2017.8.5-6 In Search of Elysian Field, End With Desolation

After a record breaking triple digit temperature (for 3 days), I was dying to go up to the mountains. Elysian Field of Rainier has been on my wish list before I moved to Oregon. My original plan was coming from Ipsut Creek or Mowich Lake entrance, as it's a bit closer, and can do a loop with 3 days. This weekend, we are going for an in-and-out in 2 days. I grossly overestimated my ability to hike in heat.

8/5, Saturday, drove out of Seattle ~7am. Arrived at White River wilderness center ~9am for backcountry camping permit. The ranger said that this is a good time to arrive, because there was always a long line of people on weekends when the door opens at 7:30, so often you'd have to wait for an hour. As luck would have it, with someone else' cancelation, we got our permit for Mystic Camp (total 7). My backup plan of Moraine Park (only 1) was actually taken. She also told us that Paul the Mystic ranger is familiar with the area around Elysian Field, and walking the service road out of Sunrise is shorter. Both good tips.

Sunrise is the highest parking lot in Mt Rainier national park at 6400', and my preferred one. Rainier's eastern side always has more snow and looks pristine. Today, it looked like a mirage in the smog (due to BC fire). Still beautiful. Flowers lined the slope as we drove up, looks like in peak bloom. Overnight parking here is very small (~6-7 spots). The service road has fewer people. We took a wrong road and checked out a pump station (all boarded up). No people here, and a lot of flowers. Back on the correct road, and eventually joined Wonderland Trail at the far side of Frozen Lake, as well as a lot of people. This may have saved 0.5 mile. Trail junctions: Burroughs Mt towards the mountain, and Fremont Lookout north.

0.7 miles further on Wonderland trail, another junction for Berkeley Park. Streaks of blue in a verdant valley. The group before us at the ranger station reserved 3 nights down there. The next mile is my favorite. Lots of flowers and open vista. A couple of small creeks, make good stops for snack and wash (no shade). After the trail junction to Skyscraper Mt, the land is dryer, more wind-swept. Still lot of flowers but different kinds. Still high and open.

Then the trail goes into the woods. First, still meadow like, lots of flowers amidst of trees. Soon, it's all woods, and gets boring. Granite Creek Camp gives easy access to the creek for a refreshing wash. Otherwise, this camp has no merit. From here it's 2.5 boring rocky miles to the low point of the trail @4600', where you cross Winthrop Creek on a single log bridge. Winthrop Glacier is completely covered by rock and dirt, and it was crackling under the heat. Rocks fell from time to time generating dust. When I wanted to take a photo of this bridge, I realized that I forgot my phone at Granite Creek Camp: 2.5 miles and 1200' up :( Immediately, I turned back. That was brutal. Luckily, a mile or so later I met a hiker coming down with my phone. He was doing the entire loop, and was also camping at Mystic Camp. Cross the roaring and sandy creek, the trail stayed in the open for awhile over the moraine, before heading back into the woods. Here you can see Garda Falls draped over logs and rock. The first time When when I walked by it, I didn't even notice the waterfall.

2.1 miles from the bridge is Mystic Camp. Half way, you cross West Fork White River. The the trail follows the water more or less, provide plenty washing spots. I was quite exhausted by the time I reach the camp, and very disappointed. The camp is in the woods, no sign of the lake, nor any view. It was almost 5pm, and I had no strength to go look for Elysian Field (about 3 miles away from the map). Paul, the ranger, came to check permits. I inquired about how to get to Elysian Field. Paul suggested a route that involves going over Old Desolate and Vernal Park. He said that there's no boot track to follow, and it would consume a whole day. Another worthwhile side track is Curtis Ridge, and can be accomplished before we had to hike out. After a rest and checking out other tents and water source (a small meadow with a creek), we took stove and went up to the lake, ~0.2 miles. It's lovely. Bigger than I expected. Mountain Rainier is mostly obstructed by this hill. If no camping is necessary to keep the lake pristine, then, be it. Swam (very shallow, but still a bit cold), relax, ate dinner by the lake. It has quite a few small sandy spots. Went up the ranger's cabin, ~0.2 mile away (saw a deer on the way). Paul has no view of the lake, but a better view of the mountain). Sunset at Mystic Lake. Too hazy to have the evening glow. Mosquitoes.

Warm night. Didn't need rainfly. No star to speak of: too hazy + full moon is in a day or 2.

8/6, Sunday. Up at 6am so we could have time to explore the route Paul mentioned. Decamp. Took a day pack with food and water. Walked by the lake around 7am. Even though too late for sunrise, the color is still vibrant. Lots of cottongrass. The trail goes slowly up a pass, down and up. All quite nice and scenic. Great view of the Curtis Ridge and Mt Rainier.

Before the trail goes down, we turned right up a ridge towards Old Desolation. May have turned north a bit too early. There is a faint trail first. The higher we climbed, the better view of Rainier and Carbon Glacier. However, it gets steeper too, and more treacherous, as the rocks are loose. At the top of this peak, you see more walls ahead, so no view of Vernal Park, let alone Elysian Field. Gave up.

Back down to the Wonderland Trail, and back to Mystic Camp. On the way, detoured to this pond. Looks very inviting. No one was at the camp ~10am. Almost everyone else here last night was doing the whole Wonderland loop. Saw some trail runners.

Walking back to the car without any incident. Temperature was rising mercilessly. Stopped by creeks to dip my shirt in water from time to time to cool down. My favorite stretch is between the junction of Skyscraper Mt and the junction of Berkeley Park. Saw a large group of goats resting on the remaining snow patches just off the junction of Berkeley Park. I had to go off trail to look for them. Didn't get too close. From Frozen Lake, took the regular trail. Lots of people on this part of the trail. Back at TH just before 4pm. Very warm. The car said 78°F, but it felt hotter. When driving out, saw 3 elks!

Will have to come again to look for Elysian Field. Maybe after the mosquito time, as it's usually wet there.

2017.7.30. Cooper Spur

7/30 Sunday. Sunny and warm. 10 of us in 3 cars drove to Cloud Cap Campground and Trailhead to hike Cooper Spur. Dusty, dusty, dusty! Almost no snow left. Expansive views most of the way (apart from the first mile or so). I was carrying this umbrella most of the time.

We did a loop. The trail goes down a bit to Tilly Jane (~5900') in ~0.5 miles all in the woods. Saw a deer by the trail. Then up and up via Pollalie Ridge (#600) to Timberline Trail. A little over an hour from TH, you emerge from the woods on to open terrain of rock and mini-flowers. Nothing steep, but non-stop uphill. Very exposed. Bring sun protection, and wind break on some days, not needed today. Soon you come upon this stone shelter. A good place to catch your breath, because you're not even half way yet. View is expansive, down to the brown eastern side of Oregon, St Helen, Rainier, Adams are clearly to the north, as well as Cloud Cap Inn where your car is. Plenty of low lying flowers: penstemon, dwarf lupine, yarrow, two kinds of sedum, a bit of phlox. Most prominent is sand and rock. It feels like walking on beach at times.

Continue up, pick and choose boot tracks. There's one track to the left (south) the shelter, that's more prominent than others, which does long zigzags, good for going up. Elliot Glacier has a lot of crevasses. Flowers disappear as you go higher. At the top of the spur, you can see Jefferson clearly. About 8500' now. I had my lunch here and an ibuprofen (I wasn't in the best shape and was in the slower half of the group). All but one of us continued further. It's a flat ridge walk for 100-200m, and then it goes up a bit, until hitting the steep snow. There's a camp site here!

Coming back is fast. After retracing the track back at the end of Top Spur trail, we were able to glissade down on from here for little bit. Slushy snow, so no danger involved. Then we went cross country, aiming at the south bank of Elliot Glacier, or East Moraine trail #600X. It's a nice ridge walk. At the very end, drop down to the woods, and shortly we are on main trail, and almost to the parking lot.

Drove out ~5pm. The 9 mile gravel road is slow and dusty (or it's possible to walk 2.6 miles from the bottom to Tilly Jane, only gaining 1000'). Flowers were blooming profusely along the road amidst burnt trees. Bigger and more colorful (fireweed, lupine and goldenrod). The car I was in headed directly back to Portland, while the other 2 cars went to Hood River for beer and dinner. It takes almost 2 hours to get back to town, with no traffic.

Total about 8 miles, and 3000'.

2017.7.21-23 Mt Shasta climb

This is an easy outing, long drive, but hard climb and short hike (only 11 mile RT, but 7200' elevation gain). Sunny and warm. More windy than forecasted. I took 诺迪康 pills, that dad bought me from Tibet to help with high altitude.

7/21, Friday. I arrived at Marianne's house by 8:30am, waiting for the other 2 guys. At Lebanon, we picked up Jami, who works in grass farming. She's the youngest at 30. After another gas /coffee stop, we arrived at the ranger station at Mt Shasta, the town, ~3pm, to fill out the climbing permit ($25/pp) and to pick up some poop bags. Had an early dinner/late lunch at Gecko on the main street. 87°F. Drove to Bunny Flat. The road is closed from here. We are taking Avalanche Gulch (summitpost), the most common climbing route, to Mt Shasta. Lots of cars, and many RVs. One guy asked us to jump his car. Quite a number of folks lounged on the benches and enjoyed this view. However, you don't see the summit from here. We spent some time sorting out the gears. Decided to share tents and fuel. So I ditched my 1p tent, fuel, a fleece, and carried Marianne's rainfly. We didn't start hiking until after 5pm.

Very dusty trail. 1 mile (~360') to the only trail junction on this route (turn left to Hidden Valley for climbing Shastina). Horse Camp is 0.7 mile further at 7880'. We called it a day. Quite nice here at the end of the woods. $3/bivy or $5/tent. A stone hut for gathering / shelter, a spring, 2 solar compose toilets (saw dust for poop, tp, sanitizer). Quite a few scattered campsites on flat dirt. Not many people camp here (~5 parties). Almost all dried out. I had to look for snow to bury my sandwiches. The shelter has benches, shelves and posters, but no one is supposed to sleep inside. I found this picture very useful. There's a care taker here. She (Sharon) is very nice. Showed us potential sites. Later I inquired if I'm allowed to sleep on the benches next to the hut, so I don't have to distribute Marianne. She warned me about mosquitoes and traffic in the middle of the night. Both turned out to be true. But not bad. It's close to the water and toilet, which I profited the proximity. The stars were bright, no moon, clear milky way. I went to sleep at 10. Was awaken at midnight by mosquitoes, and by a group of very loud hikers around 2. I took half of melatonin, was able to go back to sleep not long after they left. My phone was giving me trouble.

7/22, Saturday. Sunny. A bit of wind, pleasant. Woke up around sunrise. The sun was behind Shasta. Only the southern sky line was pink. Didn't bother to get up until the care taker came to open the hut. She was pretty quiet about it. She let me use her binocular to look through the window at the climbers above Helen Lake, on their way to Red Bank. I finally managed to poop (after 3 attempts since our arrival yesterday). Changed and packed. Filled water and headed to our camp site to cook breakfast. Used Chatchay's fuel canister, since he was still in the big tent. Marianne was up, reading her Kindle in her tent. They really took it easy. We didn't depart until ~10am. There was this Indian group of 6, two of them wearing jeans, and some never used crampon before. I help one put on a crampon, after it got loose on the hill. I hope tomorrow, I wouldn't be behind them!

The first mile or so is on big rocks laid on the track (these rock steps really mess up your knees, especially when you come down). Dusty trail. 2nd mile is on snow. Not too steep: gaining ~2500' today. There were phlox, paintbrush, heather. Not too many flowers, maybe too dry. I was feeling fine. One guy coming down told me that his group left 4 fuel canisters by the side of the ranger's tent, because they overestimated their consumption. Good news for me.

We arrived at Helen Lake (no lake, or frozen) in less than 3 hours, again, taking it easy. Met Megaman, taking a 0 day on his PCT to climb Shasta. He is doing this as a day hike, in broken running shoes and micro-spikes. No helmet, crampons nor ice axe. He said he walked 28 miles yesterday and 33 miles the day before yesterday. No wonder his trail name is Megaman. After chatting with him, we had to go down a bit to look for campsites on the rocks. The late arrivals camped on the lake. Drank some chai, ate. Pitching the tent took a lot longer. The best sites were taken. Had to make do with limited space and shoveled some rocks. I would have preferred to camp at the lake (on snow). Peter also found dried feces next to his tent in the rocks. Some people are disgusting. I offered to scoop the dried poop away, but I didn't put it in my poop bag. I also saw the 4 canisters outside the ranger's tent. 2 one lb, 2 half lb. I took a half lb canister and melted snow. Later, the ranger hiked up, checked permits and told us where to pee and when to leave tomorrow morning (2-4am).

It was quite warm here. Maybe in the 70°Fs (over the night, it probably didn't go much lower than 50°F). Around 4:30pm, I decided to go up the snow and check out the pee place east of the "lake". It's quite disgusting. People threw toilet paper and got-knows what else in it. There's a rod marking the pit, with a duct taped sign. The next pit is labeled as private place. I guess you poop here and pack your poop. I continued up to the next rock pile. The snow was soft, easy going without crampons. I decided to stay here for a little bit to acclimatize more. I was typing this note, when I saw a guy coming down the snow slope. It was the Megaman. Very nice young man. Didn't mind to chat with me. You can follow him on Instagram. He said he's trying to promote himself into this hiking business. He said he was the first PCT through hiker this year who summited Mt Whitney. He also showed me his broken shoes. After bidding him goodbye, I walked up a bit more before returning to the camp. Marianne was reading in her tent. She had some trouble with her contacts. I gave her my solution, unfortunately not enough left to wash her eyes the next morning. I cooked and changed to sleeping clothes. Just realized that my hiking pants were torn in the butt :(

Went to bed around 8pm. This photo was taken from the tent. My heart rate was registered by my phone at 86 - not good. Marianne left the fly open both nights, so she could see the view. Both nights were warm. However, tonight, it was windier, and we were coated with a layer of fine sand. Despite of taking a 3mg melatonin, I wasn't able to sleep. The tent flapped all night long. I forgot my earplugs in the car. Trying to listen to some podcast, but my phone was giving me trouble. I got out of the tent once around midnight. The sky was not as good as at Horse Camp. Enough light pollution from homes down in the valley.

7/23, Sunday, tough. 2:10am, Chatchay came to wake us up. It was still windy. I didn't mind getting up, but not looking forward to hike 4000' in this wind. Eventually we got up. Marianne was having trouble with one eye. She didn't take my suggestion to wear framed glasses today to let her eyes rest, even though I offered her my ski goggles so she could wear glasses. Eventually, Jami and her decided to stay behind. Chatchay, Peter and I started hiking ~4am. The slope was lit up by many head lamps (see Peter's photo to the right). I actually didn't need mine to see where I was going. I put all my clothes on when cooking breakfast: rain jacket, rain pants, down vest, thermal long underwear. I was afraid that I'd get cold on the summit (forecasted to be in mid 30°F's), so packed my sleeping bag with me. Pretty soon, I had to take off a layer, then another. Problem with gaiters and crampons. It took time to adjust. But I was glad to sit down and take the time, as I was tired quickly, short of breath. The slope is quite steep. The wind wasn't too bad, but still a bother. I also realized that some mice had chewed on my energy bars, leaving 2 holes on one hip-belt pocket, at 10 thousand feet! ~30 minutes into the hike, an India guy, AJ, caught up with us, and asked if we knew the route. Yes, and Chatchay said, that he's welcome to join us. AJ's teammates abandoned the climb yesterday, didn't even make it to Helen Lake. He had to sleep outside without a tent (3 of them shared a tent). He quickly went ahead of me, but not for long. Chatchay and Peter are much faster than I am, and they waited for me every so often. Sun rose when I was still on the gulch, the southern sky was pink, and Shasta's shadow over the valley. A bit of cloud today, so quite pretty. I was wearing ski gloves, so difficult to take photos.

At the Chute of the Red Bank (~2000' above Helen Lake), AJ was so behind that I lost track of him completely. However slow I was, I was able to overtake one roped team. They were roped at about 5' apart, their rope was not sagging. Dangerous being behind them. At the Chute, I really struggled to overtake another roped team, this one on a fixed rope here, as it's very steep. I really dislike them. The Chute is very narrow, so they took up the whole space with good footing, and was very very show. At the top of the chute, I met up with my two teammates. The hard climb is over. But still about 40% to go.

Above the Red Bank is a long upslope of snow. Not so steep, until you reach a flat gravel area. Here, time to take crampons off, and put on more clothes. Be sure to have your mouth covered by thin cloth, so you can breath through it. Very dusty here, due to the wind. Zigzag up the Misery Hill. Afterwards is a football-field-size snow field. An obvious track was beaten through the crusty snow. Flat. Very pretty here, albeit windy. The view is expensive. Even though almost 14000' here, this is the easiest stretch of today. By now, I've put all my clothes back on (except for the rain pants).

At the end of the snow, you'll see about 3 rocky hills. A trail zigzags up one, hard to tell that it's the tallest. On top of this rocky hill, there's a registry in the middle of more rock piles. Met people coming from a different route. Back down where the register is, two rangers were sitting in the shade of the rocks. They were checking permits.

~10am, going down. Much faster, except for the chute: more dangerous. I glissaded before and after the chute. The upper sections were steep enough that I had to use elbow to add pressure slow down with ice ax. My arms were sour 3 days afterwards. Back at camp by noon. Jami and Marianne already packed her tent out, leaving my stuff in Peter's tent. It took him considerable amount of time packing up his 3p tent. I carried the tent body. Yes, there's cell signal on the slope, so we can contact each other. I was way behind even going down. Should have glissaded here too. It's possible to go down on snow much further, but stupid me followed the exact trail as when we came up, mostly on rocks. So, much slower.

After a dinner at the same restaurant, Gecko, we drove back north ~6pm, watching climbing movies. There was traffic on I-5 near Woodburn. By the time I got home, it was past midnight. Exhausted.

Overall a great trip, excellent company. Ski goggles are good in case I had to wear framed glasses. It doesn't fog up, and keeps dust out. Neck gaiters are useful to cover mouth and nose so to block the sand in wind. Should have zipped down the rainfly in wind no matter how warm. Should have brought a thinner sleeping bag, and earplugs. Shouldn't have put rain pants on until ready to glissade. I used one hiking pole and one ice ax going up on the climb day, two hiking poles all other times. Seems to work well. I need more regular aerobatic exercises to build up my heart and lung.

2017.7.15-16 South Sister Summit

7/15, Saturday. Left after a leisurely breakfast at home for Devil's Lake TH, after a stop in Bend for gas, and a lunch stop at Spark Lake. Tons of people and cars along the gravel road to the boat launch of Spark Lake. The large meadow/swamp by the road is very pretty right now, lushly green, with patches of purple Prunella vulgaris elongata.  A warm day with bright sunshine. No clouds. Temperature ~81°F around 3pm.

A National Forest trailer was parked at the trailhead labeled as "South Sister Summit". A desk with 2 rangers sat under a canopy with a map. To my dismay, they have never hiked this trail this year (probably not ever), so had little knowledge of the condition other than what I can find on the USFS website. They also seem to have little interest asking people who finished the hike about the snow condition. They told me "as of last weekend, Moraine Lake was still frozen solid". Alas, it was completely thawed out, as you can see in the left photo. It's about 2 miles from TH. The next mile is more or less flat. Potential campsites, due to the readily available snow. Bugs were not a concern other than the first 1.5 mile in the forest.

We continued our accent from snow to screen. Wind got a bit stronger. Forecast is 18mph. We decided to setup the camp below the climb to Lewis Glacier, around 8600'. Not a lot of flat space, nor sheltered. My ultralight tent (Flycreek UL2) was blown crooked. The sunset was quite beautiful, even though no clouds to decorate the sky.

7/16, Sunday. Equally warm, and sunny. Got up ~5:30am to catch sunrise. It's even prettier. The lakes down the valley each has its own cloud hovered over. They soon evaporated. Packed up, didn't cook for breakfast. I should have waited sometime before climbing so the sugar could get to my blood. Was laboring even going up to Lewis Glacier. The blue pond looks very inviting, and quite some blooming penstemons. There's a campsite, just on the ridge, but more protected from the western wind than ours. I think it was occupied last night.

Soon I was at where I turned around last summer. Wind didn't abate and it was blowing towards me. I was having hard time breathing, because of the sand was filling my nostril with mucus, and flew into my eyes. Had to turn around often to catch my breath. By the time we reach the crater, the grade eased to flat. It's a football field size flat snow field. I found this flower in the rocks surrounding the snow field. The Teardrop Lake was melting. There's also a tent site protected by a semi-circular rock wall. Soon, you could see the other 2 Sisters, as well as Washington, Jefferson, and maybe Hood. Walking past the white world to the other side, slightly higher. Found an ion rod amidst of rocks, probably an indication of the summit. There's also a small ceramic urn with a piece of folded paper commemorate a lady. It wasn't even 9am.

Coming down is easy, as the wind was behind me. Only managed to glissade two small sections. Visited Devil's Lake (nice green color, a lot of people) before driving back. Stopped at Bend for a lunch at Immersion Brewing. Tried Twisted Sisters (a pale ale) and Heat Wave (a white IPA), liked both. I had beet salad. No beet, but I very much enjoyed it. Got home around 6pm, end of a leisurely paced climbing weekend.

2017.7.12 Jean Ella Speaks at Lucky Lab Tavern

REI Force of Nature presents Jean Ella, who along with Lynn Wisehart became the first women to hike the Continental Divide Trail in 1978. Jean and Lynn completed the proposed route of the Continental Divide Trail when only 19% of the 3,100-mile distance was termed "suitable for hiking". Little published information was available. No GPS, no weather forecast. They used hand drawn map from the former hiker as well as USGS quadrants. They had to hike through Wind River Range in the dark (colder so they didn't sink as much into the snow). An 11 day rest for Jean's frost-bitten feet to heal. This documentary was played after her introduction. Q&A is followed. I was very interested in knowing her gear. She is 5'3", her pack was 70lb on the snowy sections. They drank the water without filtration or cooking along most of the trail. They never encountered a bear.

I also found Jean's 1976 PCT journal.