The first part of our adventure was getting to the trailhead. We encountered snow on the road much earlier than we expected and, after digging the car out of a snowbank, packed our skis on our packs and began walking up to road. Here is Iva sporting her skis!
Soon there was enough snow on the road to ski most of the time, though we had to take many breaks to cross small dry patches. Here B waits his turn to take off his skis. I should note that it was really, really hot skiing up the sunny road in the afternoon sun...
Several miles up the road we caught our first view of Mount Adams, one of the five volcanos in Washington. Our route eventually took up to the base above the mountain, right above the treeline. (We went a long way!)
We eventually found our way to the trailhead and on to the PCT. Here is E crossing a creek. We enjoyed the cool shade of the woods, though soon lost track of the trail.
Having lost track of the trail in the snow, we followed the compass and headed up hill towards the base of the mountain. Being off the trail made crossing creeks a bit more interesting, as E demonstrates below.
We made a base camp high on a ridge, several hundred vertical feet below the treeline in a nice sheltered spot which also had good morning sun exposure.
Sunday morning we woke up and had a wonderful breakfast of steel-cut oats and got ready to head up to the mountain. Here B works in the kitchen, melting water for the day's adventure.
We followed the ridgeline uphill towards the mountain, leaving behind flagging so we would be able to find our campsite on the way down. This turned out to be a very good idea, as it was so warm that the tracks we left on the way up melted out by the time we returned in the afternoon!Crossing over a knoll, we had our first full view of the mountain for the day. (This was also our first snack spot - thanks to Mom for the very welcome energy snacks!)
As we skied further up hill, we entered a series of meadows which were very pleasant to ski through as they provided very nice views of Mount Adams. The trees provided welcome shade during our breaks.
Looking behind us we had views of Mount St. Helens, which is missing its top after the 1980 eruption.
Coming over a small saddle, we caught a view of Mount Rainier to the north (pictured below) and also Mount Hood to the south.
We stopped for lunch at the edge of the treeline at a nice prominatory with views of four volcanos (Hood, Adams, Helens, Rainier). Never had bagels and cheese tasted so fine!
We then spent a couple hours playing around on the vast expanse of small hills which lie at the base of the mountain, just above the tree line. Being so high on the mountain (just above 6000 feet) and out in the open, it was quite windy, which was a nice break from the hot sun to which we had been exposed during the ascent.
Here I am with Adams in the "background".
Here is Iva, who enjoyed making use of her newly-acquired descending skills!
E & B enjoyed "looking down" on Mount Rainier!
Mount Hood, Iva, and Paul:
At this point we turned our skis downhill and returned to camp, collecting our flagging as we went. Dinner was a very welcome soup, which we followed with some "European cafe-style" hot chocolate.Monday we headed down the hill. The snow in the trees was a very tricky combination of icy and slushy, which made the going tough in places. We were very happy to eventually wind up on the road and see this sign.
It was still several miles back down the road to the car. The past two days had been so hot that much of the snow on the road had melted away, which meant that we had to walk the last three miles carrying our skis. It felt great to take off our boots - the enchiladas in Hood River hit the spot as well!
2 comments:
May I add that there was a significant amount of hoof traffic on the road, but no other people after 0.5 miles? Epic trip and many thanks to the Stavrov Planning, Inc!
totally fun!
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