jshamster Posted August 1, 2003 Posted August 1, 2003 It all started innocently enough... Went out on Wednesday to climb Dreamer with maryk & neversummer. Kinda warm for 10 pitches of mostly slab, but oh well. We met in Darrington around 7:30 am, and proceeded up the wonderfully maintained road to Dreamer trailhead. I have driven this road plenty of times with no problem, but this time the Subaru had a flat tire by the time we parked at the end of the road. No big deal. We'll just go climb and fix tire when we get back. We left the car about 8:30am, and got to the base of Green Giant Butt' at 10am. The rock is hot, but a good breeze is keepin' the air temp managable. I hadn't tried anything quite this big with party of three, but with Reverso & double ropes it seems doable. Neversummer & I swapped leads, with maryk following. The climbing is excellent & sustained & even a little scary at the hollow flakes below Blue Crack. The rope system worked well and definately saved some time. Even so, we topped out around 5:30pm. I always love running up the last pitch and popping out on the knife-edge ridge. Great views. Nice scar from big rockfall on last pitch too. Now time for many rappels. Almost got rope very badly stuck, but got it free without any cutting, whew. Three hours of rappels later we reach the backpacks and start down the slabs. Fun butt sliding down to the trail as the darkness settles in. Oh yeah, we're all pretty thirsty by now, but there is enough water running down the slab waterfalls to slake our thirst. At this point it is turning into a very long day, but everyone is good spirits. The rest of the way down the trail is easy, even though all our feet are burned from hot slab. Now comes the fun. We get back to the car at 11pm ready to change a tire and get on down the road. Unfortunately I undid the lug nuts only to find that the wheel was frozen to the car. Shit!! Never encountered this before. WTF!! We try anything we can to pry wheel off, but to no avail. Now it is 2am and we're out of ideas. Good thing for semi-cold beer & the 420 feelgood. The new plan is to crash out and walk the 11 miles to D-town in the morning for help. Neversummer & maryk get all of my extra clothes and the car to sleep in. I get sleeping bag and ground. No problem, and everyone is taking the whole thing in stride. Oh yeah, freakin' incredible stars!!! Skip to 8am Thursday. Pack up car, lock up & start hoofin' it on down the road. Only about 1/2 mile down the road there is someone sleepin' it the dirt next to his car . Look, it's my buddy boonecounty and his friend from Missouri. They hike back to my car with us with their jack in tow. Manage to put jack against frame of car and wheel and pry the fucker off. My wheel looked as if it had 10 tiny spot welds holding it on the drum!?! Never seen anything like it. Anyway, we are basically saved. Put spare on, drive slowly down to D-town, grab some breakfast at the Burger Barn, and head on home at around 11:30am. All in all a pretty entertaining trip. Seriously owe boonecounty & his buddy many . The end. Quote
neversummer Posted August 1, 2003 Posted August 1, 2003 Great route, great partners, acceptable weather, alright approach, SUCK road ... Unbeleivable how hard it was to get that wheel off, rocks, prying, hitting, kicking etc... didnt even budge. And when it did come off it made quite the noise and had some force behind it. Thanks to Boonecounty and Partner for saving us from the burnt feet walk to D-town. if i run into you again. Quote
Jopa Posted August 1, 2003 Posted August 1, 2003 Would you guys not recommend driving to the end of the road? Glad you had fun despite the setback! Quote
neversummer Posted August 1, 2003 Posted August 1, 2003 In anything other than a truck with decent clearance and large tires, I would stop about a mile before we did i think. But what happened could really just be luck, the left side (going in) track is definantly in worse shape then the right as well. There is also ALOT of brush, so if you dont want to get the car scratched up id stop at a turn off at about 6-6.5 miles. Quote
jshamster Posted August 2, 2003 Author Posted August 2, 2003 This is the fourth time I have driven to the end of this road. First time I have had any trouble. That being said, I would agree with neversummer that it is trucks only to the end. Too much abuse on a standard passenger vehicle. Quote
Jopa Posted August 2, 2003 Posted August 2, 2003 how about for an outback (or is that what you drove)? Quote
chucK Posted August 2, 2003 Posted August 2, 2003 Dude it's like a 1/4 of a mile. Don't sweat it. Just drive there and check it out. If it's too heinous for your rig, just walk. Quote
mattp Posted August 2, 2003 Posted August 2, 2003 The truly heinous part is less than a quarter mile, but the road fits my definition of "bad" for two miles, and the Forest Service has told us they have no funds to maintain it. At one time, they proposed to gate it and install berms, so I suppose we should be happy they didn't do that, but I'm still hoping that we can get some road maintenance some day. A guy from the Access Fund said there is a slim chance that they'd be able to help with some $, and the DTown District Ranger said they'd welcome such a thing if it should materialize. Meanwhile, the Ranger did say it was OK when I went up there with The Safety Man and filled some potholes. At present, you don't want to drive up there in low-clearance car if you don't want to scrape bottom, and you want to take your partner's car if you are overly concerned about your paint job, but it is not all that bad. Most normal people with normal cars will be able to drive to within a quarter mile of the end, but it IS marginal. Quote
boonecounty Posted August 2, 2003 Posted August 2, 2003 Glad we were around to help out J. That wheel was super stuck!!!! Scared the shit out of me when it finally exploded off of there. My friend and got so frigging sunburned on Silent Running. We hike up there and figured we would simul climb most of it and we did. Problem is we took of our shirts and didn't put them on till the end. As we drove to Portland so he could catch a ride we had to stop periodically to rub aloe vera on each others backs. Pretty scary looking I am sure to onlookers. Anyway bivied in Hal Burton's living room and made the airport. You weren't kidding when you talked about hot feet. Hope to run into you next summer when I come back. Thanks for marking the trailhead for me!!!!!!!!!!! Quote
maryk Posted August 2, 2003 Posted August 2, 2003 Yeah, that was an interesting mini-epic boys. Good thing none of us had to be anywhere in the morning. Actually, I really enjoyed it -- 10 hrs on the rock, 5 hrs of a lovely bushwacking slog-fest, chocolate gu, the brightest, biggest shooting star I've ever seen, Jimbo and his tire providing comic relief (I thought it was funny, at least), an herbal remedy for our ever-lengthening adventure, listening to the midnight forest noises creeping closer and closer to us, sleeping in sweaty climbing clothes (underneath warmer layers from Jimbo for which I'm very grateful), being saved from an 11 mile death-march, and the best $3 breakfast I've had in a long, long time!! Here's to the Dreamer, double-ropes, and to Boone C. for being in the right place at the right time! Oh, and if you saw my "big-toe" post in "newbies"...I still have a numb tingly asleep feeling in my big toes! and I have to carry 45lbs on my back for 7 days starting Sunday. I'm told I shouldn't be worried, but ??? ...so long as I don't have to amputate, I guess I'll stop worrying Quote
neversummer Posted August 2, 2003 Posted August 2, 2003 As long as it stays pink, your good to go. Have fun... Quote
Picketeer Posted August 5, 2003 Posted August 5, 2003 That road is killer! "Instead, we decided to go to 3 O'Clock Rock and sample the fine Darrington granite we had heard about . . . Of course, the drive up was a piece of work. When we got down to the car, back rear tire was flat. We decided to camp and limp into Darrington the following day on the pseudo-bike tire spare. There we became aquainted with the fine staff of "The Station". Decent folks." Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.