My daughter and I are heading to Kilimanjaro on Saturday and life has been hectic in a good way in our family unit. But I did manage to get away for a couple of days to tag some more peaks on the Rainier 100 list; Yakima (#63) and Seymour (#64). I left Monday morning and drove to Chinook Pass for Yakima, which has to be the shortest approach of any peak...50 feet past the parking lot I headed up to the saddle, then to the peak. Strava had my total distance at 1.45 miles. Just the right time and effort before it got too hot, when I headed to Ohanapecosh campground where I had a reservation. Hot afternoon for sure, but the van cooled down nicely in the evening.
Yakima Peak
Heading towards the Gully
Yakima Peak benchmark
Yakima Peak summit block
Tipsoo Lake from Yakima Peak
Rainier from Yakima Peak
On Tuesday I got up to be on my bike at 7 AM, as it was gonna be a scorcha'. I biked up 123 past Deer Creek and stashed the bike in the woods across from the Seymour ridge. No difficulties here except the ridge is consistently steep. As it finally relented a few views started to open up, especially the nice meadow on the final summit segment. An easy stroll to the top had me trying to enjoy the summit, but the skeeters were swarming me, along with butterflies and flies. A quick call to my wife and I was on my way back down, being careful of my footiing (don't want to screw up my Africa trip) on the steep forest ridge until I gained my bike just when the temps were approaching 90. Mostly downhill though, with a few sections of easy pedaling. I went through all my liquids on this trip (unusual for me) and downed 3 cans of LaCroix after I got back. Although I had another night scheduled there, the heat had me packing up so I could go home and help out my wife on the list of things that need attending to. The biking made for a nice effort though, for a total of 24 miles with 4800' of climb. I do like my bike/hikes. See you on the flip side!
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