Previous :: Next Topic |
Author |
Message |
Yet Member
Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 2634 | TRs | Pics Location: Happily Ever After |
|
Yet
Member
|
Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:27 am
|
|
|
TNAB Brings It on Bryant Peak, 07/17/08
A first for TNAB, Bryant Peak was an ambitious objective for an evening hike. But what the group lacked in time, they more than made up for with their unstoppable impetus and untoppable zest!
While I sit here writing this TR, it is hard to find just the right words to describe this experience for me. Fun doesn’t quite do it. It’s one of those “you had to be there” kind of thing to know just what a great group TNAB truly is.
If you can keep up with them, that is. Well ... I can't. :P
So my options were to sit at home and pout about it. Or take matters into my own hands and go for an early start.
Colleen and I, with supersweet dog Mazzy, headed up the Denny Creek trailhead before the main group arrived. We clocked in before 6 pm. The hike was pretty straightforward all the way to Hemlock Pass, where we lounged around waiting for the group, who started after 6 pm.
During the hike, Colleen was wont to blurt out … “I hear voices.” Poor girl. But one time it was for real as we looked through the trees and saw what looked like three hikers climbing up a steep section of the mountain.
HELLLOOOOOOO! ARE YOU TNABBBBBB?
YES, WE ARE JOE AND JOHNNNNNN!!!!
Or at least that’s what we thought they said. Anyway, we yelled back and forth a couple more times but after ascertaining that they are not Mesahchie Mark, et al, we went back to lounging and they went back to what they were doing before we spotted them.
Soon enough … Colleen says it again. “I hear voices.” And this time, I heard them, too! A sing-songy little voice asking about brownies, who turned out to be Peggy!!
And she brought me a present: Mark!
Oh, and the rest of the group, too: Chris, Damon, John, Matt, Rich, Steve, Troy. It was 7:34 p.m.
After some beso-beso, we turned to our fearless leader who was to take us to places never before explored by mankind. Okay, I exaggerate a little. But after the tameness of the trail all the way to Hemlock Pass, it was just about to get reeeeally interesting.
On this hike, we had rocks, lots and lots of rocks. But my favorite part was the bushwhacking, which did not disappoint. I felt like Jane (in Tarzan and Jane) as I tried to grab on to veggie belay after veggie belay after veggie belay – up, up, and away! And onwards the group went.
We only lost one TNAB’er along the way – t’was me. Magnum valiantly tried to entertain me as I finished the last of the bushwhacking section, making funny faces and doing strange things with his bug net, pretending to be Darth Vader and such. But ultimately, I had reached my summit – so when I saw a nice comfortable rock along the way, I urged him to go and catch up with the rest of the group so he can summit. He was a bit reluctant, but I was very convincing. So up he "pranced" the mountain.
When he was out of sight, I set up what was to be my camp for the next 40 minutes or so. Lounging on my nice rock, I thought I was experiencing a mirage when I saw not one, but … two whippets!! Followed by Tish and Jeremy!! They were very late to the trailhead but it was hardly a surprise that they caught up anyway. A beso here and a beso there, and they went on to catch the rest of the group. While I waited, I gazed at the wondrous sky, which produced a fabulous display just for me … creamsicle orange, cotton candy pink, dusky purple. Wow! How lucky am I, to witness something so beautiful?
It was 9 pm when I heard voices and spotted two dots on the snow field just further up from my rock. The truth was, I heard voices the whole time I was waiting on my rock, which makes sense because the peak was just a few hundred feet above me. (I think.) Either that or Colleen rubbed off on me.
Anyway, these voices talked to me.
HELLOOOO!!!! IS THAT YET??
It was Steve and Tisha lolling about but they came down to my rock while the rest of the group trickled down. Finally, the happy group was reunited at my rock, and after making sure we had 13 of us, we proceeded to head down. Bushwhacking was even more fun on the descent! There was a lot of sliding, shrieking, and giggling - and that was just Jeremy. As darkness was falling, the herders and shepherders of the group made sure everyone was off the tricky parts, off the rocks, and onto the main trail.
Except instead of darkness, the moon dominated the sky. And under its watchful gaze, we hiked out, crossed bridges, and made it back to the trailhead after 11 pm. Mark and I would turn off our headlamps in the midst of crossing bridges to watch the moon for a few moments. It was just too magical to let it go.
And so it was, on July 17, 2008, Bryant Peak got TNAB'ed.
Chris (Magnum)
Colleen (cmurph)
Damon
John (moosefish)
Matt (run4cache)
Peggy (runningbird)
Rich (meandmyaussies)
Steve (yukon222)
Tisha & Jeremy (Schmidt Altitude)
Troy (mtnsun)
Yet & Mark (Mine Truly)
EDITED: Plus TNAB Renegades, Don (Malachai Constant), Joe and son!
|
Back to top |
|
|
run4cache Member
Joined: 18 Jun 2006 Posts: 137 | TRs | Pics
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
TNAB Renegades Member
|
Yet, the voices you heard were those of Joe, his son and Don. We started up a bit early and made quick progress stopping to take pictures at the falls
We ascended the switchbacks quickly with some nice views of Das Toof in the waning sun.
I had checked Beckey for the route and waited for a while at the last switchback before the pass as that is where the route is supposed to begin. After a while we started to get cold so we started up the route. The description said to head for the pass between Hemlock and Bryant. After a short while we heard your call and answered that we were TNAB and said we were Joe and Don. We then moseyed up the snow having a bit of steep bushwacking ala Avalanche Peak then up the col. We expected at any time to be passed by the speedy TNABers. Once at the pass there was a scramble path up through the woods. The only disconcerting thing was a rap sling in a tree going down toward Source Lake
Eventually the path ended at a 5th class wall, but we found a route around by dropping into a gully. The gully was a central cascades special 3rd class chossfest, complete with a large chockstone. We had to ascend one at a time, the chockstone was covered with orange and melon sized rocks, not being hungry we continued. There was a pair of very bent ski poles about half way up. The way remained steep but we soon made it to what we thought was the summit. We could hear voices below us and called out a few times and tried our radio. Mostly we heard cries of ROCK! It turned out to be a false summit with 3 or 4 gendarmes over to a chossy exposed ramp on the east side of Bryant to the top. We waited until sunset
At one point we heard voices above us near the true summit. We took a few pix from the false summitand then (8:38) decided to head down. We assumed the others route was safer so headed that way(north). To get there we dropped down another 300' gully which did not look so bad. When the first climber headed down he kicked down three boulders so we had to go one at a time again. At the bottom we easily traversed over to the others route on the boulders. By now it was dark so we headed down follow tracks but eventually traversing over to our tracks. The seemed to double the length on the way out. When we finally got to our cars 12:06 everyone was gone (I guess they did not even think we were there). On the way back there was a multicar pileup near Highpoint so I did not get to bed until 2. It was a fun hike with spectacular views and just enough spiciness to make it interesting.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Yet Member
Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 2634 | TRs | Pics Location: Happily Ever After |
|
Yet
Member
|
Sun Jul 20, 2008 12:18 pm
|
|
|
Aw ..... Sorry we missed you, Don, Joe and son! Sounds like you did go a different way - there was no way you would have missed me on my rock! Didn't you hear me singing "The Rainbow Connection??"
You only missed us by a little bit at the trailhead, we hung out for a little bit trying to get the spanking machine started for Tisha but she was just too slippery.
|
Back to top |
|
|
EastKing Surfing and Hiking
Joined: 28 Mar 2007 Posts: 2082 | TRs | Pics Location: 77 miles from Seattle! |
|
EastKing
Surfing and Hiking
|
Sun Jul 20, 2008 4:38 pm
|
|
|
YouTube | SummitPost
Saw the depths of despair. Now I am salvaging what time I have left on Earth.
|
Back to top |
|
|
BarbE Member
Joined: 28 Jul 2006 Posts: 1153 | TRs | Pics
|
|
BarbE
Member
|
Sun Jul 20, 2008 8:03 pm
|
|
|
Nice pics and TR's.
Sounds like another fun and very interesting night.
I'm looking forward to the next one.
|
Back to top |
|
|
ADrewzki Snow angels are hot
Joined: 27 Apr 2007 Posts: 188 | TRs | Pics Location: Denver |
|
ADrewzki
Snow angels are hot
|
Sun Jul 20, 2008 8:15 pm
|
|
|
Yet,
Your TR doesn't disappoint! Awesome writeup. And how does the song for "The Rainbow Connection" go? Sorry I missed everyone. I'll be there next week.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Go Jo of the lykkens
Joined: 08 Jun 2003 Posts: 2248 | TRs | Pics Location: Around The Bend |
|
Go Jo
of the lykkens
|
Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:23 pm
|
|
|
Yet, I'll join you for an early start perhaps... and your TR skills are excellent! Made me want to go crazy distances in the middle of the week at night, oh yeah, you call that TNAB.
|
Back to top |
|
|
JoeB Member
Joined: 30 May 2007 Posts: 9 | TRs | Pics
|
|
JoeB
Member
|
Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:51 pm
|
|
|
My son, Oliver, and I had a great time on the renegade team. We topped out at 5700' and 300' from the true summit. We could hear bacchanalian sounds as the main group reached the top but couldn't see anyone. Maybe it was just the voice of wood nymphs taunting us.
What did Mark mean in his email when he said "it would be best if the group stayed somewhat together, especially after the pass".
|
Back to top |
|
|
gone Member
Joined: 08 Feb 2008 Posts: 1051 | TRs | Pics
|
|
gone
Member
|
Sun Jul 20, 2008 11:37 pm
|
|
|
Great report, Yet!
Glad everyone's safe!
|
Back to top |
|
|
Yet Member
Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 2634 | TRs | Pics Location: Happily Ever After |
|
Yet
Member
|
Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:56 am
|
|
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
mntsun Wunderer
Joined: 08 Jul 2007 Posts: 206 | TRs | Pics Location: Squaresville |
|
mntsun
Wunderer
|
Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:17 am
|
|
|
So many hikers hearing voices...are we sure the voices were not Stick Indians?
|
Back to top |
|
|
meandmyaussies Member
Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 182 | TRs | Pics Location: The Quah |
Great TR, Yet. I have to agree that it did seem like a special night. The views and the company were excellent. The moon and the moonlight were off the charts too. I walked down a good way sans head lamp just to soak it all in that much more - thanks, Damon, for "showing me the light" on that one.
Denny Creek falls Mtnsun and Yukon222 on the wrong peak I'm cold! Why does it take everyone else so long to summit? Denny Mtn from Bryant Snoqualmie Mtn from Bryant
|
Back to top |
|
|
Yet Member
Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 2634 | TRs | Pics Location: Happily Ever After |
|
Yet
Member
|
Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:22 pm
|
|
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Schmidt Alti-Babe The Ice Queen
Joined: 11 Mar 2008 Posts: 606 | TRs | Pics Location: Buried by backlogged pictures |
Huh? I just woke up from a nap. I iz very cohewent.
|
Back to top |
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate NWHikers.net earns from qualifying purchases when you use our link(s).
|