Forum Index > Trip Reports > Little Lena 4110 (USGS Mt. Washington) 3/17-18/2016
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Matt
Tea, Earl Grey, Hot



Joined: 30 Jan 2007
Posts: 4307 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline
Matt
Tea, Earl Grey, Hot
PostSun Mar 20, 2016 12:15 pm 
Summary Trip Report: When my pole plunged in all the way to the hilt, I knew that was as far as I could get with Lena. So I went and did Lena's smallest neighbor instead. I also spent the night by Lena and took a dip in her when she warmed up, since she was too frigid the day before. Even More Concise Trip Report: The snow was too low and deep. More Explicit Trip Report: Date: March 17-18, 2016 Attempted Destination: Upper Lena Lake Actual Destination: Lena Lake and "Little Lena" peak 4410 (USGS Mt. Washington) Party: Matt, Dicey
Little Lena GPS track
Little Lena GPS track
Lena Lake & Little Lena, viewed from Lunch Rock
Lena Lake & Little Lena, viewed from Lunch Rock
Important Note: The Mt. Washington quad, which occupies the lower half of the above map, is marked in 80-foot contours instead of the usual 40-foot, so everything on that half is actually twice as steep as it looks. Thursday There was a lot of new snow in the past week, but this Thursday-Friday was the only sunny forecast in sight. Avalanche danger was forecasting somewhat lower in the Olympics, so I hopes maybe we would find enough consolidation to camp high and try some peaks. Too Much Snow on Upper Lena Trail First we hiked the trial to Lena Lake, which is infested with excessive low-angled switchbacks, especially in its lower reaches. This is a darn popular trail. Even on a Thursday in winter, we met multiple other parties. It was a bad sign when we began finding snow patches in the woods at only a thousand feet. Soon the trail had a consistent cover of 3-6 inches of new snow, sometimes closer to a foot in open areas. At Lunch Rock, we found a thin coating of ice across much of Lena Lake.
Lena Lake from Lunch Rock
Lena Lake from Lunch Rock
We continued onward toward Upper Lena Lake. We were surprised that someone else had made tracks upward. The snow got steadily deeper, so sometimes we were walking in a narrow trench with snow piled on the sides. Then around 2600 feet the tracks stopped. For a while, we could still find the trail as an indented line between higher banks of snow. Walking it, however, was perilous. Sometimes our snowshoes would punch down almost to ground level between the banks, sometimes we'd be walking atop the snow, and periodically we plunge into unexpected wells by hidden logs and brush, sometimes waist deep or more. After crossing the south fork of Lena Creek, we lost the trail, but that actually made progress somewhat easier, since we could pick our own line through the woods. There still were a lot of painful drops into unexpected holes. Around 3200 feet, we reached the first crossing of an open meadow not covered by forest. The snow was hopelessly deep and soft. Even kicking each step a dozen times, we were sinking in thigh deep on our snowshoes. When I stuck my pole into the snow, it sank all the way to the hilt. So we turned back and went back to stay overnight at the campsites at the north end of Lena Lake.
Dicey crossing a creek on the Upper Lena trail
Dicey crossing a creek on the Upper Lena trail
Stats: 9.6 miles, 3380 gain, 2220 loss, 7:55 hours Evening at Lena Lake Back at Lena Lake, the campsites had only 3-4 inches of snow on the ground, and the edges of the lake were melted bare. Just while we were gone, the upper end of the lake seemed to have melted out. It was also filled a bit high. At the water's edge, we found a fire ring that was completely submerged. Even though Lena Lake is quite low, at 1787 feet, it had a surprisingly alpine feel, with cedar and hemlock forests running right down to water level. We decided in the morning that we would try the 4110-foot peak east of the lake, which we named "Little Lena." Even though that was 900 feet higher than where we'd been stopped today, it was on a south-running ridge instead of a sheltered valley, and we'd only be carrying lightweight day gear.
Our campsite at Lena Lake
Our campsite at Lena Lake
Cool pool in East Lena Creek near our camp
Cool pool in East Lena Creek near our camp
Pools of East Lena trickling down to Lena Lake
Pools of East Lena trickling down to Lena Lake
I usually camp as high as possible, and it felt very strange to be camping ion such a tame location, instead of perched out on the edge of some high pass or ridge or tarn. I kept feeling mildly surprised that there was no exposure to weather extremes and any dramatic heights or depths hanging just at the edge of the campsite
Stars & moon above our camp
Stars & moon above our camp
Friday It was also odd to not need to hurry out of bed before dawn, since we had only a smaller destination for the day. We relaxed perhaps a bit too much and slept in till about 8:30am. Little Lena 4110, 550P To ascend Little Lena, we made a long rising traverse southward until we reached Little Lena's south ridge at 3300 feet. We hoped that this would let us avoid the numerous cliff bands and very steep slopes that we could see above the east shores of the lake. We encountered numerous rocky ribs or slabs hidden in the forest, but were able to bypass all of them, usually by going underneath, occasionally over some low angled parts. Midway across, we reached an open area where we gained elevation on open scree, then continued up more steeply in forest after that. Snow was only ankle to knee deep. We wore crampons for a better grip up to about 3000 feet, then switched the snowshoes when the snow depth increased notably. At 3300 feet we reached the ridge crest in an almost perfect spot, where there was a wide flat open snowfield with views and warm sunshine.
Our route up Little Lena
Our route up Little Lena
View of Washington, Jefferson & Pershing when we reached the ridge
View of Washington, Jefferson & Pershing when we reached the ridge
Solar halo
Solar halo
The ridge run up Little Lena's backbone went quite smoothly. The snow packed nicely under snowshoes, and the ridge was mostly a wide crest under open forest. We found a few rock outcrops, but were able to bypass them on climber's right each time. The only occasional obstacle was the thousands of rhododendrons growing under the forest canopy. I knew that rhodies grew wild in the Olympics, but didn't realize they grew in such profusion. They were just beginning to have flower buds. Do the wild ones have flowers similar to the domestic rhododendrons?
Dicey wanted a photo because she was in sunshine!
Dicey wanted a photo because she was in sunshine!
Dicey hiking through a rhododendron plantation
Dicey hiking through a rhododendron plantation
The summit was a viewless knob amid trees, but it did have sunshine for Dicey to enjoy. I worked my way down and northwest to top edge of a cliff band, where I could see Lena Lake and various Olympic things. Unlike the Cascades, where I travel often to recognize dozens of peaks from any viewpoint, here I couldn't identify them as anything but Olympics peaks, different Olympics peaks, other Olympics peaks, and some more Olympic peaks. Later at home I figured out approximately what they were, but please let me know if I captioned any of them incorrectly.
Little Lena's summit
Little Lena's summit
Looking straight down at fast-thawing Lena Lake
Looking straight down at fast-thawing Lena Lake
Valley leading toward Upper Lena and neighboring peaks
7 labels
Valley leading toward Upper Lena and neighboring peaks
Bretherton
Bretherton
Lena
Lena
East Lena
East Lena
Washington, Jefferson & Pershing?
Washington, Jefferson & Pershing?
Lincoln, Trylon, Horn, Fin & Cruiser?
1 label
Lincoln, Trylon, Horn, Fin & Cruiser?
Brothers
Brothers
The descent went much more quickly following our tracks back down.
Looking down a steep spot and up the Hamma Hamma valley
Looking down a steep spot and up the Hamma Hamma valley
Mount Skokomish peeks out behind Bretherton's southern 5464-foot rise.
Mount Skokomish peeks out behind Bretherton's southern 5464-foot rise.
Hazy view east to Adams and St. Helens
Hazy view east to Adams and St. Helens
Little Lena Round Trip: 4.4 miles, 2400 gain, 7:15 hours In & Out of Lena Back at the lake, the sun was shining on the small beach on the eastern shore, so I took a quick dip into Lena. It was surprisingly comfortable in the warm afternoon sun.
Than we had to reload our packs with all the camping gear, avalanche gear, and climbing gear so we could enjoy a heavier hike out. A brief pause at Lunch Rock showed how much the lake had thawed since yesterday. There were only a few patches of melting ice left.
Lena Lake at 11:43am Thursday.
Lena Lake at 11:43am Thursday.
Lena Lake at 6:08pm Friday
Lena Lake at 6:08pm Friday
Me on Lunch Rock, with Little Lena
Me on Lunch Rock, with Little Lena
Where the trail crosses Lena Creek, the water mysteriously disappears. There's a bridge over an empty channel, and then the trail dips over a side channel. Both were completely dry, but just fifty feet downhill we could hear the creek running loudly, where it comes back out from somewhere in the rocks. Back at the trailhead, we were able to do a good deed by jump starting a car for some other hikers there. They thought it was dead because it wouldn't start when they briefly jumped it earlier. However, after charging it from my car for about ten minutes, it started up. Lesson Learned: if you can hear the starter clicking when you try to jump start the car, it's not broken; it's just a really dead battery that needs more time to charge. Lena Lake Camp to Trailhead: 4.1 miles, 330 gain, 1500 loss, 2:10 hours Total Trip: 18.1 miles, 6110 gain Postscripts Lena left me so tired and sore that I could barely roll out of bed on Saturday morning, my reward for all that strenuous thrashing and plunging on Thursday. But I'm still quite glad we were able to get out to someplace new during the brief window of sunshine. Now I want to visit some of the other neighbors. With better snow, I'd like to return for the peaks adjacent to Upper Lena Lake. OMCG says Washington & Jefferson can be climbed in winter, and Lincoln is a low-avalanche-risk approach. I also want to try The Brothers and Constance sometime.

“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien
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Gimpilator
infinity/21M



Joined: 12 Oct 2006
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Location: Edmonds, WA
Gimpilator
infinity/21M
PostSun Mar 20, 2016 12:33 pm 
Matt wrote:
With better snow, I'd like to return for the peaks adjacent to Upper Lena Lake.
Thanks for the report. East Lena has a Fay register. I still need to return for a second shot at Bretherton.

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meck
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meck
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PostSun Mar 20, 2016 1:58 pm 
Great pictures! Aside from the snow conditions, looks like it was a good time. I'm pretty sure your labels are all spot on. Given your experience going up "Little Lena" do you have any recommendations regarding the route to visit it? Any advantage to traversing further to the south side before heading up? I've been past Lena Lake close to a dozen times and that "big hill" across the lake always kind of nagged at me. As for the other peaks, I've tagged a few of them in the summer as day-climbs around Upper Lena and LoA, and attempted others (Pershing, Lincoln), but boy those approaches could be a lot longer when covered with snow. As long as the FS Roads have melted out though (and have not washed out!) you can get pretty close to the bases of the climber's trails.

*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
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iron
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iron
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PostSun Mar 20, 2016 4:52 pm 
good choice matt. we were going to do little lena post-brothers, but the weather bombed on us. if you like prolific rhodies, hang around the mt. washington quad on some of the other lower EL dumpsters. endless stretches of rhodies.

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Jetlag
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Jetlag
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PostSun Mar 20, 2016 5:43 pm 
Nice photos! Enjoyed the innuendo of the opening paragraph!

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BarbE
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BarbE
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PostSun Mar 20, 2016 6:58 pm 
Matt wrote:
When my pole plunged in all the way to the hilt, I knew that was as far as I could get with Lena.
Fun TR! You need to write romance novels! biggrin.gif up.gif

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