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Scrooge Famous Grouse
Joined: 16 Dec 2001 Posts: 6966 | TRs | Pics Location: wishful thinking |
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Scrooge
Famous Grouse
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Sun Jun 29, 2003 6:14 pm
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Sun + snow = SUNBURN!
The long string of hot, sunny weather convinced me that Saturday would be a good time for a Baker fix and snowline probe. Stopped at the Lyman Restaurant for breakfast. Lousy coffee but the food was decent, and for a place open at 5:30am on a Saturday morning, who's gonna complain?
I got to the Schreibers Meadow parking area so early that I napped for 45 minutes before starting up the Scott Paul Trail (no prior reports) at 7:15am. The first 1 1/2 miles (1000') were in superb condition, well maintained and zero erosion, no roots or rocks at all. After that, who knows? The snow started at about 4300' and quickly became continuous.
At 4600', where the route left the woods for open slopes, all trace of trail or footprints disappeared in deep fields of snow, marked only by the remains of snowmobile tracks, which persist long after footprints have melted away.
Somewhere under the snow, the Scott Paul Trail turned west across the slopes of Baker to join the Park Butte Trail. Continuing up the mountain is the old Sulphur Moraine Trail (also under snow), the climber's route to the Squak Glacier.
After a few hundred feet of kickstepping I stopped to put on crampons, and wished I'd done it sooner. The morning snow was still solid and traction was excellent. Not that it speeded me up much. My condition is so feeble that the main consumer of time was stopping to breathe.
The views were incredible. Rainier and the Olympics were almost as clear as Shuksan and the Twin Sisters. Unfortunately, photography (with my equipment) was almost impossible. The high contrast created by bright sun on snow turned most pictures into studies in black and white, my telephoto is laughable, and tweaking with Photoshop didn't help.
I'd started out with the idea of checking out the Squak Glacier and maybe "summiting" Crag View (6513'), but I was too out of shape to follow through on either one. I wound up about half a mile west of the Squak Glacier and well above the toe, which I'd wanted to exam. Then I stopped for lunch about 400' below Crag View and decided I'd had enough for one day.
Going down, I found out why people might want anti-balling plates for their crampons, but it wasn't too bad. I also "discovered" ice axe blisters, a problem I'd never heard mentioned before. On reflection, I realize I should have worn gloves, in spite of the 80 degree temperature. In addition to preventing blisters, they would have kept my hands from getting sunburned!
Still, I'd expected sunburn and wet feet. What I hadn't planned on were the scrapes and gouges acquired from bushwhacking. Bushwhacking was not on my itinerary. Unfortunately, I stopped following my own tracks at some point on the way down and wound up following snowmobile tracks, instead. I mean, they must all go to the same place, right?
Wrong. The snowmobiles evidently follow stream gullies to access the meadows, rather than coming up the trail. At this time of year, the stream gullies are a mix of snow, open water, and collapsing snowbridges. I decided I'd do better in the woods.
I don't know if I was lost, exactly. I knew more or less where I was, where the trail was, and where the parking area was, if all else failed.
I proved I wasn't lost by finding the trail again ...... after descending half a mile and 500' through the forest. Fortunately, this was a very open woodland for the westside, so my scars were pretty minimal (at least compared with Marylou's).
For the day, eight miles and 2800' ......... and almost nine hours, for a hike that should have taken me less than seven. Put it down to snow, bushwhacking, old age and poor condition. It was still a great day. ........ And from the time I left the parking area till the time I returned, I didn't see or hear another person. ....... Sun, sky and the snowfields of Mt Baker, I had it all to myself.
Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you....... Go and find it. Go!
Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you....... Go and find it. Go!
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Copperhead Kid Member
Joined: 01 Feb 2002 Posts: 43 | TRs | Pics
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Sounds like fun. Thanks for a great report.
Scrooge wrote: | I also "discovered" ice axe blisters, a problem I'd never heard mentioned before. On reflection, I realize I should have worn gloves ... |
Oooo, boy ... been there, had those. It's those sunny times on the snow that'll get ya (when the wind is blowin' 35 mph and increasing, and the snow is packin' up on your goggles, you got other things on your plate).
Scrooge wrote: | Bushwhacking was not on my itinerary. |
It's often an unscheduled romp. This link obviously has more to do with lower elevation fun, but it cracked me up ... maybe you've seen it:
http://www.alpenglow.org/themes/subalpine/brush-ratings.html
Scrooge wrote: | I don't know if I was lost, exactly. I knew more or less where I was, where the trail was, and where the parking area was, if all else failed.
I proved I wasn't lost by finding the trail again ... |
Gosh, I wish I had a nickel for every time this has happened. It can be interesting, can be a curse (as friends say: "Why did you say to try THIS way?!") ...
CK
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