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Don Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 2013 | TRs | Pics Location: Fairwood, WA |
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Don
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Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:44 am
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Forecast for the Cascades: Mostly cloudy with 20% chance of rain showers.
Forecast for the Olympics: Partly cloudy.
So, the Olympics it was! We planned to hike up to Upper Lena Lake and look at climbing either Lena or Bretherton. However, as I drove down to Tacoma to pick up Dale, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the spectacular morning alpenglow on Mount Rainier, and not a cloud to be seen. Plans were altered.
We arrived at Lake Mowich at 7:00 and immediately set off on the official “unofficial” trail up to Knapsack Pass. The trail is quite wet and muddy in its lower stretches. Avalanche lilies are just beginning to emerge along the lower trail, along with Western Pasque. The trail was snow free all the way up to the pass, which we reached in about 45 minutes. From there we followed the climbers trail up to the summit of First Mother Mountain and enjoyed spectacular, unobstructed views of Rainier. Some clouds were noticed low over the Central Cascades, but we could still see a distinguished Glacier Peak. Fay Peak had considerable snow yet on its north slopes, and we found that any snow not yet receiving sunlight was quite icy and difficult to get purchase in.
After nearly an hour on the summit we descended back down to the pass, noticing a few clouds hovering to the west. We began our descent and traverse thru Mist Park and over to Spray Park. Again, very little snow to negotiate. We commented that we had July conditions, except no bugs whatsoever. We did notice that the little snow we did traverse on was quite soft and sluffing (exposed to the sun).
We reached the Wonderland Trail and soon picked up a climbers path heading towards the Flett Glacier. More clouds were stacking to the west, though still nothing immediately threatening. The snow was now quite wet. By about 6,300’ we found ourselves shin deep in the snow. Clouds to the west were thickening. We could see down to Spray Park and Hessong Rock, but we could not look over Hessong Rock. Rainier was still in full view. The Central Cascades were dark.
On we climbed to the base of Echo Rock, which held a light dusting of snow on its upper reaches. The peak is comprised of fairly loose rock, though the views down to Mystic Lake and the Carbon Glacier are quite nice. We hurried off to Observation Rock, as we were growing concerned that Rainier would soon become engulfed in the ever-increasing dark clouds. Observation Rock had been our chief objective for the day and we didn’t want to be cheated of our views.
The snow was now knee deep as we climbed to the basin below Observation and traversed south below the rock summit. As we aimed for the summit ridge on the peak’s south side, I left the snow in hopes of finding easier travel on the volcanic rock. Nope. Back to the deep snow I went.
Finally the ridge was attained and a not-so-distinguished climbers trail. Soon, we were making ourselves comfortable on the summit. Views were outstanding, though we couldn’t see out to the west at all. We stayed on the summit for about an hour, while enjoying watching several skiers below. At 3:00 we headed down.
The snow was very unstable. Many new sluffs existed that had not been present durring our ascent. As we descended below Echo Rock, the clouds began to thicken all around us and grow dark. At about 7,000’, thunder began to sound. Soon lightning was seemingly right above us, yet the thunder was still 5-6 seconds in following and seemed very high up. I immediately offered my ski poles to Dale and suggested he raise them high in the air with each step. We could look down to Spray Park via a “hole” in the clouds, but could not see anything else. About a mile from the Wonderland Trail (6,500’) a very cold rain began. We dropped our packs and dug out our parkas, only to have the short-lived rain stop (as I jokingly predicted). We found the Wonderland Trail in no time and enjoyed finally having something firm beneath our feet! By the time we reached the lower section of Spray Park, sucker holes of blue could be seen.
We reached the Spray Park TH at 6:00 for a total loop trip of 14 miles, 4,890’ total elevation gain. What a fabulous day!
Finally, we pulled over on the Mowich Lake Road shortly outside the park and enjoyed an unobstructed view back to a cloudless Mount Rainier and its glistening white slopes – nothing but blue skies overhead!
I'll try and post some pics tonight.
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Tazz Member
Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 7902 | TRs | Pics
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Tazz
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Tue Jun 21, 2005 10:02 am
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Thankyou Very nice TR. You confirmed my thoughts about the sluffing and snow conditions on observation. I am glad I didn't go for the summit this time. Too bad I didn't meet up with you guys...I was watching you go up the glacier. Can't wait for the pictures.
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Don Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 2013 | TRs | Pics Location: Fairwood, WA |
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Don
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Tue Jun 21, 2005 10:07 am
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Yeah, that would have been cool! It was a fun day that offered a little bit of everything. I know I was pretty tired and sluggish on Monday.
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Jeff R Closet hiker.
Joined: 10 Apr 2005 Posts: 972 | TRs | Pics Location: Everret |
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Jeff R
Closet hiker.
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Tue Jun 21, 2005 10:14 am
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Nice report Don.
Is it just me, or have the snow conditions this year been funky? Usually in June, the snow is pretty consolidated for the most part? and it seems that it has been wet waist deep stuff so far( all though the day).
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Don Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 2013 | TRs | Pics Location: Fairwood, WA |
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Don
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Tue Jun 21, 2005 10:24 am
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Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get out enough lately to comment. We did notice that, though there is a lack of snow down low, the upper mountain (Rainier) actually has a lot of fresh snow on it. Last week the freezing level was around 5,000 or so for a lengthy period of time. I think spring has been extended this year in the higher elevations.
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Guiran Member
Joined: 03 Mar 2004 Posts: 621 | TRs | Pics Location: University of Washington |
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Guiran
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Tue Jun 21, 2005 11:12 am
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Don, way to cover a lot of ground. My feet hurt just thinking about it.
I'd agree that while lower elevations melted out unseasonably early, there's a lot of unconsolidated snow at higher elevations. In the past two weeks, freezing levels have been down as low as 4500 feet.
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ragman and rodman Member
Joined: 28 Apr 2005 Posts: 1219 | TRs | Pics Location: http://rgervin.com/ |
You mentioned that the loop trip was 24 miles... did you mean 14 miles?... perhaps I'm wrong in assuming that First Mother is only a half mile from Knapsack Pass...
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Don Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 2013 | TRs | Pics Location: Fairwood, WA |
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Don
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Tue Jun 21, 2005 2:07 pm
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Oops - fat fingered it! Yes, you are correct.
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phillyjon Member
Joined: 15 Jul 2004 Posts: 383 | TRs | Pics Location: White Center |
Thanks for letting me know what "alpenglow" is.
"No matter how high one sits upon a pedestal, one still sits upon his arse." Ben Franklin
"No matter how high one sits upon a pedestal, one still sits upon his arse." Ben Franklin
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Don Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 2013 | TRs | Pics Location: Fairwood, WA |
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Don
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Fri Jun 24, 2005 7:39 pm
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Well, I FINALLY figured out my RAW conversion issues. Here are the long overdue condition pics from the trip.
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Tazz Member
Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 7902 | TRs | Pics
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Tazz
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Fri Jun 24, 2005 7:57 pm
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great pics Don thanks for posting them.
love the raven pic.
the sluffing I see on pic #86 was there more of it around the corner on the south ridge route?
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Don Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 2013 | TRs | Pics Location: Fairwood, WA |
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Don
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Fri Jun 24, 2005 8:07 pm
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Yes. Glissading was not an option.
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Tazz Member
Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 7902 | TRs | Pics
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Tazz
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Fri Jun 24, 2005 8:23 pm
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Andrew Member
Joined: 24 Oct 2003 Posts: 1175 | TRs | Pics Location: Arlington |
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Andrew
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Fri Jun 24, 2005 10:44 pm
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Holy mother of pearl, I thought it was the sunset that made Observation Rock so red .
Thanks for the images, Spray looks like a little under a month until all snow is gone and everything blooms.
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Don Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 2013 | TRs | Pics Location: Fairwood, WA |
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Don
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Sat Jun 25, 2005 7:06 am
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The volcanic rock up there is incredibly red. It looks just like the landscaping rock sold in stores. Too bad I didn't have some extra zip locks
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