Dollar Puddle and Barrett Spur

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drm
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Dollar Puddle and Barrett Spur

Post by drm » August 16th, 2015, 5:12 pm

Three of us headed up there on Saturday via the Mazama Trail. At 3pm nobody else was there, though another party did arrive long after dark. It was all overcast hiking in and we were only in the sun just as we got near the puddle. There had been just enough rain to hold the trail dust down. As it turns out, we walked east out of the clouds, though it cleared everywhere by evening. Temps got down to a chilly mid 40s by sunset but didn't drop any more overnight. I brought a huge collapsible water jug and we got some water from a clear creek about a quarter mile west of the turnoff, which had very obvious cairns on both sides of it.

Plenty of fireweed heading up Mazama Trail
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Poor little Dollar Puddle was even more pathetic than normal
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Hood starts to show as we ascend the Spur
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The clouds disintegrated as they got east. The crowds on McNeil Point were still in the clouds at this point (about 5:30)
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This was as far as we got. There was a steady 20-25 mph wind. I need to go back on a day with more time and less wind and climb the steeper and slidy top to the Spur on the left
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In the morning smoke enveloped Elk Cove but we were still above the fray. That smoke did eventually raise to us, but also dissipated to be not so thick
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adamschneider
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Re: Dollar Puddle and Barrett Spur

Post by adamschneider » August 16th, 2015, 8:34 pm

drm wrote:This was as far as we got. There was a steady 20-25 mph wind. I need to go back on a day with more time and less wind
Good luck with that. Barrett Spur is ALWAYS windy. :)
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Guy
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Re: Dollar Puddle and Barrett Spur

Post by Guy » August 17th, 2015, 4:52 am

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Wow, has anyone ever seen Dollar Lake look like this before?
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miah66
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Re: Dollar Puddle and Barrett Spur

Post by miah66 » August 17th, 2015, 7:30 am

Given the record low snowpack and the record high heat enveloping us, I would venture to say that this is indeed the first time in history it has been like this.
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Koda
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Re: Dollar Puddle and Barrett Spur

Post by Koda » August 17th, 2015, 8:31 am

You would think with all the glacier cutbacks the mountain could afford to keep this little tarn full, clearly the dollar isn’t worth what it used to be. Back in the day you could filter a full Nalgene for a dollar….









(poor attempt at humor here...)
Last edited by Koda on August 17th, 2015, 12:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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drm
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Re: Dollar Puddle and Barrett Spur

Post by drm » August 17th, 2015, 9:03 am

There is no inlet our outlet to the puddle. Once the snow in the immediate vicinity melts, there is no more water for it. It must have some kind of hard clay capstone under it that lets it survive as well as it does. But once that close-by snow melts, it is just evaporation doing it's thing. Not only has it been hot this summer, but the evaporation started earlier. Still when I visited Cairn Basin at the end of May, there was still lots of snow in the area. So snowless evaporation probably didn't start till well into June. I suppose that's a month before average.

We saw another tarn along the Mazama Trail on the way up that was about 6" across. With another heat wave coming this week, it will be a mud flat soon enough.

Maybe we should start calling it Nickel Puddle. Nonetheless I refuse to call it a lake, even when it is "full".

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K.Wagner
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Re: Dollar Puddle and Barrett Spur

Post by K.Wagner » August 18th, 2015, 4:58 pm

We (my brother Jim & myself) hiked up the Vista Ridge trail on Saturday, then over to Elk Cove. As we rounded Barrett Spur, we could look over at the Parkdale area, reasonably clearly. Sunday, we could just barely make out buildings in that direction. Monday when we hiked out, you couldn't even see Laurance Lake Reservoir.

We tried to do a high route from Elk Cove over to Cairn Basin. We climbed the meadow directly up Barrett Spur, and then across to Vista Ridge. We were only half successful, and gave up when we saw what the terrain really was above Cairn Basin. We had fun though, and that's what's important.

Here we are nearing the crest of Barrett Spur, with Elk Cove about 750 feet below. Notice the smoke haze.
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Hotspot
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Re: Dollar Puddle and Barrett Spur

Post by Hotspot » August 19th, 2015, 10:39 am

Did Vista Ridge up almost to the PCT with a friend and his kids. Hood was obscured as was the majority of the view..visibility was not the greatest. Absolutely beautiful though, thanks for the pics, nice to see what it will look like next time! (hopefully)

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