Here’s a map overview of the trip:
If you link to the google map page, you can find all kinds of more intricate information on the trip, including my planned routes out and back, and the routes that I actually took. Find out where I had to get off and walk, where I was lost and tired and turned around, where I ate lunch, and where there are gates.
The idea of the trip was to follow the Tolt pipeline trail out to the reservoir, or however close I could get, camp, and ride back. I made the route a little more interesting by riding up to the Snoqualmie valley on a logging road before coming back.
The Tolt pipeline trail was not bad, once I got up to it, and the day was unexpectedly beautiful. The trail follows the pipeline straight across all landforms, so there are many unnecessary hills. All except the first were ridable. At some point out in the middle of nowhere it becomes paved, which is nice. There were these huge imposing buildings, and then the big gate at the Tolt Regulating basin. I turned around and took the other less-imposing gate and got back on the dirt roads. This was the hottest part of the day, and I had worn wool pants since the weather report was for clouds and rain. Bad idea. The climb was grueling. I stopped in shady spots to cool down. When I got to the top of a ridge, there was a lot more active logging and bare, hot dirt. I didn’t want to go over the ridge because I knew I’d have to climb back up, and I was too tired to buy into that. I coasted back down to a turnoff I had seen earlier that looked promising and camped there. It was a nice camping spot.
I surveyed the area for edible plants and found violets(Viola sempervivens) and Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium).
I ate some of the violet leaves fresh as a snack. They tasted great, like wintergreen. I put quite a lot of them in my dinner as well, which was seasoned rice with canned smoked herring. I don’t think the herring and the violets went together very well, but it was alright. Next time make the violets into a salad or dessert or something.
I saw some Mahonia, and had just read a blog post about Mahonia tea a few days ago, so I wanted to try it. Finding enough was difficult, as most of the plants were small and spread out, but I got an amount that I thought would work. The tea was excellent. Sweet, sour, and with a pleasant but hard-to-describe flavor.
It rained before I got up, so my tent got wet, but I stayed dry. The morning was cool and I was grateful for my wool pants for the first few hours before regretting them again. The logging roads to the Snoqualmie valley were fun. I had to go under or around lots of gates, but that was okay. I only got a tiny bit lost a few times. I saw a pack of squids and about that many other cyclists on Highbridge road. I had lunch at the Snoqualmie Ice Cream factory. Sunday was a nice day, and the Burke was pretty busy the whole way home.
