Photo Friday: Glacier Peak Wilderness

A couple of weeks ago, I did a 6-day backpack trip with my husband and eldest son (ES) on the east side of Glacier Peak (in Washington State; not to be confused with Glacier National Park). After a good snow year, there was lots of water, a fair collection of mosquitoes, and an overwhelming abundance of wildflowers. Here's a quick trip report with a lot of pretty pictures.

For those who like more detail on routes: We hiked the Phelps Creek Trail to Spider Meadows, climbed the Spider Glacier through Spider Gap and down to Lyman Lake. Crossed Cloudy and Suiattle Passes to pick up the PCT for a few miles, then the trail through Buck Creek Pass and back down to the Chiwawa River to complete the near-loop.

Day One: 
We arrived at the trailhead, after a long and slow dirt road (the last 2.5 miles were not at all appropriate for a small sedan, but we did it anyway), in time for lunch. There were a startling number of cars in the parking area, but it was Sunday and we had faith, well-placed as it turned out, that most would be leaving that day.

Couldn't help noticing most of the other cars were SUVs.

There were great views at the trailhead (the photo above just hints at it), but the trail dove right away into thick forest, where we began almost at once to see the wildflowers that were to be such a marker of this trip.

Trillium

After a couple of hours (maybe 5 1/2 miles), we began to glimpse what we had come for. It wasn't a long hike, but we were happy to know that camp would be near.

ES contemplates the view at the bottom of Spider Meadows

The campsite we claimed was about perfect: right on the edge of the meadow with a view up at the larger peaks and the next day's route. 

Day Two

We woke to frost on the flowers, but the sun eventually hit the bottom of the valley, and we moved off through the garden.

We will be climbing up around to the left of the grey outcrop and then behind it to the right of the higher brown-and-snow peak to a pass that can't be seen from here.

The trail first led us through the meadow, at a very easy grade, before we crossed Phelps Creek (not scary, but ES and I both got our feet wet). Then it began to climb with a disconcerting directness!

Gaining elevation fast.

We eventually ran out of trail, and continued straight up the glacier. It's little, without crevasses or other challenges. It may in fact be a permanent snowfield, but the map claims glacier.

ES and the spouse head for the pass.

We hit the saddle in time for an early lunch. Given the view, I wouldn't have lunched anywhere else. If you look very, very closely, you can see the summit of Mt. Baker in the low spot to the left of the double peak in the center of the skyline. Below us the Upper Lyman Lakes showed themselves to be the stark pools left behind the retreat of a glacier. We have a long way to go down, but the snowfields prove our salvation--we can slide most of the way, thus sparing our knees, though at some cost of frozen backsides.

I'm not sure when the glacier covered the lake area, but I'd be willing to guess we are talking a century or less.

Lower Lyman is also a settling-pond for glacial silt! Not only does the color give it away, but we could see the silt in the shallows, and the path the inlet has carved through it.

Day Three

We found a camp on the far shore of Lyman Lake, only later discovering that there were much nicer camps elsewhere. I advocated a move, but the guys were too settled. In the morning, after exploring along the west side of the lake up to the inlet--an impressive cascade tumbling from the lakes above--we headed up toward Cloudy Pass.

Some of the best flowers grew at Cloudy Pass, but also the best mosquitoes, and some rather impressive horseflies.

From the pass, we had a phenomenal view back to where we had been (Lyman Lake is visible at the bottom, and Spider Gap is the low spot on the ridge above the lake).

Looks like a long way.

There were also tantalizing hints of the big show, what we had really come for.

ES pauses to contemplate the big white thing.

We made this a very short day, stopping just below Suiattle Pass at a campsite with a fantastic view. We spent the afternoon vacationing--naps, reading in the tent, and just poking around a little until dinnertime.

Sunset on Glacier Peak. At 10,541', it's not the tallest volcano in the state, but it is beautiful. Last eruption was in 1700.

Day Four

Began this day very early, in order to catch sunrise on the mountain. Since it was late July, and we were very far north, that meant a 5 a.m. rising time. In most of our camps, we didn't get direct sun until much later, but it was light until 10 p.m., and light again shortly after 5, so we didn't make much use of our headlamps.

Sunrise from the same spot, not so very many hours later.

This day was our longest hiking day, with a lot of ups and downs as we had to cross a couple of drainages and climb to Buck Creek Pass. Along the way, we topped out on the imaginatively named Middle Ridge, and followed a use trail up the ridge in search of views. We found a sea of lupine.

There's a trail along just above tree line on that distant ridge. Next time, I'll go that way.

We also found views of the the mountain. Photographers in heaven!

Just before dropping to our camp (which had no views, alas, but was a short walk from this spot), we crossed a steep meadow white with Pasque flowers, bistort, and valerian, with a few asters and an occasional red paintbrush. And a volcano.

That deep scar below the glacier was the source of interest when winds kicked up clouds of dust--probably mostly ash.

Day Five

We planned a short backpacking day on this one, so that we could do some dayhiking to explore the high ridges. We left camp early to follow a trail along the ridge toward High Pass, a route we'd heard of from other hikers on this trip. It proved to be yet another scenic highlight.

Flower gardens and volcanoes, on top of Liberty Cap

Steep slopes and waist-high flowers.

There's a trail under there somewhere.

Continuing to skirt the top of the ridge. We started running into snowfields along in here.

 We could have gone a little farther, but the route to High Pass traverses high, steep snowfields above a drop-off (on the left in the photo below). That's not something to do without an ice axe. So instead, we climbed a knob above the trail, where we had 360-degree views.

Slightly distorted panorama of what we could see from our high knob, looking south and west.

 And, of course, the knob was covered with flowers.

We returned to camp in time for a late lunch. After a nap, we moved our camp a few miles closer to the trailhead, to make the next (final) day's hike easier. That last camp had the advantage of being the only one that was essentially mosquito-free, being well below the snow line and much drier.

Day Six
Final day. We had seen signs warning us that the section of trail we would be hiking this final day had been burned over the previous fall, and might be hard to follow. There were also warnings that the bridge over the Chiwawa River was out, and we worried about that off and on the whole way, knowing that it wouldn't be an option to turn around and go back. In the event, the trail had been cleared of deadfall before we reached it, and we were able to be intrigued by the burn area, rather than stymied by it. 

There were patches that burned quite intensely.

As always after a fire, it takes very little time for green things to start poking through the ash.

 The "destroyed" bridge proved, like the burn area, to be no obstacle at all. I wouldn't want to have to ford the river there, but in fact the bridge was collapsed, but solid, and provided a safe and easy crossing.

In the last mile, the trail gave us one last gift, in the form of a patch of huckleberries. Thus fortified, we were able to make it to the car, and on out to the nearest burger and shake.

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2017
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Photo Friday!

Well, that was a week! My post is late today, because not only was there no flash fiction prompt from Chuck Wendig, but Friday snuck up on me. So instead of a story, we have photos. Last weekend, we visited Mt. Lassen National Park--by bicycle. So not a very thorough visit in some ways, but what I rode through I saw inch by inch! Not a hint of snow in the park, of course, which makes Mt. Lassen look a whole lot less impressive.

A few stats: Mt. Lassen (10,463') is located in northern California, and is the southernmost volcano of the Cascade range (the same one that has Mt. Rainier and the explosive Mt. St. Helens). The park is currently celebrating the centennial of the mountain's last eruptive cycle, which probably tells you most of what you need to know about volcanic activity! Definitely not a dead volcano. The park has areas of impressive thermal activity (not in Yellowstone quantities, but still good). Most of that requires a walk to get to it, so we didn't visit--too hard to walk in our bike shoes. Ironically, touring by bike turned us into the worst sort of "windshield tourist" who never leaves the pavement.

Our ride started outside the Park, so the entrance sign was a good excuse to stop.

I love the wisp of steam from the mountain in the picture on the sign.

 We went on to the Visitor's Center and had lunch, then began the real climb up towards the mountain.

The road got a serious case of the wiggles. This was actually good--it really was never terribly steep. It just kept going.

As we got closer to the mountain, we reached the one road-side thermal feature, the Sulfur Works (I think there is more there than what is visible from the road, but that's what we checked out).

Yes, that is boiling mud.

I shot this on the way back down when the light was better. Sunlight through the steam over the bubbling mud pot.

Mid-afternoon, and I finally reached the high point on the road (despite the sign, it is only the "summit" of the pass, not of the peak! You have to hike to get up there--a trip I have never done, and would definitely not care to do at this time of year--too hot and dry).

Sadly, this wasn't the turn-around. I had to go down the other side a few miles--and climb back up!

I dropped down to Kings Meadow, which was painfully dry (as was everything in the park--there were slopes of plants that were completely brown, plants that should have had green leaves all summer). The meadow has a lovely stream, though, and a view straight back to the peak itself.

Kings Creek and random tourists

What would an epic ride be without a treat? I made it back to the Visitor's Center cafe just in time to get our ice cream before they closed.

Usually I'd snoot this sort of ice cream. After 40+ miles, with 10 or more to go, it was delicious :)

Lassen is a cool park practically in our back yard. One of these days we need to go spend more time there and explore all the thermal features!

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2015

Photos shot on my new IPhone 5, which doesn't do too badly for a phone.

V is for...Volcanoes

 

I tossed this one around for a while, and the only mountain I came up with was the Vinson Massif.  Which is actually totally cool. I mean, the Vinson Massif is the high point of Antarctica, at 16,050'. It's not a technically difficult climb, aside from being in Antarctica, which adds more than enough challenge. It is almost all glacier (big surprise) with a bit of rock sticking out of the top.

But right now, volcanoes are my focus. They are in the news, of course, with Chile's Calbuco volcano erupting. That volcano is part of the Ring of Fire, the circle of volcanoes (and earthquake zones--the two are, of course, related) all around the Pacific.

I grew up with volcanoes. Mt. Rainier was "our" volcano, the one we could see from our house (though happily far enough away that we'd be okay if it erupted. Probably).

Mt. Rainier from the Wonderland Trail, looking over the Winthrop Glacier to the cloud-wrapped summit.

But of course the whole range is volcanoes. If you start at Mt. Baker near the Canadian border, and count them all down to Mt. Lassen in northern California (the southernmost of the Cascades), there are about 15 major volcanoes. The range actually extends on up into British Columbia, adding 5 more.

These volcanoes are the result of plate tectonics, as three minor plates along the western edge of the continent dive beneath the North American plate. That subduction zone creates both earthquakes and places where the molten rock forces its way back up through the surface--volcanoes. In the millenia since the mountains formed, all have been shaped and carved by glaciers, as well.

Glacier Peak

And these Cascade Mountain are, for the most part, live volcanoes. The most recent eruption, of course, was Mt. St. Helens in 1980. In 2005, on our way to Seattle, we  noticed that it was a very clear day and detoured to the Clearwater Ridge Visitor's Center for a nice view of what was left of the mountain. The wind was howling so hard our kids, then only 6 & 8, couldn't stand up!

Not steam or ash this time, but clouds and blowing snow.

Before St. Helens, the most recent eruption was Lassen, in 1917. But Glacier, Baker, Rainier, Hood, and Shasta have all erupted within the last 2-400 years.

In 1989 I climbed Mt. St. Helens, or what was left of it. Lousy weather conditions made for poor visibility as well as photography, but we did see down into the crater, to where the mountain was already working at rebuilding:

This is a view out the blast zone, where the mountain vaporized its own side.

In 1988, I climbed Mt. Adams with some friends. Though 12,280', it isn't a particularly technical climb, though we did use ice axe and crampons for security on the high slopes.

Mt. Adams "Base camp", also known as The Lunchcounter. Note the high-fashion long underwear-and-shorts combo. This was the 80s, for sure (though I have to say the combo made a lot of sense in the conditions in Washington).

Mt. Adams summit. I believe that in the end we went up the bare slopes, for the most part, but came down the snow in a couple of long glissades that took the seat out of my pants!

L: Mt. Lassen

True confessions: I wrote this review last year, and used it for my "F" post in the 2014 A to Z Challenge. So sue me! She's still a great writer and the series is worth checking out. As is Mt. Lassen--see photos at end of post!

Title:  Firestorm
Author: Nevada Barr
Publisher: Orig. published Putnam Adult, 307 pages, 1996.
Source:  Public library (ebook)

Summary:
Ranger Anna Pigeon is on loan from Mesa Verde to fight wildfire near Mt. Lassen in California.  But as the fire camp is closing down, a carry-out operation for an injured firefighter is brought to a shocking end.  The fire suddenly blows up and the group is forced to deploy their last-ditch fire shelters.  When the flames pass, one shelter contains a dead man--with the knife still in his ribs.  Before they can be evacuated, snow closes the approaches to the camp.  It's up to Anna, with some long-distance help from her sort of love interest, Frederick Stanton of the FBI, to find out who killed the man, and why.

Review:
The Anna Pigeon novels are one part police procedural (Anna is in law enforcement, for the Park Service), one part exercise for the little grey cells, and one part wild adventure.  In Firestorm, Anna struggles to keep the grey cells working without food or sleep as she is faced with a classic locked-door mystery.  She's locked in the room with the suspects and the corpse, and survival involves food and fire as well as not tipping off the unknown killer.

Barr builds the tension well, and refuses to give us the obvious criminals just as she refuses to give us (or Anna and Frederick) an easy love story.  Anna peels away layer after layer of the dead man's life, until most readers would be happy to join in sticking the knife in the man's ribs.  But only one person has done it, and though in retrospect there are clues, the answer still comes as a shock--just the way it should.  And while we are sure Anna will be glad to see Stanton, we can be pretty sure that they won't ride off into the sunset together.  She has a lot of baggage, and ends this book with still more.

Barr's mysteries are a bit too gritty to be cozy, but they share some important features with cozies.  Notably, the characters are easy to identify with, and the settings are vital.  In fact, this was the first Anna Pigeon novel I read (when it first came out), because it was set in my husband's local park.  The threats to the Parks that Pigeon uncovers lend a special importance to the investigations she undertakes for us.

Recommendation:
If you like the National Parks and you like mysteries, and aren't afraid of a bit of gore and some mildly foul language, Nevada Barr and Anna Pigeon are for you.  And this book, though not the first in the series, is as good a place as any to start, and better than some.

Full Disclosure: I borrowed  Firestorm  from my public (digital) library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher in exchange for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

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Mt. Lassen is the southern-most of the Cascade volcanoes (it is not part of the Sierra Nevada, which is primarily created by uplift, but part of the Cascades, which are volcanic). It is 10,457', and last erupted from 1914-17, making it the second most-recently-active of the Cascade volcanoes (after St. Helens, which erupted in 1980).
 
And now for the photos. These are from a  3-day backpack we did at Butte and Snag lakes on the east side of the Park in 2011.

Lassen in August in a year with decent snow. This year, I'm pretty sure the mountain has less snow than this right now, in April.

Lassen peering from behind the Cinder Cone responsible for the lava field that separates Butte and Snag lakes.

Yes, this is the background for this blog page! Shot from the top of the Cinder Cone looking down to Snag Lake.

There have been fires in that area, not just in Nevada Barr's fiction but in reality. Afterwards, you get amazing wildflowers.

 

Last light on the volcano.

 

I is for Islands!

In particular, Hawaiian Islands.  And maybe Pismawallops Island, or some approximation thereof :)

It's Photo Thursday, and we're going to the Big Island of Hawaii.  A few of my favorite shots from our 2012 visit:

 We began our trip to the Big Island with Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The volcano didn't cooperate with flows of hot lava, but it did bubble and steam a bit for us.

 Some beautiful ropy pahoehoe lava (something I learned about at age 3 at Craters of the Moon).

 

I really liked the contrasts between fresh(ish) lava and the vegetation rapidly taking over. 

 

When the volcano closes a road, it is CLOSED!

Transitions from lava to rich rainforest were quick.  I couldn't get over the fiddleheads on the tree ferns.

Waipio Valley.

Nothing like pizza made on a one-burner camp stove!  This will have to do instead of ice cream--that all got eaten before any pictures could be taken.

 

We did spend a little time on beaches (not much--we burn too easily!), but usually without our cameras.  This was a classic Hawaiian morning on the east side of the Island, taken from camp.

And, for a different sort of island. . . I'm pretty sure Pismawallops Island is out there somewhere (photo is of the northern San Juan Islands, taken from Lummi Island, Washington State).