Anderson Lake 4.26.10

Late last week the forecast for Monday looked to be stellar so I had planned for a longer outing. After a wonderful annual fishing derby event on Saturday and a day to recoup I was excited to head out. The weather was warm when I woke up so I decided to stick with my original plan. I had hoped to add a partner to share the day with but I was without any luck. I was happy to see the Middle Fork Road had recently been graded to help to keep my teeth rattling out of my head while I made my way to the Taylor River Parking area. I was hoping to see the gate open for the rest of the MFR but no such luck. The weather was much cooler than when I left my house so my aspirations didn't feel as rosy. I have many fond memories of the Taylor River Road in my youth and it has been several years since I have been on it. I was surprised at the condition it was like a super highway much better than the last time I was there. I named the bridge of Marten creek the 45 minute bridge since it always seemed to take me 45 minutes to get there. I was dismayed that I arrived after 51 minutes giving me for the first time proof I am slowing in my old age. Not to let that fact dismay me I walked 150 or so feet, just past the pair of jeans hanging in the tree and headed up. There was at one time a miner's trail that made it's way to Anderson Lake. The initial portion was full of blowdowns but since it wasn't steep they didn't really impede my progress. I was happy because my legs felt better than they have felt in a long time as I blazed the 2400' of climb to Anderson Lake. I was able to follow the old trail for long periods of time and the brush was very minimal. I hit snow around 3600' and shortly thereafter started a rising traverse to the lake. I resisted putting on the snowshoes, although I am not sure why. Once at the lake I could hear the wind howling above me and the leading edge of the rain was coming. I had hoped to climb to the East and run the ridge to Morpheous. I figured I had 3 hours up and back which would have put me home before my expected time. However I knew I wouldn't be able to outrun the rain. I had some qualms of making the long descent back to the Taylor River Road. With everything wet it would have changed the complexion of the descent. I had this intense feeling I was a long ways away from anything. I reluctantly decided to put on the snowshoes and head down. If I had some company I surely would have been comfortable continuing but it wasn't the case solo. The route down went very quickly thankfully without a tense moment. I stopped for a short lunch at the new bridge over Marten Creek and enjoyed the nice walk back to the car.




Approx 8 miles 3100' of climb 6 hours car to car

Bing Peak 4.15.10

With all the unconsolidated snow in the hills I wasn't looking to climb anything this week. I did hold out hope that someone would summit something this weekend giving some broken trail to follow. When I saw Martin S. trip report for Bing Peak I knew that was the ticket. Using Martin's great directions I easily found my logging spur on the Money Creek Road and parked. The road was overgrown but passable. When Martin was there was snow from the onset and I hoped that that wouldn't have changed making route finding a breeze. But there was very little snow from the onset so when I reached a road junction I headed right instead of left that I should have gone. After leaving the road and pushing through some wet brush for a short ways I started to feel like this wasn't the right way. I retraced my steps and took the proper branch. I was able to see some signs of recent passage so I felt like I was on route. The going weaves through some wonderful old growth and the brush is manageable. I saw some flagging bolstering my confidence that I was still on route. Finally the snow appeared and was deep enough that I could find the previous parties trench. Initially the trench was obscure enough that I made the dogs walk behind me so that it would be easier to see. As I climbed the way became obvious and I just put my head down and plugged away. Around 3700' the route starts a flat traverse to some open slopes and I switced to snowshoes. These open slopes had a foot of new snow covering the trench slowing me some. I was very thankful that someone had punched in the route because there is no way I could have made it solo otherwise. Soon I reentered the trees and the trench was scoured undoubtedly by the previous groups glissade. I dropped pack and took off the snowshoes that I only had on for around 400' of climb. Since the route now was steep and the snow firm I broke out the ice axe. I finally broke out on the ridge and the going slowed to a crawl. Even with the previous track I had a couple portions where I had to scrape the top layer of snow and pack it into a step so I could continue. One particulally bad portion was too much for the Beagle and he remained behind. After going over a few bumps I finally topped out. Even though I had an easy route finding day and the peak is not well known it provided a very good challenge and some sweet satisfaction. Thanks Martin for doing the grunt work allowing my success




Approx 4 miles 3100' of climb 5:45 car to car

Temple Mt. 4.13.10

While this was most assuredly not the goal for the day it did provide a fun outing. I had an early morning meeting to attend on my day off so that ate up some valuable time. One of my co-workers had shown some interest in joining me so I waited after my meeting for Blane to arrive losing even more time. The weather was a steady downpour so I had doubted Blane would be in for a long day in the rain. To his credit the weather was never an issue. I had some reports of recent climbing activity in the area and the snow conditions didn't seem like they were going to be very good. I thought it best to once again pirate someone else's hard work. I had heard that a group at tried for Cleveland via the traditional logging road approach so I thought that would be a suitable goal. I was able to drive to the first switchback putting the Subaru's ground clearance to the test. I did a 100 point turn and parked. The rain had stopped enroute and the skies seemed to becoming brighter. We walked the road for around 1.5 miles before switching to snowshoes. The going was easy and we made good time. I grew weary of the road walk so we cut some switchback and actually found good snow conditions in the shelter of the trees. After cutting one switchback we popped out on the road to find no trench. I had assumed previous group had used the road until it's end. I wish I would have continued on the road but I wanted to use as much of the broken trail as I could. We headed left(down) and rejoined the trench. I was amazed that I could barely follow the trench in the trees. After attending the Mariner's game yesterday with my wife and not seeing the kids for the entire day, I started to feel guilty because I knew that I would be back to work and wouldn't see them too much in the next two days. I decided that Temple Mt. would have to do to allow some time with the little ones. I thankfully was able to spend a couple hours of great family time before they went to bed.






Approx 8 miles 1800' of climb 4 hours car to car