I'm realizing I still don't quite have the hang of the cellphone
navigation app (BackCountry Navigator) I've been using ever since I
got my first phone - the Nexus 1, which had very limited ram, and
although I also had a large uSD card there was a limitation on the
Android version at the time as to the number of files it could handle,
and the app was "caching" each map tile as an individual file. The app
did have a workaround involving "precompiling" the map tiles into a
single file "Map Package" to avoid that problem, but that workaround
involved multiple steps that took a long time, while it first
calculated whether it would have enough space, and then after getting
user OK to go ahead, would download rather randomly it seems, tiles at
various zoom levels, and I would almost always run out of library time
before that process would complete, assuming I even noticed that it
was just sitting there waiting for me to OK the amt of space it would
be using, so I'd end up in the field with either nothing at all or
only a random set of tiles of the area I'd chosen to download.
Although on my Zenfone I now have more RAM in addition to an even
larger uSD card, I had continued to use the Map Package option until
just recently. Of course, the caching option just keeps whatever tiles
I already visited, at whatever zoom level I happened to be at, while I
had internet connectivity to do so.
Although on the trail I wasn't yet in the habit of using this map, it
turned out in most cases that I tried, I did have the topo map
available, but only for a "thin line" over the actual trail, that I
had taken the time in the library to "pre-visit". So I still didn't
at the time know where the roads I encountered were coming from (not
having taken enough time "browsing around" while in the library, nor
wanting to just sit there on the trail browsing my cellphone. )
So I just took a closer look at the Caltopo US 24K that I chose to
download, and of course now at the library I have all the "context"
available, and now realize that I had encountered more roads on the
ridge than I was aware of - some of the time, when I encountered them
I would think, hm, maybe I'm making better time than I expected, only
to have to accept reality later. But also I'd sort to forget about
the extra roads that I thought at the time were different,
anticipated, roads. It didn't help that rarely were there any signs
(lots of vandalized signposts.) Also, it has taken me a while to
realize how incomplete the forest service maps are, that I had been
mainly relying on, not showing private logging and mine access roads.
Anyhow, in my last post, my memory failed me regarding Gold Hill;
actually the switchbacks I mentioned merged with a road coming up from
the northeast, then at the top of the hill there was another road
coming in from the north. This road I see on the map divided into two,
one coming from Wallace, the other up the ridge west of the
Cobblestone Creek trl that also makes it to the ridge, but further
east of Gold Hill. Another bit of road detail from the topo map that
I didn't realize at the time on the trail is that two roads coming up
from the south, one just before (west of) Stevens Peak and the other
after, both had branches apparently just out of sight from the ridge
top trail that I was on, that connected as the lower traverse across
the south slope of Stevens Peak shown on the Forest Service map. These
two roads meeting at the peak corresponded to "extensions" of the two
mine access roads that I was earlier considering accessing Stevens
Peak by, from the south: to Wonderful Mine, and another mine west of
that. On the FS map these rds end at the mine but have spur trails
one connecting to the "Stevens Traverse trl", the other a bit east of
the traverse's reconnection with the ridge trl. The ICT pdf map has
the ICT following the traverse. My guess is that the "trail"
connectors between the mine roads became roads from all the ATVers
taking that route. Actually, while I was climbing the ridge just
before Stevens Peak, there was a dirtbiker who seemed to be trying to
find the traverse trail - He was making several tentative excursions
off the trail on the south slope of the peak, as if looking for a
trail. My guess he also didn't recognize the "realigned" traverse and
mine trail routes.
Part of my dwelling on this now stems from having failed to reach
Stevens Peak when I first intended to, back from the Bullion Pass
trailhead, then having spent much time trying to research and decide
on alternate approaches, all of which turn out to be possible.
But now back to my hike. Upon reaching the top of the West Willow
Peak Ridge I could see Lone Lake below, in a cirque north-west of the
Stevens Peak, but it was still early morning and the whole valley was
in shadow, and the photos I got were rather contrasty with dark blue
shadows and overexposed ridge tops, or underexposed valley. Wish the
camera had better dynamic range so one didn't have to put it on a
tripod (to do it properly) and take multiple exposures and merge to
HDR.
There were several groups of ATVers and bikers that came through, The
ATV navigable road coming south from West Willow Ridge ended short of
the Stevens Peak however, and I only saw two people actually walk to
the peak. The peak looked down upon the two Stevens Lakes, in a
cirque delineated by Stevens Peak to the south and two ragged ridges,
one between Lone Lk and Stevens Lakes, the other separating the
StRegis Lakes bowl from the Stevens Lake Cirque. The lighting
gradually improved as I continued east along the ridgeline to
eventually overlook the St Regis Lakes. Most of that ridgeline did
have a faint trail, reflecting the absense of biker tracks converting
a footpath into a continuous ditch.
I intended to make it to the nameless knob where I had turned around
from my Bullion Pass attempt, but decided I was satisfied after
reaching the last prominence on the ridge above St Regis Lakes, before
the trail dropped down 600ft into St Regis Gap, as I call it. I
returned by the same ridgetop route past Stevens Peak, getting some
better-lighting shots of the lakes from Stevens Peak, and a different
lighting angle on two large cracks delineating the north and south
edges of the slab that is Stevens Peak, aligned with the two
separating ridges between the three sets of lakes. My speculation of
the origin of these cirque lakes had been further refined. Firstly,
there may be more than one mechanism by which these lakes may form,so
wouldn't rule out roots of volcanos or even meteorite impacts that
form cirque-like lakes, but in this region of crumpled Belt Formation
rocks (originally a mile thick stack of shallow-sea sediments
deposited in a Precambrian rift zone,) I think what is happening is
the thrust faulting has caused one slab to ride up onto another slab,
pushing the latter slab down, there now the lake.
I had also intended to follow the ICT north along the N-S ridge to
Willow Peak, before the trail then switchbacked down to the Willow
Creek TH's shared by trails to Stevens Lakes and Lone Lake. But this
tail being the heavily used ATV trl that I didn't fined very
appealing, and if I skipped that I would have enough daylight to make
it back to the car that day. So I fetched my tent and took all the
lower trails that traversed the ridge back to Moon Pass, then driving
to CdA to do some errands and use the library next morning.
I spent several days in CdA, at this moment I can't recall all I did
besides use the library (read a bit of the recent SciAm edition on
Truth, Lies & Uncertainty which I can highly reccommend.) I think I
got an oil change and made phone calls to Steven and Ali. Found some
interesting "poster-signs" along the bike-way adjacent to the hwy90
rest stop about the Rathdrum Aquifer which underlies the CdA-Spokane
Valley. It is designated a "Sole Source Aquifer" by EPA and
"Sensitive Resource Aquifer" by Idaho. The Spokane River flowing out
of CdA Lake is a "loosing" river, releasing water to the aquifer. Now
I read earlier that Lake CdA sediments are heavily contaminated with
lead from tha rampant mining practices in the late 1800's, and that
these could be released if anoxic conditions increase from increased
nutrients from development around the lake.
Wednesday I got moving again, the forecasters promising the weather
would improve. Headed for Settlers Grove of Ancient Cedars between
Prichard and Murray off of FR9 (I had called this SH9 by mistake
earlier when I took that route for my Thompson Pass hikes. That was a
pleasant walk very reminiscent of one of the redwood groves. I then
headed to the northernmost portion of the "ragged" stateline before it
goes straight north before Clark Fork, taking that to Clark Fork. but
that story will have to wait, library closing again.
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