Blog of Niffgurd

2009-05-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

The Early Bird gets The Tooth

Our lives are made up of the path we forge from the opportunities presented to us in our own set of circumstances. Had we never moved to Washington, I doubt whether I'd ever taken up mountaineering or with this weekend dabbled with alpine climbing (be it ever so small). A short 40 minute drive from my house is Snoqualmie Pass and the Alpine Lakes Wilderness of the Mount Baker Snoqualmie Forest. Beautiful trails and lakes are surrounding by majestic granite peaks of the cascade mountain range, the great secret of Seattle. Was there not this opportunistic field of possibilities, my development in the outdoors would have been much slower and required greater effort.

Tucked away up a small narrow valley is Alpental, a ski resort in the winter and a magnificent trail head in the spring, summer and fall. Guye Peak, Snoqualmie Mountain and Snow Lake are all within a few short miles of the parking lot. At the upper end of this valley below the ridge line sits Source Lake, the beginning of mighty South Fork of the Snoqualmie River which carved the canyon that I-90 follows. Above Source Lake is Chair Peak and a beautiful ridge line of peaks that circles back down to Denny Mountain above Alpental itself. In the middle of these is The Tooth which sits above Pineapple Basin. The Tooth is probably many folks in Washington's first alpine climb as it was mine. Proximity to Seattle with an easy approach and a short climb (4 pitches) with great views of the surrounding area make it extremely popular.

Seth and I started out early. We met at the Safeway in North Bend at 5 am and were at the upper parking lot in Alpental and on the trail by 5:45 am. We followed the trodden trail up the middle of the valley staying to the left of the creek. The week prior J.K. had climbed the Tooth with the WAC and we were thankful for the foot path. The snow was firm in good condition and we made good time to the end of the valley and the "big hill" where we turned south-westerly and waded up through the deep snow. Purchase was hard to come by as each step sunk and fell out from underneath me in the snow. Finally frustrated I stepped in the glissade paths of the previous days and made good progress to the top.

At the top of the ridge line is Pineapple Basin which is framed by Chair, Bryant and Hemlock Peaks. At the far end of the Basin is the Tooth and the pointy fang of a gendarme that guards Pineapple Pass. We made good time up the basin, watching our shadows grow as the sun crept over the ridge behind us and to our left. Midway up the basin a cornice broke off atop Bryant and slid down over the rock and came crashing down into the basin below us. Watching in awe I caught it on video, as I just happened to have my camera out. Even had we been lower in the basin the slide petered out well before the climbers path. After the snow settled Seth and I both turned back around and looked at the ridgelines above us scouring for cornices. None to be seen we carried onward and upward. As we approached the final steep slope before Pineapple Pass we looked behind us to see small figures of climbers moving just into the Basin behind us. The early bird gets the Tooth I thought and we hurried up the steep snow over Pineapple Pass where we traversed north around behind the base of the gendarme to the base of the southwest face of The Tooth.

We stashed our snowshoes and Seth's pack and got out my brand new rope ("pretty" was how another team described the bright orange color) and we put on our harnesses and tied in. I carried my pack, stuffing my camera in side with Seth's bag of food. As we were getting ready the first of the party we'd seen down below arrived. They were with the WAC and had a group of 8 students they were taking up. On belay I fed out the rope while Seth led. As he reached the belay position and after taking up rope, yelled down "On Belay" and I yelled up "climbing" and up I went until I reached his position. Where again I belayed and he led. I am sure my form wasn't pretty, that I used my knees in a place or two but I got myself up without Seth having to pull. I had a bit of difficulty removing the anchors Seth had placed in a couple of spots. The second pitch had a particularly stretching move just below the belay where I had to wedge my left foot on a small ledge and reach my right arm up into a large crack to pull myself up. The last pitch with its airy catwalk ledge took some nerve to step across the break in the ledge, but firm cracks for handholds above and the rope assuaged the fear and beating heart.

In a short 60 minutes were were on top the Tooth. Alone on the summit with amazing blue sky, high clouds and stellar views for 360 degrees from Denny Mountain, to Mt Adams, Rainier, Granite Mountain, Glacier Peak, Stuart, Lundin, Red, Thompson, Snoqualmie, Guye and on and on. We unroped and sat on the bare rocks and took in the scenery while eating some food and drink. We spent another 20 minutes taking photos, including the requisite summit shot.

Before anyone else arrived we roped back up and prepared to rappel down. First Seth and then I would follow. This was an interesting process of navigating among those who were coming up. In a few places at belay stations Seth or I waited on climbers ascending so we could freely rappel down. Along the way I met Carlos a friend of Ingunn and JK's. I also met Nadia Hakki a friend of Geroge and Cherry's from their days in the WAC. A small world even up in the mountains.

After reaching the bottom we gathered, stored and loaded all the gear and made our way back to the top of Pineapple Pass. A few short glissades later we were in the flat section of the Pineapple Basin and in the middle of a group of Mountaineers who'd been practicing self arrest on the hillside above. Everyone was swimming in snow with postholes often up to your mid thigh. Seth and I threw on the snowshoes and we stayed on top of the snow and made excellent time, passing all the Mountaineers and beating them back to the top of the ridge above Source Lake. We glissaded down to the valley floor and then stumbled, slipped, fell and postholed our way back to the car. We arrived at 1:45 pm 8 hours after our start. Seth jumped on a con-call and we headed down the pass to the North Bend car swap rendezvous.

Reflections

Some thoughts about the experience looking back. I'm amazed that such an experience is to be had in such a short distance from my home. I'm grateful to Seth for taking me up, for bringing the rack and leading the climb. He's either introduced me to or been with me along most every step of my mountaineering and alpine experience. Its a pleasure being in the mountains with such competent and friendly hands.

As I sat in a belay position below and watched Seth lead the climb, over the past day or so I've had had some thoughts about the process. While by no means is the climbing on The Tooth extremely difficult or long I was still struck by the lessons to be had in climbing. In the context of this story of The Tooth I share them, with apologies for my naivete in terminology and description.

Lead vs. Follow

When rock climbing, the goal is to make your way up a rock face while ensuring you and your partners safety. One leads the climb while the other belays, both wear harness which encircles the legs and the waist. The person in the position of belay has three points of contact. First his/her harness is anchored to a immovable station, Second his/her harness is tied into one end of the rope, and third a belay device is attached to the harness via a locking carabiner. The lead climber also has three points of contacts. First his harness is also tied into the opposite end of the rope. Secondly his rope adjacent to his end is fed through the belay device attached to the partners harness. As the lead climber begins climbing, the belaying partner plays out the rope, but holding it in a locking position. The lead climber's last point of contact is as he climbs he periodically places anchors (protection) into the rock and clips his rope through them. Thus should the lead climber fall, he will not free fall because of his partners belay on the rope and he will only fall as far as he has climbed above the point of his last anchor.

Having said this its important to understand the distinction between the climber that leads and the climber that follows. He who leads truly leads. He begins ascent without protection at all. Confidence and care are required because until that first anchor is placed, a fall is a fall all the way to where he began and there is no safety from the one on belay below. Immediately after placing the anchor (usually just above or level with him) the lead climber stands safe as he is immediately adjacent the anchor and his rope is clipped in. Should he fall at this point he will fall no distance, as the rope is taught between his harness and the anchor point above him. However from this position again the climber must lead out above the anchor point. The further he climbs before placing an anchor the farther he will fall. And while the rope and belay offer protection, the fall will still hurt and each lead out requires an act of will of pushing up and beyond the safety point in search of the next anchor.

I never led on this climb. I only followed. Following is done after the lead climber reaches a belay point, which must be found prior to the length of the rope being reached. From here the lead climber anchors himself via the harness, and pulls up the rope till slack is consumed, then feeds the rope through his own belay device and clips into the carabiner. The climber below begins climbing up and as he does the rope slack is taken up. The climbing follower is never in any real danger of a fall, should he slip the rope is always there to catch him. As he makes his way up the route he removes the anchors placed by the lead clipping them to his harness as he goes. While both climb, one leads and the other follows. And like many of the paths in life, either metaphorical or real, the roles should not be misunderstood, taken for granted or confused. One leads; the other follows.

2009-03-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

Memories of Miles

I got this idea from a lot of the meme's that have been making their rounds on Facebook recently. Things like 25 random things. I thought I'd start keeping track of little stories about my kids, anecdotes of life. Here are some of Miles, I'll keep updating this blog as new ones come along.

Age 5 : Miles said to me the other day : "Dad I'm starting to think that Batman isn't real". This is at the stage of Miles life where his favorite toys are : Transformers, Legos, Bionicles, Batman, Lincoln Logs and Ben 10 Alien Force. He's a boys boy. He had a cute worried tone to his voice. I told him : "Your right Miles, Batman isn't real, but he's still cool and I like him and his movies"
Age 5 : Sometimes its too easy to give into Miles request for another toy from Target because they keep him entertained for so long. He can really go off into his land of imagination and play and play. We've been trying to teach him the "cost" of these and have been making him earn money before he buys a new toy. We've been giving him chores around the house to make money. He has also been collecting all the change that I put on my night stand or he finds in the dryer. Tonight as he took some change to put in his money box he shut the door and said. "Dad give me one second". Then immediately after he shut it he said : "Actually give me two seconds". I knew something was up. So I gave him 5 seconds and then peeked in the door. He was madly stuffing bills into his money box. I went in and we talked.... I found $69 in bills in his box. He'd taken 2 twenties and 3 fives from my wallet. (He had legitimately earned 14 dollars in chores). He immediately started crying and ran and hid in the closet. We talked about how he can't take any bills from anyone else but change is ok. I pocketed 55 dollars and left him with the rest. Little stinker. :)

2009-01-27T13:29:00.000-08:00

Anonymous Ramen

After eating soba for lunch on a wild hair we decided to try the other famous soba shot just around the corner. Unfortunately they were closed for some construction so we headed off for the subway. Along the way Sano asked us if we wanted to try a really good ramen place near Shibuya which was right by the office. Already in the second noodle mood we agreed.

Outside the Shibuya station along a main road we came to a sign for 24 hour ramen and stairway descending into the dark. A quick turn to the right brought us a vending machine where you purchase the basic ramen ticket 720 yen. From there there is a very short 12 foot wide hallway/entrance where people lined up with a turn at one end. The immediate wall had a bunch of paper slips were you can specify additional customizations to your ramen : garlic, hot spice etc. This 12 foot entrance is divided into three equal sections. The middle section has a split door that is closed, behind this is the kitchen area. On the top side of the split door is a white sign with 21 square electric buttons in two lines, 10 on one side and 11 on the other. They represent the left and right narrow hallways on either side of the kitchen that house 10 on one side and 11 booths on the other. Occasionally a square will light up blue and a person will emerge from the hallway and the next person in line will enter.

Patiently you wait in line as one by one the squares light up and the rotation occurs, one full happy ramen customer emerges and another hungry intiate enters with their ticket and paper specifics in hand. Regardless of whether you come alone or in a larger party, only one person enters at a time and when you do your isolated from everything else but your ramen confessional booth. Each booth is literally just that, a small space maybe 3 feet across with a dividing wall separating you and the next booth. In front of this space is a red stool that you sit upon. Directly in front of you is a red cloth and a small 9 inch space where you see the mid sections of people scurry back and forth. Hands appear, place some chopsticks and a small glass on the counter; take your ticket and paper and you wait. A short while later a steaming bowl of ramen is pushed through the open space and a mat is dropped down closing the space and your in solitary ramen confinement. No neighbors. No talking. Just steaming ramen and you. Your primary purpose to eat.

After finishing you stand, a sensor in the stool turns on the blue light outside and the cycle continues. It was a strangely surreal eating experience, one that I enjoyed immensely as the ramen was not only tasty but the delivery was an odd social experience as well.

Full set of photos on Flickr

2008-12-24T14:00:00.000-08:00

Griffith 2008 Christmas Letter

Hard to believe another year has passed since the last one. For some reason I feel slightly melancholy for not sending cards this year, even though I've been sending the electronic version for several years now. Regardless as we wait on Christmas Eve for the turkey to cook and I've had my afternoon nap, I pause to compose the years review. For me the four word summary is : family, outdoors, church and work. More details below, here is the video version of our holiday photo.

Family

In early January Mark started off the new year with a replacement camera for the one stolen last Christmas eve, just in time to travel to Beijing for work. January is a cold cold time to visit Beijing, the food however was fantastic and the highlight was a a trip to the Forbidden City. Back home we also got a new pet a snake! (Though in December while climbing around outside her cage she disappeared in a hole in the built in shelf's and we haven't seen her for two weeks!)

If February the mountains continued to get dumped on with snow and we got a snow storm or two in our lowland hills. Mark went on a fun hike with the kids up over Cougar Mountain, he didn't tell them how far it was shhhh. The family took a long weekend and visited Anacortes and Whidbey Island, our favorite part was visiting the fabulously beautiful Deception Pass where the kids piled rocks on Mark while he took a nap in the sun.

In March the mountains kept getting dumped with snow (we had record snow falls). Mark kept hiking with the kids, they had a very Calvin and Hobbes moment at Rattlesnake Ridge. On the first day of Spring Mark went on a still very winter expedition to Mt. Daniel in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, it was 10 degrees at night and it snowed the entire time. At the end of the month 3 days early, Kiah went on her first date with Christian Rennie to girls choice. Over 40 kids got together for pictures and went to the dance together.

In April Kiah turned sweet 16. Scary! They grow up way too fast. For Spring Break the family headed for Southern Utah. We love the lush all year green of the Pacific Northwest but longed for the dry red rock of the southwest. We visited Zions where Mark took an early morning hike up to Angels Landing and the family went on several great hikes together. We then headed to Bryce where it snowed on us, we then spent a magical afternoon at Goblin Valley. We then drove up to Cache Valley to see Stac's Mom who wasn't feeling well and Mark very cold hike up the Wellsville Mountains. Before we returned home we saw Linda and Doug in Salt Lake, as well as Shari.

In May spring started around the lowlands in Seattle and Mark went diving in the sound where he saw a huge Moray Eel. Mark kept on hiking, sunrise with the Markiewicz's and barefoot on Bandera Mountain. The family had fun celebrating Memorial Day. At the end of May Mark headed out (again) with a bunch of friends try to get to the top of Mt. Adams, they had a great time but didn't make it to the top due to almost getting struck by lightening!

June was a busy month! Things started out with Miles and Mark attending a late rendition of our annual Father and Son's trip out to Ocean Shores. Things were a bit windy, but we still got to some great jumps in. Mark and Stac marked the their 19th anniversary with a nice dinner (more celebrating later). Mark got up stupid early to hike to the top of Snoqualmie Mountain. Stac turned 40(!!!) and Mark threw her a big party with smoked ribs and pork shoulder. Mark had a recruiting event in San Francisco so the family got a wild hair to see old haunts and friends and decided to drive down. Over the weekend we saw Rona and Holli (and little L), the Barentsen's and Mark went to lunch with some old workmates in the city. Mark of course managed to sneak in a run over the dry hills of the East Bay. On the drive home we stopped to visit Stac's good friend Alison. At the end of June (told you it was busy) Mark got a chance to meet up with one of his Flickr heroes : TellyTom and they went on a hike with Miles up Denny Creek, the best part was the sliding down in the snow (video!!!).

In July, Jessie Smith, a good friend from church got married. The family had a grand time celebrating the 4th of July with fireworks and the big swing! And then the vomiting and diarrhea began in earnest for Mark. After two weeks it turns out he had giardia (don't drink the water unfiltered from streams!). Mark finally got some medicine the night before Stac and he headed out to the San Juans to celebrate their 19th anniversary. They had a wonderful relaxing time without the kids (Thanks Megan), and Mark started feeling better in 24 hours as the medicine kicked in. Summer began in earnest with jumping and swimming. At the end of July Mark took a 4 day trek with his brother and good friends through the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Most of this was off trail. They had quite an adventure (and no we didn't almost die!). You can see the best photos from the trip or read the 3 blogs, though the greatest moment had to be bathing in a tarn.

August the snow continued to hang on in the mountains with force. Mark hiked in the middle of the night to watch the Perseid Meteor shower with the Hancocks. We finally got the boat out on the lake. After Kiah's girl's camp the family set out for their summer vacation trip to Utah, where they had a busy time : Went to dinner with Faye and Sharon. Took a trip to Bear Lake. Mark and the kids went on a one night backpacking trip to White Pines Lake with Uncle Doug and Aunt Julie and Lauren and Garret. We went on many hikes. Mark and the kids went canoeing on the Little Bear River. Mark hiked the entire length of the Wellsville Mountains (16 miles and a skunk) from north to south. And finally the family went to Mitchel Zollinger's wedding. On the drive home we reached the brink of insanity and Stac got her sweet revenge. Sofi turned 9 years old! To close out the summer the family went boat camping at Lake Kachess. Mark brought the tent cabin, but left the poles at home! Luckily he was able to rig the tent before it got too dark to see with rope from the boat. Sofi declared the roast corn and the tinfoil dinner the best she'd ever had.

September started out with a labor day hike up over Denny Creek to Alpental. And of course the return of the first day of school. Mark had to travel to Beijing again for a project launch. So Stac and Mark took the opportunity to travel to Beijing together for 12 days with no kids! (Our good friend Amy watched them back home). Mark and Stac lived in Taiwan twice during their first couple of years of marriage and it was fun returning to Asia together. While Mark worked the first half, Stac traveled all over the city with Beth (wife of a workmate). After the project launched Mark took a few days and Stac and he went sightseeing to the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. The food was fantastic though they must have gained 10 lbs. Mark too over 200+ photos but you can see the shorter version in 25 best. Kiah made the Drill Team at school and we started going to football games with regularity. Mark kept hiking (imagine that) and saw a bear eating berries at Granite Mountain. Kiah went to homecoming dance (ahh memories). The family went once again up to Snoqualmie Pass to pick huckleberries. As September faded the Pacific Northwest enjoyed beautiful weather and Mark went for a gorgeous hike up to Maple Pass with his Flickr buddy Greg.

As October came the first snow in the mountains seemed to foretell an early winter, but that was the last snow we'd see until the end of December. Mark took a day off work and he and Stac and Miles spent a day in Paradise on Mt. Rainier. The family had a great time on our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch with the Bratsmans and Sundelins (sans Tore who had to work). Miles and Dad hiked up to see the sunset and the Harvest Moon rise. We continued to enjoy a beautiful fall, we enjoyed more football and Miles and Dad went camping with the Scouts up at Commonwealth Basin. The family had their annual pumpkin carving and photo night. Mark enjoyed the most beautiful sunrise on Snoqualmie Mountain with JK (video). Halloween was great fun and the kids got great hauls of candy.

November the girls went down to Vancouver Wa to host a baby shower for Alison and Miles and Dad did whatever Miles wanted for the day. Miles wanted to go ride a ferry so we rode out to Bremerton. Miles turned 5 on the 6th! Kiah had her first drill performance at Lake Washington High School where they took 3rd. Mark went on a 20 mile hike with the scouts up and over all of the 3 mountains in Issaquah : Cougar, Squak and Tiger. Mark turned 41 (oh joy!) and celebrated by hiking to the top of Mailbox Peak (again). (Don't miss Mark and Kyle singing Happy Birthday to Mark). For Thanksgiving the family traveled to Idaho to Doug and Julies house, we had a great time visiting with them and Danny, Aunt Marcia and Uncle Wayne, Sara and her family and Josh.

In December Kiah had three Drill performances, first at Issaquah High Schools State Championship in Tacoma, at the Shorewood High School and Liberty High School. The best part was when Mark got the times mixed up and they arrived 2 hours early to one. The Santa photos at the Church Christmas Party were fun, you always get at least one screamer. Finally in the middle of December the snow started in the mountains and Mark went snowshoeing with the Markiewicz's back up at Commonwealth Basin. The snow didn't stop falling and we had a record 14 inches of snow in the lowlands that stuck around for 9 days! (That's about 13 inches and 8 days longer than normal). School was canceled early for the holidays and Seattle and the area pretty much shut down for a week. We got a new kitty to replace Oreo who went missing. (Probably Cougar or Coyote :( ) Mark went snowshoeing again in waist deep powder. Stac's parents made the trip up from Utah. Christmas Eve morning Mark and the kids made potato donuts, that evening we had nice dinner with Stac's folks and Mariana and Dashiel. We had a white Christmas as the snow fell all day long. Mark spent 4 hours putting together Miles 693 piece Bionicle and everyone enjoyed naps and a peaceful day. Finally the rain returned and washed away the snow in the lowlands. News Years Eve we spent the morning making dumplings with the Currits and that evening we spent at the Browns with the Ellis's.

Mark

(Here it goes in third person) Mark had a great year. He completed another 1000 miles under his own steam. Along the way he saw so many beautiful places and he took a couple of photos (he posted 3250 on Flickr, though he selected a few favorites). Mark continues to enjoy reading and seeing movies, though he seems to have less time for those activities with all the hiking and his serving in the church. The highlight was the High Alpine Traverse he did with friends. Mark got a new camera right before going to Beijing, the Nikon D90 and he's loved its video feature. He's enjoyed shooting and learning how to edit together movies. Work continues to go well at Amazon, where he still works on the Fulfillment By Amazon program. He got to travel to Beijing twice with work and loved being able to reconnect with China. (He graduated in modern Chinese history). Mark ended the year with not only 1000 miles completed but an amazing record 11 work days of eating Pho in a row. He looks forward to next years adventures with friends and most of all family. Mark is looking forward celebrating his 20th wedding anniversary with Stac in Mexico this June (don't you love frequent flier miles) and is threatening spring break somewhere outdoors (though the family wants Disneyland).

Stacey

This is Stacey(I'm going to speak in the first person, none of this 3rd person stuff). I discovered blogging this year! Mark has been trying to get me to blog for a few years now. His wish came true. I've already written 41 entries in 2008. I've connected with many friends on Facebook that I haven't spoken to in over 20 years. I love Facebook for that reason. There have been many highlights for me this year. Mark has already written about a few of them so I will just list mine(maybe repeats) and why.

Going to Southern Utah. I loved the weather and all the beauty that is in the dessert. Going on hikes with the kids was a lot of fun. They are so adventurous.
I turned 40 and Mark put on a great party at the church. A lot of friends came, we had good food, two yummy cakes and dancing to 80's music.
Going to Orcas Island for our 19th anniversary. Mark had giardia which wasn't great for him. It was a nice relaxing mini trip though and the Ferry ride was amazing. We had perfect weather, a cute little cabin to stay in and no plans whatsoever. We read and lounged. It was great.
Going to Utah in the Summer to see family. We stayed overnight at Bear Lake, played in the water, had raspberry shakes and tots with fry sauce. Going to Mitchell's wedding was another highlight from the Utah trip. Watching Mitchell and Becca dance to the theme of "Twin Peaks" for their first dance together, was great. They are a very cute couple.
Going to China with Mark might have to be the top highlight for me. Being back in Asia with him was so much fun. The two weeks away from the kids was hard at times but I knew they were fine. Seeing the Forbidden City and the Great Wall are two things I will never forget. I will never forget the way I felt while there. Unbelievable is all I can say."
Watching the kids learn and grow is a highlight that's right up there with going to China. They amaze me and make me laugh. When I have time with each one individually, like if we go out to a movie or shopping, is such a treasured moment for me. I don't want to brag but I'm going to. I have a wonderful husband who supports me, 3 kids whom I love and who love me, we have a roof over our heads and Mark has a job. I can't complain about anything. Life is good. I'm excited for this new year and I pray that you and yours have a wonderful 2009, that you are safe and well. Happy New Year!

Kiah

Ahh Sweet Sixteen and in her Junior year at Issaquah High school. This year Kiah tried out and made the high school drill team. This has kept her very busy, going to practice and memorizing her routines. She's often seen in the house paused in front of the fridge going through a drill move. She's enjoyed the aspects of competition and looks forward to going to State competition in 2009. This was a year of firsts for her : first job, first date and since her parents got tired of shuffling her between drill practice, work, school and early morning seminary she got her first car (spoiled!). Kiah does well in school and is such a beautiful mature young woman. She manages her time and life so well, we never have to bug her about doing her homework or getting up at 4:30 am to go to early morning seminary (though Dad does have to wake her up) and she's such a well balanced teen, especially given the way Stac and I rebelled. She's looking forward to turning 17 and summer time already.

Sofi

Sofi is 9 and boy has she got a strong little personality. Mark has a tradition of stealing the kids Halloween candy and taking it to work. He let Sofi pick her 20 favorite pieces and then put the rest in a bag in his pack. The next day when he got to work and went to take out the candy he pulled out a green towel. Sofi had done a switchero in the middle of the night. :) For her birthday party she had a Camp Rock themed party, where she had a pinata and a sleepover with 5 girls. She loves the Jonas brothers and has their poster on her wall. She is our artist in residence, she loves to create and has an amazing imagination. She'll draw for hours and can make an art project out of anything. Sofi is also quite the little cook, she is always ready and willing to help Dad in the kitchen and can make a mean risotto.

Miles

Miles has finally outgrown his love of Thomas the Train, though he can't yet bear to part with them. Now its full on Transformers, Ben 10 Alien Force, and Star Wars, Legos and Bionicles, Spiderman and Batman. His favorite though is Batman and he enjoys dressing up as Batman, though he also has also been known to make Iron Man costumes as well. Miles has a late birthday in November when he turned 5 though many kids cried at the games Mom and Dad picked, (pop the balloons : too loud! and musical chairs : everyone hates getting out). Miles started pre-school at St. Lukes Lutheran church. The teachers were determined that he would participate in art, though Miles just liked playing with the Legos and trucks. Funnily enough Miles came home now thoroughly convinced due to this education that food that falls on the floor is dirty and has germs. Miles still enjoys going on hikes and camping trips with his Dad. Dad still carries Miles on some parts of their hikes, though they've made an agreement that now that he's 5 he has to travel on his own two feet. We'll see how long that lasts.

We had a great 2008 and look forward to 2009! You can find us on the Internets... Mark on Facebook and Mark on Flickr. Stac on Facebook and her blog

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-08T23:08:00.001-08:00

Welcome to the Christmas edition of me writing this down on my blog just for the heck of it.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrapping Paper all the way. Gift bags are only for kid birthday party that you only remember the day of and you buy a present an hour before dropping your child off at the party.

2. Real tree or Artificial?
100$ real. Growing up we always had a fake tree and while I don't think I really cared much as a kid, I love the smell and picking out the tree.

3. When do you put up the tree?
First week of December. Usually on or around the first. This year we were late, we didn't get it up until the 7th.

4. When do you take the tree down?
Sometime around New Years.

5. Do you like eggnog?
I do. But I find have to cut it with milk, otherwise its too thick.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
The two I remember. The year we moved from Golf Street to Krug Park Place, a 3 story turn of the century mansion. We didn't have a lot of money, and all the kids got a single present : ice skates. I remember us kids knowing it was a tight Christmas and us wrapping some of our toys to give to each other. The other is the year later I got a chemistry set and microscope. I remember fondly sitting in my room burning sulfer and looking at the single cell ameoba from the pond.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
Hmm. Probably me for other people. Stac is easy, jewlry from Sundance.

8. Easiest person to buy for?
Miles

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes, more than one but I honestly don't know how many.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Email all the way! Its like asking me whether I write snail mail letters any more? No! I'd never get it done otherwise.

11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
I think it had to be when I was 21 and I got home off my mission after being gone for 2 years right before Christmas and I didn't get a stocking cause my Mom thought I was too old. I was way dissapointed.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
A Christmas Story. "You'll shoot your eye out!"

13. When do you start shopping?
Not till mid Nov through first of December.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
No. Wedding presents yes, but Christmas never.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Pumpkin Pie

16. Lights on the tree?
Absolutely! What else would you put on your tree?

17. Favorite Christmas song?
I love the "oldies", Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole. I grew up on all of those. But I love love love Charlie Brown Christmas.

18.Travel at Christmas or stay home?
When we finally got a home in California. I decided that "home for the holidays' was our house. No more traveling. I wanted our kids to have their own memories and traditions in our own home. Come down our stairs in the morning etc.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's?
On Dasher and Donner. On Cupid and Blitzen.... um nope.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Saar

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
One gift Christmas Eve : PJs and everythign else Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Commercialization

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
Red

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
Just like Thanksgiving. Turkey and all the fixings.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Nothing really I pretty much already have everything I like.

26. Who is most likely to respond to this?
I don't really care. :) I am doing this to record my Christmas thoughts and memories this year.

27. Who is least likely to respond to this?
See #26.

2008-11-11T10:09:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-13T23:11:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-02T22:02:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-25T20:42:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-07-28T23:35:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-28T23:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-27T06:15:00.000-07:00

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

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

2008-04-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

The family headed to Southern Utah for Spring break, we spent time in Zions, Bryce and Goblin Valley State Park. While in Zions I wanted to hike Angels Landing again. I had done it in 2001 when I was just starting hiking and way out of shape. My goal was to see the sunrise from the landing. However the shuttles start running April 1, and the first shuttle isn't until 6:30 am. Sunrise proper is at 7:10 am, but the sky starts lightening around 6:00 so I had to start on the trail by at least 5:45 to get up there in time.

I approached the park rangers to see if I could get special use permit to allow me to drive my car up and park at the trail head, but they denied me saying it was only for extended trips, I tried in vain to explain that I was extending my start to be early but she wouldn't budge. So I dropped by a local bike shop and rented a bike in the evening at 8 when the closed and they said if I had it back by 9 am the next morning when they opened it would cost me the 2 hour rate of $18!

So the next morning I awoke at 4:45 am. At that time of the morning it takes me a while of stumbling around before I am fully awake. I layered up, put on my beanie, gloves and my pack and drove the car down to the canyon junction. There I jumped on the bike with my head lamp lighting a path, I pedaled down the dark tunnel that my lamp cut in the black morning. 3.5 miles later I arrived at the trail head at the Grotto. I chained the bike to the fence and started up the trail around 6 am.

The trail is a work of engineering marvel cut out the cliff side it snakes back up refrigerator canyon before winding back on itself and then straight up the 21 switchbacks cut out of the cliff on the amazing Walters Wiggles. From there its a short hike to Scouts Landing, and you see the last half mile. Angels Landing is a narrow block of sandstone that rises another 500 feet in the air. This block of sandstone is connected to Scouts Landing by a narrow fin of stone, where steps cut across a ridge line that drops off 1500 feet on either side. The trail then ascends up the rocky ridge line of the Angels Landing to the top of the rise. Chains are placed along this entire length to provide some sense of comfort in what can be a vertigo inducing traverse. I wonder how many reach Scouts Landing to not attempt the last half mile, I feel really bad for those with a true fear of heights that go ahead despite the warning signs.

By the time I reached the chains the sky was dawning and I could see fine without the head lamp. A quick but concentrated scramble lead me to the top where I comfortably rested on the broad sandstone cap and waited for the sun to rise. It wasn't as spectacular as I would have liked, but it was wonderful to be all alone with such grand views up and down canyon. The cliff walls of the canyon surrounded me and rose above me another 1500 feet to the top of the canyon rim. I shouted a couple of times to see if I could generate an echo but the expanse was too broad and the void swallowed up my puny voice.

After hanging out for an hour and watching the light cross the cliff tops I headed back down the trail. As I did so I knotted my camera strap and clipped it on my chest. This allowed me to climb down with my hands free, but at key moments of stability be able to easily snap photos of the return. I wanted to viscerally document what it was like to climb down the chained section. After reaching the section just before Scouts Landing I encountered my first hiker coming up. We chatted for a brief moment before he approached the narrow vertigo fin where you get your first good view of the ascent. I paused from my vantage point and watched him contemplate the ascent. He stood for a long time looking up. Not wanting to embarrass him I turned and started down again, leaving him to face his fears alone.

As I returned I saw a father and a daughter ahead of me who had turned around. There were a few chains in an area that had some sloping where if you slipped and fell and tripped and tumbled you'd be in trouble but nothing like the chains above. However they were petrified, the father was holding onto the chains on either side of his daughter with her in the middle. I paused out of sight to give them time to make their way back, once they were down it took me about 5 minutes to travel what had taken them 25.

As I made my way back down the trail to the bike, I passed another 37 people. Glad I got up early and enjoyed the top alone. A hike highly recommended if your ever in Zion National Park.

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

2007-11-23T19:58:00.000-08:00

Potato Donuts

A tradition from my youth, my Grandmother Lindquist would make Potato Donuts. Here is the recipe for future generations.

Mash together

5 medium size potatoes - peeled and boiled

4 tablespoons of butter

1 cup of milk

In a seperate bowl whisk together

3 eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

Mix ingredients with

3 tablespoons of baking powder
4-5 cups of flour

Roll out Donuts

dough will be very gooey

spread flour out on rolling board or table
roll out the gooey dough adding more flour as you go
cut donuts with mason jar ring or cup
deep fry in oil

Donuts and holes can be rolled in sugar
Donuts are better the day after

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2007-11-13T16:14:00.000-08:00

The Magic Accordion File

Conversation overheard in Tullys

I was at a Tully's today sucking on the free wi-fi while working. I sat behind two guys talking over coffee. It was a Real Estate discussion between the Mentor and the Prot�g� based around how to be a successful Real Estate Agent. I am an incessant multi-tasker and I jotted down what I overheard and I thought I'd pass along the free advice, in case any of you are looking for a career change.

Go to Rite Aide and buy a accordion file, organize according to days of the week. Fill with contacts. Review them every day and move them from one day to the next.

Continually following up contacts them until one of 4 things happen :

1) They sell the house
2) They decide not to sell the house and keep it
4) They list the house with you
5) They list the house with someone else

Always follow up is not a hard fast rule of once a week, depends on the rapport you build with the individual. Its a tightrope not enough to be in their face but not enough for them to be let off the hook

Avoid being always at the point of planning and never at the point of doing

Great days to follow up with people are on Mondays after open house when they are frustrated

offer to do open house : money in the bank!

I am a big fan of taking away objections

The difference between myself and Mike is that Mike wants to "close the sale today and take no prisoners". I prefer to "kill them with kindness, and instead of getting 1 transaction because I beat them to death, I get 15 transactions over the next month"

I don't ever lose, I out-last. Its when you quit, you lose.

If you don't have fun, then what the &%*$# is it all about. I work so that I can play. There are people that live to work, I work to live. Most people I find that don't have work life balance don't have passions. I am passionate about fishing. I take my boat 45 miles out to sea and I catch big fish.

I don't ever want you to lie to me, If you lie to me I can't help you

2007-11-04T17:58:00.000-08:00

Dawn Patrol in the Alpine Lakes

This was a record breaking Dawn Patrol, two brand new members, there just aren't that many people who are willing to wake up when its dark and start hiking. One of the main reasons I get up so early is because you always have the trails to yourself, another is so I can get out and get back without missing too much time from my family. Clark Thomson from church and Adam Kramer from work joined me. We met at the Target parking lot at 6 am and headed out for Exit 45 on I-90, Forest Road 9030 and Talapus Lake. Last year during the winter storms the road washed out, they noted at the time it may take upwards of two years to clear and I was worried they wouldn't re-open, but was excited to read it was clear again. I drove the 4 wheel drive, thinking the road repairs might require it, but was happy to see a regular car could make it fine. In fact when we left, there were 10 cars in the parking lot, but we were the first to arrive.

We set off in the dark our headlamps making halos on the trail. Just past the sign marking the border of the Alpine Lake Wilderness, where the sign points right to Talapus Lake, we turned left crossing Talapus Creek and reaching the north shore of the lake just as the light was beginning to brighten the sky. Fog settled around the trees and a light mist was falling. We put away the headlights and began hoping the boulders up the large talus field that spreads out above Talapus Lake. We climbed and scrambled up the rocks following the natural draw of the landscape that followed the outlet of Island Lake. The back of Bandera mountain rose to our left and we arrived at the bowl below the ridge the forms the lip of Island Lake. Here the boulder field steeply raises to the tree line. We followed the creek till things got really steep and then via vegetable belays made our way to the top and down the lake.

The wet drizzly rain continued to fall, adding a moody mystique to the woods. We made our way north from Island Lake towards Rainbow Lake. We came upon the first small tarn and I was taken a back by the strange scene. The tarn appeared to be full of milk, and had a watery reflection. A couple of pokes on the surface confirmed that the water had frozen solid and then an inch or so of water lay on top. Last weeks cold weather resulted in the freezing and the warmer rain had not thawed the frozen mass but lay on top. We made our way to the left of the tarn and tromped through the grass and the snow. We arrived on a ridge looking down on Rainbow Lake, traversing along the edge of the lake we rejoined the trail and headed east climbing up the ridge below Pratt Mountain.

We made quick time along the fairly flat trail heading east toward Olallie Lake. As we walked we passed a group of 7 or 8 who were heading west. Passing the Pratt Lake turn off, we jogged down the trail towards Olallie and passed several other parties. We paused at Talapus for a photo of the lake in the fog and then made our way back to the car. Back at Target we bad Clark farewell and Adam and I went to Chipotle to gorge ourself on yummy burritos. (I had the bowl). Looking at the map later this evening, I wonder if anyone has ever been to Lake Caroline, or Hatchet Lake or Derrick Lake. Always more lakes to explore, and always a future dawn.

Stats : 4 hours and 40 minutes, 8 miles and 2069 feet of elevation gain.

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2007-10-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

Up the Creek with Miles

The weather this week made my boots ache as I sat in my cube and stared at the big puffy clouds rolling by. I decided to play hooky from work on Friday and go hiking with my son. At 10 days shy of 4 years, he's a great little hiker. We set off for Denny Creek. We arrived at the trail head at 9:30 am and set off. Miles knows that hiking is all about some destination and so he kept asking me : "how much further dad", so we set short goals and had many destinations.

First the bridge that crosses the creek
Then the freeway that the trail crosses under
Then another bridge that crosses the creek again at the "bathing rocks"
Then the big rocks (first talus field)
Then the waterfall (Keekwulee) where we paused for a break
Then the log bridge that crosses the creek
Then the top of Hemlock Pass
Then the Lake (Lower Lake Melakwa)
Then the Upper Lake Melakwa where we turned around

Along the way we stopped many times to enjoy the scenery and the experience of a beautiful day out in the mountains. We went "rock climbing" on the big boulders a couple of times. We threw snow balls at each other. We talked about Miles up coming birthday : He wants to invite all his friends, Maggie Rennie, Maggie Noble, McKay (Hancock), Isaac (Chamberlain) and Dane (Hansen). He wants a firetruck birthday cake, that is red and tastes like marshmallows. And he wants a present.

While we were hiking Miles looked at the largely leaveless bushes : "Hey those are huckleberry bushes", I asked him how he knew and he replied : "I just know". Further up the trail in the snow, Miles took my hiking pole and said we were pirates. He marked the a spot on the ground : "X Marks the spot" and then proceeded to dig for the treasure. I convinced him the treasure was at the Lake. When we arrived at Lake Melakwa Miles was asleep on my shoulders, he'd had a 3 and 11/12th's year old breakdown before the top of Hemlock Pass and I carried him up and over and along the ridge line to the Lake. Waking up to the several inches of snow that covered the ground, Miles declared : "Its the lake of ice and snow". Indeed a thin layer of ice was formed on the lakes surface. We had a grand time throwing rocks into the lake, breaking them through the ice and watching the spout of water shoot up through the entry hole.

We traversed around the edge of Lake Melakwa to view the upper Lake Melakwa that sits below Kaleetan Peak and Melakwa Pass. The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining with a crisp fall air. Most of the leaves had already fallen, but a few hung to the trees and their color still lasted on the trail. When I pointed to the top of the pass where I'd hiked with Kyle, Miles declared "No!", as in I am not climbing any higher. I assured him we had reached our turn around point for the day. Some day we'll make the traverse, but for that we'll probably have to wait till he is at least 6. :) Another great day in the mountains, made all the better by taking it slow with my son.

Stats (though it hardly matters) : 7 hours on the trail, 7.8 miles, 2400 feet of elevation gain.

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2007-10-20T17:27:00.000-07:00

Snowbound Camping

You remember Dad that time when you took us camping and it snowed and you didn't bring our snow clothes....

Time will tell how that remembrance will end for my children, I'll do my best to stake out my claim to the memory. :)

I am nothing if not a little stubborn, especially when it comes to taking my kids out doors. Because I have been hiking with Miles since he was 7 weeks old he is always excited to go out on the trail with me, Sofi and Kiah can take a bit more convincing. Stacey and Kiah were in San Francisco for a girls weekend and I was home with Miles and Sofi. Since I was working from home on Friday watching them I thought we'd go camping that weekend after Sofi got out of school. I had read the forecast and it was a mix of rain, and depending on the forecast snow was predicted for Snoqualmie Pass, though I had heard snow level and 5000 feet. So I grabbed my monster Jansport Whittaker pack stuffed it full of all the gear and I packed Miles and Sofi their packs, which only had their sleeping pads and their sleeping bag. I brought both of them raincoats and fleece shells. Their bottom layers were cotton pants and low cut hiking boots and socks.

When we arrived at North Bend exit 34 it was pouring down rain and I actually pulled off the exit and I debated turning around. But I was bound and determined we were going anyway and we'd have an adventure. By the time we reached the pass snow was sticking to the tree tops, though not the road. We pulled off of exit 54 and headed up on the logging roads to the Mount Margaret trail head. When we pulled into the parking lot it was snowing and there was an inch and a half accumulated on the road.

Apparently I hadn't take the snow part of the forecast seriously enough. However since I was on a mission for an adventure we loaded up anyway. Miles and Sofi were excited about the snow and we headed off up the logging road to where the "trail" takes off on another blocked logging road. They were having a great time bounding from tree to tree eating snow off the leaves. Given that the leaves had not completely fallen yet there were several places where the snow laden slide alder draped almost completely over road and I had to knock the snow off so we could pass through. Soon the logging road switched to a steeper path that switched back and forth up the hillside that had been logged years before.

Sofi and Miles began asking me how much further, after several "10 more minutes" we could finally see the ridge line where the logging stopped and the old growth began. I pointed out our objective and encouraged them, just a little bit more. This entire time the snow had continued falling, and it was a wet snow and their raincoats were getting a bit saturated and it was around 6 inches deep. The steepness of the trail was beginning to take its tole on their short legs and they were starting to get a bit wet and cold. Miles finally had it, threw his pack down and began crying that he wanted to go home. I had been carrying his pack for a while, as well as Sofi's and I shifted them to the top and on back of my pack. I picked Miles up, now sobbing uncontrollably that he was cold, shoving each foot and leg through my packs straps and locked my hands in front of me, so he sat upon them and put his arms around my neck. Slowly I began the step plod up the trail. As I did so, I noticed that in the hustle and bustle of getting out of the car, even though I had told him to put his coat on first and then his raincoat, he had only slipped on his raincoat over his long sleeve t-shirt, no wonder the poor kid was cold.

The snow now really started falling hard, and Sofi started complaining in full earnest. "How much farther Dad". "I hate this hike!" "I want to go home!". Miles would join her in their chorus of wanting turn around and go back home. Encouraging them, I kept pointing out how close the old growth tree line was. Finally we reached the portion of the ridge where the old Doug Firs grew, and we got a bit of relief from the falling snow as the heavy canopy closed over head. However the trail at this point was still not flat but continued climbing through the trees. Sofi was furious that we were in the trees and we were still not stopping and there was no where to camp. Both of them strongly cried (which much whining and tears) that they wanted to go home and that they were cold. We had gone about a mile and a half and were less than a tenth of a mile from a camping spot. I knew that the quickest way to get them warm was to find a campsite and get them out of the snow, their wet clothes and into a sleeping bag. Each switch back we came to Sofi insisted we camp there, I urged them on promising we were almost there. Finally we arrived to a flat place along the ridge where we could pitch our tent without rolling down the slope. I set Miles down and placed him and Sofi next to a tree, and in the falling snow I threw up the tent. My hands were numb with cold by the time I got the poles up and the fly snapped on. I grabbed Sofi and Miles and put them into the tent, threw in their sleeping bags and pads and got them both out of their wet clothes and into there bags. Within minutes they were warm and toasty and I went back outside to stake out the tent and pile snow around the edges to keep out any wind.

Back inside we had quite a bit of space and in the large vestibule I set up the pocket-rocket MSR stove and started boiling water for our MountainHouse Beef Stew. Sofi took this chance to remind me that "You should always be prepared Dad. You should have brought our snow clothes". I said yes I was wrong to not take their snow clothes and I was sorry, but she said she was warm now and glad she had come. Somewhere in the course of preparing the Mountain House Miles became adamant that he didn't like Mountain House and he wouldn't even try a bit. No amount of reason and logic would budge him :

Miles : "I don't like Mountain House"
me : "How do you know you don't like it you have never tried it"
Miles : "I DON"T LIKE IT"
me : "Try a bite, just one bite."
Miles : (screaming) : "I DON'T LIKE MOUNTAIN HOUSE. I WANT BEEF JERKY!"
me: "Try one bite, see its got beef jerky in it"
Miles : (crying and screaming) : "I WANT A SMORE!"
me : "Try one bite and you can have a smore"
Miles : (crying and screaming and hiding his face in his sleeping bag) : "I DON'T LIKE MOUNTAIN HOUSE"

More crying, and screaming. 3 1/2 year olds can be stubborn too.

I gave up and convinced him to eat some trailmix while Sofi and I slurped down the hot, salty yummy beef stew. Afterwards, since I had lost the roasting stick somewhere along the trail, I held a marshmallow in my hand over the stove's flame and browned it and then put it between to graham crackers with a Reeses peanut butter cup. (The very bestest way to have smores).

I then rigged some of the tie down strings between the vestibule pole and the tent poles and draped Sofi and Miles wet pants and socks over the stove flame and attempted to dry out their clothes for tomorrow. In the process my OR gloves fell off Sofi's pants and melted in the flames. :(

I told them bedtime stories and as they fell asleep I read my book as the stove finally ran out of gas and I settled in for the night. The next morning Sofi woke early while it was still dark (around 6:30) having to go to the bathroom, she was pretty excited about making yellow snow. :) I read while she snuggled back to sleep and around 7:30 as it got light we got up and started packing up. I slowly got them dressed and had them cram into one sleeping bag to stay warm while I stuffed everything into the pack. I didn't even bother trying to pack their packs, but just stuffed them down inside with everything else. I then had them stand under the same tree, instructing them to stay put and not play in the snow as I didn't want them getting wet before we started down the trail. As I packed up the tent, they of course started tromping through the snow, up the hill side and around through the trees. I regretted not bringing their snow gear again, as it would have been a more more relaxing time for them to be able to play dryly in the winter wonderland all around us.

We made our way down the trail, back through the switch backs and the logged forest. This time the journey went pretty quickly and no one complained in the slightest, though when Sofi and Miles saw the car they both let out a shout of happiness. I had been promising them that morning that we'd stop for hot chocolate at the drive up coffee stand at Snoqualmie Pass and we raced to the car, the first one there got hot chocolate first.

When we got in the car Sofi was whining about her feet being cold. Ten minutes later as we drove down the freeway sipping our hot chocalte she was complaining she was too hot. Life is full of extremes, we are often in end of one or the other and appreciative of neither. I had been stubborn about getting out, I had not taken the forecast to heart and hadn't really been prepared with the proper clothing. But no one lost any digits to frost bite and as we neared home Sofi said : "Thank you Daddy for taking us, I had a lot of fun". Hopefully those are the memories that stick. :)

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