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Hello folks,

We are nearing our EPIC hike/camp up to the Enchantments. I’ve been looking forward to this hike for a few years and actually won permits this year. I was 111th selected out of over 1500 applicants!

Details:

Permit is for a party of 6 people.

SEPT 2- Mike has suggested that we stay at his friend’s cabin near Lake Wenatchee/Plain on the night of Sept 2nd. Mike, please confirm the availability of the cabin for this night. If that cabin is a no go, we can always drive up early from Seattle on Sept 3. Permits are available for pick-up at 4:30pm at the front porch box (Wenatchee River Ranger Station). The rangers remove the permits from the pick-up box at 7:45am on Sept 3. If we don’t pick up the permits by 9:00am on Sept 3, they will re-issue to another party.

SEPT 3-Trip start date (hike in)- Pick up permits around 8pm (if we haven’t already done so). Route- I’ve told the rangers that our party will enter the Snow Lake trail and exit the same. I’ve heard and read that entering via the Asgaard Pass/Stuart/Colchuck trail is a near sin. However, I don’t have a problem with exiting this route. We will need to let the rangers know before the “Trip start date” which route we will exit the Enchanment zone. The Snow Lake Trail to the Enchanments is 10 miles one- way, begins at 1400 ft and gains 5400ft. We will be spending most of our time about 7000 ft (camp/day hikes/swim/ etc). Set up base camp. Explore the surrounding Lower Enchantment Lakes.

SEPT 4 and 5- Day Hikes.  I would like to hike as many of the peaks as my bum knee can handle:

• Little Annapurna- northern approach is non-techincal.  If it’s clear on one of these nights, maybe we can even hump a sleeping bag up to the summit and sleep there. http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/151427/little-annapurna.html
• Dragontail Peak – southern route is non-technical. http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150391/dragontail-peak.html (check out the individual pics from Colchuck Lake)
• Prusik Peak- technical climb (not for me!) http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150823/prusik-peak.html

SEPT 6-Trip end date (hike out and drive home).  I set it up so we drive home on a Sunday and beat Labor Day traffic.  Thank you very much.

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Josh and I made the video below at the trailhead before we left:

Video of the Sol Duc Falls camping area.

We stopped off at Deer Lake to eat some snacks:

Pictures of Lunch Lake on the High Divide Loop:

Lunch Lake

Lunch Lake

Washer boy

Lunch lake video:

Deer at our camp at Lunch Lake:

Nighttime raid of deer coming to lick the salt off the ground in the spots we peed:

Scenic views

Deer

Cooking...

Gorgeous views

Clear Lake

Lunch lake... so clear

More deer

Hiking along the High Divide

Mountaineer Man

Josh didn’t properly secure his sleeping bag and it went bounding down the mountain. I thought we’d lost it over a cliff, but I decided to go down and check.

Crab Crawling Down the Hill to Save the Sleeping Bag

Me expressing my feelings towards Josh for making me climb down 200 yards on a sketchy steep wet hill that ended in a cliff:

Josh on the mountain

Josh loved the hippy rocks

Final day video at Sol Duc Park:

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Glacier Basin

Steve Adams & Chris

Hiking

Glacier

Crevasses in the glacier

Mt. Rainier's summit

View from Camp Schurman

View of summit from Glacier Basin

Glacier Basin views

Adam & Chris

From left: Chris, Adam, Steve, & Steve

Me!

Slept shoulder to shoulder with Steve in this tent.

Glacier Basin

More Glacier Basin

Little Birdie

Glacier Basin in the morning

Glacier Basin Views

Glacial runoff

Glacier Basin

Glacier Basin trail

Glacier Basin pictures

Glacier Basin meadows

Glacier Basin more meadows

Foothills

Pretty Views

Another

More foothills

The Mountain

Sunset

Pond

Glacier Basin

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3 – in – 1 Military – style Sleeping System

NEW CUSCUS 120L 8100ci Internal Frame Backpack Hiking Camp Travel Bag- Gray/Black

Big Agnes Air Core Pad (Long)

Mountain Axe Blue 75 by Omega Pacific

Contact Strap Crampons with ABS by Black Diamond

Eureka Apex 2XT 2-Person 3-Season Tent

Brunton Raptor Foldable Canister Stove with Piezo Ignition

I am excited to try out all of this equipment and hopefully it holds up to the very hard use it’s going to see!

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5. Climbing Mt. Rainier via Camp Schurman I left my camera with my videos & pictures at...

I climbed Mt. Rainier this weekend via the Camp Schurman route.  A couple of weeks ago I was talking to my friend Adam Roberts about my desire to climb Mt. Rainier and he invited me to join him on his trip on the 4th of July.  I leapt at the opportunity; I had been thinking about spending $1200 to go with a guide group and this would be far cheaper and more fun because I could go with my buddy.

Mount Rainier picture from an airplane

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Mt. Rainier or who have not done any mountaineering, below is some general information on the climb:

• Mount Rainier is the fifth highest peak in the lower 48 states (Mt. Whitney, #1,  is about 90 feet taller, but far easier to climb and there are 3 more peaks in the Sawatch Range of Colorado)
• Most climbs to peaks in the United States are around 3,000 feet of elevation gain.  Climbs of 4-5,000 feet are considered very arduous and anything over 6,000 feet is devastatingly difficult.  Mount Rainier via the Camp Schurman route ascends from 4,400 feet at the White River campground to 14,411 feet at the summit- a monstrous 10,000 vertical foot gain!  For comparison, this is the same elevation gain from advanced base camp to the summit of Mount Everest.  Many people actually use Mount Rainier to train for Mt. Everest since the terrain is similar.
• Mt. Rainier is covered in thick glaciers and thick glaciers mean deep crevasses.  A crevasse is where thick glacier ice, sometimes several hundred feet thick, cracks and creates a deep split in the mountain that people can fall into.  Below is a picture of a crevasse on Mt. Rainier:

Picture of a crevasse on Mt. Rainier

My Mount Rainier climb was really tough, but I was fortunate enough to have gone with experienced mountaineers who gave me lots of help.  Our climbing group was led by Steve Schoch, a powerfully built man who used to successfully compete in iron man competitions and marathons.  Adam’s father, Steve Roberts- age 60, came along and was in better mountaineering shape than I am.  The final member of our group was a fellow Mount Rainier first-timer named Chris who was a good guy with really high energy levels.  Chris works for the Forest Service and does lots of hiking and had no troubles summiting Rainier and even basically pulled me for a couple of stretches lol. All five of us were on a rope team so that if someone fell down the steeps or into a crevasse, the rest of the guys could self arrest with their ice axes and stop them before it was too late.

From left: Chris, Me, Adam & his dad Steve. Not pictured- Steve our guide

Mount Rainier pic of Adam and Steve

Chris, Adam, Steve & Steve

Adam and I at pretty high elevation

Climbing at sunrise... I am on the right

View from Camp Schurman

We are taking a break-I'm in the middle

Climbing Mount Rainier was really physically difficult for me. At around 12,000 feet I started having a hard time breathing and basically had to hyperventilate and take baby steps the rest of the way up. Fortunately, the other guys on the climbing team were patient and helped me out. Adam and Chris both work for the Forest Service, so this kind of thing is actually their job. If we reversed situations, it’s sorta like if they read a book on SEO and then had to build a website that ranked in the top 5 on Google for “real estate investing” haha.

I reached the summit! Chris is on the right.

Crazy Adam skied down!

I had a ton of fun climbing Mount Rainier and am now thinking about climbing other mountains locally and maybe even trying to do Rainier again at a faster pace. I love challenging myself and really testing my limits like I did on this trip. If you are interested in climbing Mt. Rainier here are 5 tips:

1. Pick an experienced, understanding guide.  I was very lucky to have Steve and the other guys to take me up the mountain.
2. Take a lot of time to pack well.  I wish I had brought more food and had learned how to properly secure my crampons before the climb.
3. Climb in good weather.  Mt. Rainier is notorious for having very dangerous storms that can easily kill you, so make sure the weather is good and the forecast is clear.  You will need lots of cold weather gear even if you don’t use it.
4. Leave early in the morning.  Our group departed from Camp Schurman at around 12:30 am Sunday morning and summited by 8.  You want to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier and start back down before the snow melts too much and crossing crevasses becomes even more dangerous than it already is.
5. Be in excellent physical shape and train at high altitudes.  I made the mistake of going up after being sick and it made my trip far more difficult than it needed to be and without good fellow climbers I may not have made it.

If you feel like really, really challenging yourself try climbing Mount Rainier!  The views are gorgeous and after you have done it your perspective on yourself and the world may change.

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Mailbox Peak- actually has a mailbox!

Hiking Buddy Adam

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Enjoying my sandwich... 4,000 feet of vertical gain makes a man hungry

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