Month: August 2013

I did sneak one mountain adventure in between Gma's memorial service and my working weekend: I volunteered to haul gear for an amazing girls' program that is both science and mountain based.  What is not to like about this program?

A friend of mine, Ginny, who might be considered elderly in some circles, as she is over 70, has for years volunteered with Girls on Ice, which is through the University of Alaska Fairbanks and North Cascades Institute.  Every year Ginny has encouraged women from local alpine clubs to help haul gear in and out for this program.  I finally stepped up last year and volunteered to haul gear down.  It was so much fun to be with other like-minded volunteers, women who love the mountains, science, and art, for an evening camp-out and a day of hiking on the south side of Mt. Baker that I offered to haul gear up to the girls' camp this year.

The girls and their guide and instructors camp at about 6000', at the base of the Easton Glacier on Mt. Baker, for an entire week.  The girls carry up their personal gear and some food but the volunteers carry up the rest of the food and cooking equipment for the week.  A scouting group hauls up climbing gear and other essentials about a week prior to the actual camp departure.

On the day of the gear haul in, Ginny and I carpooled up to the Schreibers Meadow trailhead, where we met the rest of the volunteers and all the girls who would be up on the mountain for a week.  It was a gorgeous day, like many we've had this summer, and not long after we arrived, the gear was divided up.  I carried up an enormous red bag filled with food.  The food was divided in smaller bags and other volunteers carried up two-three bags, whatever fit in their packs.  The red bag of food appeared to only fit in my pack, although Ginny managed to stuff a giant cookpot in her pack.  All of our packs weighed between 40 and 50 lbs, depending on how much personal gear each of us brought for the day.  My personal gear was limited to lunch, a jacket, and a leaky water bladder.

The trail was dry and we easily split off into different groups.  Cece, the mountain guide, has a marvelous pace where you can talk, breathe, and observe the surroundings all at the same time.  She advised us to hurry like turtles.  As in, not very fast.  It was very enjoyable but I did eventually run out of water because of the leaky bag and the time it took to get to camp.

On the way, the group I was in observed a possible bear den under a huge fir tree.  The fir tree bore claw marks from about 20' up all the way to the ground.  We hypothesized that during the winter, the bear would emerge briefly from hibernation, stand on the snow, which is probably about 15' deep and claw the tree to eat the inner bark.  The claw marks are only on the uphill half of the tree trunk.  Then as the snow melted, more bark was available down lower.  Since the snow had melted only very recently, the marks at the ground were fairly recent.

Cece had each of the volunteers and instructors walk with one of the young participants and practice active listening.  It was a great exercise and made the steep-ish part of the Scott Paul Trail go quickly for all of us.  Soon we were at the snow covered meadow with views of Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan.  We ate lunch then the volunteers departed to haul the gear up to camp.  In the meantime Cece reminded the girls that an important part of being a team is taking care of yourself, whether the problem is blisters, hunger, the need to reapply sunscreen, drink water, or simply catch your breath.  It was a good reminder to the volunteers too.

The trail continued past the tree line and over the moraine.  Kelsi, our coordinator, picked a snow-covered track up a gully, which appeared to be the most direct line to camp.  We could see the central Cascade Mountains, including Glacier Peak, Monte Cristo, and other snow-capped peaks. And Mt. Rainier in the distance.  Laughing and talking with all the volunteers, we were up at camp by 3:30 p.m.  We emptied our packs, buried the food bags under rocks to prevent ravens and critters from getting at them, took a group picture and witnessed the first group of girls arriving in camp.  This was a strong group of girls.  Sometimes getting to camp takes all day.  They would have plenty of time to set up, relax, enjoy the afternoon.

The volunteers glissaded and plunge-stepped down to the moraine and picked up the trail again.  I had run out of water at camp so at a stream that had just emerged from under the snowfield, I refilled my water bladder and drank the cold, clear water.  This is not recommended due to the potential for catching a nasty bacteria but I felt reasonably confident the stream was not contaminated under the snowfield.  So far my gut appears normal.

Near the bottom there was one creek crossing that required wading.  We were only a mile out at that point so wet boots were kind of refreshing and amusing for awhile.  By the time we reached the trailhead, the wet boots weren't as much fun but then it didn't matter.  We were back and changed into sandals.  It was a great day with an inspiring group of girls and instructors and volunteers.  I hope to do it again next year.  Here are the pictures.

I'm a little behind again on the trip reports.  A memorial service for Grandma plus the wonderful familial chaos plus a working weekend left no mountain time or even time for recounting.

Two days after the Mt. St. Helens trip, I was back in the mountains with a total different set of girlfriends in an entirely different part of the state for a worthy objective: Hoodoo Peak.  Hoodoo is one of the highest 100 peaks in Washington.  It's 8464' and ranked 59th out of the 100 peaks.

After possibly 150 emails Jenny, Miyabi, Emily, and I agreed to meet at Jenny's house at 0700 Saturday morning.  Miyabi generously drove the giant Pilot to accomodate all 4 of us and our gear.  Not to appear ungrateful, but I simply have to comment on Miyabi's driving speed:  she drives more slowly than me.  She drives more slowly than our absent friend Shannon.  Which is to say, slow.  However, once we were on the windy dirt road out of the Twisp/Carlton area (after a stop at the Winthrop Bakery and a gear store for a forest pass), Miyabi found the gas pedal.  Woohoo!

Two other vehicles were at the trailhead.  It was hot but thankfully not buggy.  The trail is steep and switchbacks up in the beginning then descends a bit later, which is alarming after all the effort put into the ascent.   The trail passes through an old burn and then ascends again into sub-alpine with giant granite boulders.  Along the way we encountered a solo dayhiker who had been to the lake. The route description in Peggy Goldman's book advises following the drainage to Hoodoo Peak after on of the boulder fields.  However, that was confusing so we continued on the trail, knowing it terminated at Libby Lake, which was our camp for the night.

We reached the old cabin as described in the "Summit Routes" book.  A pair of backpackers with old, servicable gear were resting and perhaps pondering their next move.  We didn't discuss their plans.  An obvious trail went to the right of the cabin but we knew the trail to the lake went left.  We decided to go to the lake to set up camp then figure out how to get to Hoodoo.

The lake is stunning as it sits in a rocky circue at about 7400'.  Finding camps is difficult as the ground is very rocky.  We found two sites near each other and away from the lake.  After tents were set up we headed north over the low part of the cirque, descended into a swampy basin then worked our way up to the base of Hoodoo Peak.  Hoodoo Peak is a mound of blocky talus.  The route is a matter of picking one's way through the blocks.  Jenny and Miyabi lead the way while Emily and I were the rear-guard.

At one point Jenny tripped while building a nice cairn and tore an impressive gash in her shin.  Undaunted she continued on to the summit.  Meanwhile I was daunted without having a major wound.  The ascent seemed to take forever with the summit remaining the same distance out of reach in spite of perceived progress.  Emily patiently listened to my philosophizing without offering any scoffing.

And then we were all on the summit!  The views are astounding.  We could see Oval (2007) and Star (rained out) Peaks to the north, the basin that contains Lake Chelan to the west, and Bigelow Peak (2009) to the south.

The route down was easier than I expected and by retracing our route we were back in camp in an hour.  After a very quick, invigorating dunk in the lake, dinner was the usual fare of something dehydrated.  I attempted a lemon pudding dessert but perhaps added too much water.  Or grabbed the packet that requires cooking in the store.  I don't know but my pudding was runny.  I saved it for breakfast with fig newtons and hazelnuts.

After dinner we sat around a small campfire and enjoyed port that Emily had brought.  Twilight lasted a long time, longer than I did which is not unusual.  Conversation was dotted with laughter and an easiness that comes with good companionship.  The lake was still, the cirque aflame in alpenglow, and the stars just beginning to twinkle.

No other hikers came in that night.  It was a fabulously lonely place.  There were no critters, barely any birds.  Breakfast and packing was leisurely, as was the hike out.  We don't know what happened to the pair with vintage gear but we never saw them after the cabin.  A young ambitous man hiked up the trail and asked for some beta on the routes.  We described Hoodoo and told him that the approach to Raven Ridge appeared to be filled with snow.

 Raven Ridge (aka Libby Mountain) is also one of the 100 highest and a neighbor of Hoodoo Peak but time, conditions, and ambition (lack of) prevented us from claiming that peak too. Oh well, Libby Lake is a worthy destination and I wouldn't mind going there again.

Stats: Elevation gain: +4000', Mileage: 10-12 RT (can be done as a day trip but then you'd miss the great lake), TH: Libby Creek, Fun Factor: Awesome!

Here are the pictures.