Back in the Midwest

[carolyn]

Well, again let me thank all of you who helped give me ideas of things to do or met with me and took me places while visiting the NW.

I had an absolutely wonderful time! Couldnt have asked for better weather , either! As much as I wanted to get home, I had a really hard time leaving.

Let me give you a run down of the fun I had!

I started in Portland, staying with a couple good friends of mine. We did a hike up saddle mountain on the one unclear day, so I didnt see much. The next day they took me out to Hood. We hiked up the mountaineers trail to the top of the ski lift. What an amazing mountain. I found it to be one of the more beautiful ones. Later when my uncle took me out and about in the Gorge we stopped for lunch near Hood River with a great view of the other side, which I liked even more.

I also spent a day hiking around on a ridge next to Mt.St.Helens. Fascinating area!

A wonderful cc.com lurker took me out to Smith Rock for a weekend. I enjoyed this a great deal. Im not a fantastic rock climber, in fact I pretty much suck! I learned an awful lot though and enjoyed the challenge and atmosphere.

I moved on toward Bellingham and out to Mt.Baker. I hiked up Heliotrope (spelling?) ridge and spent the night up there next to the glacier. I wish I would have spent more time there. So much to do! There was a great big rock made for some good bouldering. Had I been with another person, or very experienced it would have been great to climb around on the glacier and in/out of the seracs and crevasses. The view was spectacular! No one else was there, so it was quite peaceful (except for the marmots constant whistle).

Onward to Cascade Pass and Sahale arm. I got up to cascade pass and bailed from there. I was sick of the switchbacks, it was late, and I was just not mentally into it for some reason. I really needed a chill day with NOTHING but sitting around , reading, etc. I figured if my head wasnt into it, it wouldnt be safe. I think I made a good decision. I do however hope to get back there and try it again. Just when I thought the scenery couldnt get any better, my heart stopped again at the site of the mountains. It was neat to see the ice/snow falling off of Johannasburg. I sat and watched it for a long time, thinking "do it again! I want to see it again, please".hehehehhehe

I met up with Beck the next weekend. (thank you for squeezing me in , beck ). I had a lazy weekend of camping, sleeping, and reading while he climbed all over the mountain in a hail storm. We went up to the climbers bivy area on Mt.Adams at one point. Saw the beginning and progression of a forest fire, which was amazing to watch!

My final destination was to meet a friend in Ashford. We went onto the Nisqually glacier to do some ice climbing. Whoaaaaaa! What an amazing experience! I never thought scree and talus could be such a pain in the arse..but now I know! It was definately challenging. Once we got onto the glacier I was struck with some unexpected fear....or more like terror. Climbing around on the seracs was fun, but eventually brought me to a stop for a while due to fear. The more time I spent on them, though a bit of the fear disappeared. We set up a top rope and did a few climbs. Unfortunately we couldnt get my crampons to adjust so I had to use some rmi rentals which wouldnt stick in the ice for the life of me. I learned a lot about chopping steps.

I thought it was great to be able to climb on a bit of ice that had never been climbed before and never will be again. it made me start itching for ice season to start out here in the Midwest!

The last day I spent climbing next to the Teiton(?)River. This was the first time I had ever done any crack climbing. It was really great...and good learning experience.

Oh ya...and for those of you who missed last weeks pub club, too bad! I made my appearance.

I think that pretty much covers the BASICS of the trip. I learned so much about myself, climbing, the mountains, etc. I imagine its going to take a bit of time to process it all.

I cant wait to come back and even venture off to other areas of the country in the near future!

Thanks again for having me out in your beautiful part of the country!

be well,

be safe,

(and for those of you at the pubclub...fuck you! hehehehhe)

carolyn