Day 1:
Jeff picks up Seth around 8 PM
Drive down
The Tavern
Meet up with Mark
Jeff gets friendly with the natives in the bathroom
Stash the car
Onwards to Aberdeen!
It only takes a few tries to get on the right road…
The Olympic Hotel
Night Clerk is obviously from Aberdeen
Up and showered and on to Denny’s
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So there’s a couple of trip reports to catch up on… Lots of them, actually. Photos from various trips, including my latest hike up below Mount Daniel are out on Flickr. Mark wrote up a good report over here, so that will help out in the meantime…
Also - go get lost reading the lastest issue of the Northwest Mountaineering Journal. They’re up to issue 4 now and it’s chock full of good reads and some slick pics of the area. Super inspiring.
I keep meaning to write something up for this trip. It was really really good - the weather was perfect - we made it.
See for yourself:
4 Days on Mt. Olympus from untickalock and Vimeo.
Staring at that date for Mount Olympus on the calendar has been a pretty good motivator lately to get outside and start moving. This morning I got up pretty early for something I haven’t done in a long long time - a good old-fashioned dawn patrol ascent. The target was the Columbia Gorge’s Dog Mountain, down near the town of Stevenson, before you get to Hood River. A quick 45-minute drive and I was the second car at the trailhead - always a good sign. Didn’t bring much this trip, only 10-15 pounds at the most as I had to be back home to help a neighbor pour concrete at 11. At 6:30 I was heading up the very very steep trail and feeling it pretty quickly. It took a little longer than usuall for me to get my second wind, but once that kicked in I was fine for the rest of the trip.
The trail was in really nice shape, but things became much more interesting once I broke through the trees and hit the high meadows below the summit. Lots of flowers out - I’d missed the full-on bloom of early spring, but what was out was still beautiful. Lots and lots of balsamroot in varying stages of blossom and decay, as well as various red and purple wildflowers I’ll have to try to identify some time. There was a nice view out towards the west, and the tip of Mount Hood was visible just to the south. Adams was also out, but you had to peek through the trees on the north side of the summit.
I took a few shots up top, and then turned on the iPod and headed back down the Augsburger Mountain trail, supposedly a bit longer but less severe way to make the loop back to the cars. I ran it pretty quickly, passing only a few people on the way down, but grinning the whole way down.
Although the end result was a sore body and only a handful of photos to share, my trip to Mt. Adams this last weekend was actually pretty fun. Friday morning I woke up around seven, only having gone to sleep a mere four hours earlier, and immediately jumped back into work. I was staring down the barrel of a pretty tight client deadline, and still had to pack, so I was moving pretty quickly to get away from the computer for the day. Noon rolled around and I was finally able to step back and start loading the pack for that afternoon’s climb.
Garlic Triscuits™? Check.
Hard salami and pepperjack cheese? Check.
Even though my best intentions were to go light and fast, I still managed to pull together around 43 pounds of stuff to schlep on my back.
Mark and Dean showed up around noon and we loaded up into the Subaru and headed over towards the Gorge.
To make a long story short: (I’ll have to come back and write this out when I get a chance)
Quick drive
Hood River pit stop
Country Store pit stop
Gravel roads
Horses
Pushing past the first bit of snow
Busting through snow patches
Still a bit farther from the actual trailhead than hoped for
Hitting the logging roads
The Napoleon Shirt
Snowmobiles
Snowpack
Pretty dang tired
Hitting the treeline
Sunset
Through the rocks
Snowmelt
Up the steep ridge at dusk
Finally there.
Dinner behind the rockwall
Dean and Mark go up
I stay back…
Perfect weather
Long hike down
Etc etc.
There you have it, the world’s worst trip report.