Josh Lewis

Trip: This is My America! - Date: 9/26/2009 Distance: 40 Miles (24 on bike, and 16 or so on foot, a few of the walking miles were road walking) Time: 3 Days Who Came: Michael and I Elevation Gain: 8,000ish Feet This was one of my longest adventures yet! I've wanted to for a long time to bike to Sahale which is a Native American word meaning high place, which the summit is around 8,800 feet high. This is my most favorite of all mountains in the world, and especially considering that to me mountains are the most beautiful place in the world, this is what I consider paradise. This trip took place September 26, 2009 through the 28th which is three days total. The adventure consisted of about 40 miles of traveling, which we would bike from the road closure which was way down the valley, and bike up to the trailhead, and then to the pass, up Sahale Arm, and to the summit from there and back home. Two days before I had just climbed Mount Pugh which is a little over a mile in elevation gain so even before the trip I was a little tired. On September 25 my mom was going to buy us a glacier rope which would have worked out except, the Alderwood Mall REI she bought it from did not sell glacier ropes and I was not with her so she got tricked into buying a climbing rope which was instead of being 70-80$ for a glacier rope, the climbing rope was 190$! Not only that but it weighed around 4 times more than what the glacier rope would have weighed which the climbing rope was 10 pounds. This made a change in the adventure before starting. It was more than what should have been bought so we needed the money back which we had to wait the next morning for the store to open before we could return the rope. We got to the store and the lady said we need the debit card we bought it on, so we had to drive all the way back to my mom, and then back to the store and get the money back which went onto the card. After this my brother went to try to get the cash from the card and there was a transfer delay which would be atleast 48+ hours! When Michael came to me he told me "were not going, were going home!". I was worried at this point and wanted to know what was going on. Once I found out the details I came up with a plan which succeeded. I had 40$ or so in bills and change which 18$ or so was in quarters, dimes, and nickles. We then had to drive back to give my mom her card and then I called my friend Mark and spoke with him about borrowing his glacier rope which he was fine with and spoke it over with his dad which too was fine with us borrowing it as long as we took good care of it. We left for home and made 3 bean burritos for each of us, a some what filled jar of peanut butter, a small bottle of jelly, a half loaf of bread, and a little bit of other stuff which would serve as our food for the trip. My bike tire was messed up so my friends dad let me borrow his which was a bit old, but would work for the trip. If everything went according to plan, we would be back Sunday, but the rope deal complicated the trip and later ended up extending it. We drove to Mark's house and got the rope and he inspecked our gear and such which from here we set off for Cascade Valley. By the time we got to Cascade Valley the sun was already setting behind the ridge which I was hoping before that we would be there 24 hours ago which meant we would have to ride bikes fast. The start of the trip was tiring, the up hill got a bit steep, although perhaps if I had been using a better bike and if we did not have heavy packs it would not of been as bad, although we still had lots of distance anyways. The rangers said that the road would be closed at mile marker 12 but acually it was closed at mile marker 11 which added 2 extra miles which were a little extra than what we had in mind. Around mile marker 12 was where the construction was taking place, the bridge was fine, but they were doing extra repairs so that mabe it would last the winter, commonly bridges washout in winter time here. After this we had a ways of down hill which was nice. As we went down another hill I looked up and Johanesburg Mountain looming above with clouds over it which looked very big. Then we would bike up as much of a hill as we could, then walk our bikes. And it would sorta be a repeated cycle. We did not see another person until nearly making it back to the car which for days we would see no one. I was a little worried about the thought as we kept going further and further into the mountains, but at the same time it was a comforting feeling to not have to deal with loud noises, and to have quietness. There did pose danger though, if one of us got hurt or injured while hiking or biking it could be bad, we were many miles away from the car, and far from any other person and a long time before anyone would start searching for us which even then they too would have to go a long ways through the valley to find us. So we had to keep an extra caution, and not do anything reckless nor ride our bikes to fast. As we biked through the woods the sun started to set and it started to get darker and darker which we could see mountains through the trees glowing bright red which at a few spots got a clearing of. One of the mountains I remember was sticking out bright, My Beautiful Sahale! It was quite an amazing feeling being out in these woods in the Cascade Valley. Eventually as we went on we got to mile marker 21 which we knew that the remaining road from here was steep so we stashed our hikes off to the side behind a log near an old abandoned cabin. From here we walked up the road which we knew our only head lamp was low on power so we decided to save it for Cascade Pass. Using slight moon light, star light, and feeling when going up the road we got to a creek which we purified our water with my mom's water purifier. After this we hiked the last mile to the Cascade Pass trailhead. Before we got there I was looking up and watching as clouds would rise over Cascade Peak and the Triplets with a little moon light making the clouds light up which gave a really nice atmosphere to the place. The stars also made for a great show, I felt like a pioneer the way that it looked, just me, my brother, and the mountains. Later we finally get to the trailhead and turn on our only head lamp. I was in the back so that Michael could use the light to shine the way which I would watch ahead so I could know whats ahead, where I was standing there was hardly any light which sometimes I stumbled but not often. Even though normally this would be an easy hike to the pass but the bike ride, climbing Mount Pugh, and the heavy pack took its toll on us which even though my legs felt strong I felt quite tired and it later felt somewhat relentless switch backing through the woods which finally we got to Cascade Pass. From here we set up Camp and I went to sleep fast, which was very solid that night and woke up a little after sunrise. We had breakfast which was waffles and syrup and we headed up Sahale Arm. Even though it was nice and sunny, it was colder than I expected, not in temperature, but the winds kept blowing which made me have to wear a jacket going up. On the way up we found a small pond which was a good spot to purify water although a bit green and cold, but it was good enough. After this we further headed up the Arm until we got to Sahale Glacier. This is where things slowed down. Michael had a hard time putting on his crampons which he would try to mount them with shoe string which did not work so he used the straps which took a while to put together which I spent time trying to figure out why to use the figure eight on a bite which I realized because you have to shorten the rope by coiling it and having it around your neck, then you have to tie a figure eight on a bite so that non of the tension is on the coiled rope. After spending a while getting ready to cross the Sahale Glacier we started to head up. At first we were making good time up, but it soon got steep and my brothers crampon fell off! This worried both of us a bit, although I guess he was more worried about it than me, I offered for him to use my crampons and I go crampon less but he refused and kept having to readjust the crampon. Later when it was not as sloped it wasn't as much of a problem. We had to cross back and forth between the glacier because there were some crevasses that blocked a long portion of the standard route which there were no boot prints because with the whole road closure almost no one went up here. It was a very cool feeling, leading my brother up the mountain almost feeling like a guide. After going back and forth around crevasses and crossing snow bridges we were nearing the summit. At one point the crevasses crossed each other which worried me, but to our luck we found a snow bridge that worked well. And who says Sahale is not much of a glacier, in late season it very much is one with wide open crevasses. We unroped and headed up the South West Ridge, it started out as a scramble through rocks. The rocks were loose as we went up, a deal of choss. As we were scrambling on the ridge I got to a point were I did not feel comfortable and decided I would have to turn around and find another way. When I got down Michael said he was done, so the last part I had to solo. Even starting out was worry some for me, I had to be careful and hold on tight to the rock which was solid. As I pushed myself further and further up the face I was some how almost in some kind of trance, perhaps summit fever and kept going further up the rock. It got to the point were it felt like class 4, crazy emotions started striking me. One of the quotes someone once told me was "Go ahead, get yourself killed" - (Someone from Nwhikers) for some reason it kept filling my mind, the moment got more and more intense with each step until I got on the summit ridge about 100 feet from the summit. It was one of the scariest spots I have ever touched, I only took one photo from this spot and carefully put my camera away. Normally I would not have even taken the one photograph but I some how felt compelled to do so, the moment was so beautiful and view was unique. I looked up at the summit which looked atleast class 5, way to dangerous to approach, not only did the ridge look loose, but a huge cliff and glacier were below me, and I decided to call it quits here. Boston Peak looked even more intimidating, I did not stay on this spot long because of the dangers, after the trip I found out I was on the wrong ridge. Down climbing it was frightening, careful which each step worrying about a fall. Finally when I got to the class 3 part I felt a lot better. As I was heading down a safer route I looked back at the summit block at what could of been the right way to the summit which I believe goes a little around the east part. I decided against it because not only did it look a little iffy, I was solo, the sun was going to set soon, and my brothers crampons were falling off which would not be good if the glacier froze over. Even though we spent such a hard time trying to summit, I decided it was not worth the risks and that Sahale will be there some day, and besides a return trip when snow covered would be better! I return to Michael, we rope back up and try to get down as fast as possible to avoid the glacier freezing over. Heading down was not too bad, the place was starting to get sunset colors, and soon we were off the glacier, and the only time the rope was stepped on was the last step which was a tiny little mark. We repacked our gear and made a hurry down, it began to get cold quick, especially with the winds. On the way down we came back to our pond which I believe was partly frozen by this point, to filter more water. Filtering the water was extremely cold, my hands started to go numb in the proccess. We soon had to break out our head lamps, but fortunately the moon was out to help provide some light on the decent. Later we finally got back to Cascade Pass to sleep in our tent. After eating and such we went to bed, but as we were about to go to sleep the wind picked up and we started seeing lighting up parts of the tent which frightened me at first because I had no idea what was going on. To our amazement the wind was creating static electricity which glows in the dark, but I was soo tired that I soon fell asleep. When I woke up the sun was up which meant it was time to go and pack up our gear. We originally did not expect to stay a second night but considered it possible, so our food supply was short. I drank out of the jelly jar and had strait up peanut butter. Heading down was not as terrible as I had expected it to be, for the most part it was easy, although I had become quite thirsty by now due to the lack of water we had left. fortunately a ways down the road we hit the creek again and filtered some more water. By this point we were running down the road, although eventually I had to stop because it became a bit much running down the steep road with heavy packs and being tired on a hot day. Atleast the conditions were nice. We soon got to our bikes near the cabin and started heading down. After a few miles we got to the down hill section which worried me due to the slope and turns, Michael was way ahead of me, and I did not slow down much because I did not want to fall behind. Later when we got to the bottom of the hill we took a break, Michael noticed the strange noise coming from the bike (this was the same bike I used on my Steven's Pass Attempt Trip which tends to get a lot of friction). Michael "fixed it" or atleast for a little while, until the clicking came back, we swapped bikes which was so much easier on me when going up hill. "And I thought going up hill on my bike was bad enough" Michael told me when we got to the top of the hill. We swapped back, for good reasoning to. I took one last look at Johanesburg before riding down the other side of the hill. I would have taken more photos but I already deleted enough photos as it was because I was using a memory card which had 128 megabytes of space which I was disappointed about. After biking, and sometimes hiking up hill we later got to the construction zone which I was glad to see them at work on the road. After this we biked down hill and then were at the car. From here we drove home. I had to miss Monday of school which we had not expected to miss but ended up having to. This was an exciting adventure which I been so long wanting to return here, I hope to go up to the summit some day. After all, This is my America!

:tup: For publicly mentioning it. I don't blame you one bit if what you said it true about the signs not being visible or noticible.

I would be up for a scramble or something, if your interested call me 503-895-3912.

Hmmmmm... it happeneds that the car is in my yard right now, and Michael mentioned something about possibly being able to borrow it, I'll try to pull some strings tommorow.

Your not the only one stuck without a partner. This weekend (or atleast this Saturday) blows because of all the avalanche danger, my partners bailed on me (for good reasoning) and even my bail out peaks became too dangerous.

Me and a friend of mine were considering the ice cliff glacier route, but not sure how conditions will be like next week.

Wow! This situation sounds rediculous.

They do for the most part, but yesterday they gave a report: …Major Spring avalanche cycle probable... along with generally increasing avalanche danger through Sunday… Increasingly warm and mostly sunny weather Thursday and Friday should be followed by continued high freezing levels reaching near or above 10,000 feet over the weekend along with a chance of afternoon showers, mainly Sunday. This anticipated warm weather…with the highest sustained freezing levels this spring since appreciable snowfall was received in April…should produce a significant increase in the avalanche danger carrying through the weekend. Increasingly deep wet snow conditions should develop at progressively higher elevations and onto more shaded terrain as this warm weather continues. Recent warming conditions over the past few days has already begun producing widespread natural wet snow avalanches, both loose and slab releases on most south facing terrain below about 5000 feet and at lower elevations on all aspects. Reports from control work efforts at Chinook Pass Wednesday indicated significant wet snow conditions and large entraining wet snow avalanches had reached to the ridgeline above 6000 feet, whereas earlier unstable conditions were generally from 5000 feet and lower. Both natural and easily ski triggered slides were entraining laterally and many reached the valley bottoms with large debris volumes. Some large natural wet loose slides have also been reported on south facing terrain on Skyline Ridge and Lichtenberg Mt near or just east of Stevens Pass, with such slides entraining much of the gradually weakening and melting snowpack and some involving mud and rocks. Another indicator of increasingly wet and rotten snow conditions stems from a road building operation on a north exposure around the 4000 ft level near Alpental that had to be terminated prematurely on Tuesday when the snowcat was unable to gain traction in the very wet, slushy snowpack. As a result of this increasing potential for a significant spring avalanche cycle and potentially dangerous avalanche conditions on slopes not experiencing recent avalanche activity, back country travelers are urged to perform careful snowpack evaluation, cautious routefinding and conservative decision making during the increasingly warm and mostly sunny days ahead. Be especially aware if you start to posthole and sink into wet snow above the boot top, or if you encounter recent avalanche activity on similar slopes, increasing sunball activity, or smaller wet loose slides kicked off from traverses. Also be sure to avoid slopes beneath cornices as these may fail during the warm days ahead and trigger some larger slides on the slopes below. Be sure that the primary goal for your trip is a safe and fun outing rather than having to reach the summit during dangerous conditions.

This is more intense than when black diamond was robbed thinking they had diamonds.

I may be interested! If I'm not climbing Rainier or Eldorado, then I'll let you know if I could join.

Darn I wish I had seen this offer ealier! Oh well, next time your heading down there, let me know. As for my rock experience, I would say I climb 5.6-5.7.

Trip: Mount Baker Journey - Date: 4/23/2010 Trip Report: This was among one of my more interesting adventures, for a while I been wanting to reclimb Mount Baker in April but was unsure of when the right time would be. This trip took place April 24-25, 2010 (Saturday-Sunday) The trip idea sparked when I was sent a private message on nwhikers: "So im still interested in climbing Baker Colman Deming with you... its more for training than any thing else but we will give the summit are best shot..." -Quest for Adrenaline I have never hiked with him, but from the stories I've heard about him, if they were true, he was a very experienced mountaineer. We had some phone conversations and we talked about what to bring and if the weather was terrible we could always bail. By the conversations he seemed like a nice guy to climb with (later I found when meeting him in person to be a nice guy and cool partner). Getting to Mount Baker was an issue, he had no car as well as me. He told me about a cheaper bus ride to get to Bellingham from Everett which was slightly pricy but cheaper than the rest. It was $12.75 each way. On the night of Friday April 23 I had to do a bunch of research on how I was going to get to Mount Baker and those kind of things. Then I also had to pack my pack, which took a while. When I finally got all my gear together, my brother throws up and I end up having to clean it. :rant: Then my brother forces me to trim my finger nails which I was kicked out of the bathroom as I was doing it and the only other light I thought of was outside which was dim. I ended up cutting too much and my fingers were hurting and bleeding a little, "uggggggg" I thought to myself because I hate having short nails because it hurts, although mabe I trim them too short. Anyways when I go to bed it was about 12:00 a.m. Bam! I wake up at 3:30 a.m. to get up and go for the trip. I had only 3 and a half hours of sleep. I now had to bike to Marysville to catch the bus by 7 a.m. The ride was around 15-16 miles, and yes I rode the old bike that once again catches friction making the riding harder, unlike last time, this time I had way more gear in my pack, but fortunately there were plenty of side walks the entire way. It was interesting going through Everett at night because there were so many lights on the trees in the main street. (I guess that shows how often I visit downtown Everett at night ) When I saw that it was 4:30 I tried to bike fast because I wanted to make it to the bus at the casino in time. It was a beautiful little place as I was crossing the bridge over Snohomish River, with the dark blue of the sky. Getting into Marysville there was a smell of donuts in the air which made me droll in my mouth. And then for some reason a block later it smelled like bacon. :huh: I get to the Casino and realize I do not know where the bus arrival zone was. I stash the bike in the bushes to prevent it from being stolen, and the bus I was going to ride charges $10 each way for a bike on. Finally I find the exact location of the bus pick up which in front of the hotel section. The lady at the counter was nice to me, and gave me free water and newspaper as I waited. I was a half hour early which was a relief. After waiting a long time I started to wonder if I was at the right stop and such. 10 minutes after the expected arrival time for the bus I really started to wonder what was going on. I asked the lady and she had me call up the bus service. I had called the bus service the night before to make sure you do not need a reservation which they told me wasn't required, but what they did not tell me was that if no one reserves, then the bus does not show up! "Blame it!" I thought because now I had to wait 2 more hours until the next bus. "This is bad", now meeting Kurt at the trailhead seemed like less of a possibility, but I just had to remain in high hopes. As I waited the lady told me I could take a nap... unfortunately that was not so, when I took a short nap leaning on my pack, the manager (or seemed like someone who worked there) told me to wake up because it looked bad. I understand that it looked bad, but it was annoying because I was running on a few hours of sleep and had a Mount Baker climb on my hands. I decided it would be a good idea to call home to make sure Kurt did not cancel or something. When I tried to call, the operator would not let me call because my phone number is an Oregon number because our phone service magicjack does not support Washington phone numbers. So even calling my nabor from home is long distance! After waiting three hours at the hotel the bus finally comes and I am now heading to Bellingham which I get some nice sleep. When I get to Bellingham it was around 10:30 a.m. and the bus driver made a special stop just for me so I could get as close to Mount Baker as possible.(although he would have drove through the spot anyways, but the stop was not usual) When I got off the bus I had to start running with my heavy pack which was much harder than I had expected and hurt my shins. As I headed East on Baker View, I knew that I was making very slow progess walking, so now it was time to start hitch hiking. This was the first time I have ever hitch hiked, and I don't encourage it, but to my amazement it worked. I took a while for me to build up the courage to acually do it, I kept some what putting out my thumb, but was to shy to do it, it felt so strange and out of place. At one point when I was finally going to do it, a cop drove by, so I stopped for a few mintutes. Then I got my first ride which was only a few miles, but hey, every mile helps! Getting the second ride took a long time, I was now in East Bellingham. You learn a lot about being patient when hitch hiking, in the movies they make it look so easy, but in a pinch I had already known it would not be quick. A half hour later I got another ride a dozen or so miles further east which the people who gave me a ride were nice. And yes Curt I offered them gas money, but they did not except it. The guy who drove me told me about the lady at the gas station who might be able to help me make a sign to Glacier. As he said, she was nice and provided me some cardboard and ideas of how I should make a sign. On the side of the road the sign did not work out as well as I had hoped, if anything it acually made it harder to get anywhere. Eventually after a long time I got rid of it because it was not helping. fortunately a nice lady pulled over and gave me a ride to Kendall, even though she had kids in the back with a dog, and it was a small car. :up: I would have been against the idea of hitch hiking, but I heard biking was dangerous on this road (which the further East I went, the more I realized why... thin side walks, ect.) and there was no bus that I knew of that goes to the city of Glacier. In Kendall it was raining a little, my cotton clothes were starting to get wet (Kurt recommended I wear casual clothing to increase the odds of me getting picked up which is probably true). fortunately I did not spend to long in Kendall and someone drove me all the way to the city of Glacier which was out of there way, and dropped me off at the very beginning of Glacier creek road. I was now 8 miles from the trailhead of Mount Baker. As I walked I was impressed at how many homes there were along the side of the road, after walking about 3/4 a mile or so, someone drives by, and I was able to get a ride to the trailhead! They told me they saw me on the way and asked "were you the guy way back there holding that Glacier sign?" which I was impressed that I beat them on time, but they stopped at some place on the way. About 1/2 a mile from the trailhead I see a tent, I yell out the window "Kurt, is that you?" and sure enough he did not leave me. Before this the fear came into me "what if I did not meet him at the trailhead, then what?" but fortunately that was not so. It was now 2 p.m. or so. I will admit, Kurt had a little bit of a rigged tent, but right back at me, my sleeping bag was only rated 15+ and my ground pad did not cover my full body length. We stopped before the trailhead because there was a spot next to the road without snow and that was not too sloped. I put my pack away and changed into some acual mountain cloths. Even though it was a little crowded in the tent, and I had to be careful not to knock over the logs (which was holding up the tent as well as some stake sticks made of wood found in the woods). I was amazed when looking through the fog and rain at how much fresh snow there was, Kurt told me chances were good we would not summit, but if conditions improved we would make an attempt. In the tent we told each other stories of some of our climbing experiences, and atleast for me even though it was rainy and wet, I was enjoying the stories and good company. Kurt would tell stories of when he climbed the north face of Baker and his partner being low on ice screws which sounded quite scary, also he told about when he climbed Mount Shuksan and a thunder storm came in which they had to leave all there metal gear and descend the glacier without ice axes and such, and later the ranger threatened to fine them for "littering" which I laughed at this part because this quote comes to mind "Hmmmm should I bring my gear down and risk my life, or should I be safe and leave it, and get it later". :lol: Another thing I liked about Kurt was he understood some of my stories, motives, and struggles better than a lot of people do, even people I know don't understand why I sometimes do what I do. After telling tons of fun stories and such it was finally time for us to get some rest for the Mount Baker climb. unfortunately because we were slightly sloped I kept sliding which made sleeping a little hard at first, plus there was some kind of rock or stump below me. When I wake up in very early morning, the weather still looked very bad, infact the surroundings were covered in fresh snow, and conditions looked perhaps worse. After getting some side sleep we eventually decide to wake up. When we had some breakfast the weather was still bad, and climbing Mount Baker seemed like it would be reckless to attempt. I would like to note that I wanted to atleast check out some of the trail, but Kurt was using good judgement of not even trying out the trail because for most of that day the mountain was covered in clouds and bad weather. We packed up the tent and got ready for the way down. We now had to walk around 8 miles to the main road below. Atleast the scenery was decent, and there were some sun spots down in the valley, Kurt told me more about his younger years and such. When we got to the bottom we headed our separate ways and waved good bye. I decide to wait in front of the Glacier Creek Road to increase our chances of getting a ride which is why we did it separate. As I waited for about a half an hour, a ranger patrols by. "Oh no" were my thoughts because I sure as well did not want a repeat of last week, so I started to walk a mile down the road. I finally found a good turn out zone to start trying to hitch hike (you need a place for cars to pull over or else it would be unlikely you would get picked up). A nice lady takes me a mile into the city of Glacier. From here I waited a few minutes or so (perhaps 20) and some nice elderly folks picked me up and drove me all the way to Deming. In Deming it was the same story, I was stuck for a very long time wondering if I was going to get a ride, about an hour of waiting (or atleast it felt that long) and a very nice guy took me the rest of the way. We had a little bit of conversations, and he took me to the air port which was out of his way, but he was nice and knew getting around town would be harder. At the airport I first had to figure out where the bus stop was, then I had to make sure I had a reserve so that away they would acually pick me up this time. I have no cell phone, so I ended up having to try to use a pay phone, walking into the airport felt strange with a security guard looking at me while I had an ice axe in my pack with a helmet sticking out, and terrorist risk was at medium. The change machine would not except my dollar because it was wet from being in my pack in the rain on the mountain. The security guard recommended me asking the shop people for some change, and they rudely told me to use the change machine. So now it was time for some new embarrassing tactics... blowing my money a lot. I kelt blowing my money over and over and over which people kept looking at me strange, but hey, if this was the only way, I had to do it. The security guard asked me "so what happened with the store" and I told him what happened. After being much out of breath my dollar was finally dry, or atleast dry enough for the machine to except it. Now I was finally able to get my 4 quarters to make my phone call and head home. The bus ride home was nice because I was able to get more sleep. Once I got to Marysville I grabbed the bike and started to head towards home. I so happened to see a bus stop that was bus 200, and it so happened to be speeding to the stop, so I made a wild dash to catch it in time. I made it! This shaved off 12 or so miles of biking. I decided not to take two busses to save myself another dollar and biked the last 3-4 miles which I found to be quite tiring with all the hills and such. Once I got home, the adventure was over, but I had a fun time. Even though I did not summit, I had an incredible journey, and an experience I will not soon forget. Kurt it was very nice meeting you, and I very much enjoyed your company, and hope to see you on more trips. The next time perhaps the approach won't be so long. Can't wait until my next grand adventure!

So good you had to post it twice? I posted this trip report back in my crazier days.

We did not go, partly because of this problem, also we heard things were supposed to get crowded, and transportaion would have been around 45$ per person via bus and train.

Well not too much biking. Just to Marysville to get to the bus.

Awww don't worry about it, I saw both replies just now. In the past I offered ;-) I'm not exactly a cheapo when it comes to paying stuff, or atleast I usually try not to be. Thanks Mark for explaining. It was another partner who bailed, and was the ride. ;-) And then we tried to figure out a train deal, but the only one we found today did not allow bikes on, which bikes would have been useful for getting to the rock climbing in Leavenworth. Mabe another time. I sure hope this weekend rocks!

I was thinking the Coleman Deming, I already have a partner, but was thinking it would be better to have an extra partner, this trip would take place this weekend from Saturday to Sunday, contact me asap if interested. We summit on Sunday, which is the better day for weather. Email: joshlewis4@gmail.com Phone number: 503-895-9312 Or if anyone happens to be going from Everett to Bellingham, and is generous enough to give a ride, also let me know, I could provide gas money.

Wow, thats pretty screwed up! Do you really wish this?

Thanks! Just thought I would let everyone else know, this is more of the fasion my trips usually happen.

Trip: Endless Beauty on Stetattle Ridge - Date: 2/18/2010 Trip Report: This Trip takes place February 18, 2010. When I first heard the news about going to Sourdough Mountain I was very much excited because I knew what area the mountain was located... the North Cascades, home of some of the most beautiful peaks in Washington. I wake up at about 4:20 a.m. to get ready, and at 5:00 a.m. Miss Iris (BadDog) picks me up, the reason we left so early was because it takes around 2.5 hours to get to the trailhead. When we get to the trailhead I could see Colonial Peak glowing, we knew we were in for a good day. Our pace up the trail started out real good, we both were amazed at how fast we were flying up the mountain. On a normal mountain usually there is less slope so you have to go more distance to get more elevation, but here it was quite easy to make. About an hour and a half in according to Miss Iris's altimeter we had made over 2,000 feet. At around 4,000-4,500 feet we started hitting snow. I thought zipping off my pant legs into shorts would be a good idea, and then putting gaiters over that, later I ended up regretting that idea, but atleast I now know better. Some parts were a little icy, and others I was sinking a little. We found a ski trail which was not only good for showing the way, but was icy which provided well for not sinking in. The sun was now hot over us, and soon we started sinking which is when we decided to put on our snowshoes. I realized atleast from my point of view that it did not make much of a difference who broke trail, when ever Miss Iris broke trail it did not make it a whole lot easier for me which is why I decided I might as well. As we headed up we came across what Miss Iris called the Crux, unlike most years it was a lot more melted out. I gave the ridge a try but as I was going I started to slip and I knew it was not going to be a very safe ridge, especially with the cornice above. So what we did was head under the ridge and then up though some trees. I started to worry as I was going up because some of my steps were slipping back, it would not be that big of a deal, but falling in shorts and a short sleeve shirt in snow is not my version of fun. After this we get back on the ridge, no cornices at this point thank goodness. As we go up I realize I was starting to get cold, not because of it acually being cold, but due to the cold breeze. I end up having to take off my snowshoes, gaiters, and boots. Now I had my pant legs back on which felt good, putting everything back on was a pain, and my hands became numb or almost numb a few times. I will admit it took a little while to put everything back on because I would have to keep putting my hands under my arms to warm them up, and it was a bit painful. Miss Iris gave me a hot pack which helped, and then we headed further up to a view point. Miss Iris did not go further earlier while I was putting on my gear because she knew I would love the sight of the wind blown slope untouched. We got to a point on the ridge were we could make a choice, "we could summit, or" looking over my left shoulder "we could go further up the ridge because it has more beauty". I'm pretty sure EastKing would have went for the summit because there was no worry, but I choose beauty instead. For some reason this reminds me of a quote "A Fork in the road, I choose the road less traveled by, it has made all the difference." -Robert Frost The ridge acually went higher than the summit itself which made me wonder why they chose Sourdough to even be a summit. As we went further and further East the beauty kept getting better and better. At one point looking at all the mountains all around it felt endless! Once I knew that we were heading for some of the far off points I was thrilled at this point, for some reason there was a new feeling in me, I was surged with energy and wanted to explore as much of the ridge as I possibly could. [video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blRjhuS21RQ It got late in the day and we were pretty high up, we decided to call it good, according to Miss Iris we gained 6,000 feet of elevation during this trip. One of the down sides of the trip was for the past few weeks I have not been able to find my camera charger so the camera was low on power. I would take a dozen photos then the camera would run out of power, I would warm it up with my hands and get a few more photos until I got what I wanted. Atleast I got almost 100 photos, and most importantly experienced the beauty of this place. The decent was fun as well, we had much conversations (we had some on the way up as well) and the view was something we could never get tired of. For a while I was in my own thoughts going down and then I would remember again that I was in the mountains which brought a huge smile to me. After passing the crux and such to our amazement there was another guy spending the night up, he was in for a nice sunset. We had a few spots that were icy, but it was decent for the most part. Once on the trail I was flying down the mountain... well then I would end up having to slow down. The Sunset was also gorgous, photographing some of the peaks thought the trees was difficult because I had to zoom in a deal, then hold the camera steady, focus it, and then it would end up running out of power! I would wait a moment and then have just enough power to capture the photo before it ran out of power. It was interesting to see how long the tips of the peaks remain glowing. We soon had our headlamps on. Somewhere along the line, probably around 2,000-3,000 feet high one of Miss Iris's snowshoes fell off. We found this out as I was having a noise bleed which fortunately she had tissues to help. Soon we were at the car. On the drive home before Marblemount Miss Iris noticed something that felt like a bite, it was a tick! We pulled over and I saw it crawling on her, I never knew they were so big, perhaps because it had already gotten it's meal, but flicking it off of her was worrisome. We were both worried about ticks being on us on the way home, fortunately we did not encounter any more. Miss Iris also bought me some more chocolate milk and a meal on the way home. Once again a very fun trip, this was among the most beautiful of ones I've done this year! A Huge thanks to Miss Iris for taking me and being great company!

I cold night like these, no thank you! But I do Thank you for the advice ;-)

I usually like excepting free gear, but to be honest I already have a pair of alright snow shoes but left them home because we did not expect to encounter as much snow as we did, and we wanted to carry up as little as possible, although if I had just known I would have wanted to bring them. As for everyone elses responses I very much appreciate them, and have been doing better when it comes to bringing gear. Usually the times I bring all my gear is in the more casual trips of mine.

Trip: The Prairie Mountain Adventure - Date: 12/21/2009 Trip Report: Warning! Do not attempt this route (the North Ride) unless you want to encounter dangerous dogs and deal with cliffs below the summit and avoid cornice ridges. This is the sequel to Biking Adventure to Darrington. Me and Michael have been wanting to do this one for quite some time. The Adventure started on Monday December 21, 2009 and ended December 23, 2009. Unfortunately like last time this one had a late start to it, but atleast we made it to Darrington via bus, my mom holds up Michael by giving him a lot of chores before he leaves which was another factor. As we leave home we miss the main bus by less than one minute and end up missing a Darrinton bus which means more waiting time in the rain, atleast we had food. On the bus ride to Darrington there were some nice people on the way, one man even gave me a lighter incase I needed to create a fire he tells me, also he explained how to create a fire in wet enviroments and how I should try to do this (in the future I do plan on doing this). By the time we got to Darrington it was lightly raining and dark out. As my hiking tradition I had to buy some chocolate milk and drink it in a hurry (which is around 800+ calories in about a moment). After this we headed to the Sauk-Prairie Road. When biking the atmosphere of the night was all so beautiful, Michael's jacket had a lot of reflectors on it which made it glow blue from my head lamp and it was snow rain mix. We paced very nicely and soon we could see a shadow of the mountain through the dark of the night. The Chase Begins: As we are biking I see a pair of glowing eyes and at first glance I was a little nervous, a moment later the dogs where chasing us and Michael got out of there just in time to not have them bite us. It wa a little worry some, from here we turn onto East Sauk Prairie Road which is where it went all down hill, or should I say up hill. As we are biking alone we see another set of glowing eyes, this time I knew it was more dogs so we hurry across and the dogs are just wild and crazy chasing us! These were bigger than the other dogs, these are not your average dogs, had we been on foot theres no way I could have out runned them even if I did not carry a huge overnight pack on my back. I remember one of them even after biking as fast as I could getting real close, almost within biting distance but I just kept going and going until I was out of sight. What a frightening bike ride were my thoughts. At this point we start to head South a little which was going well according to our map, what we did not know was our route went over private property, until we were there. We came up to a gate and it said "no trespassing", according to our topo map it looked like any other road which frustrated me. Michael and me agreed we would still go for it, not only did we want to go up the mountain, but we sure well did not want to deal with those dogs, especially considering they were waiting for us, or atleast thats what I thought it would be, Unfortunately it was worse than that. After we dropped off our bikes we started to hike up the road. As we were walking we would hear the constance of dog barking behind us, which frightened me. Michael and me had our ice axes out by then just incase, well I hate to say it but for protection. As we got further and further up the road we still hear there barking, at this point we know what is going down which we feared would happen... They are stalking us! We did not stop for a long time, we just kept going up and up trying to get as high up, as far away from the dogs as possible. Later even when we are a ways above Darrington we still hear them barking, I was terrified at this point. There was no stopping, it just kept going on and on for hours, up hill hiking at a fast pace and not resting. Way later up the mountain we start to hear less and less sound of the dogs barking but for all we knew they could be still stalking us. Michael made a prediction that they would not follow the road but rather cut through because they are so desperate to get to us that they would go way out of there way to get us! This to me was one of the biggest times of fear in my life and is when I finally got a good time to use my quote "Climb to live, live to climb", basically saying now we have a very good reason to be climbing the mountain... for our lives! As we were going up I was just praying as we were going, and I believe that some how there was a miracle that night, that we made it without having to fight. I not only worried about ourselves but I also did not want to hurt the dogs, it's funny to think of it but this was worse than wolves, wolves don't stalk you when not hungry and chase you up mountains just for being near them, but these dogs were just some how savage, almost seemed evil. After a long time we finally have to stop and eat some food, but after this we continued. We started to get to snow which fortunately did not last too long, another worry came to mind, now they have our foot prints to track us. Soon we reach a fork in the road which is near the end. We decide we had enough and if they came well they would come any ways. Michael sets up the tent and we stash the food away, drink and decided we had enough action for the night. I made the same mistake I made on Columbia Peak... forgot my ground pad, but Michael helped fix this problem by adding his wet jacket and my wet clothes in a waterproof garbage back which to my supprise worked fine. fortunately we had no troubles from the dogs for the rest of the night. At first I was a bit cold going to bed but as long as I kept the hole (the one that you get into and can use a strap to make smaller) in my sleeping bad about the size of my fist were I breath out of, I kept warm and could finally sleep. I think I dreamed a lot that night but I forget now what it was of, anyways we woke up during early morning. I go out to get the food and we have ourselves some waffles and snacks. My shoe laces were just frozen solid so I was glad I did not untie them and rather unhooked them from my shoe with cold fingers. Too bad my water was mostly frozen so I would have to shake it up to perhaps unmelt it a bit. The sky had a semi clearing look to it which excited me. After this we made a summit bid. At first we were wondering if we should ditch the bikes, go over the summit to Darrington then call mom and get picked up with the bikes, fortunately we did not go for that idea, because the results would have been in vain. It was a fun feeling hiking through snowy woods up the mountain, no trail, just pure route finding and navigating. Later we found the ridge which we would plunge on some steps and be fine on others, and go over snowy bushes. I was glad for the time being there was no fear of dogs. As we gain the ridge we all of a sudden see ahead a very steep zone. To my suprise Michael acually did not seem to mind it so we went for it. First it was 45 degree slope, and then it just got steeper and steeper near some icicles. I could tell by the slope that it would be dangerous to do if there was no snow. As we kept going up it my thoughts were "I acually like the feeling of steep slopes" and I started to realize as we were on it that ice tools would be handy right here. It was kinda a powdery snow that was knee deep and below it was just ground, as I went further up our progress slowed more and more and it got to the point were I said lets find another way because below was dangerous ice and was just not good for foot holds, when I say it's not safe, you know that it's not safe. We headed down the slope and headed over to the left of were we came from earlier. It was indeed steep but was not nearly as bad and there was a point that I had to be careful and get around a steep spot with a tree, which I used the tree to climb that part. After this the slopes got more gentle and we soon gain the ridge. The snow was knee deep at this point making it a bit harder to travel, Michael decides to attempt making snow shoes, they work at first but then sorta fall apart, I myself know that if you are going to make snow shoes you really got to commit the time to place them together. I decide to go ahead of him and I see what looks like the summit, I hurry and hope think "were almost there were almost there!" but Unfortunately I was wrong. We were not even close! As I reach what I believed was the summit I get a decent view and feel relieved, and then I looked over at another high point through the fog. My worry came true, the high point that was buried by fog was the true summit, which was a ways off. In summer time it would not have been such a big deal (exept the end) but with foggy weather and deep snow it made the trip a lot harder. After resting, taking some photos Michael catches up with me and to my suprise he agrees to keep going, which involved traveling down the ridge and then back up. I suppose his thoughts were the same as mine "we went all these ways, we might as well make the summit". Going down the ridge was easier than I had thought it would be, but the flat section tired me out a bit and I started to become dizzy. Views of White Horse Mountain would come which I felt there that this was true mountain country. The ridge started out gradual and then became harder as we went further and further up. There was a point on a cornice ridge with cliffs ahead that I said I would be fine with turning around. To my amazement Michael steps in and has us keep going, also he found a way to bypass the cliffs by going down the mountain and around. After we start heading back up it starts to get to waist deep powder and every step starts to become more and more tiresome, but the feeling was getting more and more incredible. Words that come to mind is that it felt almost out of this world because I was really there in the moment climbing mountains. The slope was powder so we had to kick steps and it was then when I came up with a technique for steep slopes like these. Your arm can acually have as much use as your ice axe by putting your arm in the snow then having it bent, kinda like an ice tool. We just kept pushing on and on and later we got to a point were it started to look iffy. We went lower on a steep snow slope and then above back on the ridge were it started to get dangerous. As we look up we could see the summit was just filled with cliffs and it was getting late, and at that point we had to call it quits. No hard feels were felt, we had such a fun time going up. Heading down I was always pushing myself to keep up with Michael, I would either punch through a snow hole, or would just trip when running and I started to develope cramps. There was some fun going down, got to glassade the steep section and could see a beautiful sunset through the trees. When we got to the lower part below the false summit I pushed myself until I felt like a diffrent person, and yes I had that crazy look in my eyes. On the false summit I decided to make a quick time for photography, it was outragously beautiful, to the East the sky was purple, and to the West there was a storm coming in, Michael said we have to get out of here as soon as possible. Going down in the dark was not as bad as I had expected although still very tiring and we made it back to camp for night 2. Unlike night 1 this time it was a bit of a long night, I was wet from going up. I did not sleep well, not only did I have very bad cramps that I had to contain myself from making noises of pain, but I was shivering cold constantly. For both of us it was a hard night and I would just wake up hoping for the end of the night. We decided not to get up too early because we wanted not to see the dogs on the way back in dark hours, but we wanted to make the bus home before we would have to wait many hours. Waking up my feet were numb and frozen feeling, it was hard just putting my boots on, the laces were very frozen as well as my hands. We had some quick food, tried to pack up camp as fast as possible and when we were ready head down. On the way down I was praying a lot as well, I did not want to encounter the dogs again. About less than a mile from our camp we see there foot prints, I was worried by this and thought how lucky we were that they did not get closer. There were various other snow prints as well like deer and bird, perhaps fox. As Michael had predicted, they went strait up the mountain, and just like how we went up, we went down with our ice axes ready. As we head down the mountain it was interesting how we were between two layers of clouds, one above and one below. Around half way down we hear dog barks. "Looks like my fears caught up to me" were my thoughts. We also heard a truck as well which could be good, or could be bad. Either way I was worried. We headed down at a decent pace and at about the last mile we were quite about our walking and even earlier were trying to keep as much quiet as possible. To my amazement we get to the gate safely and we make a quiet grab for our bikes. We see a guy which I worry is the land owner but fortunatly was a PUD guy. Afer this we had our ice axes to our sides just incase we needed them. Fortunatly the dogs must have taken one of the forks in the road. Making a Wild Dash out of there: To me it felt like the ending part of the movie "Flight of the Phoenix" when they are chased and trying to fly out, for me it was with dogs, although we did not encounter the main big scary dogs, we did have other dogs chase us from now both sides and we had to rush out of there as fast as we could. Later one of the people explains as we stopped that she complained about the 'scary dogs' but no one did nothin about it. The rest of the way back was a lot nicer from here on. The place had a very naturey feel to it as we biked to Darrington. At Darrington we missed the bus so I had some more chocolate milk and food, and then we had to wait at a libary for four hours for the next bus which was acually not too bad. Then the bus ride home was nice. It did not stop there, "I am never finished" which is one of my main quotes because after this my brother went home and I stayed on the bus threw him my pack, kept going further into Lynnwood and went to my youth group party. And I had to bike intensley to loose little time. When I got there everyone was happy I made it and I had some food and snacks and it was just wonder! What a way to end a trip with a party! This was among another one of my crazy adventures, but you can't blame me for getting chased by dogs, how was I supposed to know there was savage dogs waiting for me at the trailhead? Any ways basically when you go out there, don't do this route unless you want to be chased up by dogs and have all sorts of troubles. The adventure it self was amazing, worth it yes, would I do it again? NO! Or atleast not with the dogs. To this day I have a little bit of a fear of dogs.

It's still better than slavery!