Serpetine Hill 3.26.07

Since I missed last week I was very eagerly anticipating today's climb. I had planned on climbing Cleveland Mt. and Easter Peak (Pt. 5326) via Easter Peak's East Ridge. The plan was to park at the West Fork Miller River Road and walk approximately .25 miles and leave the road. I have read a report that states the going is fairly straightforward. I wanted to reach the Easter/Cleveland saddle and then turn north to summit Cleveland and then retrace my steps to the saddle and then continue South to Easter Peak. When I reached Monroe I knew my day would be in jeopardy. The cloud cover was the nice dark gray shade that denotes some very heavy rain/snow showers. I reached my parking area and was treated to some heavy rainshowers. I continued on the Miller river road just to see how far I could drive. It is possible to drive about two miles past the bridge over the West Fork Miller River. There is a small blowdown that needs to be cut out and there is solid snow beyond it. I returned to my parking spot and waited 20 minutes to see if maybe I would be lucky and only having a passing shower. When the rain only increased I made my way back to Hy 2 hoping to get some cell reception so I could call in for a change of plans. I gave some thought just to return to home but I really needed to stretch my legs. The weather seemed to lighten up so I decided to try for Cleveland the more traditional logging road route. I have been up this road several times and it always seems to be an unpleasant walk. The road has many streams running on the roadbed making for some tricky snow. I found myself having to wind my way up the road doing my best to miss any of the voids in the snow. The joys of spring climbing! I was able to drive about .75 miles on the road and probably could have made it to the end of the first switch back had I pressed the issue. The weather was vastly improved as I made my way up. I didn't switch to snowshoes until around 3000ft. I followed the road until it's end. Here I left the road and climbed steeply trying to reach the Saddle between the closed contour at 4400ft and the ridgeline I hoped to use. After reaching a level bench at around 4100ft I reached my turnaround time. At this point the snow started coming down with some purpose and coupled with some gusty winds made for some fun conditions. I butt glissaded my way back to the road making sure to miss the small trees dotting the slope. I slogged my way back to the car making it back faster than expected allowing me a drive up the Money Creek Road. I was able to circumvent a road closed sign and was stopped by snow at around 1700ft.








Approx 11 miles 3000ft of climb and 6:30 Car to Car

Denny Creek 3.19.07

I had planned this trip during my last week's trip and in retrospect I wish I would have waited. I have a tendency to fixate on a goal and make it fit whether the conditions cooperate or not. I was suprised to see some fellow NWhikers looking for some company on a non holiday Monday. After an endless amount of PMs back and forth I had the pleasure of some company. Yana braved my most irritating companions and my deadset poor trip choice. I was glad to get an early start I was hoping to outrun the incoming weather. I was hoping to use the Denny Creek Trail to try for Low Mt's summit. I knew the avy conditions were going to deteriorate as the day wore on, but my intended off trail route had very little exposure so I felt it would be ok. What I failed to consider was the higher exposure on the actual trail. We were forced to park about a 1.5 miles short of the trailhead because the road hadn't been plowed any further. The weather was actually quite nice to start as we made our way to the trailhead. Once reaching the trailhead there was enough previous foot traffic to make the route finding mostly easy. The first crossing of Denny Creek was only mildly annoying but the second was quite interesting. I was just able to span the drop to the bridge by holding a small tree and hope that my boot would hold on the slippery handrail. Once I was on the bridge deck I had to ""gently persuade"" the dogs down and then help Yana. Getting off the bridge was almost as challenging. Once on safe ground we snowshoed up and were off. I had forgotten how open the area above the creek crossing was. There was some consolidated avalanche debris to cross. I tried to stay in the shelter of the trees as much as possible. Once we neared the basin headwall there was no shelter from the avy slopes and the avalanche debris continued over the edge and dropped to the Creek well below us. After some deliberation I think we both agreed that at the time the danger wasn't great but we both were concerned with having to return later in the day when the danger was sure to be very much increased. Yana suggested trying to summit via Denny Lake, but I wasn't comfortable with being so far off our intended route. I always leave explicit directions with the spousal unit and I do my best not to deviate too much. We back tracked to a more sheltered area and had a short lunch. The crux of the return was again having to cross the bridge. I didn't have too much trouble shot putting the beagle up the 8ft bank but hefting the 100 pound shepard gave me a little more trouble. Thankfully both Yana and I were able to make it up the bank under our own power. We made it back to the car just as the rain started. For once the weather man had it right.








approx 7 miles 900ft of gain and 4 hours car to car.

Dingford Creek, Horseshoe Lake 3.12.09

With the elevated avy conditions I wanted something I was familiar with and was in the cover of trees. I was unsure about the conditions of the Middle Fork Road past the Taylor turn-off. I half expected to be stymied by snow or other road issues. I had a back up plan if I wasn't able to reach the Dingford Creek Trailhead. As it turns out my fears were unfounded and the road was in passable shape. For those of you wondering the gate at Dingford is currently open. I expected the trail to be under snow so I would have to just wing the approach. I was really suprised to find not much snow until where the trail crosses the outflow of Pumpkinseed Lake. There has been quite abit of foot traffic so I was happy that I wouldn't have to break trail. Knowing that I was going to have to cross all 5 branches of Goat Creek I resisted the urge to snowshoe up. I frequently postholed making the going much slower than I had anticipated. Soon I reached the first crossing of Goat Creek which didn't provide any special challenges. Each subsequent crossing grew more difficult. I had to spend much extra time to find areas that were the drop to the creek wasn't too much. I perfected a new skill (Beagle tossing). Because the Beagle couldn't make it up the other side I had to shotput him up the other side. Initially I felt bad for him, but it seemed to me by his reaction that he rather enjoyed his short flights. The summer route to Horseshoe Lake leaves the trail between the 4th and 5th branches and crosses the fifth branch after climbing a short ways. I chose to cross the fifth branch and then start my ascent. The snow had a very heavy sloppy 8 inch top layer with a mostly solid layer underneath. I just picked my way to avoid the very little brush present. The grade is only moderate but with the heavy snow it was taking a toll on me. I managed the lake in 3:45 from the car. This was almost double the time for a summer ascent. I had hoped to continue on to Sorcery Mt. (Just to the East Pt 5273). I decided just to have a quick lunch and then make my return. The way back to the Dingford Creek Trail went very quickly and soon I was back for another round of Beagle tossing. I kept my snowshoes on all the way to Pumpkinseed Creek which kept me from postholing. The balance went easily and soon I was back to the car. For those who need an MFR update the road is great shape until about 4 miles past the Middle Fork bridge. There were some crews working but It didn't impede my progress. The rest of the way to Dingford Creek is the usual MFR bouncefest. The Dingford Parking area is also very muddy which was somewhat aggravating.







Approx 8 miles 2500ft+ of climb 6:30 car to car

Old Pass Hill, Cairn Hill 3.12.07

I have felt like I have fallen short lately by not fully summitting. I wanted to assure myself success. I picked these easy summits to help make up some ground on my quest to climb The Home/Back Court 100. Most of the week I was concerned about the the poor weather and avy conditions. As the week progressed it steadily improved. I managed another early start and I parked at the snow park at the crest of Blewett Pass at just past 0800. I didn't realize it was a snow park area and I didn't have a pass. I decided to chance it. I walked in about .25 mile before noticing that Tanner was once again bleeding. This time it was bleeding quite heavily. Tanner had tore open a scab on one of his front legs. This was something I had to address. I dropped pack and returned to the car. I know that duct tape has at least 1000 uses so I added one to the mix. After wrapping his paw we were off. I had noticed that there was an outbuilding just a short ways in so I reparked the car carefully not to block anything. My thinking was that I was sure to get a ticket if I left my car where it was. I thought by moving it I wouldn't get a ticket but I might get it towed. Finally we were off. The road was mostly packed and soon I made it to my intersection( I went left ). The logging road passes directly under both my summits. This road had very strange snow. The snow had a mostly firm crust but when I would break through I would sink in some very low density snow. It made for some uncomfortable travel. I decided to make my was to Old Pass Hill first (pt 4885 #92 BC100). I took lefts at both intersections and then left the road to climb the last few hundred feet. The weather had improved greatly to this point and now was full on sun. I have to say it felt pretty good to soak up some good rays. The wind on the summit was howling so I retreated to a more sheltered area to enjoy a well deserved lunch. I had given some thought to continuing on the ridge to try for Roughhouse Mt. but with the strong winds and soft snow I wasn't really into the long ridge walk. I retraced my steps back to the road and made my way to my next objective. Soon I was at my jump-off point and was making my way up. I was happy to top out on a more sheltered summit of Cairn Hill(Pt 4745 #97 BC/100) There was 3 large cairns marking the summit with a summit register which I eagerly signed. On the downclimb I angled more to the North to try to cut off a little distance. The road seemed endless and after what seemed an eternity I reached the junction to the main road where the snow was thankfully much quicker. I had to laugh when I checked my watch to find that I had only done 1400ft of climb. It certainly was efficient use of my elevation gain. I thankully found my car without a ticket and hadn't been towed!








Approx 10 miles 1400ft of climb 5:30 car to car