Hopeful Wanderings

The journey of one couple from debt to freedom

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This past Saturday, while Jen was taking her motorcycle course, I continued our weekend habit of peak-bagging with the ascent of Mt McCauland near Valhalla lake. 3.5 miles and 2,000 ft of elevation later, we arrived at the top to a grand view of the lake, set amidst the wide range of the cascades.

On our way home, a new (to me) tradition was born - a stop at Vick’s burger & shake shack, to recover the lost calories from the hike and ‘pre-dinner’ before we made the drive home.

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I had to miss Saturday hiking adventures because I was taking a motorcycle driving course, so I decided to go for a solo hike on Friday. Still craving summits, I set my course for a well maintained trail to a peak - Jolly Mountain: 12 mi round trip and 3800 ft gain.

Though alone, the whispering and rustling of wood grouse, the occasional call of a crow, and the constant clatter of the crickets kept me company. It was a great hike with amazing views but definitely would have been better with Justin and friends.

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Having failed to accomplish the hardest scramble in the book, and happily breezing through the easiest - we set ourselves to attempt something in the middle: Hemlock peak. We started with the hike to Melakwa lake, where we stopped for lunch. We then set off looking for the trail to Hemlock and Bryant peaks, which we had missed on our way up. The trail book mentioned some route finding might be necessary, and indeed it was. We followed our map and compass along a ridge line towards the gully meant to take us to the saddle between the peaks in our sights, and then scrambled up the gully for some time before seeing an old trail marker. We made it to the ridge of the saddle and determined to go for Hemlock peak, as the alternate route looked to be a pretty steep scree shoot. Turns out we chose what was a pretty steep lose dirt route quite closer to the cliff face than Justin preferred. After the (now patterned) freak out on loose dirt in a precarious position on a mountainside, we reached the top and had a rest, a snack, and read a psalm or two before our return. During our descent in the rock gully, we chose to continue downward noticing that the creekbed was to meet up with the trail rather than bushwacking our way back. And while the rocks did lead us back to the trail, it wasn't without adventurous turns where a waterfall and a few steep drop-offs led Jen to kissing the trail when we finally connected.

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Our next weekend adventure was to Alta mountain, another peak in the Central Cascades. We hiked first to Rachel lake, to find a good many folks camping, swimming, and enjoying the cold water on a hot Saturday. We stopped for lunch to take it in, and then continued to climb up.

From the 360 degree view at the summit, our discussion was mostly about nearby peaks and trails for future weekends. Alta proved to be a greatly enjoyable day - still quite a climb of ~4,000ft and a round trip distance of 13 miles - but still rated as a “1″ on the Scramble difficulty, a nice reprieve from the prior weekend’s “5″ rating for the Brothers.

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With Friday’s warmup complete and celebrated around the campfire, we took our rest and woke Saturday ready to embark on our primary weekend goal: The Brothers.

We couldn’t have asked for a better day to make our attempt - amazingly clear sky, such that we could see not only Mt. Rainier, but Mt. Adams and Mt. Saint Helens as well. From ~6,000 feet, we could see Seattle’s downtown on the puget sound, looking like a small anthill when sharing the horizon with Rainier, Adams, the Cascades and St Helens.

About a half mile and under 1000 feet from the summit, we paused for lunch and to allow a large group to descend past us safely. As they passed, they told us of the remaining trail and conditions - which included an earlier rock slide that left their leader’s helmet dented and the rest of the group sheepish. In considering their reports along with the time and the limited water, we made the wise, albeit somewhat disappointing, decision to turn around.

Avid readers of our blog and friends who have heard the story too many times may recall a similar post last year, when we initially attempted The Brothers. This was our second attempt, having made it farther than last time, but again stopping short of the peak. While we’re not planning to make it an annual event, we are indeed hoping that the third time will be the charm!

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Another weekend, another adventure! We set off for a weekend trip to the Olympic peninsula early on Friday, in order to setup and reserve space for friends to join us later in the day. Having accomplished such, we set off for a "small warmup hike" which ended up as a fairly epic 8-mile, 3500-ft elevation journey.

We climbed past small streams and waterfalls, huge moss covered boulders, and went up and up as the clouds rolled around us. We arrived at a grassy patch around the Pond of the False Prophet, which was brimming with tadpoles. Another half mile and 500 feet elevation and we arrived at our destination, the Lake of the Angels, just as a family of mountain goats moved up the eastern edge. On our way down, the clouds broke up enough for us to grab sweeping views of the mountains to our south and the valley between.

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While at REI, Jen impulse bought a book titled "Washington Scrambles" and soon convinced friends new and old to start racking up peaks. Our group met up at Snoqualmie pass and determined a route for not one, but two, mountaintops for the day. We followed a fairly well maintained trail to Silver peak and celebrated our accomplishment with fresh produce (a pleasant treat available for day hikes). We set off to accomplish the next peak and did a bit of trail finding (which is a better name for trail losing), and followed a loose steep "path" up to Tinkham peak and prayed for a better way down. At the top, we marveled at Mirror lake and spotted a maintained trail down the other side.

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The next hike we tackled we went with our friends, Amy & Conrad. We set our sights on an Alpine Lake named Margaret.

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Summer in Seattle usually starts after the 4th of July, but we didn't want to wait on our long weekend. Saturday we warmed up with a family hike around Cougar mountain, with the plan to summit Snoqualmie mountain on Monday. As we ascended higher and higher the clouds gathered around the peak such that when we reached the top - we had a 360 degree view of the mist. The atmosphere at the peak didn't rain on our plans, but rather whet our appetite for scrambling more peaks around the central cascades.

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Arizona Plan C - abandoning our backpacking plans, we hiked out a shortcut through a Girl Scout camp. We slept under the stars near Roosevelt lake which enabled us to get an early start the next day. We rose at dawn to beat the heat and hiked to the top of Browns peak, the northernmost peak of the iconic Arizona "Four peaks." We hiked to the base of the peak to find a half mile scree shoot, which required a bit more technical rock climbing and fortitude than we were expecting. Our reward was a 360 degree view of northeastern Arizona, including a forest fire with a volcano-like plume.

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Immediately following our Memorial Day weekend in the San Juans, we flew down to 100+ degrees Arizona. Our original hiking plans fell through so went to plan B, a 30 mile backpacking route through the pine valley in the Tonto national forest. We stopped and bought a map at the ranger station, where we were told about scarcity of water - so we decided to carry 3 days worth of water each (2.5 gallons, 25 lbs extra). After the first day of 8 miles in the heat, we decided that an alternate plan would be more enjoyable. So we left the pine valley, stopping at the tonto natural bridge on our way to the next adventure.

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Memorial Day weekend a handful of friends shared a wonderful time of hiking, meals, and rest on Orcas Island in the San Juans. We took a long motorcycle ride before the ferry to enjoy a beautiful day (and again on the way back). We did a few hikes - with some awesome views of the north cascades including Mt. Baker, the islands, and a peak into Canada. At the farmhouse that we rented we had shared meals, played games, enjoyed conversation, and even read some short stories in a backyard tree.

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After three warm up days, we summited Mount Baldy - the southernmost peak in the range southwest of Cle Elum. It was a very steep climb, with snow along the top of the ridge. But we were rewarded with a 360 degree view of the southern cascades - to the southwest was Mt. Rainer; to the east was Mt. Stuart and the enchantments. It was an excellent capstone to the ~30 mile weekend trip, leaving us eager for a busy season ahead.

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Having completed a fairly arduous 10 mile hike the day prior, our third day was meant to be an easier lower-mileage day. That was, of course, the plan before we detoured to an alternate trailhead because of snow, and started hiking to Cooper lake from lower elevation. We started alongside Cooper river enjoying the rushing water running from the lake above. We hiked over and under fallen trees and about halfway found ourselves again in snow. Not to be outdone a second time, we forged ahead and hiked a few miles more over the snow to find the serene cooper lake. We took a longer break to soak in the view and recover from a fall or two before heading back.

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Day 2 of our season opening weekend in Cle Elum was an attempt at Davis peak. It was a decent climb of a few thousand feet over four miles but it wasn't the elevation that proved the biggest challenge. The real difficulty of this hike in April was finding the trail, especially near the false summit. We had crossed paths (literally) with only a few other hikers - all of which equipped with trekking poles and snow shoes - but managed to find our way to the peak's ridge. We didn't make it to the very top - but quite enjoyed the views from the almost top.

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At the end of April, we started at a friend's cabin in Cle Elum, WA. It was a great weekend getaway and beautiful start to the hiking season. Day one we hit an impasse on the road, but proceeded on foot anyway. Toward the end of the day we watched an intense storm create some serious waves on a the small lake.

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About a month ago my team accomplished its primary goal of go-live, so my teammates and I decided it would be worth a celebratory Saturday hike up Camelback mountain. We not only got a parking spot at the trailhead (an achievement in itself) but had been most of the way up by sunrise, and at the top before 7am. We then enjoyed the stroll down the other side, and like good hikers - proceeded immediately to brunch at a favorite spot of mine. Finished the morning with a cigar and continued conversation at Papago park.