[TR] Mt. Stone - Thunder Bolts and Lightening Very Very Frightening 8/18/2008

[olyclimber]

Trip: Mt. Stone - Thunder Bolts and Lightening Very Very Frightening

 

Date: 8/17/2008

 

Trip Report:

Went out to Port Townsend this weekend and did some paddle boarding and rollerblading sickie out at Fort Worden in the perfect sun, looking forward to Sunday being the same. Unfortunately it wasn't, but we still managed to have a good time!

 

Mt. Stone is positioned south east of the Brothers, northwest of Mt. Washington, and north of Mount Cruiser. Its summit is a nice position, giving views well into the Olympics, plus interesting views of the peaks on the eastern side.

 

The easiest access to Mt. Stone is the Putvin trail. The Putvin trail (named for Carl Putvin, a trapper who died when a tree fell on him while hiking out to get medicine for his daughter in the winter of 1912-1913) is a pretty steep hike, reminding one of the Lake Constance Trail or the Mailbox Peak trail at times. Up at the top of the trail is the Lake of the Angels, were Putvin had his cabin.

 

We passed the second headwall on the hike in, and suddenly what looked like bird poop started falling from the sky. Giant globs of water, a sign of the weird weather to come. At the point where you break off from the Lake of the Angels trail and join the way trail up to Mt. Stone we got sprinkled on again, but this time the thunder and lightening came out, filling the chamber between Stone and Skokomish echoes. I started to doubt we would be going all the way to the top, but we continued up after the rain stopped just to check things out. At the headwall under Mt. Stone (just west of St. Peter's Gate) the thunder and lightening roared again, and being closer to the little pass near the final scramble, we ran up there to get out of the way in case any rocks were rattled loose by the shaking ground.

 

 

At this point the thunder and lightening intensified and I was crapping my pants and seriously wondered what the hell were doing up there. However, Steve found a little overhang and we chilled out, watching big thunderheads to both the north and south of us. The wind in the little pass picked up to a howl, but our little shelter kept us out of it. To the south you could see Mt. Washington and the Sawtooth Mountains as well as Skokomish and Henderson.

 

 

We could see that the mass of thunderheads were not coming towards us, but rather moving to the north (from west to east) and to the south (west to east again), so when the wind died down we scrambed up to the summit where the wind was blowing pretty fast. The summit block:

 

The views were dramatic.

 

Cruiser

Olympus

Anderson Massif

Middle Peak and North

 

 

We high tailed it back down, and when we finally hit the Putvin trail the skies opened up and dumped rain for 1/2 hour, drenching us to the core with a warm summer rain. All I had was a windshirt over a t-shirt and it was the perfect wetsuit. The hike down the Putvin is so steep as to be equally difficult on the legs on the way up as it is on the way down.

 

Good times. The thunderstorm at night on the Seattle skyline during the ferry ride back was amazing!

 

Gear Notes:

next time i'm bringing my trekking poles

 

Approach Notes:

Up, up, up.

[gapertimmy]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOT! Sweet pics, but I was hoping to see some of you rollerblading too, wtf?

[olyclimber]

I like to wear dancing tights when I go roller blading. It really gives me freedom of movement so I can fully express myself on the skates.

[rob]

way to go olyclimber!

[olyclimber]

a couple of other notes:

 

The road is washed out about a mile or so down the road from the Putvin trailhead. This means you're walking a ways to either the Putvin or Mildred Lakes trailheads. Given the state of the road directly before the washout, I don't understand why they don't just grade the washout and allow for temporary access with 4WD rigs or whatever until they can fix the road properly. I guess we are at war right now and they have to spend the money on bombs, etc.

sacrifices.

 

 

The other thing to note is a couple of possible "violations"...not that I'm really that upset about either...

 

1st was some guys with their dogs up in the Wilderness area. The signs clearly said no dogs, but they were up there. the dogs were totally chilled out, it wasn't a big deal to me at all, and I just mentioned the signs to them, which they were aware of. but then again, if they aren't fixing the road then i guess anyone that would enforce such a rule can't be afforded either. freedom of the hills!

 

2nd was a little more freaky to me. Well up into the wilderness area we came across two young guys fully decked out in camo. the lead guy had a very large bore hunting rifle poised at the ready (the way he was holding it to me indicated he was ready to use it on short notice). It had a big scope on it with the glass protectors off. His partner had his gun strapped to his pack. i didn't attempt to engage these fellows at all. i guess there is those marmots up in the hills you have to protect yourself from! i know the bears up there cut and run, as i've encountered them in that area a couple of times. peace through superior firepower.

 

 

 

[RJRiha]

Was that tattered, purple sling still up there on the summit block?

[olyclimber]

yeah, thats still there.

[Fairweather]

We camped at Tank Lakes Sunday night and had a wild electric show as well. We were worried enough that we took down the two aluminum ski poles holding up our Betalight tent, tossed them over the ridge, and slept under the tarp for most of the night. Finished the Alpine Lakes Traverse in a downpour yesterday.

[olyclimber]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOT! Sweet pics, but I was hoping to see some of you rollerblading too, wtf?

 

 

sickie sickie sickie sickie sickie

[bremerton_john]

Great TR Porter,

 

We were working our way up the Enchanted Valley on Sunday, and in fact spent an hour or so in the Chalet's shelter watching the lightening show. We remarked that it was the most thunder and lightening we'd ever seen in the Olympics before. One bolt even started a small fire on the steep ridge at the terminus of the Anderson glacier. It smoldered for a day before Tuesday's deluge put an end to that.

 

John

[olyclimber]

yeah, you were right in the thick of it there. you can see that one shot of the Anderson massif, and we watched the largest thunderheads we could see go right through there, east to west.