After the hike, we stopped at a pub in Battleground for food We all ordered the "Sasquatch burger", which has toasted cheese sandwiches instead of regular buns. It was basically an amazing hike with some amazing people!
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Silver Star Mountain
After the hike, we stopped at a pub in Battleground for food We all ordered the "Sasquatch burger", which has toasted cheese sandwiches instead of regular buns. It was basically an amazing hike with some amazing people!
Sunday, February 4, 2018
Mount Adams
Fresh on the heels of my hike up Mount St. Helens, I chose to tackle Adams the next weekend. Adams is definitely a harder climb than St. Helens for a few reasons.
First, it is a longer hike with more vertical feet to climb. While Helens can be finished in half a day, Adams take a full day to climb for most.
Second, St. Helens is less "technical"... I put that is quotation marks because both climbs are not really considered technical in mountaineering terms. That said, I could get to the top of St. Helens on a ridge of lava rocks barely ever touching the snow. Adams on the other hand was a long steep slog to on nothing but snow, making things like an ice-axe or crampons more necessary.
Third, Adams is quite a bit taller so the weather (and cold) is in a whole different category than St. Helens. Going up at the wrong time and unprepared is more likely to bite you in the butt.
Anyway, I had gear from my planning to hike the PCT that summer, so I packed a bit of food, hopped in the car, and drove to the Trout Lake Ranger Station to get my permit. That is easily done for Adams because it doesn't have a max number of climbers allowed like St. Helens does.
Driving to the trailhead was fine, though the last few miles are on a one-lane road that is pretty terrible! I made it just fine in my Ford Focus but had to drive carefully to avoid bottoming out. I would suggest not taking a Prius up there. Instead, you may want to park down below that road and hike a little farther.
I arrived in the afternoon with the plan to camp halfway up on the "Lunch Counter", which is the name for the big bulge coming out of the south side of the mountain. Once I reached the treeline, the trail was lost in snow but there were other hikers coming down so I pieced out the gist of what direction to go. It was weird and new hiking a "choose your own adventure" path.
On the lunch counter, there are little campsites hidden among the rocks and I found one a bit before sunset, ate, and got comfy in my bivy sack. It was nice to jump into a sack and not worry about a tent and there were no bugs so I could basically cowboy camp in piece.
I awoke early the next morning as the wind started up. I quickly learned that sunrise affects the wind direction and intensity a lot on Adams. I started in the dark and things were mild but as I approached the summit and the sun approached the horizon, the wind really picked up from the West. By the time I got to Pikers Peak, the false south summit of the mountain, the wind was howling, affecting balance and cooling me down a lot every time I stopped moving.
After a short break to warm up behind a rock wall, I headed to the summit. It was unreal. St. Helens felt high but this felt like I was half way to outer space. I could see basically forever in every direction and it reminded me of how small I was!
On the way down, I made a big mistake but it didn't cost me much. Though I was much better dressed, I still was freezing pretty quickly standing atop that mountain and the 30-ish mph winds. So I started my decent around 8:30 or 9:00... and tried to glissade down...
For those who don't know, "glissading" is basically sliding back down the mountain on your butt. It is just long-distance sledding. It is also how most people get hurt on trips like this one. Why? Because people lose control and can't stop... for that reason, it is the official stance of the park service that people should NOT glissade. That said, everyone does it anyway... just not as early as I did it... when the snow is still pretty hard and icy.
Luckily for me, I was able to stop but I bruised my butt up and scratched up my wrists when I was grabbing for purchase and my gloves got pulled up. Altogether, I felt very lucky to escape as I did. The snowy slope below Pikers Peak is like a mile long and much of it is well over a 45 degree slope... if I had really lost control, I would have tumbled for a LONG time and things could have ended much worse... so don't be stupid like me... wait till lunchtime if you are planning on glissading!
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| Always eat here if you are in Trout Lake! |
Second, St. Helens is less "technical"... I put that is quotation marks because both climbs are not really considered technical in mountaineering terms. That said, I could get to the top of St. Helens on a ridge of lava rocks barely ever touching the snow. Adams on the other hand was a long steep slog to on nothing but snow, making things like an ice-axe or crampons more necessary.
Third, Adams is quite a bit taller so the weather (and cold) is in a whole different category than St. Helens. Going up at the wrong time and unprepared is more likely to bite you in the butt.
Anyway, I had gear from my planning to hike the PCT that summer, so I packed a bit of food, hopped in the car, and drove to the Trout Lake Ranger Station to get my permit. That is easily done for Adams because it doesn't have a max number of climbers allowed like St. Helens does.
Driving to the trailhead was fine, though the last few miles are on a one-lane road that is pretty terrible! I made it just fine in my Ford Focus but had to drive carefully to avoid bottoming out. I would suggest not taking a Prius up there. Instead, you may want to park down below that road and hike a little farther.
I arrived in the afternoon with the plan to camp halfway up on the "Lunch Counter", which is the name for the big bulge coming out of the south side of the mountain. Once I reached the treeline, the trail was lost in snow but there were other hikers coming down so I pieced out the gist of what direction to go. It was weird and new hiking a "choose your own adventure" path.
On the lunch counter, there are little campsites hidden among the rocks and I found one a bit before sunset, ate, and got comfy in my bivy sack. It was nice to jump into a sack and not worry about a tent and there were no bugs so I could basically cowboy camp in piece.
I awoke early the next morning as the wind started up. I quickly learned that sunrise affects the wind direction and intensity a lot on Adams. I started in the dark and things were mild but as I approached the summit and the sun approached the horizon, the wind really picked up from the West. By the time I got to Pikers Peak, the false south summit of the mountain, the wind was howling, affecting balance and cooling me down a lot every time I stopped moving.
After a short break to warm up behind a rock wall, I headed to the summit. It was unreal. St. Helens felt high but this felt like I was half way to outer space. I could see basically forever in every direction and it reminded me of how small I was!
On the way down, I made a big mistake but it didn't cost me much. Though I was much better dressed, I still was freezing pretty quickly standing atop that mountain and the 30-ish mph winds. So I started my decent around 8:30 or 9:00... and tried to glissade down...
For those who don't know, "glissading" is basically sliding back down the mountain on your butt. It is just long-distance sledding. It is also how most people get hurt on trips like this one. Why? Because people lose control and can't stop... for that reason, it is the official stance of the park service that people should NOT glissade. That said, everyone does it anyway... just not as early as I did it... when the snow is still pretty hard and icy.
Luckily for me, I was able to stop but I bruised my butt up and scratched up my wrists when I was grabbing for purchase and my gloves got pulled up. Altogether, I felt very lucky to escape as I did. The snowy slope below Pikers Peak is like a mile long and much of it is well over a 45 degree slope... if I had really lost control, I would have tumbled for a LONG time and things could have ended much worse... so don't be stupid like me... wait till lunchtime if you are planning on glissading!
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