The Last Great Sunrise

Any fool can stay awake to watch the sunset, 
but it takes determination to see the sunrise, 
especially from the high country.

This is a way way tardy write up, but given the long late wonderful fall, how the rain has now returned in force, and the fantastic trip it turned out to be I figured I'd write this up anyway. Here goes....

For those looking back years from now reading this, and I surely hope that this stuff is still around for you to read, I'll give you a bit of insight into some of my motivations. I realized in my 30's after very little activity over the last 15 years that I'd become, in the word of Paul Simon, "soft in the middle". I needed to get into shape. I didn't even consider a gym, I'm more of a private person and none of the machinery and "working out" in public was appealing to me at all. I started riding my mountain bike along the paved trails that ran beside the waterways in Pleasant Hill. I remember the first time I started out, exerting myself too hard and leaning over the bars dry heaving. I thought to myself, "clearly I am doing something wrong". I kept at it. Shortly thereafter a friend, Becky Johnson, took me and my family on a hike up to Briones Regional Park, which was maybe 3 miles from our house. A whole new world opened up to me and I started mountain biking on the trails. I began to realize that I could not only exercise but at the same time take journeys through beautiful landscape. I mostly did this before work as it was the most convenient time, as after work was about fixing dinner and being with the family. The morning time became my time and I liked it. The world is fresh and new when its waking up; the light is nice, but most importantly I enjoyed the solitude whether alone or with a few close friends. Most people don't seem to like mornings, but I relished in them.. Soon thereafter I augmented my biking with a weekly hike with Becky's 70 year old Father Curg. He could hike circles around me in my out of shape state, but I slowly improved. A couple of years later we moved to Seattle. One of the reasons was the outdoor activities that our specific little town, Issaquah had in the local "mountains" of Cougar, Squak and Tiger and the larger area of the Cascades. Because of my location, I-90 became my main corridor of exploration, I could get up and out quickly and back.

Last year, at least from my perception, rain and snow invaded early, and cut the fall short. This year the long sunny and dry spell has allowed the leaves to fully mature and the color and the weather has been amazing for Seattle. I've tried to get out and take as much advantage as possible. Looking at the forecast for the last week in October, I saw three clear days and decided to try for one last non-rainy Dawn Patrol. One benefit of pushing daylight savings all the way to November is you get some ridiculously late sunrises. Sunrise proper was 7:50 am, but it was getting light around 6:45-ish. I wanted to get away by 4:45 am, which is almost sleeping in from the 3:30 am start I had in June. The destination was Snoqualmie Mountain, because its one of my favorite hikes along I-90, mostly because it has so few people and such great views. JK was the only taker and we met at Target and by 5:30 we were starting up the trail in the dark under the bright full stars.

I think Dawn Patrol in the dark would be difficult if there isn't a well defined trail or you haven't been down the path before. Luckily I've been up Snoqualmie Mountain many times and the "trail", what there is, is well defined; mostly following the snow melt creek and boulders up to where you cross the creek above the waterfall. At the falls the creek was bone dry, not a drop of water trickling over the rocks. I don't think I've ever seen it without water, a testament to the dry fall we'd been having. We crossed and made our way up through the steep rooty forest band above the dry falls and started climbing what you think is the last long ridge to the summit. Finally the sky began to lighten and it was clear it was going to be a great sunrise. We stopped a couple of times for a brief moment to capture the silhouette of the sky as the morning dawned, but mostly we just hurried to try to reach the summit by the time the full color came on.

We made it as the to the summit as the sky lit up in bright red, as Red Mountain was dark with its distinctive triangular profile. The gendarmes along the ridge from Snoqualmie toward Lundin stood in dark start contrast to the dawn. We put on a warm jacket and enjoyed the world waking up in a fantastic display around us. We scrambled all over the summit area taking photos of the sea of peaks around us. I kept waiting for the strong alpenglow to hit Rainier, but it was a bit muted. Glacier Peak though was majestic draped in sunrise pinks. After the requisite jump shot, we packed up and started thumping quickly down the trail to try and make it into work by 10 am. Took us around an hour to get down, and by 9 am we were in the car listening to the Into the Wild soundtrack riding back down the highway. My legs hurt a bit the next day from the constant pounding of the down down.

As the rain and gray returns, I often think of that sunrise. We saw it from a vantage point that very few others did that day and we still made it into work. The early start and effort were worth it, but then when it comes to early in the mountains they usually always are.

Photos and Video

Snoqualmie Mountain Sunrise from mbgriffi on Vimeo.

Set on www.flickr.com

Commonwealth Basin

The scouts have a goal of camping out once a month. It doesn't often happen due to competing priorities and interests. Its especially hard during fall and winter months when the days are shorter and sports are in full swing. We've been blessed with gorgeous clear fall weather this autumn and Paul Currit and I discussed possible locations. I usually choose lakes, because there are so many within short hiking distance of I-90, and I suggested Mason Lake. Given the short days (dark falling around 6:30) Paul countered with the idea to go to Commonwealth Basin because it was closer than Mason and we could build a fire. I readily agreed.

Strangely though I've been hiking in the area for four years I've yet to make it up Commonwealth Basin. I'm not sure why, I've hiked all around the area, often returning to the same places multiple times, but never explored Commonwealth. I usually don't like taking the scouts, or even my family, to a location without having been there myself. I like being able to have done a recon trip before hand, and at the very least having good beta on the area. I wasn't able to get up to the area beforehand, but Paul was able take an afternoon off the Friday before with Eleanor and his son Alan and hike up to the area to scope it out. He found a great campsite and mentioned possibly hiking Red Mountain the day after our campout.

He hiked the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and took the cut off to the Commonwealth Basin. I knew from reading trip reports on nwhikers.net that there was an abandoned trail. Some purusing of reports discussed the directions and conditions of the abandoned trail and the two main benefits where around a mile shorter, and with less traffic than the PCT. I also read up on the description of the route up Red Mountain and quickly ascertained that the ascent was beyond the capabilities of the young scouts and especially my 4 year old son Miles. But there was discussion of a trail up to Red Pond, a view point and Red Pass, so I planned on this as a destination.

Friday night we met at the Front Street Market and by 3:50 we were off up I-90 with a party of 10. Four adults : Me, Paul Currit, John Gillmore and Kevin Brown and 6 boys : Keagon Brown, Dashiel Johnson, Parker Phair, Stewart Dronen, Gavin Gillmore and my son Miles. We we at the PCT trail head and off by 5:30. Directions to the Abandoned trail are to travel a hundred yards or so until you see the "Most Difficult" sign on the right and then there is a side trail on the left that is the classic grown over logging road; grown over in the sense that the two tire ruts were down to a single track with slide alder and bushes. We started up the trail, which makes its way up gradually before starting up the ridge scattered with vine maple and Doug fir. The higher we climbed the sounds of I-90 eventually faded and were replaced with the cascade of Commonwealth Creek.

The boys spread out as they naturally do, the strong and eager bound ahead and the slower plodders struggle behind taking breaks and complaining of heavy packs and tired legs. We'd instructed the boys before leaving that when they came to a fork in the trail they were to pause and wait for the rest of the group to catch up before proceeding. An adult was with the forward vanguard and we had an adult at the rear to bring up the sweeper position. My goal was to keep Miles moving. Hiking with youngster's is often an exercise in distraction, keeping them talking about some topic to focus on anything other than how far there was yet to go. Miles was a trooper and made the entire hike to our campsite without having to be carried except for creek crossings.

As the trail attains the top of the ridge it flattens out and runs adjacent to the creek. Eventually the trail reaches a point where your at a shallow portion of the creek and you can cross to the left on a line of well placed rocks or continue right on a fainter trail. By this time Parker and Keagon were well ahead of even the vanguard adult. As the rest of arrived at the creek they sheepishly were returning back from the faint trail. They argued that the creek crossing wasn't an obvious fork, so they'd hadn't crossed and had gone up the faint trail next to the creek but eventually it got fainter and fainter so they turned back. Cautioned and warned again, I threw Miles on my shoulders and we crossed the creek and continued up the basin which was wide and flat.

In a short while we crossed the creek again, this time the river was deeper, but there were several places to cross : large rocks, or logs. From here the trail enters old growth spared by loggers. A short while further and we crossed the creek again, this time on several well placed logs and a few rocks. Miles made his own way down the main log and with a helping hand across the rocks. A couple of hundred yards and there was a central campground with several campsites among the large Doug Firs. We spread out and hurried to pitch tents and set up camp as dusk was setting in. The fire ring that Paul had seen the week prior had been dismantled with a vengance, I noticed several fire stained rocks strewn about through the huckleberry bushes. This is probably the right thing to do in the spirit of leave not trace, but where fires are allowed and established I am torn about proper etiquette. As we got ready for dinner darkness had fallen. Kevin primed his whisperlite and I fired up my jetboil. Hot water was all that was required for our freeze dried meals. John and Gavin attempted to start a fire. The ground and wood was wet from dew and a bit of snow that had fallen a few days before and still littered the ground in places. They must have worked on the fire for an hour and they had a tiny little smoking mass of embers and woood. They had brought up spicy hot links and were dead set on grilling them over the fire. Eventually they worked up enough coals to cook a few, but that was long after everyone else had eaten. After Miles at his beef stroganoff he immediately wanted to get into his sleeping bag. The temperature had dropped down to the mid 30s and he was cold. However when the hotdogs where done he heard there were extras and he sat on the log in his sleeping bag and ate one.

Time to stoke the fire. I had the boys go around to the huckleberry bushes and pick up branches that had fallen from the trees and were off the ground resting on the bushes. These branches tended to be dead and therefore much drier than. Though small we were able to gather large armfuls and soon we had a nice roaring fire. We sat around the fire had a Scout Masters minute by Paul. Afterwards we sat around the fire and chatted for a bit and the boys had fun playing with my camera taking some photos. Miles and I headed off to the tent and we got situated in our sleeping bags, I read Outside magazine for a bit as miles slept and I followed him.

The next morning I set my alarm for 6:15 to wake and maybe get some photos of the sunrise from the basin. I woke up to gray skies and after wandering down the trail for 5 minutes or so I could tell the morning was going to be gray, so I climbed back into my tent and sleeping bag to read and stay warm. 30 minutes or so later I smelt fire; Gavin and Paul had resurrected some embers deep under the ash more small dead fallen branches. I got up and we started priming stoves for breakfast. John's famous breakfast burritos, he'd stepped it up a notch. First some red onions, sauted in butter then add in the sausage, then eggs with some milk, and cheese before wrapping them in a tortilla that we'd warmed over the fire. Delicous. John's wife had also sent up a package of bacon so we fried that up and everyone got a piece. After cleaning up, some of the crew began breaking down camp, they had morning commitments to return home early for while I wanted to stay and hike up to Red Pond. We did a sweep of the campsite for garbage or any man made trace and after the boys had scoured the adults checked and any piece of garbage required a push up by each boy. We only found 1 item and they only did a push up a piece. John then left with Kevin, Keagon, Dashiel and Paul and I stayed with Parker, Stewart, Gavin and Miles. We poured buckets of water on the fire and then head up the trail.

After leaving the campsite the trail quickly starts up the lower ridges below Red Mountain. The trail switches back and forth on the eastern side of a drainage and breaks out with views of Lundin Peak and Snoqualmie Mountain and what must be an impressive waterfall when there is water flowing. Miles by this point was getting tired of hiking and so he wanted me to carry him. Usually he prefers the sit on shoulder position, but since I am doing the carrying I now bargain that if he wants to be carried I get to use the fireman carry, its much more comfortable and besides he weighs 55 lbs now. As we paused for a break on the switchbacks, Gavin threw a small softball sized rock down the slope. Two hikers below yelled "Rock!" as it tumbled down the slope, luckily missing them. Gavin and I talked about why we don't ever kick or throw rocks down slopes and I told him he'd have to apologize to the hikers when they caught up with us. Gavin told them he was sorry as they climbed into view, they were understanding. The trail climbed up the ridge line and crossed over the drainage above the waterfall and then eventually came to a small shelf below the rising peak of Red Mountain.

Here the trail split to the left and right, one of the hikers said the left led to Red Pond and he though the right climbed the ridge a bit and then cut back west towards the pass between Lundin and Red Mountain. We started up the right fork, but after a couple of hundred feet it was clear this boot path was making for the summit of Red. We stopped for a break and then headed back down and took the left fork to Red Pond. The southern end of the shallow pond had a gray thick sheet of ice. The two hikers were above the pond and said the trail to Red Pass was just to before the Pond. However a large talus field stretches above the pond and since Miles loves climbing rocks we scrambled up the talus till we reached the trial and then headed up across the rock to the small stand of trees at the top of the pass.

Red Pass is a knife edge ridge on one side with sheer drop offs and views down across Burnboot Creek, the Middle Fork of the Snoquamlie and Mt. Thompson. I hadn't really seen such great views of Thompsons its profile is impressive with its dark gray horn of rock sticking up. Clouds blowing across the mountain tops caught on Thompson's peak. A couple of other parties came hiking up. A hyper active lady tried to tell me that Red Pass was still at least two miles away. She got cold and her party left to find Red Pass. The other party had a dog with them and his name was Miles as well. We laughed as both my son and their dog got confused as each of us gave instructions. Me telling my Miles to sit on the rock and stay away from the edge and them entreating their dog with snacks. We took a few photos from the pass and then set off down the trail back to camp. Miles made it most of the way down before wanting me to carry him again, luckily this was pretty much near the bottom and the flat bit before camp.

We broke down camp and then scoured the camp one more time for garbage. We poured water on the fire one more time, scattered the few remaining sticks far and wide and then swept up some needles and dirt from under a few of the large trees and spread them over the fire pit remnants leaving no trace. Threw on our packs and started back down the trail. We made the creek crossings with no event, other than me getting my feet wet while trying to get some shots of the creek. The last 1/2 mile as we tromped along the logging road Miles really wanted me to carry him again so I threw him over my shoulder, but it really hurts the neck with my pack on as well. As we were almost to the Pacific Crest Trail here came the boys from a side trail that led to the horse parking lot for the trailhead. They had taken the wrong fork again. Once again we reiterated the importance of waiting at forks and made our way down the last few hundred yard to the trail head.

We got back to Issaquah around 3:30, after dropping off the boys Miles and I went for food. First we stopped at McDonalds where he got 2 plain cheeseburgers, fries, apple juice and chocolate chip cookies and then we headed to Chipotle where I got a chicken burrito bowl.

In doing research after the fact I was happily surprised to learn of the history of the trail up to Commonwealth Basin and Red Pass. In the early 1900's, Fred Cleator supervisor of Washington and Oregon region, laid out a trail that followed the spine of the Cascade range from Canada to the Columbia River. This was known as the Cascade Crest Trail, this eventually was linked together to form the Pacific Crest Trail. In the 1970's the PCT route was changed from Snoqualmie Pass around Kendall Peak with its infamous Kendall Catwalk and the Commonwealth Basin trail and Red Pass were abandoned and were dropped from the USGS topographical maps. You can still find Red Pass on the Green Trails maps though. Others have told me about trips on the trail as late as 2004 through Commonwealth Basin to Goldmeyer Hotsprings. A journey I'd love to explore someday.

Stats :

2 miles from PCT trail head to Commonwealth Basin where we camped with 1091 foot elevation gained.
1.5 miles from our camp to Red Pass with 1846 foot of elevation gained.

Total 7 miles


Commonwealth Basin from mbgriffi on Vimeo.

Set on www.flickr.com

A visit to Mt. Rainier

Friday 10/10/08 I took off of work to spend a day at Mt. Rainier with Stac and Miles. The forecast was promising good weather and I was excited for the day. I dropped Kiah off at Seminary at 5:55 am and swung back around to pick up Stac and Sofi and Miles. We dropped Sofi off at the Rennies, who'd make sure she got to school and we left Issaquah at 6:30 am. Miles said he was hungry and we stopped for a quick bite at McDonalds in Renton. A few miles further down the road and Miles said : "I think I am going to throw up" and proceeded to barf into the McDonalds bag. Ugh. But after that he perked up and was fine the rest of the day. Must have been eating at such an early hour.

We arrived in Ashford around 8:30 am and entered the park. The forecast predicted a high of 35 degrees Fahrenheit for the day, I was glad I'd packed warm clothes for everyone, including shells, hats and gloves. As you enter the park your inundated with a dense forest that flourishes in all the rain that falls as Rainier catches moisture on its massive flanks as well as the huge snowfall that melts each year. We were headed for Paradise a huge meadow at 5500 feet above sea level that gets massive snow fall each year but is snow free for several months in the late summer and early fall. The least amount of snow they've ever recorded is 26 feet in one year and the most is 93 feet.

As our car climbed up the switch backs we came along the Nisqually River, and the trees opened up and we caught our first views of something besides forest. The trees were covered in frost and fog hung in the air. We stopped so Miles could use the bathroom and I wandered down to the river to take a few photos. Back in the car we arrived at Paradise parking lot around 9:45 am. There was a new visitor center opening today, the old one had closed last week, so there were a ton of rangers in the parking lot. While folks milled around the new building, we donned our winter layers and headed up the to the meadows above Paradise.

750,000 people visit Paradise each year, so paving the the trails with asphalt is the only way to protect the meadow from permanent trampling. There was a light dusting of snow and the temperature was below freezing the previous night, so there were some slick spots on the trail. A party of four passed us and encountered ice on the trail ahead of us. As we approached it, maybe 30 feet away, Miles was running ahead and I said : "Miles there is ice, stop your going to fall". I repeated this at least 4 times, each time with more force. Of course at almost 5 he doesn't listen, so he goes tromping up the frost and hits the ice and falls and slides down (unhurt) on his belly. We had to resort to walking on the grass on the side of the trail to get traction and make it up.

On the way back down we passed this same location and a ranger was chipping the ice with a shovel and Miles this time took to the grass on the side. The ranger scolded him and told him to walk on the pavement and showed us a path through he'd cleared. I explained that we had had to walk on the grass on the way up due to the ice. The ranger said : "there are plenty of trails, better to go around than walk on the grass". Mind you we were 100 yards up the trail and going around wasn't really practical, geesh.

We made our way up the trail and stopped for a break to have a snack and take a photo beneath the mountain summit which kept peeking in and out among the clouds. Upward we continued till a fork in the path. I wanted to trundle the short distance up to Glacier Vista so Miles and Stac took a break I ran up for a view. From the high point (6400 feet) as I looked back down on Stac and Miles they were lost in the snow covered meadows with the Tatoosh Range rearing behind them. Jogging back down we continued back toward Paradise, this time taking a easterly route past gorgeous red huckleberry covered slopes.



We took a tour through the new visitor center, and had a nice bowl of hot beef stew. The new center was nice but nothing "grand", given its setting. Its smaller than the old center, but built more in line with the huge amounts of snowfall, and has a nice open airy feel to it with the big beamed ceilings. We loaded back up in the car and headed east down huge switch backs towards the Stevens Canyon Entrance and the Grove of the Patriarchs.

The Ohanapechosh River spreads wide and its bottom has spread fertile sandy and loamy soil. Trees flourish and some giants have grown, near the end of the trail you cross the river on a small suspension bridge and there iss a board walk that winds through a huge series of Douglas Fir and Cedar tower above the landscape. Miles and I ran around the boardwalk playing hide and go seek among the 1000 year old trees.

Back in the car again, we were running dangerous low on gas and we drove a few miles south out of the park to get gas, then back up the road towards Sunrise. We were bummed to see that the facilities at Sunrise were closed but we'd paid our entrance fee once already and we drove on. We came to a place on the map that looked like we could walk down to the White River. We climbed over and under downed trees to the field of the river bed. The glacial rivers don't have well define river banks. They are generally wide and heavily sandy and rock strewn. Glaciers eat rocks in their foot and grind them to silt which fills the water and provides the milky white color. As the floods of spring swell the river, the river channel changes to mark the easiest path. We were there late in the afternoon as the last light was sinking below the ridge line. We caught a few glimmers and pictures as the day aged, and threw rocks in the water till our arms ached.

Sad to let go of a beautiful day we got back in the car for our final drive to Enumclaw where we stopped for dinner at a local Italian restaurant. Arriving back home at 7:30, we'd enjoyed a beautiful day. 13 hours and 200 miles and so many wonderful memories.

Set on www.flickr.com

Maple Pass

During the best two weeks of weather in September my wife and I were in China, while we had a wonderful time I pined for the perfect fall weather we were missing. During the last day prior to our return everyone told us that the weather was turning and the rain was coming. We both thought we'd come back to gray clouds and rain for the rest of the year. However I was so excited to see the forecast call for another week of great weather and when I saw the three good days in a row I wanted to take advantage of summers last gasp.

On Monday with the temperature hitting the high 70's during lunch I and a couple of other guys from work ran from the International District in Seattle down to Lake Washington and took a final swim for the year. Tuesday a big planning meeting got moved and with a clear schedule I jumped at the chance to take a day off and go hiking.

Now for a destination and a hiking partner. I had at the back of my mind to try to knock off Daniel in a single day. I emailed Yukon/Steve but he was all "tired" from his long weekend climbing Stuart with the Schmidt's and had a cold to boot. I put out a call to Dawn Patrol but no one answered. I was determined to go regardless, and I sent one more email to Greg Johnston, outdoor writer for the Seattle PI. He wrote back that he wasn't up for Daniel but he was heading out for Maple Pass Tuesday morning at 5 am. Hmmm, I debated back and forth. Daniels would be a long long day and I'd be solo, vs. a hike in the North Cascades which I rarely visit because its so much further than my I-90 stomping grounds. I decided to join Greg so I wandered off through the house putting together clothes, food and water in my pack.

Tuesday morning I woke at 4 am and jumped in the shower real quick, then threw my pack and camera in the car and drove up 405 to the park and ride where it meets I-5. I grabbed a couple of Breakfast Jacks at Barf in the Box and met Greg in the parking lot. He'd brought along his wife, a friend Richard and the PI photographer Paul Brown. They were all crammed in Greg's truck, so Paul opted to ride with me. Paul's your classic artist, intellectual and opinionated. I enjoyed talking to him on a wide range of topics from the demise of the American economic system to the state of politics. I had read about the Maple Pass trail in the guidebook, and even picked out the two green trails maps that covered the hike, but I hadn't really placed the trail head location on the map. I didn't have to as I was following Greg. And while the time passed quickly chatting with Paul I was amazed as the minutes turned to hours and before long we were 3 hours into drive before we arrived at Rainy Pass, almost all the way to Mazama.

After parking in the pull outs, we donned boots and packs and headed up the trail towards Lake Ann at 8 am. The beginning of the hike is through forest with a nice gentle steady grade. Within 20 minutes though you break out of the trees and the views begin. The magnificent cirque and ridge line that shelters Lake Ann rises up before you. And at the time of fall the steep slopes were covered in red huckleberry, yellow grass and the green of Mountain Ash with its bright red berries. The colors were vibrant in their hues as is someone had sprinkled crushed fruit loops all over the ground. This fall color was interspersed with the green pointy sub-alpine pines.

Another 10 minutes and we came to the turn off for Lake Ann. We decided to take the detour and I'm so glad we did. The morning light was just perfect, the lake's surface as still as glass and the reflection one of perfect symmetry of the green pines, the fall color and the bright white granite talus. We admired the beauty and took a bunch of pictures. The rest of the group backtracked down the mini trail to Lake Ann to regain the main trail that heads up to Heather Pass. I hate backtracking (I also hate taking off my pack until I am done for the day) so I opted for a direct route scrambling up the talus field to the trail above us. Along the trail I talked to a couple of elderly gentleman (late 60's to early 70's) who were hiking the trail. They advised taking another small detour through Heather Pass for views of the valley beyond and Black Peak. They also offered the opinion that the loop was not worth doing as a loop, that the trail down from Maple Pass past Rainy Lake had to real views to speak of and was mostly in the trees, they preferred to hike up and back down the same route. But they noted you have to do it at least once to say you've done it.

I walked up the trail to Heather Pass where I waited for the rest of the crew. There was a silence of the mountains that hung in the void of air found only in the high country. The warm autumn sun shined on the red huckleberry bushes as I sat next to the trail. I stared down the slope at Lake Ann glistening in the reflecting sun. A slight breeze blew across the faded alpine flowers scattering their floating seeds across the landscape, they almost appeared a swarm of live insects before the wind blew them to a thousand locations. Before too long up trail came Paul with the others close behind. We wandered out across the rust colored Heather Pass to the other side.

Views opened up of the valley that lead up to Black Peak, which stood striking above Lewis Lake. A stand of larches stood at the edge of the pass and slopes above, they were just starting to turn to their golden yellow. After a brief pause we made our way back across the meadow that acts as a pass to the trail where we continued climbing up the ridge line. From Heather Pass and the trail begins making the curve around the backside of the cirque above Lake Ann. You enter the high alpine zone above the tree line. Near the top you get views of Cortero Peak and the peaks of distant glacier covered mountains. We stopped for lunch on the granite boulders with the expanse of open sky all around us. I only at a mojo cliff bar as I was holding out for a burger in Marblemount. After the others finished, we made the final few switch backs before arriving at Maple Pass on the top of the ridge at the back end of the Lake Ann Cirque. A single stick in a large cairn marked the pass, you could peer down on Rainy Lake and back across at Heather Pass and the trail we'd climbed above Lake Ann.

I busted out my cheap ($7) light as a feather tri-pod I got in China and set up for a group photo at the top of Maple Pass. I enjoy putting forth the effort to take group photos as they are visual markers to look back on in the future and remember everyone and the good times. We enjoyed the views for a few moments and then headed down the long ridge leading to Rainy Lake. Paul hung out at the top of the ridge to get some pics for the paper as we made our way along the pass. After ensuring he got his shots, I shouted up a goodbye to Paul, said my thanks and cheers to Greg, Lorna and Richard and sinched up my pack and ran down the trail. The descent is described as steep, but it was nothing compared to Mailbox Peak or the spur up to Guye Peak. It took me around 25 minutes to get back to the trail head and after arriving at the car I have to agree with the old geezers I saw on the mountain, worth doing once, but the scenery is all on the other side.

I then hopped in my car for the three hour drive home (I did stop in Marblemount for that hamburger though). It was 6 hours of driving for 4.5 hours of hiking, but wow what a hike. I can't think of a shorter hike with greater rewards in terms of views and scenery, especially such a beautiful fall day.

MultiMedia

Maple Pass from mbgriffi on Vimeo.
Photos

Set on www.flickr.com

My wife, Stac tagged me, so I now have to write this blog. :) I usually hate email chain letters, but I find these kind quite enjoyable because they give perspective and provide a written record to look back on for perspective years from now.

20 Years Ago:

1. I was on my mission for the LDS Church, I was about 2 months from coming home
2. I was writing this girl named Stacey that I had hung out with High School that was in Taiwan
3. I was thinking of majoring in Sociology
4. I was thinking I wanted to be a seminary teacher

10 Years Ago:

1. We had just moved to San Francisco for a new job
2. I was working for WebLogic the coolest serverside Java company
3. I was loving commuting to the city every day and working with such smart people
4. We only had 1 child Kiah, but we wanted more and were in the adoption process

5 Years Ago:

1. We were still living in California
2. I was pretty well into hiking, but just locally in the East Bay Hills
3. I was looking to transition to a new job and moving to Washington
4. Trying to lose weight

3 Years Ago:

(Thanks to flickr I can go back and see 3 years ago)

1. Already quit the job I moved up to Seattle to take
2. I was loving my Job at Amazon
3. I was loving the outdoors in the Seattle area
4. I had just been put in as Young Men's president

1 Year Ago:

(Again Flickr rules)

1. Shaved my beard off, for the first time in 14 years
2. Was teaching Seminary 4 days a week at 6 am (Kiah was in my class)
3. Was a hiking fool
4. Took an awesome trip with Seth up to Mt. Daniel and got snowed on

So Far This Year:

1. Turned 40
2. Stac and I have almost been married for 20 years
3. Went to China for 12 days
4. Had a fantastic year hiking and vacationing with the family

Yesterday:

1. I went to work
2. My email box which had been down to 10 emails in Beijing ballooned to 200+
3. Stayed up way to late catching up on email
4. Fell asleep in Sofi's room after reading New Testament and the introduction to book on Mao.

Today:

1. Didn't understand when Stac said "I threw up", she meant will you stay home so I went to work
2. Rode the bus home and took Miles to Pre-School.
3. Hung out at Tullys working
4. Picked up Kiah at school, got some food and got snookered into getting my 9 year old a cell phone!

In the Next Year I’ll:

1. Go on my 20th Wedding Anniverasy with Stac (Hawaii?)
2. Try to move up from fitness to weight loss (eat less is the key I think)
3. Climb 2 major mountains, Rainier and the Grand Teton
4. Become...

I tag Seth, Holli and Mike, please post comments here with your entries when you complete your task.

High Alpine Traverse - Day Three

That Beckey guy is full of crap : Brian Rudd

Friday morning we woke to clear blue skies with some high high cloud like haze. We spent a relaxing early morning, taking photos and exploring. Dayhike Mike had drawn lines that showed us traversing the shelf southwest till we found a way down below the cliffs and onto the lower slopes Mt. Daniel. After breakfast I wandered south east, down the cliff from camp (47.56254° N, 121.19827° W) and was able to find a route that wound down and then north to the connect with the snowfield below the Hinman Daniel Saddle. From this lower vantage it appeared one could drop off the slope of Hinman onto the saddle, but I didn't go up to explore at all.

We ate out breakfast (granola and milk for me) and broke down camp. While some where getting their packs ready Brian (the youngest at 23) did yoga, stood on his head and jumped over the small bathing tarn. By 9:15 after our setting out photo we followed the path I had scouted earlier and the cairns I had set up. After reaching the snow a quick boot ski brought us to 5800 feet and a huge erect glacial erratic (47.56224° N, 121.19631° W) left over from ice days long ago. The ground leveled out and this would make a nice spot for a campsite. I had scouted ahead and as I yelled back to the group above me on the slope, from behind the huge rock a wolverine popped up its head, when it saw me it went bounding up the talus field at an amazing rate of speed. It was so fast I couldn't get a shot of it until it was already a ways away, still a rare sight to see : a wolverine in the wild.

As we made our way down the slope of Hinman, we needed to cross the creek that flowed out of the draw between Hinman and Daniel and then two small creeks that flowed from waterfalls off the western slope of Daniel. We were heading for the saddle above Lake Venus, a big notch in the south spur of Mt Daniel that was clearly visible ahead of us. There were several vegetation fingers that extended between the creeks and waterfalls, we had a choice to cut through or go down and around. Joe wanted to cross down and around, the rest of us opted to cut through. When we got to the other side we were cliffed out and had to down climb anyway. So Joe got a big "I told you so". While making our way across the talus, a couple of times out of the blue screaming heart pounding F-18's would come ripping around Bears Breast up the draw and around Mt. Daniel. They were so fast and were so low it was an awesome ground shaking experience. They were close enough to see in the cockpit as they tore by us.

As we approached the Venus saddle from the west side we kept looking for the way up. To the left of the saddle (west) up the high shelf? A way up the middle? To the right (east) at the base of the cliffs on the heather and a way around the cliffs and the big cliff at the tail of the south spur? When we reached the base of the saddle, I went to skirt the high shelf, while Brian scouted below. He quickly found a route up so I butt scooted down the shelf and up the middle we went. A couple of class 3 hand holds across some rock but only 10 feet or so before you gain the heather and amble on up. The top of the shelf was covered in heather, with several small tarns for refueling water. There were a couple of nice campsites and the views down on to Lake Venus were spectacular. We stopped for lunch and to refill our water bottles.

From the saddle above Venus Lake, your standing on the south spur of Daniel and you can't really see up the spur as a large cliff rises straight above you. As we descended from the saddle, to make our way around and below the large cliff on the slopes above the route up the Daniel looked impassable. Beckey's description in his typical terse style offers not much help
:

"ascend the south slope of Daniel; keep right of a ridge
with a western face and left of low cliffs above the
lake (between 6,000 and 6,600 feet).  Follow along the spur
to the true summit or via the slight depression to its right"

My interpretation was that the ridge to stay right off was the spur itself that we were on at the saddle, below us we could see a band of cliffs that rose from the lake on our right, so we were left of them. There was a steep and slopping route above these cliffs below us through a talus field, that made its way around spur that rose above us to the left. We scrambled up a very steep heather and rock filled gully toward the ridge line. We made our ascent carefully one at a time so as not to kick rocks down on the folks below.

At the top of the heather chutes was another small saddle at 6550 feet. From here another 500 feet above us rose another large cliff directly on the spur itself. We had to either go left of this or right. A large talus field lay to the right hand side of the cliff and traversed around its base. We didn't even consider going left as the topo map showed sheer cliffs. We chose right and made our way around the talus field. From there a narrow chute cut down to the lake and we were able to traverse around the chute with secure holds on the rocks. We rested above this chute on another small talus field. From here the rock rose above us with cliffs and waterfalls compounding the way. There seemed to be no route. Brian scrambled up some 20 feet above us and reported a snow filled chute with a waterfall and what he though looked like a steep ramp. We could see the steep ramp above us and it looked too steep, too slick and impossible without protection. I attempted to follow Brian up to get a look and couldn't get holds as my camera on my chest kept me from getting in close to the rock. I returned to our stoop on the talus, and things felt wrong, we were having to work too hard for a route that Beckey had described with so little detail.

Josh meanwhile attempted another route up to Brian but ended up cutting his knee as he climbed up. We stopped to take survey; we were jangled and out of our element, and we knew we couldn't continue; so we decided to turn around go back down. I pulled out my cell phone and was surprised to find 4 bars of cell service. I put in a quick call to Cliff Hammond, our ride for the next day, and told him our out had changed and instead of coming out at Cathedral Rock trail head we'd be coming out further down the road at the Pete Lake trail head at Cooper Lake. Josh with Brian's help took off his pack and down climbed, as he did so his pack above him came loose and tumbled down the gorge. Brian retrieved it and we made our way back across the chute and across the talus field. I crossed first ahead and scrambled to the top of the talus field to 6600 feet at the base of the cliff and dropped my pack and decided to head to the left and see what was there. While sheer cliffs dropped off below me there was a miraculous shelf that ran in the cliff wall that was between 9 to 4 feet high. I could see goat droppings and foot prints along the shelf. I scrambled up it, several times on all fours and eventually there was a place where you it appeared you could reconnect with the upper west slopes and snow. It was unclear if you could "continue up the spur" further as Beckey said, but that exploration would have to wait for another day.

How did we get into such a pickle? For day 2 we had set our sights on camping at the Venus Saddle. We ended up not making this as it was too far off trail to travel in a single day, or at least more than we were willing to push ourselves to go. So the saddle was our goal, on day 3 when we woke up there was no question that was where we headed. Based on my divining of Becky in my mind the route up the south spur of Mt. Daniel was always from the east side above Venus Lake. In pre-trip discussions with Dayhike Mike we had talked about several routes up the south spur: he'd drawn a route up the south spur, he'd crossed out a route I had drawn low on the east slope of the spur on the west slope of Lake Venus and he'd drawn a route that was on the west side of the spur. I think I was so focused on Beckey's description and he was so perfunctory magic shelf, but its not clear, that I assumed the route was straight forward. From the warmth and safety of my home computer looking back over correspondence with Dayhike Mike I completely missed that Mike noted that we had to cross back from the west at 6800. What I had thought was the alternate route appears to be the recommended route. But it ran so counter to the way I interpreted Beckey that it didn't register. Though as you search the net for trip reports of the south spur route there aren't any, at least that I could dig up, so the information is sparse. More than likely that is the result of the approach being from way off trail. Possibly, as Mike noted in post analysis a route goes from the east side of the spur above Venus, maybe the another exploration will have to await.

Descent

From the high 5500 saddle above Venus we could see a thin goat path down through the heather, I followed this down and was amazed at what a cool outlet Venus has. The huge aquamarine alpine lakes narrows to a 6 foot wide outlet that cascades over a rock chute in what is probably a cool waterfall in the summer but was a still a late season snow bridge. I crossed over the outlet and made my way along the east side of creek out of Venus, staying high above the water I came to an amazing granite slope that was polished and deeply scratched by an ancient glacier. Walking straight down the granite a short trail leads down through the trees to the huge meadow in front of Spade Lake.

We were so tired and beat, camp was the only thing on our mind. Near the middle portion of the lake before the peninsula, is a large rock outcropping. We found some nice camps in front of the rock. The sun was still just barely peaking over the west ridge. Brian and I dropped our packs and went for the lake. Brian opted to jump off the top of the rock, while I went around to the side. I shot a couple of pics of Brian jumping off, screaming after entering the water from the cold. I walked off shelf till the rock slipped out from under me and I went under and came up gasping from the chill. It felt good to wash the grime, sweat and fear off from the day.

Back at camp we unpacked, set up camps and boiled water for freeze dried dinner goodness. Dessert for the evening was hot jello, all that warm hot sugar warmed my veins. I had been carrying my frying pan, rod and reel for 3 days. Spade Lake was the first lake I'd been at that wasn't covered in snow and it was my one chance to fish, but I was beat and didn't even try putting my pole together. I had also on a whim as we left our garage to start the trip stuffed a set of sparklers in my pack. Everyone but Scott was already asleep but I was at least gonna light them off so I told Scott to sit up in his biivy and I lit them in the snow field at the edge of the meadow. After wards I threw the sticks in the garbage and climbed into my sack; the next day we'd aim to start by 6:30 am as we had a long long 15 miles out to the trail head to catch our ride. Exhausted from the day I feel into a fitful sleep, only to be woken up several times during the night by Brian rummaging around for a sip of water and Josh attempting to go to the bathroom.

Day Three Stats

4.21 Miles
2064 ascend vertical feet
2808 descend vertical feet
Time on the trail : 9 hours and 41 minutes

Photos

Set on www.flickr.com

High Alpine Traverse - Day Two

A trail is not to be underestimated for its ability to 
quickly and efficiently provide access to the wilderness. 
But off trail, where the going is rough and much slower 
is where the wild places still exist, adventure is found 
and the beauty is unparalleled. : Mark Griffith

Around 4:40 am, that time during the night that described as darkest before the dawn, I started getting cold. The sky was just beginning to catch the faintest light against the sky. I had to almost catch my breath as I peered out of my bivvy sack at the landscape that surrounded our camp. What had been a sea of fog the night before now broke to clear skies and we were camped on a shelf and ridges and peaks towered around us. Summit Chief, Chimney Rock and Overcoat Peak rose behind us with a unbelievable majesty.

I got up and put on my puffy and my shell and my crocs. I avoided my wet boots, as there are few things that suck worse that putting your warm feet in dry socks into wet boots. There was ice on the small tarns and the snow fields were hard and crunchy. No wonder I was cold the temperature had fallen below freezing. I wandered north across the shelf among the tarns and snowfields. I slipped a couple of times as crocs aren't known for their grip on snow. I was looking to get a shot of the split skyline and Glacier Mountain against the sky. There was a lower blanket of fog that hung across the valleys a 1000 feet below. After snapping some photos from a higher peak I made my way back and started waking folks up.

Everyone was all smiles as they woke and saw the amazing landscape the surrounded us; we were a scant 1/4 mile from Tank Lakes and had hit the navigation dead on and were right where we thought we had been. After breakfast we broke camp and got geared up. We'd be heading off trail today. Our first goal was to get up and over Mt. Hinman to the southern slopes of Mt. Daniel. This requires getting onto the southern slope of Hinman which is accessible from above La Bohn Lakes or via the La Bohn Gap. We had two possible routes, we could drop back down into Necklace Valley and ascend to the lakes via the steep waterfall ascent or we could maintain a higher elevation and head south of to Tank Lakes and descend to 5200 feet where a shelf would allow us to head east toward the La Bohn Gap above the Chain Lakes area. Following Dayhike Mike's suggested we opted for the high traverse on the 5200 shelf.

The descent down the ridge south from Tank Lakes is beautiful as you lip over the edge the Middle Fork opens wide and Summit Chief and the Overcoat Glacier and her peaks tower over head. You can see down into the bottom of the Middle Fork valley where Willams Lake sits at 4600 feet and look across at the Dutch Miller Gap. When you hit 5200 feet a shelf snakes along between a set of cliffs above and a set below. Like most natural features its not perfectly level and the shelf runs between 5200 and 5350 feet. The shelf is interspersed with ridges and water/avalanche chutes. At each ridge you have the choice to go up and over or down. The right thing to do is to stay above 5200 feet and most often that means going up.

Unfortunately we learned the hard way, the first waterfall we came to we went down, which was a mistake. We dropped below 5200 feet and got cliffed out on the otherside and had to climb back up the next waterfall to regain the chute. Not dangerous but just steep tough and slippery with lots of vegetable belays. Once on top, the shelf lay out before us and we took a short break to catch our breaths. After tromping along the shelf and up and over a few ridges we came to a large talus field. Crossing this brought us the another ridge where we could finally see the ridge line of La Bohn Gap above the Chain Lakes. We ascended through more talus and snow and arrived just below the top of the ridge line. There was a big horn of rock ahead of us, we had to make way around the rock and onto the slopes of the La Bohn Gap above Chain Lakes. We opted to go left up high, to the top of the ridge. This was the wrong choice we should have gone right and below the hump. But there we were on top. From the ridge there was a steep down climb among some heather to the snow slopes or a cliffy traverse over the chute that blocked forward progress. I scrambled across the chute, but the rock was loose and the holds tenuous, a slip would have hurt. After seeing me cross the rest of the group opted to down climb through the heather. While scrambling down Josh cut his leg, not too deep and we stopped further up the ridge on some large rocks to bandage him up and refill our water.

A short walk up the ridge brought us to the top of the La Bohn Gap; we could see over the Chain Lakes and down into Necklace Valley. Mt Hinman raised above us, more a large massive ridge and pile of rocks than a rocky prominent peak. Our goal was to ascend the western slope from the southern side of Hinman and circumnavigate from the south around to the the north slopes across from Mt. Daniel. From the south Hinman has two visible ridges, a large steep cliffy ridge that runs from east to west and a smaller crumbly ridge that runs north and south. Dayhike Mike's description of the rout was : "Looks cliffy, but it goes". Like many things in mountaineering from a distance the route is unclear, but the closer you get a way is found. A large talus ramp starts you up on the ridge and a small trail leads up across the heather and snow ramps finally get you up on top of Hinman's western ridge that runs north and south. This is a very cool walk along the crest of this ridge. The geology of this ridge is very cool, unlike a talus field which is a set of boulder that have carved off a high ridge and reached a settled angle of repose below. This was rocky ridge that had been turned into a big fractured pile of rocks. You could see the way the ice had split the rocks into big slabs, almost like huge dinner plates. Often they were unsettled and would slide one off another. My fingers began getting raw from all the side hilling and grabbing of rocks for balance.

From this western ridge we reached a small saddle where you could look deep down into a cirque above Lake Rowena, still melting out from the winter snow and ice. We carried on up the ridge and a large hump in the middle gave the impression that we were coming to the top of something. We got excited and mistakenly assumed we were almost to the summit of Hinman, we dropped our packs and scrambled to the top. I took my monopod and set up for the summit shot and just after pushing the shutter with the timer Brian said : "What's that big ridge behind us? Isn't that the summit of Hinman?" Oh well, we were on top of something, I named it mid-Hinman summit and we carried on. The day was getting late, off trail travel is much much slower than the nice wide graded trails and it was around 4:30. We still weren't close to our planned destination and were worried about running out of day so we opted to not climb Himan's main ridge that runs east and west and has the rocky spirey summit. Instead we stayed at 7100 feet and as we gained the Foss Glacier we traversed around the main west ridge and turned east and continued on the same counter to the eastern edge of the north slope of Hinman. Near the end of the summit ridge the terrain steepens and swiftly descends from 7100 down to 6200 where another rocky shelf interrupts the descent. We were able to get nice long glissades down the steep snow fields, though in shorts one but got a bit cold.

Our original goal for the day was the saddle above Venus on Mt. Daniel's southern spur. However the day had already been a long hard trek and we were ready for camp. So we began looking for a camp on the lower slopes of Hinman. At 6200 feet a shelf begins where the slope levels out and gentle rock appears and is covered with heather and melting water everywhere as we gradually descended. We made our way in a south westerly direction towards the small creek that runs between Mt. Hinman and Mt. Daniel. As we approached the edge of cliffs that sat on the Hinman side above the draw between Daniel and Hinman the slope became more level and there were several perfectly flat shelfs of heather hanging over small rock walk ways amid a couple of beautiful tarns. We settled in for camp, hanging laundry among the trees and exploding packs to find camp shoes and take off our wet boots.

I have never been in a more beautiful campsite, it was almost like a manicured garden with the green heather and the granite rockways. The water flowing everywhere from the melting snow and two perfect tarns that reflected the peaks of Daniels and Bears Breast. One of the tarns was fed by the tiniest trickle of snow melt, and thus the water was around 20 degrees warmer than the pools that had direct runoff from the snow. One by one we all stripped down and dunked our self in the pool. It felt so good to wash off the sweat and grime of the day. Afterwards we boiled water for meals and I cooked one of my favorite backpacking meals : Trader Joe's au gratin potatoes with slices of summer beef stick. Takes a little while to cook, but so so yummy!

After setting up our tents and bivvy for the night, we all went and sat on one of the rock outcroppings that overlooked Bears Breast and watched the sun set and the last pink clouds fade into dusk. I climbed in my biivy with my mosquito net on but slept without zipping up and quickly fell asleep. I woke up again in the middle of the night when Scott got up to go to the bathroom. The time was around 1:30 am. It was sooo warm that I got out of my bag and didn't even put on a coat. I was immediately struck by the big dipper sitting right above the horizon of Hinman. I grabbed my camera and went and sat on the rock taking pictures for 15 minutes until the moon crested over the ridge of Daniel and I saw my moon shadow. I then trundled off to bed again, knowing that tomorrow would be a tough day heading up Daniel.

Day Two Stats

6.13 Miles
2884 ascend vertical feet
1730 descend vertical feet
Time on the trail : 9 hours 12 minutes

Photos

Set on www.flickr.com

High Alpine Traverse - Day One

How come no one told me about the blue shirt?: Brian Rudd

Last year my big trip was climbing Mt. Olympus with Summit for Someone. For 2008 I originally planned to attempt the northern part of the Bailey Range in the Olympics. However a couple of factors required a change. First we got 200% of normal snow fall and and I was worried that the end of July was going to be too soon for a snow free route in the Olympics, given that the majority of it is off trail traverse. Secondly I had the opportunity to work with the young men at our church again and I decided to help them go on a 50 miler the first part of the week and then head off on my own trip the second half of the week. The original plan was to hike with the scouts up the Middle Fork over the Dutch Miller Gap and meet Wednesday evening at Waptus Lake and then head up to Spade Lake and then up to Venus and the South Spur of Daniel and out to Cathedral Rock trail head on Saturday. When the 50 miler fell apart I tried to come up with a new route in that would give us the same exit. I picked heading in Necklace Valley near Skykomish on Highway 2 before Stevens Pass and around Tank Lakes, La Bohn Gap, Mt. Hinman and then up Mt. Daniel and out Cathedral Rock trail head.

I spent a lot of time researching the route, pouring over Beckey's Bible and sending emails to back and forth with folks on NW Hikers, especially Dayhike Mike as well as Steve and Tisha. Dayhike Mike was a wealth of information, especially on the route from Tank around the southern slope of La Bohn and up the southern rib of Hinman. Steve came through with an amazing pano of Tank Lakes around to La Bohn gap that helped visualize Dayhike Mike's descriptions.

I drove up to Cle Elum Tuesday evening to pick up Joe, his son Brian and my brother Josh. They had drove in from Boise and since our exit was Roslyn this would save them 2 hours driving back down to Issaquah and then out. Scott flew in that evening and caught a shuttle to our house. Joe and Brian were out and snoring by 10pm our time. I went to bed around 11 and was back up by 4:30 to put in some blue berry muffins for breakfast. The night before we had tied 3 packs on top of our Expedition and Josh and Scott stuffed theirs in the back. At 5 am Kevin Brown arrived who had graciously agreed to drop us at the trail head and we set out with hot muffins for Skykomish. We got to the Necklace Valley trail head around 7 and we were on the trail heading out by 7:35.

The first 5 miles are the typical lower elevation Pacific Northwest hike, ferns, vine maple, devils club and lots of lush moss. The Foss River crossing was fine, despite the heavy snow melt the log bridge was in tact. Its kind of odd the way at 5 miles the trail just "ends" at a creek. You look around for a second thinking the talus field across the creek isn't the trail but the flagging on the trees and the natural log bridge convince you other wise. We headed up through the talus and the trail steepens as you begin climbing over the next mile quickly gaining elevation. The higher we ascended the foggier and mistier it got, so much so that while we weren't getting wet from the mist we were getting soaked from the wet slide vine maple and huckleberry bushes. We put on our pack covers and tried to stay dry. The sheer cliffs and the fog made for an otherworldly feeling.

When we arrived at small Jade Lake we hit the first patches of snow on the lake shore, Opal soon appeared and we stopped to consult the map, contours and headings as we set off to make our way to Tank Lakes. As we made our way through the trees in a south westerly direction the fog got thicker and the visibility shrunk, without ridge lines and landmarks navigation becomes a challenge. We kept consulting the lay of the land and contours and our heading, but with no perspective it was easy to keep doubting yourself. I had my GPS, but I generally only use it to track where I have been not navigate, in fact I have never even bought the extra topo package that Garmin charges $100 for and still have the regular city maps in it. Before we left I had meant to lay in a few waypoints, but my kids had misplaced my Washington Topo! CD's and so I didn't even have that to go on. So I dug way back into my scout orientation training and we took the latitude and longitude and were able to get rough coordinates of our general vicinity, but its still disconcerting to not be able to see any landmark ridge lines.

Soon we were in snow and we came to the gully on the map that climbed up over the 6000 foot contour line and led towards Tank Lakes. I agreed to head up the steep gully and see where it led. As I got a short distance up, the pitch got to the point that a slip would result in sliding down and so I stopped and yelled down to the rest of the group :


"Time to break out those ice axes boys"

We went over how to hold the ax and how to self arrest and then headed up the ridge into the unknown one slow step at a time. A 100 feet or so and the ridge leveled out and the terrain began to flatten and we began walking up through fields of heather and rock interspersed among the snow. We were tired and with visibility still at 40 feet it was clear even if we found the lakes we wouldn't be able to see them. So the first flat area we came to we agreed to stop and setup camp.

Scott, Josh and myself camped on the granite while Joe and Brian pitched their tent on a small heather bluff overlooking something beautiful we supposed but with no visibility we weren't sure. We got our cooking gear out, boiled water and consumed our Mountain House. With no views, no sunset and no fire there wasn't much to do and besides it was cold, so we went to bed. I had opted to go light on this trip so I brought my summer bag, Sierra Designs Wicked Light, which was rated at 40 degrees. Its basically a big down blanket with a nylon bottom you can strap to a pad. I put my hat on my head and three layers on top, my pants on the bottom and two pairs of socks. I was ok warm most of the night, when Scott woke up around 1:15 or so to go to the bathroom and woke me up I snapped a quite photo of the stars as the sky had cleared and the milky way was so bright. Around 4:40 am I started to get pretty cold, my feet shivering a bit and my shoulder or hip getting cold where it was in contact with the pad... I held on for the first early morning rays when I could get out of my bag and walk around to warm up. I was excited to see the landscape around us where we'd settled in amongst the fog.

Day One Stats

6.79 Miles
4151 vertical feet

Photos

Set on www.flickr.com