Richard Olmer

Last year my hiking partner and I began planning our assault on Tyler Peak on the south side of Tyler Peak and Mount Baldy. Our first efforts were to find the trail that would lead us upward.

With a little help, we did find the trail and walked a short way up it. Then we moved to the Deer Ridge Trail and worked on developing some stamina. Soon, however, we moved back to the south of the Greywolf Ridge, mainly because of the sun.



Seeking the sun

It is hard for some folks to imagine the differences between the

north face of a ridge and the south face of the same ridge.

They are immense: the sun, the warmth, the lack of snow ... the creature comforts.

You almost could call the southern approach easy compared to the impossibility of a climb up the north face.

This is the one time of year when we actually enjoy walking roads. The Upper Maynard Burn Way Trail is a passable road for the first 1.7 miles. The next 1.7 miles are an abandoned logging road.

Then it becomes an old bulldozer track for an eternity and at least another mile or two to the summit of Mount Baldy. The bulldozer track is a killer!



Peekaboo peak

As you can see, even the southern sides of the mountains have snow higher up.

I don't know the name of this peak but, as you walk the initial 1.7 miles of the road 2860-120 (the beginning of the Upper Maynard Burn Way Trail), this peak plays hide-and-seek with you. It is all there; you see only the topmost peak and the rest disappears; it all comes back.

It is part of the magic of this place. There is one point where, if you turn around to see where you have been, an almost vertical stone rock face soars 1,000 feet or more above you. It is a little disconcerting to imagine what a small tremor might do to the rocks dangling above you ... but hey, it's already behind you.



Who you meet

Last year when we walked here, the thermometer in the truck read more than 60 degrees when we returned to it. This day was cooler, but you still could feel the warmth of the sun on your face, although your hands were still cold.

Not many folks walk here at this time of year. We met two hikers with snowshoes who were headed up to Tyler Peak already this year and two cougar hunters. (We secretly said a prayer for the cougars.)



Shoot and be shot

My wife wouldn't like me climbing up Tyler with snowshoes but she'd probably shoot me if I ever shot a cougar. Hunting is a grand sport, but predators are notorious for not being very tasty.

So we'll probably be back here a few more times before we go all the way up. We remember seeing the mountainside covered with ready-to-bloom flowers last year.

This year we want to experience the show when everything explodes into color and the hills are truly alive with color and scents (if not music).

And maybe we'll meet a cougar as we head over to Mount Baldy.

Richard Olmer can be reached at columnists@sequimgazette.com.