nolanr

Oops, didn't see this, posted TR on another thread. 12 hrs car to car, w/ some lounging and some moving slower than molasses cuz we were getting stymied by the brush. Could definitely be done faster than that. Yeah, take all the water you can get and then some. Ran out on the way back down, led to some dehydration and some unhappy, crampy muscles.

Leejams and I did it Saturday, same route, S ridge. Jeff Smoot is on crack or something, he lists it as 12 miles roundtrip. Agree w/ above, 16 miles sounds more like it. We left the ridge crest a few times which always entailed either brush thwacking or nasty sidehilling on snow or heather. Beautiful day, perfectly clear views the whole time. I was pretty surprised Blanca Lake is completely thawed out, although Virgin Lake is mostly snow covered still. We did it in a day, didn't require an alpine start w/ the length of the days we're having we got back before dark. Pretty well wore me out. There was what looked like an avalanche runout descending WAY down into one of the valleys, maybe between 2,000-3,000 feet w/ a significant amount of snow still, when the snow level in general was way above that. Must have been a massive amount of snow that slid down that way. Also surprised how hard it was to find water once we were on the ridge. There's snow everywhere but barely any trickles of water you can fill up from. Got damn thirsty, it was hot up there. No but lots of dogs on the trail.

I don't think bikes do as much damage to trails as horses do, and they're allowed in a lot of wilderness areas. I've run into bikers in areas they're not supposed to be in, as long as they aren't running me over or running me off the trail I'm not going to hassle them.

I agree, fairly dry stuff, but there's something fascinating about early explorations of mountainous areas.

I've been reading the Munday's accounts of early explorations in the region. Pretty interesting. I bet the approach is just a little bit easier now than it was back in the day.

Golf cart trundling? Now that's a whole new concept, sounds like fun.

Hey, I was there too.

Yep, that was me. Good job Tread Tramp. I followed your tracks over, made a couple moves up on the rock and decided that just wasn't happening for me that day. I traversed a little farther over to a snow finger, thought that might go up a ways, but there was a big hole in it that I didn't see a real promising way around. So I headed back down. I got myself totally sketched out the weekend before so I was playing it way safe. Nice day to be out anyway. Also that pair that was heading up to Cadet the same day didn't summit, they hit a ridgeline and got deadended. Looked like an older guy and his grandson probably. Have fun next weekend 3 fngrs.

I've parked in that area probably at least a dozen times w/out having my car broken into, but that just sucks. Death to all TH car prowlers! Actually in 7 years of doing a lot of hiking/climbing in this area, some popular TH, some out of the way ones, the only break in I had was Squire Creek out by Darrington. Shithead broke a specialized side window on a sliding door that caused about $400 in damage, all so he could take a couple bucks in quarters. Stupid!

Better yet Anna, fly over w/ strafing run of bug spray. Die skeeters die!

Went in to Owyhee Lakes on Saturday. Snowfree about 2/3 of the way in. Limited visibility. I went a little beyond the lakes, couldn't catch any glimpse of the Chimneys. Governors Ridge was playing hide and seek. Governors Needle looks pretty cool. Wasn't feeling too inspired, didn't climb anything. Have to try another day w/ better weather, or maybe approach the Chimneys from the other side, cross country from Summerland area.

The boyz will have to make their own opportunity. That sounds really cool, not some boring book learning but something you can see and experience w/ your own eyes. Cool deal.

Only by accident I'm sure, it happens so rarely.

I heard she's getting hitched to Mario Lopez or whatever his name is that was on Saved by the Bell back in the day.

I think gender stereotyping gets overdone. I've encountered chicks who are scared to death of relationships or commitment and will sabotage a potential relationship and run away. That's supposed to be a "male" problem if you listen to all the buzz. Also women are just as capable of being lying cheats, but those attributes usually get assigned to men as well. I'm probably just a wee bit jaded from working in an office w/ mostly women and getting sick to death of hearing them bitch and complain about their "man problems" all day everyday. I got my complaints too I just don't subject everyone around me to hearing about it all the time. I'm w/ whoever said he doesn't understand chicks at all and probably never will.

I hear ya dkemp. I just but a National Parks Pass (planning on road tripping this summer) so entering the park is a non issue now. Thinking about going into Owyhee Lakes and playing on Governors Ridge and Cowlitz Chimneys.

So White River entrance is open now? Thinking about heading that way myself soon.

I'm sure I exceed 15 mph on the Burke sometimes, but I slow down when it's congested or there's an intersection w/ poor visibility. I wear a helmet anytime I'm on my bike cuz I'd rather look dorky and avoid head injuries. Nice thing about the trail is there's no cars on it and you don't have to worry about being crowded off the side of the road or anything. If it's safe I don't see why you need to go slow. There should be a minimum speed limit on the Burke too, and they should ticket people that want to walk 4 or 5 abreast and take up almost the whole trail. Duh.

I can't even count how many times I've brought an axe and not used it at all. I'd rather have it and not need than need it and not have it. I'm surprised there aren't more accidents or deaths in the mountains w/ tourons getting on some somewhat steep snow slopes w/ no clue. Several years ago I saw 2 guys most of the way up to the lookout on Three Fingers on a steep snowfield w/ tennis shoes and no axes. Kinda scary. Sometimes I intend to "just hike" and end up climbing and sometimes the opposite happens, so I try to find the medium between too much gear and not enough gear. Planning on doing a quick trip up Pilchuck after work one day this week.

Somewhere I would love to go, probably more for trekking than serious climbing, but not real high on the list, not sure when it will ever happen. There's a lot of places like that. The weather does have a reputation for being generally horrible, but the rock and scenic beauty bring back the diehards year after year.

Cool. Where was camp?

Sounds fun. Which direction did you go? In and out on the same trailhead or car shuttle?

Condolences to his family. His legacy will live on thru his books and pictures.

Tried again yesterday, I think I gotta leave this mountain alone. Went up a rotten gulley, kept thinking it would get better, it didn't. Kept thinking "I better top out on this thing so I can find a different way down, I DO NOT want to have to down climb a couple of those sections." I ended up having to. I throw the term sketchy around loosely but it really was sketchy. I've made myself nervous scrambling solo before, part of me kinda liked the adrenaline rush, but there was nothing good about it except that I did get back down eventually. Pushed the envelope just a bit too far, I think. It's so dumb to think I could've got myself seriously injured or killed doing something so insignificant. Did a bit of a mind job on myself. Definitely not retiring from climbing, but plan to exercise a bit more caution and better judgement in the future. It was a beautiful day to be out, although a bit on the toasty side. Taking it easy today. Happy to be alive and healthy.

Dwayner, you don't seem to understand the fact that you're boring, predictable, and lame. You seem kinda touchy on the getting laid issue...I'm probably right. Sphinx, maybe you don't understand. General consensus is that this thread is pretty funny. I happen to agree. Relax and have a couple of these .