Blog of Niffgurd

2008-06-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

Stupid Early

"That is Stupid Early" : Kyle Freeman

I didn't have a problem waking up when the alarm went off at 3:30 am, 
it was only I after I started driving up toward the pass that I 
started to doubt my decision.

On Sunday when I saw the TNAB announcement for the Summer Solstice for Thursday evening 6/19/2008 for Snoqualmie Mountain I knew I wanted to go but I knew due to other commitments I wouldn't be able to. So I started planning my own Dawn Patrol. The week was already going to be extremely full. Monday was my 19th year wedding anniversary and Wednesday my wife's 40th birthday party and Saturday I was throwing her a big party. Trying to fit it all in was going to be tough. The weather forecast called for clear skies all day Monday and Tuesday morning at the pass. I sent out an email with the plan to depart Target at 4 am, which as Kyle points out is stupid early, but the the whole point of summer solstice is taking advantage of the daylight and the sunrise is at 5:08 am and morning twilight at 4:27. I didn't expect anyone to really take me up on the offer because most folks would rather sleep than get up that early for a hike. Another factor though was that given the 200% of normal snow fall this past winter and the very cool spring the snow melt is much further behind than it should be. This meant that given the early start crampons and an ice ax would be required. J.K. and a Terry (a guy who had joined Dawn Patrol but yet to make it out) both expressed interest, but J.K.'s lack of crampons prevented him from joining me and Terry couldn't work out the logistics.

When the alarm went off at 3:30 am I didn't have any problem waking up, but when I started loading the car the sky, even in the dark, had that flat pallid gray from high clouds. The further I drove up the canyon the more bothered I became by the overcast skies and the more convinced I became that not only was this a stupid early but that I was stupid as well. A couple of times I considered just pulling off the freeway and catching a few hours sleep before heading into work, but I kept driving till at 4:30 am I pulled into the Alpental parking lot off exit 52 at the top of Snoqualmie Pass. Even as sat in my car and I stared up at the gray sky over Guye Peak I considered just kicking the seat back and catching some Z's....................................................................................................

Then I thought nah, I've got up this early and I'm here, maybe it will at least be foggy and I'll get some good "moody" fog photos. I put on my pack and started out across the snow and debris of the avalanche field that extended all the way to the road. Soon I crossed the small creek and the snow disappeared and I was in the rock and mud. The higher I wandered up through the trees the more snow remained in the shadows and between trees. The trail was hard to pick out in places and at time it was straight up through the brush. I stayed close to the creek as I recalled the trail following the creek up and I knew there was the crossing over the creek to head up to Snoqualmie Mountain. I approached the creek a couple of times as I couldn't recall where the crossing was at exactly. Soon I broke out of the trees to the talus field where the sign points the way to Guye Peak and left to Snoqualmie. The snow in the open field was hard and crunchy, almost to the point of requiring crampons but then I angled left just below the band of cliffs to the creek crossing.

The crossing is a perfect geographical creek crossing. A waterfall some 20 feet above has carved out a flat area and then the stream has carved a trough in the granite which just before the lip of another set of cliffs spreads wide as well so that even in full spring run off you can easily and safely cross the water without wetting more than the toes of your boots. I stopped for 10 minutes or so taking photos of the falls. As I turned around to watch the water flow over the edge and down the slope I looked up and saw a tiny patch of blue sky and clouds breaking over the Tooth up the canyon. Suddenly I felt a whole lot better about the hour I'd spent hiking up the falls, the promise of a beautiful day and blue sky possibilities made me smile.

From here the trail wanders up through the trees until a steep ridge opens up above you and you see a ridge line that the first time you hike the trail your tempted to thinking must be the top. Having been suckered into that false notion before knew it was time to put on the crampons. I sat down in the snow and set my new Cannon Powershot G9 on timelapse pointing at Guye Peak as the fog rolled in and our and the blue skies opened up. Ice Ax in hand I tromped, zigging zagging back and forth to the top of the ridge, where you can see a much longer and more gentle ridge line leading way up to the summit. A huge cornice snaked its way along the ridge, which I gave wide berth as I continued plodding upwards. Near the top the pitch steepens again and before long I was looking at the summit.

The summit of Snoqualmie Mountain has a west-east ridge that sits between two rock horns and a small cirque below them and then the deep chasm of the canyon of the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie. By now the sun was shining brightly and the summit was clear though most of the peaks surrounding were covered in a blanket of clouds and fog. I ate some food, took of my pack and wandered around taking photos and videos of the beautiful scenery. Typically if you wander to the west end of the ridge line and descend a few hundred yards you can look down into Snow Lake. With the clouds obscuring everything but the peak tips of distant mountains there was nothing but a field of white.

As I approached the summit from below the ridge was covered with what looked to be a large cornice, so I had safely come from beneath to a snow free rock outcropping. Fromthis higher vantage what had appeared to be a cornice was mostly a snow wedge with solid slopes on both sides vs. the classic corniced overhang. Using my new trusty mono-pod (the last one snapped on Adams when it got caught in snow during a glissade), I was able get a nice "top of the mountain" self portrait where with the clouds it looked like I was a lot higher the 6200 feet above sea level.

As I made my way down, I left my crampons on. The snow was still to hard to glissade on, and I wanted sure footing as I made my way down. As I started down the long gentler sloping ridge the fog blew in and I was completed covered in gray. By starting early I had hit the weather window perfectly, had blue skies and sun; now that I was traversing down the gray and pea soup moved back in. I followed a glissade path down the steep ridge a bit off from my ascent. I hoped there'd be foot prints that led me back to the trail and the creek crossing. As I wandered through the woods looking for the path I soon could tell I had gone to far and it was unclear where the crossing was. The good news is that down was the only real direction that mattered so I zig zagged through the snow and tree wells making my way down and down. Soon I came to the upper section of the avalanche that I had crossed in the beginning. As I crawled over snow and trees that were snapped like twigs I was humbled by the power weight and force of snow and vowed to stay clear of dangerous conditions in winter.

As I made my way down there were several times when I ended up in vegetable glissades, grabbing and clawing at shrubs and trees to stop my slides. Luckily there were no Devil's Club or other pricklies. I finally got sick of sliding down the slick hillsides and I ended up just walking down the rocks in the middle of the small creek, this was actually surer footing than the slick forest floor. I did have great views of the base of the avalanche as it spread out across the flatter lower sections of the forest. The entire snowfield was covered with a green carpet of needles and small branches which prevented the snow from melting as fast as it would otherwise.

As I wandered back across the road to the car I was so glad I went. It was still stupid early but it was well worth it, the early start resulted in me hitting the weather window perfectly. I had spent a beautiful day above the clouds with blue sky on the summit of a mountain.

Statistics

Wake : 3:30 am

Leave House : 3:45 am

Arrive Alpental : 4:30 am

Start Hiking : 4:45 am

1 Hour 11 minutes to the waterfall crossing

11 minute break at the waterfall

1 hour 52 minutes from the falls to the summit

35 minute break at the summit

1 hour 18 from the summit to the car

Total : 5 hour 8 minutes

5 miles (on this route due to no switch backs)

3100 vertical feet

Photos and Video

Set on www.flickr.com

2008-06-04T06:42:00.000-07:00

Mt Adams 2008

2007 was my initial foray into mountaineering. I started doing some very small stuff near Snoqualmie Pass with Dean and Seth. Things got a bit more serious when I signed up for climbing Mt. Olympus with Summit for Someone. Knowing that was an upcoming July event (July 2007), Seth and Dean and myself planned for the first excursion up one of the big volcanoes : Mt Adams. So Adams last year was really my first time up on a big mountain. And we made (looking back with that perfect hindsight) several mistakes that I was bound and determined to not repeat this year. First we got started way too late, we didn't even get to the trail head until 4:30 pm. The second was we got way too late of a start on our summit attempt. Lastly I didn't budget enough time with my wife to make it up and back down. This year as we planned we aimed to take care of those variables. Drive down Thursday evening, hike Friday and summit Saturday. The one wrench in our plans was that this year the snow has been 175 to 200% of normal. First of June is early for Adams in a normal year (last year we'd had to walk 2 miles of logging road), this year it was looking like it could be anywhere from 12 to 5 miles depending on how the melt went and which ranger you talked to. We hadn't seen any trip reports and so we weren't sure what the actual conditions were like.

As we neared our climbing date of May 29th the group whittled down to 5 committed : Seth Neilson, Dean Matthews, Tom Plaster and Kyle Freeman. The first and last two only knew me in common and had never met each other. Seth I met on-line, Dean I met through Seth and I worked with Tom and Kyle at Amazon.com. As we approached the climb we had gotten conflicting reports about how far down the logging road we'd have to park, so Tom bought Mount St. Helens passes as back up. Tom drove down early in the afternoon on Thursday and camped on the logging road, Dean flew in from Utah Thursday evening and Kyle and myself drove down to Seth's Thursday after work. We arrived at Seth's house around 10 pm and after putzing around with gear a little bit we hit the hay. I planned that evening to get up at 5:45 and start cooking up pancakes for breakfast. Seth's wife, Amy, I don't think approved of my pancake plans and she ended up getting up with us and cooking us eggs and pancakes. We got away around 6:30 am and drove the 115 miles to Trout Lake. We stopped just outside Trout Lake for those gorgeous mountain shots of Adams from the rural countryside. Tom had picked up permits for us the day before so we drove up the logging roads till we came around 9:15 am to the impromptu trail head where the snow berms blocked the road. Tom had his pack and ski's out getting things ready to go. There was a group who had a truck stuck in the snow on the road. Apparently they had thought they could break on through and had made it around 5 feet before high centering. While they extracted one vehicle with another, we got our packs put on and posed for the requisite before photo with the help of Mr. mono-pod.

We set up the logging road at 9:30 am, after maybe a 1/4 mile we passed a sign that warned of 5 miles of steep narrow logging road ahead of us before Cold Springs, where the summer trail head is located. We intermittently walked on dirt and snow until after a mile the road turned to solid snow. Tom who had been doing the stiff legged ski boot walk, stop and strapped on his ski's. Since this was his first time using randonee ski gear he was a bit slow and we started to out pace him. Before doing so we both turned on radios and stayed in contact. The forward 4 arrived at Cold Springs around 12:30 where we stopped for some refueling and we waited for Tom. He was only 10 minutes behind us, he'd ended up putting his boots back on as the conditions didn't really fit skiing. From Cold Springs we make our way up through the trees, route finding in this section is kind of annoying. The trees make the direction non-obvious and depending on the amount of snow and the melt conditions the route may or may not be visible. Compound this by snowmobile traffic which wipes out boot tracks and aren't always a good idea to follow as they are not necessarily heading to the same destination or on a route you'll want or be able to walk up.

Eventually the trees started to thin and the views of Mt. Hood began to open up behind us. The higher we hiked the more the trees opened up and the mountain rose above us. Eventually we came to the meadow that marked the wilderness boundary. Last year the actual sign was visible, this year they'd put an orange plastic extension sign on. This marked the point at which the snowmobiles could not pass and a $5000 fine if they do. Here we had a decision point with regard to the route. Last year we had got snarled up in some mangy lava rock. We opted for a high ridge above the gully we descended last year, and did a small 30 foot down traverse across a rock field to a snow finger and then angled across to the lava rock we crossed through last year. Ironically looking back we took the same route this year but the snow levels enabled us to stay on snow the entire time.

The ridge up from these rocky hills is steep. On our Olympus trip our guide Craig had emphasized the rest step and Tom and I had been discussing this as well. One of the challenges to the rest step is to resist the urge to continually put one foot in front of the other without pausing in between. The goal is to not break into the aerobic zone, it does require discipline and concentration to not pick up the pace. By this time the "gray hairs" had caught up with us, they'd passed everyone else in our party and were following just behind me. Apparently I wasn't going fast enough for one member in their party and as I angled out wide on a switch back, he cut the corner and started up ahead of me, monster fast punching steps in the snow. The rest of the gray hairs plowed past me, most of them stumbling and punching through the snow. I followed slowly behind them. Near the top of the ridge there was one large rock. The fast leader stepped holes right next to the rock. I was below two other gray hairs when one of them as he got adjacent to the rock disappeared as he fell into the moat that often melts out next to rocks on steep slopes. He wasn't hurt and slowly crawled out and made his way to the top. As I got to the rock I took some steps wide to not risk falling in myself. Dean, Seth, Tom and Kyle soon joined me, it was around 6pm, we'd been on the trail over 8 hours and were all tired, they were read for camp. I wanted to scope out something with slightly better views of Mount St. Helens so I dropped my pack and scampered up higher till I found a great camp a few hundred feet higher. I tromped back down and convinced them the better camp was worth putting their packs on for a brief stroll.

We set up camp amid a few rock walls. Tom had this perfect little chute that he set up camp in. We immediately started boiling our left over water for our freeze dehydrated dinners and then the process of gathering large blocks of snow and melting and replenishing our water supply for the next day. We'd keep boiling water for the next 3 hours until we went to bed, me with my MSR Whisperlite and Tom and Seth with their JetBoils. Dinner tasted fantastically delicious (Lasagna from Mountain House), afterwards I worked on getting my summit pack ready for the next morning. As the sun began setting a huge shadow cast by Mount Saint Helens stretched across our camp. The magic hour when the light gets low and long and everything glows with rosy tones. We took a group photo, a couple of jumping photos and a Leki Pole pose as well. I love this time of the day high in the mountains with great alpine views. Finally with camp chores done I took my sitting pad and sat out on the rocks and watched the world fade to darkness as the light slowly died. By 9:45 or so I and everyone else was in our bivys asleep.

At 2 am my alarm went off and woke me up, I yelled "Its 2am, time to wake up". Everyone started rolling out of their bivys. I started by putting in my contacts, and then the rest of the gear : a medium weight poly pro zip top and a mid weight Mamut soft shell, a pair of MSR hiking pants over my shorts (no long johns), gaiters, hat, thick OR mitts hanging from my wrists and my thin OR gloves on my hands, boots and then finally crampons. The skies were clear, the stars were fantastically bright, the milky way arced over head and the big dipper pointed to the north star the direction we were headed. By 3 am we were ready to start up the snow field toward the top of Lunch Counter. Tom and I started a bit earlier than the other three because we were ready and I was getting cold standing around and needed to start moving. As we started up the snowfield the snow was nice and hard, there was no breaking through as we easily walked on top, the crampons giving us a little big of extra stick. Tom's ski's with skins on finally made for efficient traveling and he skinned up the slope ahead of us, leaving hardly any track on the hard snow.

Seth, Dean and Kyle soon caught up to us and we continue up the slope till we were above Lunch Counter at the base of the very steep slope that rises almost straight up over 1700 feet to the top of the false summit at Pikers Peak, 11,700 feet. This is snow field between two rock ridges on either side. Here the real work begins, much of that mental. Your at 9000 feet above sea level, and you really start to feel the elevation on this stretch. Here its critical to use the rest step to not over exert yourself. The angle changes to sharply ranging from 40 to 50 degrees, as Tom tried to head up this on his skis the skins would no longer grip and he toppled sideways in a heap. He yelled at me uncomfortably for taking photos of his ignomy. Seth, Dean and Kyle switched back and forth up the slope, I choose to go straight up, angling my feet outward. Tom followed behind me in this boots as the slope was too steep for ski's. We all kept about the same pace going up me taking less steps to their zig zags. Slowly but surely we climbed the slope. As we got a short way up the sky began to lighten and the fog and clouds began to roll in behind and above us.

Midway up the slope to Pikers Peak the pitch increases and a small ridge blocks the view of the top. Naively you imagine that your almost there, you must be getting close after all the climbing; deep disappointment washes over you as you crest this small bump and see the top of Pikers another 1000 feet above you. I was prepared for this having had this experience last year, though I think it was demoralizing to Kyle. At a couple of rests stops along the slope Kyle worriedly wondered out loud if he'd have enough energy to make it to the summit. I encouraged him that it was mostly mental and he just needed to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Somewhere above 10,500 feet I was hit with extreme drowsiness. I was feeling very strong physically, the rest step ensured I wasn't winded, but I was so sleepy. I started blink sleeping a few microseconds between steps. I felt if I laid down on the slope (and could have picketed myself in) I could have fallen asleep instantly. Dean and Seth later admitted they had the same feeling. I asked Kyle if I could have some of his Extreme Beans that had caffeine in them, I munched down 6 of them and in a few minutes felt much better.

As we approached the upper sections of the slope the wind began picking up and the fog began close in around us and on the top of Adams. The leaders Seth and Dean, 40 to 50 feet above me could no longer see Kyle and Tom who were 40 to 50 feet below me. We stayed within sight of each other and I'd occasionally shout down to Kyle to ensure that Tom was still bringing up the rear. I stopped for a moment to put on my shell to block the wind and put on my big OR mitts to keep my hands warm. Dean and Seth disappeared above me as they crested the top of Pikers Peak. By the time I gratefully arrived rhyme ice was forming on our hats in the wind. Visibility was around 20 feet and snow was beginning to fall. The snow was not big warm fluffy flakes but round pellets that form as they are blown round and round in the clouds before gaining enough mass to fall. Kyle and Tom joined us shortly. We stopped for bio breaks and some food. Kyle lay down on the snow on his pack exhausted, we were all tired. The summit was invisible, somewhere up there in the fog less than 1000 feet and a mile away.

Since we had Dean's GPS and everything was waypointed we decided to press on for the summit. We followed the gentle ridge line over the wind slab crusts. Occasionally your crampons would break a few inches through. Occasionally the fog would clear and we'd get a tiny glimpse of the mountain summit. Finally we arrived at the final summit block. I led up the wide rolling spine of the ridge that was not quite as steep as that up from Lunch Counter to Pikers. The ridge was wind swept and only had 4 to 6 inches of snow over rocks, we switch back and forth up the ridge as the wind and snow howled around us. Midway to the top suddenly a loud boom echoed over the mountains. We all stopped suddenly : "What was that?!" We realized it was thunder, grateful it wasn't something like an avalanche. Thinking nothing of it, other than it was odd to have thunder in a snow storm, we continued upwards. Soon Seth started asking if anyone heard a buzzing sound and started complaining his back was hurting. Then Dean also heard the buzzing. I could hear or feel nothing, nor Kyle or Tom. As we walked a few more steps the realization was dawning on Seth and Dean that they were experiencing a high static electrical current. They yelled its electricity and said we should turn around. Tom looked at me with a withering stare and glanced up where through the fog we could see the summit a mere 200 vertical feet away and said "The top is right there". Suddenly I felt the shock of electricity run up my ice ax to my shoulder and Tom heard the buzzing and felt his hair stand straight up under his hat. We all looked at each other with panic in our eyes. Dean shouted "Get that pole out of your pack, its a lightning rod" and yanked out my mono-pod. I threw both my ice ax and pole onto the snow in front of me and said "Lets get down now!". Tom said don't leave your gear behind and don't run as I picked them up and quickly started tromping straight down the slope crossing over the switch backs.

We descended to the base of the summit block with due haste by which time the buzzing had stopped and tingling had gone. We then followed Dean's direction from his GPS back to Pikers Peak where we sat on the snow with relief for being alive. Tom had some quality time with a blue bag, after which we posed for the group photo amid the howling wind, since we hadn't had a chance on the true summit. Tom put on his skis and prepared for the fun descent that would pay off for his slugging them to the top. The rest of us put on snow pants and tucked and battened down the hatches preparing for the 1800 foot glissade back to Lunch Counter. Tom said his good byes and with his radio on skied off into the fog. Normally in clear conditions you can reach extreme speeds sliding down the steep slope, but with fog still swirling around us and not wanting to slide on top of each other we spread out on the slope with 10 feet between us and agreed to slide at a moderate pace with in sight of each other so as to not loose anyone. It was eerie sliding through the fog, the slope appearing ahead of you 20 feet at a time. Soon my confidence built and I realized that while I couldn't see anything I wasn't going to run into anyone or thing and I picked up the pace a bit and started sliding faster. I had a bit of trouble getting momentum going in some places because I had stuffed my padded sitting pad between my pants and my snow pants to take some of the bite out of the ice slide. As I slid through the fog suddenly Tom skied up with a big grin on his face, he'd been cutting turns back and forth across the entire slope and had bumped into the "gray hairs" who were part way up and after hearing his tale of the summit turned around. I chatted for a moment and then slid down till I hit the slopes run out at Lunch Counter.

We were now below the fog and you could see the ridge and rock field below us where we had camped. We glissaded, boot skied and tromped our way down to camp. You could see rain falling in the valley of the gorge below us, it was pretty but I was too tired to take my camera out of my pack, where I had stored it for the glissade. I hurried a bit wanting to make it to camp before the rain hit us. Arriving at camp everything was wet as the snow had already blown through. I started breaking down camp as the rain finally hit us with driving snow. This snow was wet though and we knew it was rain lower down. It took us 35 minutes or so to break camp and get our packs ready to go again. Tom waited for us at the edge of the snow on his ski's ready to descend. I chided him that I didn't know why he was waiting he'd just be out of sight in 2 minutes anyway. He said his goodbyes and skied off down the slope. We tromped our way down, we stayed in the same gully we had traversed the year prior on our descent. There were a couple of sections where we had some nice steep glissades. They were short with gentle run outs and no ice ax was needed, I kept my poles out and caught the end of my tri-pod in the snow and snapped it. We paused beneath the gnarly trees to re-apply sun-screen as the bright sun despite the clouds made us squint.

The the long slog through the trees. By this time we had hit that "horse to the barn" phase where you just want to be back to the car and off the trail. We used Dean's GPS to pick the straightest line between way points and tromped and boot skied our way back towards cold springs. At one point Kyle slid down a small incline and headed straight for a tree well, whomp and he was up to his neck in the hole. Unhurt he climbed back out and we continued on. We finally reached the logging road and we knew there was a long switch back, rather than walk the road we opted to cut down across to the next waypoint. This was cross country through a steep hillside that was covered in deadfall that we had to climb over. By this time we were all beat and Kyle's plastic boots where banging his shins pretty bad. He kept slipping on the logs and swore that he was "Too tired for this". We cheered him on and kept going till we hit the road again. Now we knew we had 3-4 miles of logging road slog. And since its a logging road and built for cars, the road is designed with the least grade and covers the most distance. I groaned as I realized we were at 4700 feet and our car was parked at 4100 feet. Dean,

Seth and myself kept out pacing Kyle who was suffering with banged up shins. We kept stopping and waiting for him to catch up. At one point Dean and Seth loosened his boots a bit to give him some relief. I started hanging back with him, not wanting him to have to suffer alone at the rear. Kyle kept encouraging me to go ahead and he just keep plodding slowly along. Finally I gave in and said I'd see him at the car and I started motoring down the mountain. I had some bathroom business to take care of and wanted out of my pack and some privacy in the woods. Constipation is a sensation that overwhelms every other sensation, exception for electricity. I quickly caught up with Dean and Seth and passed them moving as fast as I could. We kept complaining about how the road didn't seem to end. Finally I saw the last switch back in the road before the car and I knew we had arrived, Tom was long gone having arrived well ahead of us. At the car we took off our packs and first thing stripped of our boots. I grabbed a changed of clothing and some TP and headed down a side trail to find me a quite spot. When I returned to the car Kyle and arrived and was unpacking as well. We threw everything in the back of the car. Dean and Seth were in the front seat and I was in the back. Kyle was still getting his stuff organized, but when Seth heard my door shut he thought everyone was in and started the car and began to drive off. Kyle who was halfway in and out of the car had his foot run over! Luckily it didn't hurt him at all, and we all laughed about the irony as Seth apologized profusely.

It was 4pm as we headed down the logging road. It had been 30 hours since we'd begun our hike the day before, we'd been awake for 25 of those hours and hiking for 21 of those covering in the course some 18-21 miles (still waiting for the distance from Mr. GPS man), and we'd almost been electrocuted in the process and we didn't even make it to the top. But it was memorable, but right now we were hungry. I moaned over the remaining salt and vineagar chips as we made our way toward Hood River. Seth's buddy who used to live in Hood River wasn't answering his phone so I googled on my Blackberry and found a place called the Mesquitery. We called for directions and arrived ready to feast. Seth and I had the fillet mignon, Kyle had a monstrous T-bone steak and Dean a full rack of ribs. The food was all cooked over a mesquite grill and tasted absolutely divine. After dinner we walked across the street back to the car, down the road we could see Mt. Adams across the river and the top was clear. Dang! Its all about the timing. Until the next time.....

Set on www.flickr.com

2008-06-01T20:00:00.000-07:00

Spring on Mt Daniel

I've waited a couple of months before writing this down, I wanted to collect my thoughts and put a bit of distance between the me and the event.

The Planning

I love the logistics of trip planning. For me its almost half the fun, pouring over maps, route descriptions, trip reports and photos. I had been thinking about an early season trip up to Mt. Daniels for some time. The problem is that its in the heart of the Alpine Lake Wilderness at the end of a 27 mile road. Snow takes quite some time to melt out on the road, the last 16 of which are dirt, and so even when it does melt it can be quite muddy. Thus an early season trip is not really feasible. Last year I had thought enough about something in late winter/early spring to call around snow mobile rental units in Ronald to see what it would cost, but the cost was prohibitive. Last fall Seth and I, took a quick trip to Mt Daniel, but had been foiled at an attempt to climb to the summit by an early early snow storm, I was wanting to return.

In January I saw a trip report by Steve (Yukon222) on NWhikers, which described a snowmobile trip to Ingalls Creek. I had met Steve on the TNAB Winter Solstice hike. On a whim I dropped him an email and asked him if he was ever interested in putting together a trip up to Daniels. We traded correspondence and plans were made for March. We picked two weekends to maximize our opportunity for good weather. The trip was going to be an undertaking of grand enough proportions to not squander the journey on poor conditions.

As the winter wore on and the snow continued to fall, I worried about route below Cathedral Rock. In summer condition a rough climbers path makes its way along a steep slope under the cliffs of Cathedral Rock. In winter conditions this section would be dicey crossing especially depending on the snow conditions. Steve and I discussed it back and forth and looked at alternate routes, we knew we'd have to watch the conditions carefully and reevaluate on site.

Steve invited Jeremy and Tisha Schmidt along as well, who he'd done the Ingalls Creek trip with. After the weather looked crappy in Mid March we set our go date for March 21s the first day of spring. I arrived at Steve's house at 6:30 am, he'd borrowed another snowmobile from his brother and had them loaded on his trailer. We threw all our gear in his truck and set off for Roslyn. We stopped in Cle Elum for a quick trip for some breakfast. We drove up through Roland and past Cle Elum Lake to the end of the Salmon La Sac road and parked at the snow park. Light snow began falling, with high gray clouds in the sky. It took a while to unload the two snow mobiles and hook up the cargo sled to one of them. We then strapped our four full packs and snowshoes, I rode back of Steve and Schmidts rode the other. We were bundled up tight as the wind chill was cold as we drove the 13 miles at 15-20 mph. The scenery was fantastic, seeing the mountains covered in snow, the Cle Elum river winding down the canyon. Riding the snowmobile alone into the back country would have been enough, and this was only the begining. We arrived the summer trail head for Cathedral Rock around 10:30 am. We unloaded all the gear, and Steve and Jeremy stashed the snowmobiles back in the trees. We put our packs on and our snowshoes and paused for a before photo and headed across the Cle Elum river up the ridge line toward Squaw Lake.

There was no use trying to follow the summer route so we tromped upwards through the large Douglas Fir towards the ridge line. Soon it got very steep, and the fresh powder was too deep to wallow through and we had to cut short switch backs up the slope. Steve and I punched trail up the ridge, its unblievable the difference between breaking trail in the lead and the #2 spot. The amount of energy to break trail has to be about 3-4 times that of those that follow. Despite the 30 degree temperature as we started, we were sweating as we climbed the ridge. Finally we arrived at the open snowfield of Squaw Lake where we paused for a very short snack and enjoyed a tiny bit of sun as the clouds broke for a brief moment. We headed around the lake and started climbing the ridge again towards Cathedral Rock. As we began to reach the top of the ridge and the trees started opening up a light snow was falling under high clouds mixed with blue sky, it was almost like walking in a snow globe.

The ridge became more gradual and we passed the meadows where in the summer small tarns nourish high alpine grass. Our first views of Cathedral Rock appeared through the trees and we stopped to gaze in awe at the snowy rock and take photos. Grateful for the lessening incline we tromped along the ridge till we came to Cathedral Pass at the base of Cathedral Rock where the Pacific Crest Trail. We took off our packs and plopped down in the snow for a snack and water all the while staring up at Cathedral Rock and the steep traverse on its western edge to Peggys Pond. This was the point of concern and we discussed the situation a bit.

The avalanche report for the weekend was considerable Thursday night and Friday morning and dropped to moderate Friday afternoon, which is right when we paused at Cathedral. There had been clouds pretty much all day, a few very short sun breaks. As we surveyed there was no visible rock fall or snow slides. We had two options before us, traverse high on the steep slopes just beneath the base of the more vertical bottom cliffs of Cathedral Rock, or descend around 800 feet and traverse along the bottom of the slope with all the snow above us, not to mention the fact we'd have to tromp back up the ridge at the other end to get to Peggys Pond.

The slope beneath Cathedral was pretty steep, at the pitch where snow slides easily and quickly. Meaning it doesn't build up and hold long. Slides had already happened in the past and settled in some places. These were slides of 2-4 inches of snow at a time and had settled. We opted to stay high; for saftey's sake we made out across the ridge one at a time. Steve led, as he had much of the day, it was slow progress as each foot required careful placement, ensuring he could get a step in the snow. At this stage the snow was soft enough that he could easily create steps. After he would reach a the next ridge or line of sight, I would start out. I would quickly catch up to him by easily following in his footsteps. I would then pause, and wait for him to advance and Tish and Jeremy would wait in turn behind me. Slowly we made our way across the slopes under Cathedral. I was nervous, but not overly so.

Around 2/3rds of the way across the pitch got noticeably steeper and icier. Steve got out his ice ax, as did I. As he attempted to make his way round the base of a cliff, he slid down out of my site. I quickly humped across to the next point in the ridge and saw he had sled down only around 30 feet. The pitches are not consistent, they tended to be steep and then the slope lessens, so there was no danger of him sliding all the way to the lake. His poles got "left behind", so he dug a shelf for his pack, and climbed up to retrieve them and then made his way the last bit to the safe zone below the trees on the other side.

I didn't want to encounter the same steep section and so I downstepped from where I was, to the same elevation where Steve had slid to. While downstepping, I noticed a bubble in the snow, as I stepped over this, the snow fell in behind me with a 5-7 foot hole, mini covered bergschrund where the snow had seperated from the rock face, luckily I didn't fall into it. I stopped here and waited for quite some time for the other two in our party, Tisha and Jeremy to make their way up over the ridge behind me so I could warn them of the hole. Tisha had run into an area where she was slidding, and Jeremy helped her make her way across. After warning them of the hole, I quickly joined Steve on the other side and Tisha and Jeremy followed, though Jeremy yelled out that he had found my hole, but not before he fell in, though he was not hurt and was able to extract himself easily given that he fell backwards downslope but his shoes stuck in the lip above him.

After we all finished the traverse we breathed a lot easier and we started making our way up slope towards the ridge and Peggys Pond. I was surprised to find that last fall Seth and I hadn't camped at the pond at all, but at a tarn below the pond, which sits higher up on the ridge and is much larger. We arrived around 5:30 just as the sun was setting on a ridge among some trees looking down on the lake. The snow was so deep, it took us some time of stomping and tromping to flatten down an area for us to pitch our two tents. Steve brought his new Hilleberg tent and Tish and Jeremy set up there's. I dug out a pit area for the kitchen and we got out or stoves to heat up water for dinner. By then the sun had long gone down and the temperature had fallen to 17 degrees. The Schmidt's and myself had both brought canister stoves, which unbeknownst to me prior, don't do well in cold weather. They sputtered and the fuel wouldn't flow, I had to keep banging and shaking my stove in my hand to get it to stay lit. I was able to heat up enough water for me to pour into my freeze-dried Backcountry Pantry meal and melt a couple liters of water for the next day.

We sat around the kitchen for a while eating some cheese and salami that Steve and the Schmidts had brought. I had purchased a couple of deserts from a back country websites, Berry Cheese Cake and an Apple Crumble, I prepared them by adding water and shared them round, both were delicious. Steve brought out his bottle of Yukon Canadian Whiskey, which is where he gets his Yukon222 moniker on nwhikers. Tisha brought out her Zune with some tiny speakers to play some music, however due to the cold the batteries only lasted like 5 minutes. We talked about a wake-up time tomorrow for climbing up Daniels, given the alcohol they consumed, plus the fact that none of us had been up the ridge in the dark, let alone in snow we opted for 8am which was just around sunrise. As we got ready for bed I wandered back down the trail a tiny bit where I had a view of the moon rising over Cathedral. I didn't have a tri-pod with me but I was able to get a few photos using the mono-pod.

As we climbed into our tents Tisha complained she wasn't able get warm, even with all her layers and being in her bag. I offered up my puffy to her for an extra layer. I don't think she slept very well that evening. I was able to fall asleep, having had plenty of exertion to make me tired. I kept most of my clothes on and sinched the mummy bag over my head. Around 5 am I felt the call of nature and tossed and turned for 45 minutes before finally getting up around 5:45. Steve awoke with me and we started getting ready to make our way up Daniels. The Schmidts were a bit slower getting up and wanted to boil some water for breakfast. They told us to go ahead and they'd catch up with us a bit later. Given that breaking trail is slow going in 2 feet of fresh powder it wouldn't take them long following our tracks.

Steve and I set out across the beautiful meadows of rolling snow by Peggys Pond and set up the ridge line. Things were quite steep and we picked a descent line and powered up and up and up. Steve and I alternated breaking trail which was tough work in the deep snow. As the morning broke across the day there was bright blue skies and the sun rose over Cathedral as we climbed toward the top of the South Ridge. As we made our way up the slope the fields below the Hyas Creek Glacier were smooth fields of snow, several lone trees in all the whiteness stood starkly against the scenery. In the morning sun they cast long shadows across the snow, so sereene and regal in the stark landscape. As we approached the mid section of the ridge, Tish and Jeremy caught up to us, we pushed around a large rock and reached one ridge line to see another higher up. Before too long we had reached the top of the ridge where we could peer down into the Circle Lake cirque and out across to Citadel Rock and the 7000 feet peaks of Lemah and Summit Chief. They stood encrusted in snow with jagged peakks that looked more like the North Cascades than the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

The bulk of Daniel peak still stood before us, at least another mile away. A large rock spur was before us with huge cornices, the time was 10 am and there wasn't enough day left to get to the top of Daniel. Not to mention that the conditions were questionable, the snow and ridgeline only got deeper and steeper the further up the mountain. We took solace in our crystal clear weather and views we'd enjoyed and started back to camp. The puffy snow slopes were a joy to jump down, tromping with huge steps down the slope back toward Peggys Pond. As we reached a high ridge with views of Cathedral we stared at our return traverse and talked for a bit about choosing a line that was more mid-range on the way back than the high path we took coming in. Back at camp we broke down and packed up and got ready for the return journey. By the time we started it was 1:30 or so. There had been no snow during the night, and there had been full sun with bright skies all morning. It was warm, and things were melting, the snow was soft.

As we descended from Peggys to the ridge below Cathedral, we opted to spread out again, following a line around 200 feet lower than what we came across on. I led and we made it fine across the first chute where we paused at a clump of trees. I really didn't like the look of the next chute, there was an obvious 4 inch slab on the other side of the chute. I stated as much that I didn't like it. And as we stood there, small snow wheels were breaking off the snow above us and rolling down. I started out across and about mid way a cluster of snow wheels started tumbling down and building up steam. This was not a slide per se, more a cluster of snow balls that built up into a tumbling bunch of snow balls. I quickly turned around jumped back across in my snowshoes to the tree and leapt behind one of the trees. Over-reaction given what tumbled by, but spooked for sure. My nerves were jangled, I didn't feel like leading the next section so Steve went ahead, Jeremy and Tisha were second and third and I brought up the rear.

We made it across the snowball chute to the next small ridge, where we were below a large snag. The next chute was much steeper and icy; rather than switch out to crampons and cross Steve decided to go up and search for a better way across. Unfortunately the route up was very icy and very hard, I could barely dent the surface with an ice ax. The slope was steep enough that Steve didn't have a place to safely take a full pack off, put on his crampons so he scrambled up the the slope in snowshoes. While we were waiting, since we had a small protection and shelf, I hammered out some steps for standing, took my pack off and put on my crampons, one foot at a time balancing on the slope. Tisha and Jeremy were just above me and they also took off their packs. They had just purchased crampons before this trip, but had bought the clamp in variety and this was their first time putting them on in the field, let alone on a slope. I helped them tighten and fasten while we waited for some word from Steve. After getting everything on, Steve had crossed the other chute and yelled across and down that he was cliffed out and suggested we descend by another 200 feet and cross down below.

The slope below us was steep, steep enough to glissade. I descended a few steps to get below the rock. I called up to Tish and Jeremy and asked how their self arrest skills were, Jeremy shouted back that they had never done it. They descended to where they could see me and I gave them a quick tutorial. Given where we were, how steep it was rather than remove crampons, I opted to slide down, not in full glissade on my butt, but on one leg with dragging my axe tip for direction and speed. I arrived at the bottom of the slope and traversed out of the chute a bit and waited and watched Tish and Jeremy. They appeared to be a bit nervous coming down the slope, and were either avoiding the glissade or were attempting to descend a bit to get a clearer line. As I was waiting, two chutes over from us in the first chute that I had led out across, a huge patch of snow cut loose from high on Cathedral and came roaring over the cliffs and down the chute. My heart started racing and I felt fear. Jeremy and Tish both swore, and I yelled at them : "We need to get down now!"

First Jeremy and then Tisha glissaded down the slope. We made our way across the last chute to the trees and rested for a brief moment. I went through the trees to the edge of the next small ridge to see what lay ahead of us : a much gentler slope and trees, 500 feet to the pass, but 500 feet that looked safe. I sat down in the snow and started taking off my crampons, I felt safe for the first time in an hour. Jeremy waited for Steve to work his way down as Steve slid down the slope and attempted to avoid the cliffs. He later said that he doesn't often fear for his life, but he was worried about making it through the cliffs, and just kept hoping he'd get the 5 more minutes he needed. Steve stopped safely 25 feet above us, and after a rest for food and water we strapped on our snowshoes and made the long, but safe slog, up the hill to Cathedral Pass.

From the pass we followed our tracks back, wandering tiredly down the ridge to Squaw Lake. We paused very briefly for more water and a snack. By this time clouds had blown back in and the sun was a pale hazy disk; a storm was coming. We started down the steep ridge towards the trail head, the melt from trees left some crusty ice over snow which made for an interesting traverse in a couple of places. When we came to the super steep section we had plowed up the day prior we jumped and slid down the powdery hill. Soon we were back into the large Douglass Fir and the hanging moss. I arrived first at the bridge over the Cle Elum River where we paused for the final after group photo. After retrieving the snowmobiles we made our way back down as dusk feel towards the truck. We had to stop a few times and go retrieve Jeremy's sled as it kept overheating from running on the hard packed snow vs. the light powdery stuff, I guess some snowmobiles are snow cooled. We loaded up the truck and drove back to North Bend where I tiredly threw my gear in the car and drove the short 15 minutes home.

Looking back from the warmth and saftey of my office, its easy to arm-charm analyze. The safest thing on the return would have been to descend 500 feet to begin with and cross below in the trees where the slope is much milder. Several other things I'd have done differently is had a more open honest skills assessment of hiking partners I had just met like Tisha and Jeremy. Their experience was stellar for summer trips, route finding and orientation top notch, but no alpine winter experience, not that mine is much more and not that I would knock them for where they were starting from or not have wanted to go with them, but we should have had a skills and conditions discussion before hand. The experience definitely built up within me a healthy sense of reserve and caution for events, elements and unplanned. I didn't like the feeling of being out of a situation I could control, nor am I happy we didn't go lower sooner. I am glad to have returned home safely, and I do look forward to getting out again, though with a bit more control. Adams sounds nice for its safety in comparison.

Roundtrip stats: 27 miles on the snowmobiles, 10 miles on snowshoes with 5300� gain (includes extra 600� drop towards Deep Lake). 7 1/2 hrs up to Peggy�s, 2 1/4 hrs from Peggy�s to 7100�, 5 3/4 hrs from Peggy�s back to TH.

NW Hikers trip report.

Set on www.flickr.com

2008-03-06T18:29:00.000-08:00

Pain Management

Battling Migraines

I am writing this down, for the same reasons people have written stuff down from the beginning of written language, so I don't forget. If I wrote it down on a physical piece of paper, I'd just loose it, this way its out there, but at least in a there I can find it. :)

Stacey gets migraines. This past weekend she could feel one coming on. Here is how it progressed. Saturday I took Miles out with me to I took Miles out the Middle Fork, while Sofi and Kiah went to ask out Christian Rennie to Girls Choice Dance for Kiah's first date just after her 16th birthday. Stac took a phenergran suppository Saturday evening to get rid of nausea, help her sleep and hopefully the pain would subside. Sunday the pain continued and she stayed home from Church, with the headache getting progressively worse. By Sunday evening she was throwing up and the pain had got to a 8 or 9 on a 10 point pain threshold and so we did what we always do : go to the Emergency Room.

The Emergency Room's response is to give her an anti-nausea medicine, usually phenergran suppository or zofran combined with a heavy narcotic like dilaudid or demerol. This numbs the pain and knocks her out, causing her to be very drowsy, sleepy. Unfortunately the narcotics are in such high doses she is out of it for 24-48 hours. We went home Sunday night, but at home the headache came back, she threw up again during the night several times. Monday I stayed home from work, and she made an appointment to go see Dr. William Kinnish her primary care physician. While in his office she ended up throwing up again. Since his office is adjacent to the Emergency Room he sent her back to the ER. I joined Stacey there, where they went through the routine of administering the same medicines along with an IV to hydrate her. After a couple of hours they sent her home, where unfortunately the headache returned as did the nausea, she threw up several times through the night. Tuesday morning she threw up several more times, but the nausea finally stopped and her headache gradually subsided.

Stac has had migraines for over 10 years. She used to get them in California and we traveled to UC Davis to see a neurologist and had the gamut of tests to rule out brain tumors and other causes. He had diagnosed her with tension headaches, which never really seemed identify a cause. When we moved to Seattle she started seeing a neurologist in Seattle, Dr. Sheena Aurora. Stac had a series of migraines last year from March through summer, but hadn't had one since last August. I put calls into Dr. Aurora's nurse triage line all day Tuesday, and got a call back in the late afternoon from the nurse who said she'd have Dr. Aurora call Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning Dr. Aurora called and Stac made an appointment to go see her in the morning, I accompanied her to try to get answers and a better understanding.

Its always nice to meet professionals who are the top in their field. Dr. Keenan was one of these, you could just tell she was top notch and she specialized in headaches. She explained the following :

A migraine is a headache with severity that it interrupts daily life activities. For Stacey at their peak they involve intense pain, throbbing and often nausea. They often correlate with her menstrual cycle. They can be trigged by tension, and or stress. Additional contributing factors can be high blood pressure. Stac's family has a history of high blood pressure, and she has been treated with high blood pressure medication. Migraines are caused by neurological and inflammatory response in nerves in the brain, sometimes called an excitability factor. The problem with narcotics is that they shut off the receptors, they numb, but the headache remains you just don't know it. Not only this but they are just physically numbing, staying in your system for days and they can have rebound properties where the headache and pain rebounds. There is however a drug specifically designed to stop the migraine process : DHE or Dihydroergotamine. There are two methods of intake, intravenously or subcutaneously via an injection. There is also a nasal version known as migranal, though its not as effective in its delivery. There is also a drug called topomax which is a neuro modulator and can decrease the excitability that leads to migraine conditions.

So our plan of attack for headaches going forward is :

Get Stac regular massages to reduce tension
Start Stac on topomax

If she feels a headache coming on

Take a dose of migranal on day one
If they headache continues the next day or blows up to a migraine then she should during office hours call the pain clinic and one of Dr. Aurora's nurses will administer the same day a dose of DHE and something for nausea
Once we have demonstrated the effectiveness of this, Stac can self-administer DHE via an injection at home

So basically the ER is the last resort, only in the case of after office hours and even then we should have them inject DHE not narcotics.

Before we left Dr. Aurora talked about how she had been trying to change the world for 15 years, but had failed to reach primary care physicians. They don't care. Some of this has to do with the fact that headaches are very common ailment in our society and are often overlooked. Migraines are a special form of debilitating headache. Much of physicians apathy is not intentionally, they just have so many other issues to deal with, colds, weight, flu etc. And its so much easier to just write a prescription for a narcotic. However Dr. Aurora has found great effect by leveraging patients educating their employers and health care plans, because individuals with migraines understand their impact and can lobby to employers and health care providers to pay for treatments that prevent. For example she recently spoke at Starbucks to lobby the human resources to have Aetna for individual overrides to pay for botox injections as these have been shown to also prevent migraines. I think I'll try to set something up at Amazon.

It was good to go visit with a real specialist with deep knowledge in her field. I feel like I have much more educated understanding, and we have a plan. And with a plan we can attack the pain and maybe win a battle or two.

2008-02-20T13:54:00.001-08:00

My Morning Commute

Small feats of Endurance of a Middle Aged Man

As I stepped outside, the temperature was surprisingly warm despite the 5:30 
am hour; the full moon hid behind some high spurious clouds. I hitched up my 
pack and started running...

The other day I was reading of Matt Hart's 100 Mile Ultramarathon in the Tetons, and I had this idea pop into my heard that if he could run a 100 miles (and 40,000 vertical feet), surely I could run to work. Such logic is nonsense of course, but I decided I'd give it a go. On Tuesday I schlepped me a change of clean clothing to work and returned home that evening without my pack or laptop. Tuesday evening I laid out my running stuff, threw in my pack a pair of normal shoes, a minor detail I had overlooked the day before and some water and a couple of cliff bars (the nectar and mojo variety).

5:15 am the alarm went off and I got up, brushed my teeth and got dressed. Off we go. I was surprised how right out of the gate, my lower calf's started aching, this has been occurring at work on my street runs during lunch as well, but never bothers me when I run on trails. I have also noticed that this aching is exacerbated when my legs get tired and I shuffle vs. rolling my heel to toe as I run. I have been chalking it up to the difference in how hard the street is vs. the trails, but it could also be that I need a new pair of shoes. I kept on going and after a couple of miles, the aching had faded and I had settled into a comfortable rhythm of breathing and leg moving. For me its all about pacing, not going too fast or burning out, I suppose its the same for the professionals as well only their pacing is much faster. I also find this is one reason why I don't enjoy formal racing with competitors is that in face of competition, I have hard time pacing myself.

I rarely hike/run/bike with music. Its a moot point to make now since I can't find my i-pod, but I generally enjoy the time to think; I enjoy the rhythm of motion and the surroundings. Long distance road running is a bit different, its fairly boring. And after a while its a matter of keeping the mind busy. Given the early hour the road I was on had little traffic and I started off counting the number of cars that passed me on the left as I ran with the traffic. As a car approached me from behind, the headlights made my shadow lengthen out in front of me and then my shadow rapidly passed me as the car passed. The passing automobiles left me with a distinct savoriness, as I could taste the exhaust as they blew by me. I got to where I could distinguish the the piquant of a bus on diesel from the bouquet of early 1980s Ford Panel van. Newer cars had little emissions and almost no discernible sensation. This contrasted with one of the reasons I love running trails of the lowlands; on the trail the abundance of flora inundates you in an oxygen rich environment. You can almost taste the pure clean oxygen which almost overwhelms you.

Approaching the one hour mark I felt great, I was nearing the top of the hill on Newport way, as I started down in to Bellevue the sky began to lighten. By 2 hours and 15 minutes I was onto Mercer Island. I stopped on "the lid" (the grass covered concrete area that is over the freeway) to take my shoes off and re-tie them a bit looser, and take out the tiny rock from my right shoe that had been bugging my big toe for the last 8 miles. By 2 hours and 45 minutes I was on the I-90 bridge. The sunrise was breaking across the sky, and I began to feel the fatigue set into my legs. Now it became a mental effort to not stop, to not walk up the hill, to not walk for 5 minutes, to just keep putting one foot in front of the other. As I approached the ramp up from the water to the Seattle side, I put my head down and just focused on one foot in front of the other. It was now a matter of endurance and mental stamina more than anything else.

Reaching the top of hill near Pac Med I crossed the freeway and ran down through the International District to arrive at work. 3 hours and 9 minutes 16.16 miles. Time to go to work.

Route :

2007-12-25T16:07:00.000-08:00

Griffith 2007 Christmas Letter

Welcome to the Griffith Family Christmas letter for 2007. We continue our tradition of writing in the third person and sending electronic greetings in this holiday season. As always keep sending us your seasons greetings however you compose them, we love hearing from you. This year seems to have flown by, perhaps looking back they always seem to. It was a year of enjoying the great outdoors, (as summed up by our family photo this year), and a year of family gatherings, for weddings, funerals and reunions.

(pardon the formatting, but scroll on down for the rest of the letter)

Family

In January Mark spent a week as a vegetarian, paying off what will hopefully be his last sports bet. Later the family gathered in Boise where my sister Jeni got married, her and Sean increased their family size to seven kids in total and they now drive a M.A.V (Mormon Assault Vehicle) for transport. We continued to have snow storms, even down at our lower elevation and we got out often to play in the snow up in the mountains.

Miles fascination with trains continues; in February we visited the railroad museum in Snoqualmie, Miles loved riding the train out to Snoqualmie Falls and climbing around on all the old trains that were lined up on the tracks.
In March as the snow melted and the spring began thawing we went on several hikes as a family on Cougar Mountain, jumping in mud puddles whenever we could.

For spring break in April we did a family backpacking trip to Shi Shi Beach on the wild coast of Washington, twas a magical time on the ocean. In May for Memorial Day we drove over the North Cascade Highway, seeing the grand mountains with the snow retreating for spring. Stac and the kids finally convinced Mark to get one of those old timey photos taken, despite his reluctance for costumes.

In June we visited Cannon Beach in Oregon, later that month my Grandfather Lindquist passed away and Mark flew to Logan as the family gathered for his funeral on Stac's and Mark's anniversary. Later in June Sofi, Kiah and Mark went on our annual Daddy Daughter camp out to Cooper Lake.

For the Fourth of July weekend we drove to Utah, where we celebrated Stac's parents : Roy and Emilies 50th wedding anniversary. We then drove down to Provo for a family reunion, where we played at Seven Peaks water park and in Provo Canyon. Both Stac and Mark got matching copies of Harry Potter and read the final chapters of the series along with the rest of the world.

In August the family went on a camping trip to Ross Lake, we had to drive 40 miles down a dirt road through Canada, and then boat in 20 miles. We loved the solitude and beauty of the back country lake wilderness. We didn't have much luck catching fish, but we had a great time jumping off the dock and swimming in the lake.

September brought the return of school and a fall with more rain than we wanted, but we did get out picking tons of huckleberries, from which we made jam and still enjoy in pancakes (frozen).

October we visited the Puyallup Fair where we gorged ourselves on fair food, and sadly following her husband, my Grandmother Passed away. The entire family drove down gathering with extended family once more for her funeral. Halloween was a grand time as usual, and we enjoyed getting together with friends and picking pumpkins. Just before October closed Mark went camping with Sofi and Miles. What was to be a rainy event, turned into a snowy trip full of memories that included whining and crying.

In November we stayed in Issaquah for quiet Thanksgiving, we fried up some awesome potato donuts and reveled in the annual Turkey bowl, though the adults lost to the youth.

December brought the first major storm of the season, our neighborhood fared much better than last year, however central Washington was ravaged by floods. Mark and the young men helped with the cleanup in Centralia. And the holidays approach, for our heritage its a Christmas season, where amidst all the consumerism we try to remember why and what we have to be grateful for.

Mark

Mark continued his work with the young men in his church, they went on many outings : winter camp out, biking and camping at Ancient Lakes, Father and Sons camp out and Ross Lake canoeing High Adventure. In the fall Mark got a new calling with the church teaching early morning seminary (Sunday School) to high school kids before school. This means no more beard, shaving regularly for the first time in 15 years and waking up at 4:40 am.

Last year Mark went a 1000 miles under his own steam, this year he attempts to do the same, but this time with no biking, on Christmas Day he has 29 miles to go. In pursuit of his getting out goal, Mark went on countless hikes (ok actually it was around 137) including some memorable longer outings : Guye Peak, Denny Creek carrying Miles, an attempt to climb Mt. Adams. While in Utah he climbed to the top of the Wellsville mountains, which he has dreamed of doing since he was in Jr. High and stared up at them every day walking to school. During their family reunion he hiked the 15 mile Timpanogos loop with his family along the narrow trail to the summit and back. Mark signed up with Summit for Someone to climb Mt. Olympus to benefit inner city children, it was an spectacularly amazing trip, where he witnessed one of the most fantastic sunrises. Superlatives don't do it justice, nor do the pictures. Much thanks to all those that donated to allow Mark to take this amazing journey and help get kids into the outdoors. In September Seth and Mark set out for Mt. Daniel and Cathedral Rock, only to get snowed on, but it made for some amazingly beautiful photos. October was another thru-hike to the Enchantments with Kyle, again in snow but with beautiful blue sky.

Mark continued working at Amazon for the Fulfillment By Amazon team, (see a day in the life)where he works hard and engages in push-up contests. He had the opportunity to travel to Japan and then China, visiting Beijing and climbing the Great Wall was a dream come true after studying Chinese history in university. In November Mark turned 40 this year with a forest fire of candles and his wife gave him a helicopter ride for a present. Middle life has found him in better health than in his 30s, here's to 50!

As the year closed, Mark ran 22 miles on Christmas Eve day only to return to his car to find it had been broken into and his Bible, wallet, cell phone and camera had been stolen. At least he has everything else, but he's bummed that he wont have his camera for a while. Mark is looking forward to a better 2008 and a new camera.

Stac

This is Stacey and once again I am not writing in the 3rd person. I refuse. This year as Mark mentioned above has gone by very fast. It seems that just yesterday we were celebrating New Year's Eve with friends here at the house, eating yummy Chinese fire pot soup. This year I have watched my oldest baby go to High School, be in a play (that I would never have dared to try out for when I was in High school)and start learning to drive. I watched Sofi turn 8 and be baptized by her father and start 3 grade. I've watched (and experienced first hand) Miles run a million miles a minute. He does not stop. He keeps me going, makes me laugh and I relish all the time I have with him before he too goes to school (I have another year and a half with him because of his late birthday).

I continue to be impressed and in awe of Mark's dedication to experience all the beautiful wilderness that surrounds us. I know that he receives peace, serenity and happiness while hiking, running and climbing and that makes me happy. I'm waiting for the kick in the pants that will get me up and doing even a small fraction of what Mark does in a week.

I continue to read all the time. There is never a lull in between what I read. I still knit hats like crazy, especially during the cold months. I've learned to Crochet from my friend Heather and I keep making baby blankets for all the babies that have been born in our ward. Being at Mark's Grandma Lindquist's funeral this past summer made me appreciate my family even more. I still have my parents around. They visit us each Christmas, they came to Sofi's baptism and we see them every summer for two weeks while we visit Utah. We have good health, happy and kind children and at times peace in the home (when the kids aren't fighting,when the house is clean and we are all together eating dinner). Wishing you all the peace and happiness that you deserve this coming year!

Kiah

Kiah is a beautiful mature 15 year old this year, she is finally in high school and happy to be there. Seems that the further she gets in her teenager years the longer it takes her to get ready when we go some place. She is a diligent student, always organized and on top of her homework. (Where she got that from her Mom and Dad always wonder since they were never like that in high school). She has almost completed her Drivers Ed class and has been bugging Mom and Dad to drive at any chance she gets, she won't be able to go solo until she turns 16 next year.

Kiah was involved with the high school musical production of Singing in the Rain. It was a big time commitment and a lot of work, but she loved being on stage and learning her lines and the dances. Kiah really enjoyed being with her cousins this year at our family gatherings. Kiah and Stac went on a mother daughter trip to San Francisco this fall and had a great time reconnecting with the bay area that we left 4 years ago. Next year brings full on driving and dating, so we are sure its going to be an interesting one for both us and Kiah.

Sofi

Sofi is in 3rd grade this year, she is a great little student and everyone in class wrote nice things about her in a class project, describing her as the "best jump roper in the 50 states" and "the nicest person at school". Sofi's got lots of spunk and is cute as a button. She will occasionally humor Dad by going on a hike with him and Miles, but is a bit leery after the snow camp out where she almost led Miles in a mutiny.

She turned 8 this summer and was baptized. She is slowly moving away from dolls into clothes and music. She is quite the snappy dresser and always gets compliments on the outfits she puts together. One of her big wins against Dad this year was convincing him to not steal all her Halloween candy.

Sofi could do crafts 24/7 if she could. The minute she gets home from school she wants to make something or show Stacey what she learned in school that day. She came home before Christmas break and asked us if we knew what "Roy G Biv" was. We said no. She then told us it stands for the colors of the rainbow, Red,Orange,Yellow,Green,Blue,Indigo and Violet. She loves to tell us stuff we can't remember anymore. She on occasion loves her siblings and plays (until someone gets hurt) with Miles really well. She is a strong willed kid, with a bit of an attitude that makes her who she is. Our beautiful,Strong,Curious and Determined child. She is going to be one fun teenager!!!

Miles

Miles turned 4 this year, he is still into trains, especially Thomas the Train who he dressed up as for Halloween and who Miles got to see this year at a special event. He is also really into Transformers, this year his number one present he wanted for Christmas was Bumble Bee transformer. He has declared that he no longer gives kisses to anyone, that phase of his life is over for at least the next 12 years. He is full of a fantastic amount of energy, keeping Mom busy at home. He'll start pre-school in January for which Mom will be grateful. Miles best friend is Maggie Rennie, though they can be quite a handful together, this year at the church Christmas Party while chasing each other around Maggie ended up with big gash in her forehead and 11 stitches.

Miles is always ready and willing to go hiking with his Dad. They went on many hikes together this year, one memorable outing was when Dad skipped work and they went hiking up Denny Creek together, where they "rock climbed", hunted pirate treasure and visited the land of ice and snow. They also went camping in November up to Talapus Lake, where despite the rain they managed to stay dry and have a great time.

Stac and Mark look forward to his continued intensity and excitement for life, and hope we can keep keeping up with him.

As we've looked back, the year has indeed flown by, we look forward to 2008. We hope and pray that your new year finds you well, in good health and good company.

The Griffiths

Mark, Stacey, Kiah, Sofi and Miles