Sunday, September 24, 2017

Winter in Summer

Three Sisters and Broken Top from Mt Bachelor


Summer 2017 was weird.  Hot, smokey, and never ending.  Until in ended.  Abruptly with a snow storm in the mountains.  Good riddance to the smoke, I say.  We celebrated with a chair ride to the Pine Martin mid-mountain lodge at Mt Bachelor.  It was great to see the new snow and get  a sneak peak of winter.  I am looking forward to it.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

A late summer Mt Rainier backpacking trip

The Carbon River

In all the years I lived in the Puget Sound area, I never made it to the Carbon River entrance to Mt Rainier National Park.  Last weekend I remedied this oversight.  Ahead of our first Pacific storm of the season, I spent two nights backpacking into the park from the Carbon River trailhead.  It is a five mile hike along the closed road to Ipsut Creek Campground, where I spent the nights while exploring on long day hikes.  The Carbon River is fascinating as it flows in braided channels through glacial outwash boulders and cobbles.  It obviously moves around a lot during winter storms, making it difficult to keep trails, let alone a road, open continuously in the constrained valley floor.  Form Ipsut Creek, a multitude of day hikes are possible.  I hiked sixteen miles on one day, up to Windy Gap and the Natural Bridge.  This entailed a 3,400 foot elevation gain but the rewards were miles of alpine meadow walking and huckleberry snacking.  The next day was a shorter hike to the snout of Carbon Glacier, the lowest glacier in the lower 48 states.  It is an impressive tongue of ice, covered with rocky debris and emitting a full fledged river from it's ice cave.  This is one of the least visited corners of the park and I was rewarded with thin crowds and perfect hiking weather.  That was until the storm arrived and I retreated, a night early and completely soaked, to the dry car parked at the trailhead.  It was a great weekend of exploring and nice to finally see this spot.



Carbon River channels

Mt Rainier looms ahead

Alpine meadows on the way to Windy Gap

The Yellowstone Cliffs

It is fall in the high country

The Natural Bridge

Carbon Glacier

Saturday, September 02, 2017

The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017

Set up and ready to go for Eclipse '17

My first solar eclipse since 1979 - and first chance to see totality ever, was certainly one of the highlights of the year for me.  I met up with a bunch of friends on a random mountain top in the Malheur National Forest and spent a long weekend in anticipation of the event.  We were far from the only ones there - thanks to Google Maps - but it was a fun group of like minded eclipse chasers.  When the time came, Monday morning, we were not disappointed.  It is difficult to convey, in words and images, what it is like to experience the brief period of totality.  For two and a half minutes it was like being on another planet.  I was enthralled - and ready for 2024 when totality again arcs across North America.  I will be there!
It WAS worth all the fuss