White Pine Wanderings 5.26.08

was looking forward to a full day in the mountains and with some benign weather I was looking for a big day. I wanted to summit Chiwaukum Mt. 7423'. I had been in the area once on a previous trip I used a distinct NW ridge to summit Chiwaukum 2 7132' and had hoped to continue on to Chiwaukum Mt. I was forced off the ridge by some stout winds so I was eager to clean up my mess. From the outset the day was filled with problems. I hadn't shut the Subaru's door completely and the battery was dead. It took 45 minutes to get enough charge to get the car started. I had mangaged to get out of bed by 0500 so I felt like I might still have enough time to make it back for my evening obligations. I made good time to the Whitepine Road which was in great shape. Today's route was originally going to be different. I parked at a gated spur road at around 2400'. I wanted to use this road for the initial ascent until I could reach the subtle ridge that leads to Chiwaukum 1 6602' I hoped to continue on the McCue Ridge 6935' and then on to Chiwaukum Mt. For some reason I felt like this route that I had no info on wasn't such a good idea. I decided to use my route from my previous attempt instead. I parked at the end of the Whitepine Road and started to pack. I suddenly became quite ill, losing my breakfast in the process. This day was off to very auspicious start. I stayed on the trail for about .25 miles and then left for the steep climb. After 400' I decided that what I needed was a nap and not a long climb. I have been working an absurd amount of hours recently and I starting to feel the effects. I backtracked to the Whitepine Trail and enjoyed the feel of earth under my feet. The melt is in full swing and I was stymied by some heavy stream flow at 3100'. I just bought a new camera so I played around with it for a while and I tried to take a nap without success. I decided to head back to the car. When I reached my original spur road I thought I should at least take a look. I left the pack in the car to make my way up what I thought was a short road. My map shows the road ending at 2900' I was able to walk all the way to 4200'. From there I reached consolidated snow and was able to ascend easily. Now running short on time I was forced to turn back. I cut some switchbacks on the way down. For my next jaunt up this road I will leave the road at 3400' instead of staying on the road. I was worried about the drive home because of the holiday traffic. Not wanting to get stuck on HY 2 I drove to Leavenworth and back home on I-90 which turned out to be just as bad. As I finally broke free from traffic I was blasted with some intense thunderstorms. I managed to make it home only 30 minutes late. I saw a nice young black bear just after cresting Steven's pass. I saw the same bear on the news tonight. I had to laugh as I watched a man filming the bear from quite close. Looking at his wife's concern from 25 yards behind him was quite memorable.




Approx 10 miles 2500' 5:30 car to car

Mary's Peak, Judy's Peak 5.13.08

My original intent was to do something off of the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie but when there was a steady rain on Sunday I knew a change of plans was in order. I always to head to Teanway when the weather is iffy and this was the perfect choice for this day. I picked up Nick and David at 0600 in Issaquah with a slight drizzle. By the time we crested Snoqualmie Pass there wasn't a cloud to be seen. I was able to drive further on the road than I was expecting. I pushed through a few small snow patches and pushed my luck through some larger ones before deciding that was enough tempting fate. I backtracked and parked near a bridge crossing the North Fork of the Teanaway. I eagerly applied sunscreen liberally. When I let the dogs out of the car they were off before I had a chance to leash them. The beagle crossed the river on the bridge and was off. I finished packing up and followed across the bridge yelling for him. With the rushing water I could not hear him and I was sure he couldn't hear me. I waited a while before deciding to get moving. I expected he would return to the car and wait for our return.




The goal was for a summit of Iron and Genes Peak via the Beverly Creek trail. The snow was rock hard so the long road walk to the summer traihead went quickly. Once we over the summer trail it traverses along the creek for .25 mile. I found this traverse to very unpleasant. It was very icy with a substantial drop to the rushing creek below. I broke out the ice axe and went very slowly. We crossed the creek and I decided that a change in plans were in order. I really didn't want to keep along the creek so we recrossed the creek near the Earl Peak trail. Instead of ascending the basin via the trail I had us climb the defined ridge heading North. The snow coverage was patchy but mostly consistent but was firm and very stable. We crested the ridge and lounged soaking up the warm sun and enjoying a bite to eat. Now on the ridge our route was plainly in front of us. Judy's Peak looked a little imposing but we had no problems topping out. Once on top of Judy's I wanted Mary's further along the ridge. Again we had no problems except for an occaional full body posthole. Since I had already climbed Bean Peak I had no desire to continue on the ridge so we contemplated our descent route. I really didn't want to retrace our steep ascent route and the basin below was begging for some bootprints. We all had a wonderful short but steep glissade to the basin below. I really enjoyed meandering through the basin.

Soon we were back for the most unpleasant traverse. The conditons had softened making it even more tedious. I was very thankful to all have passed without incident. The snow on the road had softened considerably making it little slower than our ascent. Soon we were back at the Subaru. The Beagle however was not.





I spent some time calling and searching to no avail. Not wanting to keep my partners and made the long drive home. When I told my wife about the lost dog I had half expected her to be happy. Beagles are not the easiest dog to own and with 2 small children can make for some tense moment. She wanted to go back and see if we could find him. We packed up the kids and were off for a "family adventure". I expected to see Baxter running down I-90 on the way. After nearly an hour of searching we had no luck. I think someone probably picked him up. Since he is microchipped I am still hopeful for a reuniting of my most annoying pet. I passed all my info to every agency I could think of so now we wait. For those of you that follow my escapades I am sure knew losing the Beagle was inevitable. If it wasn't for the loss of my pet it was one of my most enjoyable days in the mountains ever.



Approx 11 miles 4100' of climb 7:15 car to car

Rasberry Mt (Colorado) 5.8.08

I had an afternoon open for some climbing with no shortage of destinations. I am on vacation in Colorado Springs so you don't have to go too far to find some lofty peaks worthy of climbing. When I arrived on Thursday there was 4 inches of fresh snow and the next day the wind was blowing quite strongly. I had done some research using SummitPost.com which is a great resource for climbs in an unfamiliar area. I wanted to do something over 10K but I was leery to doing anything much higher because I didn't have all my gear. So after much deliberation Raspberry it was. It was about an hour drive and the weather was much improved with some hazy sun and benign winds. I had no problem finding the trailhead with the great trip reports I had read. I layered up but for the first time in a long time I only wore shorts. The trail is an old road and there was only patchy snow and the grade is not steep at all. Despite the lack of steepness my heart was racing trying to get enough oxygen. I stayed on the road that deteriorates more into a trail and traverses the North side of the peak. I reached the summit rocks and had to poke around for a short while before I found a way up the last bit of rockwork. The views from the top were nice especially the back side of Pikes Peak which I had climbed in an earlier visit to the Springs. On the descent I mixed it up by following a faint trail that I spied on my way up. The trail spit me out on a road that I followed for a short way until it split into 3. I was starting to wonder if my sidetrack was a good idea when the the middle road that I had chosen dead ended in someone's house. I noticed the power lines to the house went in the direction I needed to go. I descended the open forest following the power lines until I reached the bottom of the gully. I realized that the gully went straight to the car. I shaved nearly a mile with my shortcut.




Approx 5miles 1500' of climb and 2:10 car to car