Goldmyer Hotsprings overnight with aDam 2013-10-19

Last weekend a few friends joined my wife and I at one of our favorite places - Goldmyer Hotsprings. This was Colin's first time to the springs, and we had another first-timer as well. aDam is the official mascot of Fazed, an incredible online community which I was lucky enough to stumble across many years ago. For the last few years (besides a few months of being lost) aDam has been travelling the globe from fazer to fazer, living it up in a fashion that most living breathing people will would envy. He finally arrived on my doorstep for the first time a few weeks ago and we have been having a blast, as you already know if you've been following my blog.

We left the newly upgraded Dingford Creek Trailhead at 10:30 am, leaving just enough time for the hike before we would be allowed into the springs at noon. FYI, as there is now a bathroom at the trailhead, a NW Forest Service Pass is now required to park there. Many thanks to the volunteers who offered to drive in some of our heavy/bulky gear!

We always hike in along the road as it's shorter and more scenic than the trail on the South side of the river. Snoqualmie Mountain, Wild Dare Peak, and Mount Thomson are just a few of the snow-capped peaks that pop in and out of view along the way. The weather could not have been more perfect for a backpacking trip in late October.

We arrived at the caretaker's cabin just after Noon. Before it came into view, a generator and other sounds of construction could be heard echoing through the woods. We met the new caretakers and headed down to our usual campsite above Burnt Boot Creek. After a quick set-up and warm food it was off to the hotsprings to soak away our worries. We stopped at Grandpa - a 900-year-old Douglas Fir - and made an attempt to lock arms around him, but came up about a foot short.

 

Spade Lake (Mount Hinman Attempt) 2013-9-27

The plan was to hike in towards Spade Lake on Thursday night and set up camp somewhere between the trailhead and Waptus Lake, then move camp to Spade Lake and explore the area on Friday, allowing for an alpine start on Mount Hinman on Saturday, and then a leisurely return past Deep Lake and Cathedral Rock on Sunday and Monday. I usually avoid scheduling summit bids more than a week in advance whenever possible, but 4 days would help relieve some of the pressure from our 13+ mile approach, so we each took a long weekend from work.


View 2013-9-27 Spade Lake (Hinman Attempt) in a larger map
We pulled up to Tuquala Meadows Trailhead just after 10 pm Thursday and chose to sleep in the truck to avoid breaking down camp in the rain the next morning. We awoke at 3 and started up the trail later than planned at 4:45 under clear starry skies.


From the Cathedral Rock Trail 1345 we took the first left onto Trail Creek Trail, losing 1500' over 5.5 miles down to Waptus River. The footbridge is currently out, and we briefly considered going off trail to avoid fording the river just to cross right back over a mile later. In the end we choose to grin and bear it, after all both bridges couldn't be out could they? Of course they were, and to top it off light rain began to fall as we started our second crossing.

Vesper Peak 10-5-2013

View 2013-10-5 Vesper Peak in a larger map
I finally got a chance to write up a report of my recent return to the Mountain Loop Highway. Vesper Peak was an ideal location for a last minute weekday hike. The trail was nearly snow free up to about 100 feet below Headlee Pass, and for most of the traverse over to Lake Elan. Vesper had 2-3 feet of snow above the lake and a well beaten path broken in by at least 5 pairs of snowshoes since Friday. I reached the summit at 10 am without snowshoes, and experienced only minor post-holing, mostly on the way down. Sperry peak appeared to have just a light dusting, most of which was caught by small vegetation. Both of the dogs did great on Vesper but Sperry seemed to have more scrambling than I wanted to drag them along for. This was Maverick's first serious hike since his knee surgery nearly six months ago, and all signs point to a 100% recovery. We saw about 20 people and a few dogs on the way out.



We hit the trail at 7 a.m. as the sun began to rise. Alpenglow struck the top of Sperry Peak as we crossed the North ridge of Morning Star. Fall colors were pushing through all of the green in the South Fork Stillaguamish River Valley. I noticed one of the mine entrances described in several trip reports I have read, more on that later. Small patches of snow began in the switchbacks leading up to Headlee Pass. The talus field traverse beyond the pass was nearly snow free, but Vesper Peak was blanketed in the white stuff. We crossed Vesper Creek and started up the ridge while a 4-some broke down their camp on Lake Elan, the surface of which was half covered in slush.

Mount Saint Helens (3rd attempt) and Trout Lake Area Caving 2013-10-11

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I attempted to summit Mount Saint Helens twice this February, turning back the first time due to weather, and stopping at the crater rim the second time because of dangerous snow conditions. I was determined to make it this time and planned to bring rope, a picket and a harness if there was any chance of snow just to be sure. Ben and Colin were available to join me on one of the last few days left with permits available. Ben and I were both interested in revisiting some Trout Lake area caves and Colin was game so we left Tacoma on Thursday night ready for a long weekend of adventure.



Based on my past experience I suggested we bring snowshoes and start early to avoid the soft snow. We all felt surprisingly fresh when we pulled up to Climber's Bivouac at 11:30 and agreed that 3 hours of sleep wouldn't be worth much, so after a hour meal and gear check we were on the way up by 12:15 am. Just past the junction we excited the treeline and started up Monitor Ridge into a solid layer of clouds. Snow began to appear around 5000 feet and covered most of the rock after 6000. The seismic station and antenna were covered in several inches of rime. By 4 am we emerged above the clouds around 7000 feet, confident that we would reach the crater rim before sunrise. Even this high up patches of exposed earth, mostly in vertical strips (likely due to strong wind drifts). This was very helpful during the last few hundred feet where the snow surface turned solid and icy.



We did a good job of pacing ourselves to avoid getting sweaty, which payed off as we dug a trench on the false summit and huddled together awaiting the sun. An hour and a half later it finally rose almost directly behind Mount Adams. The true summit beckoned, but after 20 minutes of battling the stiff icy surface without crampons it became painfully obvious that I had led us up the mountain unprepared, without the proper tools to achieve the summit.






We headed down towards the rising cloud layer at 8:30. We had fun glissading for about 1000 feet of the descent before the snow faded away. We shared beta with about 50 people on their way up, most of whom were less prepared than us, without ice axes for self-arrest. We were back at the truck just after noon and quickly loaded up for a few more hours of driving to our planned camp near Trout Lake, stopping first in Cougar to sign out at the Lone Fir Resort.



We stopped at several potential cave entrances that we noticed along our route, hoping to find something worth exploring. We pulled up to camp with enough light to set up and get a fire going. The entrance to Dynamited was just a short walk from our campsite. We briefly discussed the possibility of a short exploration, but decided that after 40 hours with no sleep we would be best off getting a good nights rest and starting fresh in the morning.


We entered Dynomited at 11:45 am on Saturday. The same salamander that we had seen several months ago was hanging out on a rock near the entrance just like last time. We all down climbed the first 15 foot drop then stopped shortly at the small lava falls about 300 feet before the first big drop. This section had very little breakdown in a few isolated spots.