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awilsondc Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2016 Posts: 1323 | TRs | Pics
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Adam and I joined forces on the 4th of July for a little clean up mission on the peaks around Owyhigh Lakes on the sunrise side of Mount Rainier National Park. We met a few minutes after 6 am at an empty Owyhigh Lakes trailhead and hit the trail soon after. The trail to the lakes is an easy 3.5 miles of well graded trail. About an hour in I realized I had dropped my sun glasses which had fallen off my chest strap (stupid place to put them) when I changed layers. I figured it was only about 10 minutes back that I dropped them so Adam volunteered to wait while I went back to look for them. I found them... eventually. It was a weee bit more than 10 minutes back where I dropped them, it was almost back to the trailhead. This little detour cost me 3-4 miles ~1200 ft elevation gain and about an hour and ten minutes. Sorry for the long wait Adam! Soon after we were at the Owhyhigh Lakes and stopped to fill up water.
Water break at Owyhigh Lakes
I got to try my BeFree water filter in the field for the first time, I love how FAST this thing is! Adam showed me how to eat glacier lilies which are pretty good and I mowed down on a good number of them. It was nice to get some greens in my diet while out on the trail. From there we started up Barrier's west ridge, encountering on and off snow the rest of the way up. The route is pretty straight forward and as we got higher views of Double Peak, the Tatoosh Range, and of course Rainier came into view.
Double Peak Governors Ridge Flowers Stevens, Boundary, Unicorn w/ St Helens Rainier
Soon we were on the summit! We had some food, took in the views, and looked down at our next objective which was Buell Peak. It didn't look very impressive from this vantage point, but soon we were on our way enjoying some standing glissading in spurts where it made sense.
Governors Ridge from Barrier's summit Looking back at Barrier's south east ridge Nearing Buell's summit
Buell didn't look like much from a distance, but at least it had some decent views of the Cowlitz Chimneys and Rainier. Kind of a boring summit but I've been on way worse. We didn't linger too long and were soon off to our third peak of the day, Governors Ridge!
Cowlitz Chimneys, lil' T, and Rainier Tatoosh Range Onward to Governor's Ridge
We strategized doing Governor's third, anticipating hard early morning snow on the SE slopes of Barrier / Governors and we hoped it would soften up as the day went on. The plan worked out to perfection. The snow was soft and easy to cross. We scoped out a route up a snow finger which would lead to the summit block and made our way over.
Traversing towards Governors Governors Needle Approaching Governors
The snow finger was a bit hard, but easy to manage. Once off the snow we encountered some unpleasant choss which was probably the crux of the whole trip but no real exposure. Still wouldn't want to fall though. We debated, is this really scrambling? If you define scrambling as class 3 and 4 terrain then no. There was no real need to use hands so I certainly wouldn't call it class 3, but footing was sketchy and it was way more difficult and treacherous than regular hiking or even normal off trail class 2. It's debatable, but I'd say it would quality as scrambling, but just barely.
Scrambling up Governors Ridge
Views of the Governor Needle and other gendarmes were pretty good.
Barrier and Gendarmes Rainier from Governors
The final 20 foot summit block we took a climbers left up a short class 4 move, but there was an easier way up climbers right that was barely class 3. Views were great from the top. We lingered here the longest, had lunch and took in the views.
On the way back to the saddle I took a high route and Adam went under and up to the Barrier / Governor's saddle. From there it was an awesome sustained standing glissade down to the basin.
Descending to the saddle Adam gaining the Gov - Barrier saddle Adam standing glissading Descending towards Tamanos Adam and "Walmart (prov)"
Here Adam and I parted ways. Tamanos was the fourth peak on our list, but I already did it last year and after my 3-4 mile excursion to find my sunglasses I figured I'd skip it and get home for 4th of July festivities with my family. Adam went off to do Tamanos and I headed back with a brief detour by the Owyhigh Lakes.
Governors Ridge and Owyhigh Lakes Governors Ridge Owyhigh Lakes pano Flower
Total stats for me ~17.5 miles ~5500 gain ~9 hours (this includes my sunglasses detour). We didn't see another person all day, and still just our two cars when I got back to the trail head. Another great day in the mountains!
Barrier, Buell, Governors Ridge route Parting shot of Governors Ridge and Barrier
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Gimpilator infinity/21M
Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 1684 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, WA |
Great trip Aaron! Glad you were able to find your sunglasses. I didn't mind waiting because the grey jays kept me company.
Cowlitz Chimneys Tamanos sketchy loose class 2 on Governers Ridge Aaron above the short class 4 step Governors summit
Tamanos was pleasant and I was surprised by numerous false summits. I disturbed 3 goats near the summit. The following day I hiked/biked up Pucell Mountain, Huffaker Mountain, and Storm King Mountain. Supposedly all routes on Storm King involve bushwhacking, but I found one that didn't and was able to take the bike to the top. There were nice flowers up there. Here are some photos.
goats near Tamanos summit on Tamanos false summit #1 looking at false summit #2 the Tamanos true summit is the furthest out Governers from Tamanos Cowlitz Chimneys and Banshee Rainier from Purcell Adams from Purcell solo High Rock lookout visible from Purcell Mount Wow Adams the summit of Huffaker flowers on Storm King nice way to end the day stoked
I had another half day before returning home so I visited Mount Elbert and The Rockies. Elbert gets the blue ribbon for worst bushwhack of the year (so far) and The Rockies, which used to have a lookout on top, is probably the most overgrown trail I have ever tried to follow. I saw a lot of fresh bear scat up there. Here are some photos.
Elbert Rainier from The Rockies Storm King from The Rockies lookout site Saint Helens from The Rockies glass and lookout debris fresh bear scat Storm King summit Rainier from Storm King The Rockies from Storm King
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hikerman Member
Joined: 24 May 2011 Posts: 330 | TRs | Pics Location: Over There |
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hikerman
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Wed Jul 12, 2017 9:45 pm
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Bryan K Shameless Peakbagger
Joined: 29 Sep 2005 Posts: 5129 | TRs | Pics Location: Alaska |
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Bryan K
Shameless Peakbagger
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Thu Jul 13, 2017 7:47 pm
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Great looking trip guys!!!! Wish I could have joined you.
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