any other hikers here?

[seacatfan]

Hey gu03, here's a current TR from WTA for nearby Goat Mountain. Second picture shows YAB and Tomhyhoi, on the left in the near distance. You can see the road and the TH area for YAB clearly as well. Still a fair bit of snow all along the ridge to Tomyhoi it looks like, which isn't necessarily a bad thing for that peak. The lakes basin is probably just out of view to the left, looks like it would be patchy snow probably?

https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-r...-15-8484181938

[seacatfan]

Did something different yesterday, started a hike at 7 pm. Took me longer to get to the trailhead than I was figuring. Brought a headlamp, thought I'd probably finish in the dark. I definitely did that. Hiked Johnson Ridge/Scorpion Mtn. up the Beckler River Rd. One other car at the TH, the other guy was camping at the summit. Got some mountain views off and on with a bit of alpenglow and the sun sinking to the west. Got about halfway back to the car, well into dusk before I pulled the headlamp out. Hadn't hiked in the dark in quite a while. Even though it had cooled down quite a bit from earlier in the day by the time I started, I was still sweating like a pig to begin with. It was a bit cool and breezy on the summit but I only stopped briefly. Never got cold on the way back.

edit--line w/ some pics

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8032246

[gu03alum]

Hey gu03, here's a current TR from WTA for nearby Goat Mountain. Second picture shows YAB and Tomhyhoi, on the left in the near distance. You can see the road and the TH area for YAB clearly as well. Still a fair bit of snow all along the ridge to Tomyhoi it looks like, which isn't necessarily a bad thing for that peak. The lakes basin is probably just out of view to the left, looks like it would be patchy snow probably?

https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-r...-15-8484181938

Thank you!

[gu03alum]

Did something different yesterday, started a hike at 7 pm. Took me longer to get to the trailhead than I was figuring. Brought a headlamp, thought I'd probably finish in the dark. I definitely did that. Hiked Johnson Ridge/Scorpion Mtn. up the Beckler River Rd. One other car at the TH, the other guy was camping at the summit. Got some mountain views off and on with a bit of alpenglow and the sun sinking to the west. Got about halfway back to the car, well into dusk before I pulled the headlamp out. Hadn't hiked in the dark in quite a while. Even though it had cooled down quite a bit from earlier in the day by the time I started, I was still sweating like a pig to begin with. It was a bit cool and breezy on the summit but I only stopped briefly. Never got cold on the way back.

edit--line w/ some pics

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8032246

those are great pictures. When I first started reading your post I figured you started late to see the comet.

[seacatfan]

those are great pictures. When I first started reading your post I figured you started late to see the comet.

I didn't even think of that! There was something really bright in the sky I noticed toward the end. I figured it was a planet, but maybe it was the comet. I took a few moments to gaze up at all the stars after I got back to my car. No moon visible at that point and far enough away from the city to minimize light pollution, it was fairly dazzling. I don't know my constellations but Big Dipper was real easy to pick out.

[gu03alum]

I climbed Mt Adams on Thursday and Friday. I got up to lunch counter Thursday around 7 PM and set up camp. I was a little nervous because everyone coming down said it was super windy the night before and the wind was supposed to be worse Thursday night. We must have picked really good spots because the wind didn't bother me too much while sleeping in my tent. We saw a great sunset that seemed to last forever. Mt Saint Helens and Mt Hood were so clear the whole day and were beautiful with the sunset. The next morning we left a little after 6. I felt strong going up the steep hill to Pikers Peak. The wind was blowing hard, but it was really howling at the top of pikers peak. We took a break behind some rocks, but I got really cold. The cold sapped my energy and the rest of the way was a real challenge. It was kind of disappointing because I had felt so good up to that point and was leading the way of my group. I went to the back the rest of the way and was the last to summit. It was beautiful on top and I was able to see Rainier. The last time I was on top of Adams the smoke was so thick I couldn't really see much. I didn't stay up there long because the wind was so strong. I took off my crampons and prepared to glissade down. No one had glissaded yet who was in front of us so my group was the first. The snow was starting to soften up so we managed to time it perfectly. We were able to glissade the whole way back to lunch counter except for the flat part and then once we collected our stuff we glissaded down to the Morrison Creek.

Hood



Helens



Rainier



Me at Lunch Counter

[sittingon50]

Congrats alum! Nice job.

[seacatfan]

Congrats on Adams gu03!

[seacatfan]

Took my nephew and his buddy backpacking on Hood Tuesday-Wednesday this week. It was triple digits for about a week straight east of Portland. Up on the mountain was a little cooler, but not much. They got to experience a bit of blow down on the trail and some annoying bugs, but overall it went well.

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8032337

[gu03alum]

Took my nephew and his buddy backpacking on Hood Tuesday-Wednesday this week. It was triple digits for about a week straight east of Portland. Up on the mountain was a little cooler, but not much. They got to experience a bit of blow down on the trail and some annoying bugs, but overall it went well.

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8032337

Damn, that is hot. I don't like hiking as much in high temperatures, but I'm glad you had a good time. Those pictures are great.

[gu03alum]

I went backpacking this weekend and climbed Yellow Aster Butte on Friday after establishing camp. I think my cousin and I were the only ones to climb it that day as we were the only footprints in the snow. A lot of people stopped at the first peak including my sister. She did not feel comfortable going down to the ridge and climbing the mountain. There was simple scrambling that made me a little nervous. I don't like heights. It was fun at the top though. You could see deep into the north cascades, into canada, and of course Shuksan and Baker.

Yellow Aster Butte from the climb up tomyhoi.


Me on the summit with Mount Larrabee and American Border Peak behind me.



Mt Baker



My summit beer

[gu03alum]

On Saturday we attempted Tomyhoi. It was a really fun hike. We got up on this high flat area and then the trail went straight down and then straight up. This is where my sister stopped. My cousin and I continued down the trail. It was steep, but not too bad. Going back up required a small amount of climbing and at one point I was a little freaked out because there was many thousand feet of nothing below where I was climbing.



It was very easy though so I powered through it. We went up a trail and then across a narrow ridge. I was a little freaked out here too, which is silly when you look at the picture.



Then I saw we had to go down again to a spot with a lot of exposure and then take a very steep trail up a rock. It was beyond this rock where you get on a glacier and then climb up to the summit. I decided I would stop here. My cousin continued on. After spending some time waiting there I got a lot more comfortable on the ridge and felt like I could go down the trail and up the rock. (here's a LINK to a video of the panoramic view I had up there) At this point I could see my cousin on his way back. He said the glacier was very sketchy and he couldn't find the right place to go up to the summit so he turned around. Even though I didn't make it to the top, it was still a super cool hike. From that ridge I could see so much as I was about a thousand feet higher than I was at Yellow Aster Butte the day before.

Shuksan

[seacatfan]

Sweet gu03! That is such a cool area. I don't know how many times I was up there before I actually went to the top of YAB. I always headed down to the lakes, and sometimes up toward Tomyhoi. Great view of Tomyhoi Lake below that you only get from the top of YAB. Wandering that up and down ridge toward Tomyhoi is really cool, regardless of whether you reach the summit or not. Glad you had nice weather and enjoyed your visit.


(I don't know if you know about this, but if you go beyond all of the lakes heading southwesterly, you can get on top of that prominent bump on the ridge line and then wander all the way over to Welcome Pass and on to the High Divide if you wanted to)

[gu03alum]

Sweet gu03! That is such a cool area. I don't know how many times I was up there before I actually went to the top of YAB. I always headed down to the lakes, and sometimes up toward Tomyhoi. Great view of Tomyhoi Lake below that you only get from the top of YAB. Wandering that up and down ridge toward Tomyhoi is really cool, regardless of whether you reach the summit or not. Glad you had nice weather and enjoyed your visit.


(I don't know if you know about this, but if you go beyond all of the lakes heading southwesterly, you can get on top of that prominent bump on the ridge line and then wander all the way over to Welcome Pass and on to the High Divide if you wanted to)

that sounds cool. I talked to another group that I think was doing just that.

[kitzbuel]

When I was in grad school at Wyoming I hiked a lot of Colorado peaks. Knocked out a few 14'ers. Long's Peak had a pretty exciting stretch of trail that definitely kept your attention. There are cables and hand holds bolted to the rock along the path, but it is a lot of exposure.

[seacatfan]

That's cool kitz! I've only done a teeny bit of hiking in Colorado (one visit to Estes Park and another to Steamboat), no peaks and definitely no 14ers. My highest elevation is slightly under 13,000, once in Montana and once in California.

[gu03alum]

When I was in grad school at Wyoming I hiked a lot of Colorado peaks. Knocked out a few 14'ers. Long's Peak had a pretty exciting stretch of trail that definitely kept your attention. There are cables and hand holds bolted to the rock along the path, but it is a lot of exposure.

That’s awesome! I want to do some hiking in Colorado at some point. I did a backpacking trip in Wyoming when I was in my early 20’s and it was great. I figured I would be there again quite often and in Colorado too. I’m going to have to make a point of it when covid is over.

[gu03alum]

Seacatfan, have you ever done Mt Daniel? I'm going on Friday to give it a shot.

[seacatfan]

Seacatfan, have you ever done Mt Daniel? I'm going on Friday to give it a shot.

Haven't been to the true summit (West Peak?). One attempt w/ several buddies, crap weather, we did the glacier headwall route. I stopped at the saddle between East Peak and Middle Peak. Couldn't see anything. My buddies kept going, they claimed they summited.

One other time I did SE Ridge and summited the East Peak. Downclimbing directly from there and continuing toward Middle and West looked insane, so I didn't try. I could've backtracked partway down the ridge and then did a traverse over to the saddle I'd been to on the other attempt. That looked fairly rotten too, lots of scree.

My first attempt was early in the year w/ lots of snow cover. The second time was much later and pretty much entirely melted out. I can't remember much about the headwall. We were able to kick steps in snow, I can't imagine some of that is any fun on bare ground. The SE Ridge was pretty cool. A few scrambly bits w/ some exposure, but overall very enjoyable.


You doing a single push, or camping at Peggys Pond?

[gu03alum]

Haven't been to the true summit (West Peak?). One attempt w/ several buddies, crap weather, we did the glacier headwall route. I stopped at the saddle between East Peak and Middle Peak. Couldn't see anything. My buddies kept going, they claimed they summited.

One other time I did SE Ridge and summited the East Peak. Downclimbing directly from there and continuing toward Middle and West looked insane, so I didn't try. I could've backtracked partway down the ridge and then did a traverse over to the saddle I'd been to on the other attempt. That looked fairly rotten too, lots of scree.

My first attempt was early in the year w/ lots of snow cover. The second time was much later and pretty much entirely melted out. I can't remember much about the headwall. We were able to kick steps in snow, I can't imagine some of that is any fun on bare ground. The SE Ridge was pretty cool. A few scrambly bits w/ some exposure, but overall very enjoyable.


You doing a single push, or camping at Peggys Pond?

camping at Peggys Pond on Friday and getting up early on Saturday to do the SE ridge. My cousin says to bring crampons and ice axe, but it doesn't seem like we will need it. I don't mind carrying them, but I hate wearing my mountaineering boots.

[seacatfan]

camping at Peggys Pond on Friday and getting up early on Saturday to do the SE ridge. My cousin says to bring crampons and ice axe, but it doesn't seem like we will need it. I don't mind carrying them, but I hate wearing my mountaineering boots.

Hopefully this works. Here's a recent picture (not mine), taken from the summit of Bears Breast, looking at the south side of Daniel. I think crampons and axe would be useless dead weight very likely.

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewt...56c212883d0d2d

[seacatfan]

Anyway, good luck, have fun. Lots of great views along the ridge, especially down to Circle, Venus and Spade Lakes directly below you, and the crest of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness (Lemah, Chimney, Summit Chief, etc).

[seacatfan]

FWIW, here's my TR from Oct. '14, so obviously not useful as far as current conditions, but you can see some of the route.

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8013404

[gu03alum]

FWIW, here's my TR from Oct. '14, so obviously not useful as far as current conditions, but you can see some of the route.

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8013404

That’s a great trip report and pictures. Thanks for sharing!

[gu03alum]

We had a very windy night at Peggy's Pond and got off to a later start than we wanted. We climbed the east summit, but decided we would get done too late to get the middle and West summit too. I guess I have a reason to come back again.

Seacatfan, you were correct about the crampons and axe. We did cross a snowfield, but it was very soft so we did not put on our crampons. I had my axe out though just in case I slipped, but could have done without.

The hike was beautiful. I ended up doing some really difficult climbing (for me) when we went the wrong way on the ridge. We went around and down climbed a little and ended up with a lot of exposure. The rocks were very loose so I had to be very careful where I put my hands or feet. I made it, but it was freaky. The rocks that did get loose went a long way down to the lake below. On the way back I passed a couple with a dog and I made a comment that I was amazed that their dog had made it that far as I was barely able to make it through that tough section. When we got back to that spot we went down again. My cousin went first and barely made it through. he had to stretch his arm all the way around a rock to get a firm hand hold. I followed behind him and made it about 3/4 when I had an epiphany. I thought, I bet I can go up and over this section instead of the way we went. Going back was freaky, but I'm glad I did. I climbed up the rock and there was a trail up there. I felt so dumb and so thankful neither of us got hurt.