this one - the trail wasn't too rocky, and I used my parkour skills on the rocks there were. I didn't move particularly fast, but I outpaced this guy who was behind me. Except, I ran out of water! Not good - I had my water filter and all, but I had to hike a full mile to get to any water, and then my filter didn't work! It's a new one - I guess it's possible that I wasn't using it right, but not sure how that could be. I was really sad - the water was just trickling out. I got a little to drink, but not as much as I wanted. By the time I really had a water bottle full, I was about a mile from my car, and decided not to get it all filtered. When I got back to the car it was in the sun and the one bottle of water I had was so hot I couldn't drink it. I stopped at a convenience store and got lemonade and an ice cream pop. They were really good.

All and all a good hike for a day that you don't want to be around others, but want to do Lafayette. I think I might go back to the traditional route to do it again.