[DadFly]

My usual Friday night drive to the mountains was put off by weather. Saturday looked better. So I got up early and drove up the N Fork of the Teanaway river to the trailhead. I love that valley! The road was wet and the skies were clear so apparently I made a good choice. I wasn't sure what I was going to do other than wander in view of Stuart. Check. When I got to the Longs Pass trail I realized I had not ever gone up it. I have come down it a few times after climbing Stuart. Anyone want to hear a climbing story? Oops. Wrong forum. There were not that many people up either trail and I had the Pass to myself until a young couple with a cute 1 yr old wandered up. That is them in the center below.

Longs Pass

As you can see, I was heading up the ridge toward the point above Ingalls pass. Would have made it too but I kept hearing voices. Not the usual ones in my head. These were people on the trail to Ingalls. So I cut right and dropped into the basin below Longs pass.

Stuart in Sunshine

I meandered around looking for interesting geologic features and wild life sign. Saw a lot of both. The bear scat was full of berries which means he/she was not hungry. The geology of that area is fascinating which is why there was a mine up there. But this isn't a mining forum. Eventually I ended up in the flats under the big trees where there are many great campsites. I sent my wife a message on my Spot so she would not worry. Message: Greetings from the Cascades! Click the link below to see where I am located. http://fms.ws/1100l6/47.45303N/120.91902W I was gathering wood for a fire when the rain started. Since I didn't bring a tarp I just set up my tent and crawled in. I read for awhile on the Kindle app on my iPhone. Drank tea. Peed. Repeat. I have a great selection of books on my iPhone. Night of the Grizzly, Attack! and I SHouldn't be Alive. Keeps me on my toes. But this isn't a book forum. Here is my view up toward the north side of Longs Pass.

View from tent

I am not sure what time I fell asleep but it was early. It rained, snowed, rained, snowed, snowed and snowed. Then it rained. I got up to pee about 4AM and moved heavy snow away from the sides of my tent. It was about 5 inches deep. There was rain falling with a little sleet mixed in. I love that feeling of crawling into a warn dry tent and listening to the rain/sleet patter on the tent. After fifteen minutes of cozy goodness I realized I was not going to fall back asleep. I fired up my little stove and drank a couple cups of coffee as the rain turned to sleet and the sleet turned to snow. I took this as my cue and started packing. Everything inside the tent was dry but the outside had snow frozen to the poles and any place with enough texture to freeze onto. I had my gortex Arcteryx pants, gortex OR jacket and OR gloves so it was like being in a space suit. How I long for those simpler times when all we had was wool and army surplus ponchos. But this isn't a crotchety old man forum. Wait. Yes it is. I probably started hiking up Longs pass about 4:45. It was dark and stormy but there was a moon iluminating the clouds almost enough for me to turn off my headlamp. I went slowly trying not to sweat. The trail was easy to follow in the trees but once it breaks above those it is just a gulley. So onward and upward. The final two hundred feet is steep and winds up around small cliffs so I was careful. But the footing was firm and first light was breaking. Here is the view from Longs Pass back toward Stuart just after first light.

Stuart at First light

It was very windy on top. I wanted to hang for awhile and testeed a few different spots for wind protection but none of them afforded much protection. So I reluctantly wandered down. I followed the old mining road just because I never had. Then got to the trail and wandered down that. Here is the view back up toward Ingalls pass from the trail above the junction.

Looking up toward Ingalls pass

From there I wandered down left of the trail through really steep terrain. There were tracks and trails everywhere. When I crossed the trail agin down low I wandered back to the car, fired up another cup of coffee and drove home. Got there a few minutes before halftime. GO HAWKS!

[Brushbuffalo]

[DadFly]

My attempts at humor are failing miserably. We have a very diverse group here and it is a pleasure to look around on other forums on this site. Thanks for the link to the Name that rock thread! I forgot it was there. I have had several conversations about all the climbing TR's lately. They were maybe a little worried that the NWHikers site was becoming NWClimbers. So I was joking around in this thread. I also vowed to post more hiking TR's to help out.

[Brushbuffalo]

[Felpudo]

Loved it. Thanks for sharing!

[reststep]

Neat report. You described it well.