[David¹]

Soon after we got our first SLR our trips became more about photography and less about hiking. So we are very particular as to when and where we go hiking. Mt. Adams has been on our ‘to do’ list for years but we never seemed to get the right combination of weather at the right time. When we saw the perfectly sunny forecast for last weekend we jumped at it, even though it meant hiking six extra miles along the road and going without sleep for two days. But the pictures will be worth it, right? Our first trip back in 2000 with our new camera we photographed the waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge. We started east to west and by the time we got to Latourell Falls we had only one shot left. Having driven through the night last Friday we passed by them at 3am and decided to pull over for a little nap, and when the sun rose we would have a chance to rectify that gross injustice to this wonderful cascade. Two hours and one roll of film later we were back on the road to Trout Lake, a very scenic drive with postcard worthy views of Mt. Hood and later Mt. Adams. Picked up our Volcano Pass, and parked the truck at Morrison Creek Campground, about three miles from the summer trailhead, Cold Springs. The road was mostly snow free except for the last mile but I still think it will be closed for a few more weeks. The ranger insisted we needed snowshoes on the approach but we didn't bother taking them. It really depends on what time you get started as the snow was pretty firm until about noon. Things started out well but we took forever to get to the Lunch Counter and when we finally plunked our tent down at 3:30 we were postholing a lot. Considering all the effort we had made to get here on a sunny weekend we were disheartened by the views. Mt. Hood was practically invisible and Mt. St Helens wasn't much better. The one thing we had failed to consider was that a week’s worth of sunshine had created an impenetrable haze. However all was not lost as the sun set, the haze was transformed into bands of brilliant colour. The wind picked up that night and made sure that we didn’t get any sleep on this trip. However as the sun rose we quenched our protest as we had a beautiful clear sunrise. We had superb views all day, as we climbed higher Mt. Jefferson appeared and you could just make out the Sisters as well. Atop the summit views of Rainier were fantabulos! The greatest thrill of all however was the glissade back down Piker's Peak. The conditions were ideal, as it was not so icy that you bruise your backside and not so slushy that you wind up soaked. We slid 2000ft in about 10 minutes - priceless! If anyone wants to check out any of our pictures they are up on our site at the link below.

[Dean]

Great Trip report and pics. Your posting is very timely as I'm hoping to do Adams pretty soon.

[marta]

Great Pictures. Inspiring. Maybe we'll try it. - marta