Mount Adams, WA

Info: Mt Adams, WA

We started the adventure with a leisurely morning of waking up eating a big breakfast and hitting the road around 10am.  It's just over a two hour drive to the ranger station where we each had to buy our $10 wilderness hiking passes with blue bag equivalents.  We thought it would be a nice easy hike to camp that night but the rangers quickly bursted our bubble.   We were told that it was a three mile hike just to the trail head because of the late winter and the low snow level.

So two things killed us the first day, the snow and a wrong turn.  As we started driving up the road there was a little confusion to which road we needed to take.  Right after leaving the ranger station we took a wrong turn.  We kept on driving because we were told that people would be parked on the road.  Because we were looking for all the cars we kept on driving until one snow drift stopped us in our tracks.

Digging out the truck

We spent about two hours digging our selves out mostly because when I would gain a little ground I would get a little excited and keep on driving to the point where I would just get it stuck again.

After finally getting to the trail we had the long grueling hike up to camp.  We didn't gain as much ground as we thought we would had but the unexpected snow set us back quite a bit.  We couldn't have asked for better weather, I spent most of the time hiking in only basketball shorts and a t-shirt.  The weather also gave us some amazing views.

Tyler just gettin' it

Sam and Dane with Mt Hood in the background

We started the next day leaving our tents and large packs behing and started up the mountain with our day packs.  Hiking is hard work and Tyler had spent the past month getting in shape for this were Sam and I spent the last month doing nothing and it showed.  Unfortunately we were not able to reach the summit, some bad weather was rolling in near the top and we were loosing sun light, so just below the false summit we turned back.  It was a smart and safe choice. 

So close to the false summit

The best part of the trip down was glissading.  It was a blast and in a way made all the work worth it.  After receiving the suggestion to slide down on a Frisbee we decided to go cheap and bought some thin plastic plates at a gas station on the way up.  They didn't work out and we all just ended up riding down the mountain on our butts.  It was a lot of fun while the steep slopes lasted, but when we had to get back on foot the work began again.

Some parts of the hike down where just as hard as the way up, partially because we had to hike back up due to overshooting our camp.  This is what really made the hike hard on our bodies, it was killer.  When we finally got back down to the truck we determined that we had been hiking for a total of 12 hours that day. 

Each of us still want to summit Adams, but we all have learned that we should do it later in the season. 

Cape Alava Hike

Annie and I took a pleasant little hike out on the peninsula for the first trip after graduation.  If you ever want to find out info about the hike or go on it your self, just look up info about Lake Ozette in WA.  There is the basic 9 mile loop that is an awesome day hike with the two main hi lights being 6 miles of board walk through the rain forest and the tide pools at low tide.

Hike on the board walk

 

baby seal just chillin'

The two of us wanted more of a over night thing so we hiked a little further south to Yellow Banks where we stayed for the night.  After about the first mile of hiking on the sand I quickly remembered how miserable it was and we both looked forward to getting to camp which was a nice surprise.  Over the years people have decorated the camp sites with beach trash, it was fun to see some of the things people found.  So we posted up in one site that had an area for an illegal fire pit (fires have to be bellow the tide line) a drift wood fort and a homemade hammock.

Camp

The highlight of the trip was probably the ginormous beach fire we had.  We got caught by a little rain while we were building up the beach fire with drift wood so we were a little discouraged thinking that it would never light.  Then Annie found a giant plastic stake that we put in our little fire, it was determined to burn until it was all melted away so we transferred it to the the big fire.  The pictures will explain the rest, but the fire kept us occupied for the rest of the night. 

We had some amazing views the entire trip but the sunset was great.  There was a little weather in the area so parts of the sky were crystal clear.  

From camp looking North West

Moab, UT

Heres the new game plan.  When ever I forget to make the time to actually write out a post I'll just list all the thinks I did to make the trip memorable. 

-On zero hours of sleep boarded the plane

-free upgrade from a Yaris to a Rav4, $10 a day, uninsured proven 4x4 capable 

-ate at one of four cracker barrels state wide, we made sure to ask about that one

-had to turn around twice before we got on the right road 

-survived Wellington aka: drove through it without getting a ticket 

-discovered that Memorial Day weekend is the busies weekend in Moab

-ate at the Moab Brewery

-hunted for camp sites, found one on the side of the highway

-went to sleep with the line of: "bro, they're chopping fire wood." While talking about our neighbors camping next to us. 

- explored Arches natl. park

-hiked to the waterfall as suggested by Tyler, great choice!

-missed the turn to the falls and hiked 8 miles in the wrong direction but discovered petroglyphs on the walls

-then directed to the falls (beautiful)

-jumped off the 30 ft cliff there

-continued the hunt for a camp site by driving up a scenic byway and found a spot to camp by castle rock's trail head

-attempted to camp at the base of castle rock

-after coming close to heat exhaustion from 2 hours of hiking we failed to find a camp site at the top due to 80 mph+ winds (Sam still thinks his tent could have withstood it)

-humbled ourselves and hiked back down to camp next to the car

-decided to sleep with no rain fly so that we could see the stats at night and sleep cooler 

-instead we spent most of the night awake being pelted by sand from the on going dust storm

-Rocked slick rock on mountain bikes.

-I (Dane) blew by the warning sign telling riders to beware of the trail for advanced riders only

-Only went over the handel bars once

-Drive up to Layton to stay with G&G Stevenson

-Wished Vic a happy birthday and meet his beautiful new fiancee Imara

-Went to the cemetery where Sam learned all about the Stevenson family, Thanks Grandpa