July 15 & 19 - Summit Mt. Adams

Inspired by Creighton's facebook photos while I was in the Midwest, I wanted to climb Mt. Adams, again.  I sent out the email and text invites to my regular hiking friends and got three yeses.  The problem: not everyone could go at the same time this last week. I thought of a pretty simple solution: I would climb the mountain twice.

The first trip was a Sunday/Monday thing with two of my colleagues.  We drove to the Cold Springs campground Sunday afternoon, camped, and climbed the mountain on Monday.  We started at 5 am after a pretty sleepless night.  We were one of the last groups to leave that day. There were very few people on the mountain, which was nice.  I remember when I first climbed Adams in August of 2011 (Week 50), it was a parade of hundreds of climbers.  The climb was long, but the day was amazing. We made it to the summit in a little less than 9 hours.  We were the last group to summit that day.  We then had a great, fast glissade down.  We were back at the car three hours later.

The other yes was from a former student who is an excellent hiking buddy. He and I have hiked a few times together, including this last February in Havasu.  He sat shotgun the entire trip in my van, and we became pretty good traveling buddies.  He and I took off from Tacoma around 9 pm and reached the trailhead around 2 am.  We took a solid 3 hour nap. Woke up at 5:25 am, and we were off hiking by 5:50 am. We were last group leaving the trailhead on Friday. We were a little slower than my Monday climb, but I think that was due to the heat.  It was so hot. On Monday, I hiked in pants, long sleeve, hat with bandana, and a light jacket. If we stopped I would get chilled. On Friday, I was in shorts and a short sleeve shirt and didn't need layers when we stopped.  The hat made my face feel hot, but I knew I needed the sun protection.  The snow was a slushy mess too.  It was great was to see this kid reach his first big summit. He was definitely proud and excited.  We hung out on the summit for an hour. We were the last to summit on Friday too.  We left the summit at 4:15 pm and were back down 3 hours later. 

July 13, 2013 - Flapjack Lakes and Black and White Lakes

I went on a pretty great hike today.  I went to Flapjack Lakes to start.  I have been here before but only once.  I tried to get there twice, I think, before I made it there finally in July of 2011.  A couple weeks ago I did a hike with Gil up the North Fork of the Skykomish, and we talked of a potential Flapjack Lake hike.  These lakes are beautiful. The photo from the week 47 hike is one of my favorites (Link to post).  The weather today was amazing, and I did not want to waste a day that I could be hiking.  I have been out of the PNW for two weeks.  I was back in the midwest visiting friends and family, and while that was awesome, I have been pining the forests and high country of this amazing place I call home.

I took off from the Staircase trailhead at 11:30 am and made it to the Flapjack turn off in 55 minutes.  That is pretty standard.  The park says its 4 miles, but I am 99% confident it is between 3.4 and 3.8 miles.  It cannot be more than 3.6... Whatever the distance, I took a 4 minute break to snack and hydrate.  I was walking again by 12:30 pm.

I made it to the lakes 1 hour and 44 minutes later.  This stretch is 4 miles and climbs about 3000 feet.  I kept a steady pace and passed many backpackers in the first 30 minutes.  After about 30 minutes, I was alone the entire walk to the lakes.  I found a blue huckleberry bush that was ready for the picking.  I ate a handful of my first berries this summer.  They were incredible. I went to the same area between the lakes I stopped at last time I was there. I ate a small lunch then got ready to go for a swim.  The lake to the east was the one I choose, and it was so cold.  I went in to my knees and stood there for about 25 minutes before I had the courage to make the plunge.  I heard some fisherman on the west lake, but it felt lake I had the lakes to myself.  After I finally jumped in, I hopped out and changed into dry clothes.  I then laid down for a few minutes while my clothes were drying.

I took off back down the trail after a 90 minute break. I passed a few of the backpackers in the first half mile, then I reached the junction with the Black and White lakes trail.  To the left was the way I came up, to the right some place new.  I took off to the right.  For the next 2 hours and 16 minutes I was on trails I had never hiked, and judging by the condition of the trails, not many others have hiked either.  For an hour or so I climbed to the Black and White Lakes.  I got above the tree line too.  I had a beautiful panoramic view to the west.  I don't know why I haven't been up here before. It was so great.  When I began the hike down to make a loop, I realized that the trail directly to the Black and White Lakes is brutal.  I lost some 3200 feet in two miles.  It took me an hour and at the end my legs were quivering.  I kept walking after a short break chatting with some people heading up the North Fork of the Skokomish.  I made it to the Flapjack Lake junction three hours after I left the lake.  I took a 10 minute break then took off for the "uneventful" hike back.

It was a beautiful evening.  The sunlight was shinning in from my back, giving the forest an amazing green color.  The weather was perfect all day, but it was kind of cool at this point.  I was cold when I was resting but was warming up on the hike down.  The trail was empty, so I started singing some songs to keep any big animals away.  I passed all the familiar landmarks, when suddenly I was staring an adult male goat in the face about 10 feet away.  The goat was on the trail into Slide Camp, and I walked right past him.  He took off up the trail followed by a smaller medium sized goat and a baby that I had not noticed at first.  The three goats were gone so fast (and the light so bad) that I could only get blurry photos.  The rest of the hike was uneventful with the exception of louder singing. I was back the car at 7:45 pm.