Last Hike Before We Head to Ashford

This past weekend was very full, with helping a friend move, having to work and supporting a friend's fundraiser, that getting to Camp Muir this weekend was not in the cards.  Although we couldn't find the time to drive down to Mt. Rainier, we still managed to fit in one more training hike with 40 pound packs before the summit attempt July 24th.
On Sunday, Ryan, Natasha and I hit Bandera Mountain trailhead at 7am!  We had an early start to get back into Seattle to support the Ericksons' Fundraiser and to stay out of the heat.  This trail is mostly in the sun after 11am.  Thank goodness we did not have to worry about the sun until about 15 minutes to the summit of Bandera Mountain because that last mile was steep!  Although the elevation of the mountain is only 5200ft we managed an elevation change of 3000ft, in just over 3 miles, in about 2.5 hours.  We held a great pace up the mountain to keep within our time constraint and in thanks to Natasha setting the pace with a lighter pack.  She looked like a gazelle compared to us,which kept us motivated to keep going. 
Not only was this hike a great workout, we had some of the best views for a hike only 75 minutes away from the house. 

Sitting on the top of Bandera Mountain, Mt. Rainier behind us

Mason Lake, camped there last year with Natasha and Jacob

We even had a glimpse of the Craggy North Cascade Mountains

Less than one and a half weeks away we will hopefully be on the top!

Camp Muir with Climb For Clean Air Team

June 13th we made or first ascent to Camp Muir.  The day was just about perfect.  The morning started out so leisurely since we stayed at Paradise Inn with our new friends Naisha and Gavin, the night before the hike.  When you don't have to get up early, rush around getting your stuff ready and drive 3 hours to get to the trailhead, a smile is a lot easier to wear.  In fact, the start of the day was just one blessing of many for the day.  I am still smiling about the sun, the company of the team, and how awesome I felt when we reached Camp Muir.  The following pictures will help you to understand how much we enjoyed our day.

The CFCA team in line at the start.                We saw a few Marmots at the beginning of the hike. 

Mt Adams behind the Tatoosh Range

The team taking in the view of Mt. St Helens behind them and re-applying sunscreen

The team climbing up the first steep ascent - The Chute

Happiness = On Mt. Rainier, Sunshine, Together, Hiking, The Views

Branca in the red tights (Oldest woman to Climb Rainier and did it in 19 hours!) She is an amazing woman, a true inspiration to have with us on the mountain today.  This was her first hike on the mountain since her husband's passing the week before.  Like I said a true inspiration!

Clouds coming in as we climb.  This is the last push before reaching Camp Muir.

We made it Camp Muir, 10,600ft!  We both felt great, the climb was tough but all the training is paying off.  The day was beautiful, the company was great and we will be back in two weeks to do it again!

Naisha - See you there!

Final Alpine Scrambling Field Trip - Bean Peak

It's Ryan. I'm almost carrying my weight with the blogging now...almost. This installation features our final alpine scrambling field trip with the Mountaineers. But don't let the "field trip" nomenclature fool you, this was pretty much just a normal scramble. As our instructors told us "we're just here to check your skills and criticize you as necessary..." Brad did really say that, but he was joking. Brad accompanied his wife Gay as a leader this time - Gay was our leader on the snow field trip and we really enjoyed her. It was on Gay's demonstration that Katie made the trash compacter glissading pants! We also had the pleasure of grouping up with some new friends Cynthia and Will, who we have met and hiked with throughout the course.

The hike was up the Teanaway River north of Cle Elum, bracketing to the south "The Enchantments" area, which we had previously bracketed to the north during our rock field trip off Icicle Creek near Leavenworth. This was the first trip up the Teanaway for both Katie and I, and it was about time. After about a 2.5 hour drive we reached the trailhead, chock-full of eager Mountaineers. Our destination as we would only discover a moment before leaving was "Bean Peak." Interestingly enough, Bean Peak is unnamed on both Green Trails and USGS maps, but luckily our instructors filled us in on the summit altitude, so we were off at 8:45AM.

After only about a mile up Bean Creek Trail we were forced to perform a stream crossing. For both Katie and I, this was (surprisingly, I think) the first time either of us had been forced to remove our boots to cross a stream. Nobody was particularly psyched about this, and as we found out, appropriately so - because man it was cold!!!

But once on the other side after some clean up, the boots were back on and we were on our way. The weather was crystal clear, at least to start the day, and temps were just perfect - crisp in the sunshine about 50 degrees. About two miles in we had to finally break trail and actually begin "scrambling" towards Bean Peak.

It was largely a group effort in route-finding, but we also did a good job of rotating folks through the leader role. At about 11AM we finally hit the snow, and it was time to show off our snow skills.

The terrain continued to to its steepest pitch just before gaining the ridge where we caught our first glimpse of the Stuart Range (The Enchantments).

From this point all that was left was about 500 feet elevation of real-deal rock scrambling to the top. This is the stuff that really truly requires all 4 appendages and an honest answer to the self-addressed question "can I get down this safely?" For me I was in my element, this is the type of "hiking" I've done repeatedly in Colorado while hiking "14ers". I took what I thought was a bit more of a sketchy route but I slipped right up to the summit in no time and got right to business - eating, and taking in the incredible view! A few minutes later Katie joined me at the top and we got a great picture with Mt Stuart in the background.

It was about 1:15PM now, and still a gorgeous mostly sunny day. You could even see Rainier - but only partially cloaked in fair-weather cumulous clouds.

The way down the peak's rocky top was very slow going and I tried my best to stay right with Katie and help her down over those big gaps. But of course she had no trouble, and before you knew it we had reached the snow field. Time for self arrests! I love self arrests, but alas most folks - like Katie - aren't thrilled with it. To get it over with we started with the craziest fall situation - head first on your back! A total of 6 trips down and back up - and it was finally time for something everyone could agree was a good time - glissading! We probably got in a good 500' of solid glissading before it was back to a bit of bushwacking, and finally back on trail, and then back at the creek. With no hesitation Katie deftly slipped across the creek without removing her boots, as planned, while I had second thoughts about rolling the last mile of the trail in soaked boots. Ultimately I said to heck with it and followed in Katie's footsteps.

Back to the parking lot it was about 5PM.

Round Trip: 8 miles

Vertical Climb: 3,300'

Best part of the trip was the amazing views of The Enchantments.

Mountaineers Alpine Scrambling Field Trips: Complete!

This Sunday we'll be heading to Camp Muir (10,060ft) on Mt. Rainier with The Climb for Clean Air team, then the following weekend we'll make an attempt at Mt Adams. The weekend after that, we'll do our night hike on Mt. Rainier followed up by another hike to Camp Muir the next day. That'll take us through the end of June. Stay tuned for the stories and the pictures.

Rock Scramble Field Trip

Hey, its Katie, back from Spain and already hitting the trails again!

This past weekend (5/16) we drove out to Leavenworth for a fun day planned in the woods!
Sunday was our rock field trip for the Scrambling class we are taking with the Mountaineers. The field trip was designed to get everyone in the class comfortable with all things related to going off trail: bushwhacking, slanted rock face walking, rock climbing "easier" paths that would not require ropes, basically choosing the best path to reach your final destination safely and with a thrill or two!

We arrived to the trailhead (just past the snow creek trailhead off of icicle creek road) at about 8:30am and joined up with one of the more challenging groups headed out for the day at about 9am. We were hoping to go moderate but all those groups filled up quickly, so we joined the strenous group with reservation. At the start I was really nervous I wouldn't be able to keep up and in a few places even Ryan was like "wow that was a harry crossing!" but overall we were well suited for the group, no one waited on us. Although the group was strenous and pushed us out of our comfort zone a little bit we learned a ton, and most importantly we learned that we are more capable than we have given ourselves credit for. At the end of the day our leaders were impressed with our group and the ease everyone had getting up the steep climbs our leaders chose. It was a pretty day but unfortunately Ryan and I only captured a few action shots and none of the view, we were pretty focused on our skills and weren't really enjoying the sight.  Hopefully next time we make sure to stop smell the roses and enjoy the great views we are working so hard to reach.

Here is a picture of me practicing a descent with a rope in case of a situation where one wouldn't feel comfortable just climbing down on their own.

Here is Ryan attempting the same maneuver but from the side.  The rope burns your arms and back a little bit this way instead of the way I attempted, but he sure looks cool doing it.

Here I am practicing downclimb techniques.  A leader stood at the top and bottom to provide guidance and I just had to figure out my way down the rock wall.

This trip, just like our other Moutaineer experiences, has provided us with a few more skills to make us feel even more comfortable out in the woods.  The sunny day and great company wrapped up this great trip nicely.

I have been on The Mountain!

Ryan here to report on the latest training adventure.
To me at least it is really surprising that I've yet to set foot on Mount Rainier until today! Katie has been at least once - all the way to Camp Muir above 10,000', but I had only driven around it. So while it was really sad for me not to have Katie at my side today (she is in Spain on business and about to enjoy Mother's Day there with her mom!) I also felt like it was a free chance to catch up to her a bit! Here is a recap of my adventure.

Mount Rainier, due to it's size, seems a lot closer than it is! After 3 hours of driving and about 20 minutes at the Whittaker/RMI rental facility in Ashford (they call it base camp), I ascended a mile high to Paradise, where the road (at least this time of year) ends - at this point one is officially on the mountain. My stop in Ashford was to rent special boots - "plastics" they call them. If you're thinking "ski boots?" - yup, pretty much, which is funny because the gal helping me out mentioned how they are "way different." We'll see about that. Although not really necessary for today's purposes, the idea was to get comfortable in them, because one will really need them up higher (above Muir). They insulate better, they allow one to kick step into ice a bit better, and they also are specially compatible with crampons.
The parking lot was packed, no surprise, because the weather today was absolutely gorgeous. And it's about time - after a lovely winter this spring in Seattle has been awfully cold and wet. With my shiny new rental boots donned and ready, and all slathered up with sunscreen, and carrying about 30 lbs, we gathered and launched up the mountain destined for Pebble Creek. By the way we never saw a creek, which came as no surprise as the entire trip was on feet deep snow.
Starting out it was pretty shallow, and still pretty hard packed icy snow. Ever walk in ski boots on overall level but locally uneven hard packed snow? Same thing. Seriously, trekking/ski poles were necessary to stay upright. As the pitch increases we become single file (which by the way is a bummer because conversations become more difficult), and now we're trying to "kick-step" into partially forged foot holds from those ahead of us. Still a little awkward but not relying on the poles now. Now the pitch increases a lot - maybe to 35-40 degrees. After a quick lesson about "rest steps" and "pressure breathing" we head up. Ahah! This is what these boots are made for! They work perfectly, no awkwardness - now I can just fully focus on making progress upward. And of course my feet are super cozy - and no signs of blistering. Once we level out and stop our leader tells us that's the steepest portion of the entire climb to the summit! Wow - what a confidence builder that was for everyone. Nobody in the group really had any trouble with it, technically or physically - so the group is really kicking butt. On and up we go and the only bummer about this whole thing (because this is a near perfect day so far) is that we all end up looking down so much, carefully planning each step. We really had to stop to enjoy the view, but we did that a lot, and it was beautiful! After only about 2.5 hours our leader just kind of stopped and said - "ok we're there - you made it, this is 7,200' and we're somewhere near Pebble Creek!" It went by super fast, and it was really effortless for me, and I think most of us. The training has really paid off! So we spent about 20 minutes enjoying the sun, having lunch, conversing and so on, and then headed down. A lot of us really wanted to keep going to Camp Muir because it was such an awesome day and we felt so good, but alas we will save that for another day.
On the way down we worked on "plunge stepping" - another skill we've learned already through the Scrambling course we're simultaneously taking. And I think we got down in about an hour was all! And just like that the day was already over.
A few of us followed a recommendation and we met up at the Copper Creek restaurant back towards Ashford for a late lunch/beer - and Jeff swore they had the best blackberry pie ever. You know I had to take that challenge!
PS - he was right.
The 3 hour drive home finished off the day and the only thing that would have made it better was having Katie with me, oh and also Lily dog. No dogs allowed in the park so she had to stay at home today. I've got a lot of outdoor time to make up with her tomorrow in the yard. In total I think only 4 miles, but about 2,000' vertically (on icy snow).

The best blackberry pie of all time (Copper Creek Restaurant near Ashford, WA)

The view to the SE from somewhere near Pebble Creek (Mt Adams lurking out there - see if you can spot it)

The view up from somewhere near Pebble Creek (7,200')

Through Hiking Tiger Mountain with Lily

Howdy folks - Ryan here again! Katie is in Mallorca, Spain on business so it was up to me (and Lily) to represent Team Younkin on Seattle's famous Tiger Mountain today. If Tiger Mountain sounds familiar, it should, because we climbed the west summit just a few weeks ago. But this time was quite different. Today we had two goals 1) to wear the pack for a long time (longer than we will during the Rainier climb) and 2) to enjoy a luxurious picnic midway through. Mission accomplished on both accounts.
Well the Climb for Clean Air folks are not dog friendly. But it's the weekend, and I wasn't about to leave Lily at home for 10 hours while I'm out frolicking in the woods and Katie is out of town. But this presented a challenge beyond just simply keeping her out of everyone's hair. Since the plan was to through hike we had to shuttle vehicles. So we all met at "Tiger Mountain Pass" on the east side (where I've historically mountain biked a great deal), then shuttled to the west side where we hiked last time. But I could either shuttle Lily in someone else's ride while she was still clean or wait and see if someone would shuttle us later after getting filthy (obvious choice). So I asked the group and despite frowns and comments from the "trip leader" (who didn't actually go on the hike) who said everything except "she can't go on the hike," one of our hikers - AJ - graciously offered to haul Lily and I at the beginning so that we could just load up in our own car at the end of the hike.

The day was a wet one, beginning with intermittent light drizzle. The ground we had previously covered is pretty steep, but the remainder of the voyage was a series of small ups and downs. By the midpoint when we stopped to have lunch the rain was becoming constant and often moderate. When we stopped we combined our food resources to build quite a pile of opulent foods (well you know, for being on the trail). It was pretty diverse for there having been no pre-coordination, but there was certainly no shortage of strawberries, cheese, and chocolate. And I brought all of those! One of our leaders brought a stove and boiled a ton of hot dogs. But I missed out! Everyone (21 people) crowded around a picnic table so there was very little room and also I had to control Lily, so I ended up setting up shop with my pack against a tree and my sit-upon pad a short distance away. So I was a tad anti-social (there were others near me doing the same) and unfortunately this led to missing out on a hot dog! Dang it all! I did eventually attack the picnic table and take part in a little of everything while splitting time between controlling Lily and accepting my friend Naisha's offer to hold Lily for me. And may I say Mint Oreo's are oh so good! Someone even brought one of those gallon cartons of Starbucks coffee!

Lily was pretty darn good all day. I kept her on the leash all day and she didn't pull at all! She got pretty wet but she was happy and never got cold.

I ended up having some good pretty lengthy talks with a bunch of new acquantances! Of course Boeing comes up a lot but I really enjoy discussing it with people. But I was really interested to talk to Bill who works at Senior Service, John who runs a wholesale greenhouse, and Eric who used to be lawyer at Boeing. And that's really been the best part of the journey - making friends with these fantastic people! It just so happened John (and his wife Lynn) also brought a dog. They were considering not through hiking because they didn't think they'd have a ride for the dog at the other side. But I quickly assured them there Dalmation "Balder" was welcome to hitch a ride with us - and they graciously accepted.

We left the west trailhead at 9AM and reached Tiger Summit and the east parking lot where we began the day at about 4:30. I'd say we were on the move for all but 2 hours of that. And we travelled something like 13-16 miles. I'm guessing we covered about 2,500 vertical feet. Not too shabby for a day's work.

This photo is from beyond the west summit - part of the mountain I've never visited. We were in and out of the fog here. Oh, by the way, I was rocking the trekking poles and holding Lily and taking the photo, while walking at this point. The spread at lunch somewhere on Tiger Mountain

 

Mt Si and Ice Axe Arrests

Last weekend we had great outdoor fun!  Sadly its taken me 5 days for me to post to the blog with pictures.
Saturday we hiked Mt. Si with the fabulous Climb for Clean Air hiking team.  We all made it to the top in just over 2 hours with 25-30 pound packs.  We started at the beginning of the trail with a downpour, at the top of the mountain it was snowing!

Katie in the snow, soaking the last bit of the cold and snow before spring comes full swing. 

Here is the gang at the top.  Not much a view but a great workout for sure.

After the hike we had a delicious lunch with some of the team at North Bend Bar and Grill.  The best part of this experience is making new friends!

On Sunday we went to Mt Stevens Pass Ski Mountain.  The ski resort is closed for the season but not for the Mountaineers!  We got to play on the mountain all day practicing glissading and ice axe arrests.  We did ice axe arrests from glissading.  We practiced ice axe arrests from the position of sliding down the hill head first on our stomachs.   Just when we got comfortable with all that we slid down the hill head first stomach up, with an ice axe arrest before we got to the bottom of the hill.  The day was awesome, super sunny, nice and warm, wet snow but we never got cold, fabulous.  The absolutely best part of the day was that we are now confident with our ice axe, we know what to do with it, we know why we carry it!

Proof of the sunny day.  So much better than 24 hours ago!

All smiles!  How can we not be.  We are using our gear, we know what do with an ice axe and its sunny!

A Very Productive Past Two Weeks with Pictures! (Ryan Post #2!)

Ryan here again, can you believe it?  Katie's busy working next to me so it's my turn to post about the last two weekends, and I'm thrilled to do so because they were great!
The weekend before last (Saturday I think) the Climb For Clean Air gang gathered at the base of Seattle's famed Tiger Mountain for training climb #3 (our 2nd - having missed the first).  Filtered sunshine ultimately led to a warm and dry day following a crisp early morning start.  Group members really started to get familiar with each other on this climb, and Katie and I both found ourselves having really nice conversations with a wide variety of our teammates as we ascended the trail.  Next hike we'll be able to greet them by name when we arrive and maybe bond a little further during the hike.  As for the hike, we were told to carry 20 lbs, which we did, and we had no trouble.  In total I think the hike was around 6 miles and maybe 1,800 vertical feet.  As a group we moved a little slower than we had on the shorter Little Si trail (the previous hike), but nice and steady.  Based on experience with "MicroSpikes" (baby crampons for your boots) loaned to us from our reliable hiking buddies Jacob and Natasha, we had just spent our 20% REI coupons on some for ourselves and I got to put them through their paces near the summit when we encountered icy conditions left over from our recent spring snows.  Unfortunately Katie's order hadn't arrived yet (separately ordered) so she braved the slippery conditions with only hiking poles.  At the top we got a great shot of us with Tacoma in the background.

Tiger Summit (#3) - Tacoma in background

Last Friday night we had our favorite hiking duo (Jacob and Natasha) over for dinner where we discovered their plans to car camp on the San Juan Islands soured a bit due to the rainy Saturday forecast.  So we asked to them to accompany us on a rainy hike instead.  With all the spring snow we've been having and opting to remain out of the avalanche danger we chose a lower yet still challenging trail off Highway 2 this side of Steven's Pass.  Actually, Katie and I had partially completed the hike after work back when we just started dating, but we really wanted to complete the route and see Lake Serene, after Bridal Veil Falls, where we had turned around the first time.  In total the route was about 8.5 miles and about 2,500 vertical feet.  Light rain for the entire drive was surprisingly replaced by humid but dry conditions on the trail initially.  On the way up we actually had (as she called it) a "Boeing siting" of a gal I work with in Flight Test.  She asked us why we weren't at work implying in jest 787 flight testing couldn't very well continue while we were all gone:)  Truth be told one of the enablers of the trip was that all 4 flying airplanes have grown roots on the ground and aren't flying at present due to planned "layups."  We crossed the multitude of falls that make up the Bridal Veil, stopping only for more than a pause at the largest fall for some photos and some cooling mist.

Bridal Veil Falls - revisited

You have to actually backtrack about a half mile from the fall to rejoin the trail and continue onward and upward to Lake Serene.  On the way up we found a whimsical tree trunk precariously hanging over the trail - an excellent photo op.

I eventually had let it go

Continuing on, just as the trail steepened we encountered a trio that looked pretty wrecked.  Strange given their descending, comfortable temps, no rain, seemingly no injuries, and obvious fitness.  Weird.  They half-heartedly warned us of impending snow but indicated we'd make the lake no problem.  Onward.  After some steep climbing interrupted once in a while by dramatic views across the Skykomish valley, we hit the snow.

Skykomish Valley - town of Gold Bar in the distance

And then we hit the rain!  It's amazing how fast an enjoyable hike becomes "not all that enjoyable."  After gearing up we continued with only a rare post-holing or slipping.  The slushy snow didn't lend itself to the MicroSpikes so we went for it rocking only naked boots.  Finally though, as with most mountain lakes, we leveled off just as we caught glimpses of the lake slightly below and through the trees.  Wow!  Lake Serene sits beneath a 3,000' vertical rock wall comprising famed Mt Index's NE face.

Lake Serene & Mt Index NE face

By the way, Mt Index is where the first American to summit Everest (Jim Whittaker) claims he came the closest to using his 9th life!  Just as we sat down at the frozen lake's edge for lunch we were jolted by the thunderous crashes of ice and rock colliding as narrow avalanches whipped down the shoots between the cliff faces.  Nature's fireworks, it was truly awesome!  Not to be outdone by nature two gentlemen emerged from behind us breaking open a six-pack and firing up cigarettes!  Ok, I enjoy a beer, so we've got something in common there, but these two were just wearing jeans and t-shirts, no sign of a pack with more gear in sight - literally just the beer!  They sure were friendly guys though, I felt bad when I we had responded to their inquiry that we had no booze of our own.  Heading down we encountered more folks who seemed pretty ill-prepared for the rough weather.  And it turned out they would need better gear than sweat pants and tennis shoes as the sky finally opened and unleashed its deluge for the the last hour of our hike to the car.  Our two beer loving friends made it just fine though, happy as clams as they emerged from the trail as we saddled up to head home.
After a shower and change of clothes we finished off the night with an additional $400 toward our cause thanks to a fun-filled night of poker with Katie's colleagues.  Plus, Katie contributed an extra $40 as she came in 3rd pulling in 5 points toward the 2010 Flight Deck Poker Series championship!

Katie joins the poker elite alongside the tourney points leaders Steven and Martin

As of today, with a few more donations trickling in today, I think we have only about $200 to go to secure our spot in the climb!!!  THANK YOU!!!!!!

Technical Difficulties and a lot of Exclamation Marks (sorry I am excited)

Sorry for the lack of posts...
We have gotten ourselves a new camera to document our trips but the camera did not come with a cord in which to download the pictures to the computer.  Sad I know.  So we have been out hiking and enjoying this nice weather, but as of right now we have no new pictures and posts are boring without pictures so you will have to stay tuned on that front.  Hopefully it won't be much longer for us to resolve this situtation.

As for the fundraising part of this big adventure we are doing AWESOME!
Team Younkin/Hammell have raised $9795!!  We are just $705 from our minimum goal of $10,500!  It is not even the end of April, this is just an amazing blessing that I think only our friends and family are so easily capable of!  Ryan, Dad, and I are totally impressed by the giving to such a worthy cause and with such grace.
So once again many thanks, we will continue to thank you because stopping kids from smoking, curing lung diseases and keeping our air clean is something to be excited and thankful for.

We are hiking this weekend, anyone want to join us this Saturday?

Two days in a row!

We did make it out to hike two days in a row, didn't have to work either of the weekend days!
Sorry its been 7 days until you got to hear the trail reports, when I take off for a weekend of fun, there is a lot of catching up required the following week!
On Saturday 3/20 We(Ryan, Jacob, Natasha and I) headed over to the Olympic Peninsula via Edmonds Ferry and Hood Canal Bridge, in search of some good views and less snowy trails.  We found great views, but also a lot more snow then we were expecting, at Mt. Townsend Trail.  The weather on Saturday was unbelievable, super sunny nearly 70 degrees, just a great day.  The first two miles of the trail were icy in places but passable.  When we reached about 4800ft , we hit snow and lots of it.  The snow was on a steep grade and it was very soft.  Snowshoes are not workable when you have to put one foot in front of the other to stay on the narrow trail..  We made it through the snow for about an hour.  After an hour of post-holing and a super steep ascent we took in the views while we devoured our lunch.  After replenshing the calories we had just burned so rapidly, we discussed and decided climbing more wouldn't get us very far and put us at risk for injury so we turned around at about 5600ft. 
On Sunday Ryan and I joined the American Lung Association Climb for Clean Air Team for a training hike.  We hiked Little Si just outside of North Bend.  For as sunny and warm as Saturday was, Sunday was the complete opposite.  The entire hike was in the rain.  Although it was raining and a bit chilly we got the chance to meet up with some great people.  We look forward to more chances to get to know them and to hike Mt. Rainier with them. 
the weekend in pictures:

The Olympics from the Edmonds Ferry

Getting Ready at the Trailhead

Ryan, Natasha, and Jacob at the start of the snow

The view from lunch, of the Cascades and Seattle

The only picture we took at Little Si, because as you can tell it was very wet.  My face is supposed to look happy(because I was), just squinting to not get rain in my eyes!

Ready for the Woods!

Its been two weekends without any hikes, we are craving some trail time.  For the physical training of this adventure, the gym is a great substitute for the trail when you have to get in some cardio and can't make time for the trails.  As you may recall there are 3 parts to this adventure: fundraise, physical fitness and mental confidence/strength.  Unfortunately the mental training for all of this has been put on the backburner.  We know that we will be most mentally prepared if our heads are clear of stress and worry about: the climb, work, house stuff, condo sale, proximity to family, etc.  Wow those things not only fill the mind they fill our time!  Without complaining you can imagine that the busy-ness of it all has kept us from the trail.  Well we have finally found some time and hope to keep it for the trails and not get sidetracked with work, yard stuff, etc. 
For Ryan and I, being outside in the woods, hitting the trails, keeps the clarity in our minds of what is important.  I know it may sound silly but after a hike we emerge from the woods feeling more patient and happy.  So this weekend we head for the hills.  Saturday morning we will be doing Mt. Si.  We would prefer a bit more solitude, but I have to go to work in the afternoon so this is the closest hike we can do and get back in time.  Sunday Ryan has to work but I get to join the Climb for Clean Air team for a training hike to Little Si.  The hike shouldn't be hard but it will be great for meeting other people on this great adventure.  Stay tune for pictures and hike reviews.

Fundraising and Training Update

Lets start with the fact that Ryan and I are $532 from reaching our $7000 goal!  Even more good news is that my dad is $1500 from his goals of $3500.(donate to dad)  How awesome are our friends and family?  I will tell you simply that our friends and family are inspiring.  We laid out our hopes and you are all exceeded expectations!  We are helping those with lung disease with such ease, awesome!

Ok so now to the training.  We are fundraising prepared but what are we doing to prepare for a 14,000ft climb? 
With our work schedule it makes it tough to get to the gym or outside regularly, but on average we make it to the gym in the morning 3 times a week.  I am really looking forward to warmer and brighter mornings to run outside and breathe the fresh air.  The gym is great to get in some sort of cardio, which is better than nothing, but we all know preparing for a big climb means hiking and climbing outside in the real mountains; which our hearts want to do every evening after work and every weekend.  Work sure gets in the way of the heart!  We have had the pleasure of a few hikes and snowshoes trips as reported earlier in this blog, but recently all we have time for are a few urban hikes.  I would just say a nice walk but we have committed to wear our amazing new daypacks on evey walk we go on, which makes it feel more "hike" like.  Yep thats right, can you picture it?  We are walking around Brier, a lovely neighborhood of sidewalks and cute homes with our bags filled to the brim, helmet , ice axe, and trekking poles attached to the outside.  Yep, we look a little silly but wow it sure helps the heart when work won't let us head to the woods.  So we hope as it gets warmer we get more time in the woods, but we are staying active. 
In other news, last weekend and one day next weekend we have been working to completie a MOFA class.  MOFA is a 26 hour outdoor first aid course designed by the Moutaineers.  The class is a requirement for any alpine scrambling (which we are taking) and basic climbing courses offered by the Mountaineers.  We are 2/3 complete and feel pretty prepared for most accidents in the outdoors.  The last day of the class is going to be practice of all the things we learned to really set up our confidence with the new found knowledge.
Hopefully the following weekend (3/20-21)we finally get a chance to go hiking!  Any recommendations?

Lake Valhalla Snowshoe

Saturday we had a lazy start to the day, slept in until about 8am!  May not sound early but man work has been requiring early starts and late nights.  On our way out of town we picked up Natasha, sadly Jacob had to work, but having Natasha's company was great!  We hadn't seen Natasha in over three weeks, much too long.  We drove about 6 miles east of Steven's Pass(1hr 45 min drive), parked near the start of Smith Brook Road and headed out into the woods to try and find Lake Valhalla.  I say try to find because the directions in our book were not clear and we were not bent on having a destination so we didn't bring a map.  We did use Natasha's GPS a few times to make sure we were heading in the right direction, which we were, but never actually made it to the lake.  We snowshoed for about 3.5 hours, covered at least 6 miles, and thoroughly exhausted Lily, a perfect day!
Washington Trail Association Website, - provided the details of the hike and directions on how to get to the trailhead.

Katie, Ryan and Lily halfway up the trail

New backpacks in action!

Natasha, Katie and Ryan taking a lunch break, The snow makes some great seats.

New Gear and lots of Lessons Learned! * Warning long post but worth the read if you want to learn about gear

This weekend was not an outdoor weekend.  I was assigned to work this weekend, supporting 787 airplane 2 in flight test.  We wound up doing house errands on Saturday and I worked all day on Sunday.  The best part of the weekend was Friday night, which was spurred by Monday evening.  So let me go briefly to Monday evening. 
Monday Evening 1/25/2010
Ryan and I attended the first of three lectures for a Mountaineers' class called Alpine Scrambling.  At the end of the class we will feel more comfortable fording our own path to high peaks with ice and loose rocks.  The lecture covered required gear, physical conditioning, and what the class will be like.  The lecture was overall nothing new for us but it remind us of gear we may have to buy $$$.  For Mt. Rainier's climb we had planned to rent boots, helmets, ice axes and perhaps even borrow some gear too.  By the end of the evening we were rethinking the "plan".  This leads to our fun urban adventure on Friday.
Friday Evening 1/29/2010
We got home from work beat but wanting to get our errands done Friday night, (Outdoor stores, Ikea, World Market and Pier1 to look at house decorations for our newly painted walls), so that just in case I didn't have to work Sat. or Sun., we would be able to go play outside.  Well we only got to the outdoor stores because we spent over 3 hours gear shopping!
First stop was Second Ascent in Ballard.  Fabulous customer service, and great selection of gear.  We only walked out with a used ice axe for me but we tried on everything!  First thing to learn more about -Moutaineering boots.  We tried on really stiff boots, lighter boots with full shank soles, and thick, stiff warm boots too.  All were different and good in their own way but for the cost (>$250) we decided that the plan to rent for Mt. Rainer would be best and that our current boots will be great for scrambling.  In fact the guy helping us out goes scrambling in the same boots Ry owns.  Score, huge savings!
LESSON 1 -The boots we have will work just as well if not better because they are already broken in.  I have Asolo TPS 520 GV Hiking Boots and Ry has Vasque Wasatch GTX Hiking Boots
After trying on all the boots we could and exhausting all our questions/concerns we briefly looked at ice axes.  We determined that the one dad bought years ago for me will be long enough for Ry and that I needed one, so first purchase of the evening was a great priced used ice axe.
LESSON 2 - For the Alpine Scrambling we are doing the best length is to hold the head of the axe in your hand, pointy end towards the floor, with arms at your side and have it be no longer than to your ankle.  This is so that you can walk with it in your hand and not scrape it against the ground or loose rocks, preventing exhaustion in your arm.
LESSON 3 - The shorter the ice axe the more bad ass you are in the mountaineering world.  Don't believe the wild stories of a guy that looks rookie and is carrying a long ice axe.  (There are a few exceptions to this rule, so don't get to judgemental)
Next area of the store - DAYPACKS!  The last daypack Ryan used was a school bag that I nixed shortly after we started dating. The daypack I was using that we now share is very small and really only better because it has comfortable shoulder straps.  Although a real sturdy bag just too small.  For the past 4 years we have made it work and, pp until now we really didn't need anything more, especially one for each of us.  The Mountaineers require that all hikers/climbers carry our their own first aid, their own water, and their own gear.  Ok, ok, ok twist our arms we will get new packs.  Talk about kids in a candy store!  We must have tried on, tugged at, stuffed, and analyzed over 20 bags.  The changes since we bought our backpacking bags in (1997/1998) are just unbelievable.  I would still agree with anyone that we didn't have to get new bags but after serious examination we decided it would make trips much more enjoyable and we would be best prepared with better bags.  Also this allows for both of us to train for Mt. Rainier since we can each load up our own packs, and not worry about borrowing the weekend of the big trip.  Unfortunately Second Ascent didn't have exactly what we were looking for, but after a quick Google on the trusty iPhone we saw that REI does have what we are looking for.  Off to REI we went after profusely thanking the staff for all their help. 
Now take these two gear adrenaline pumping goons already excited and put them in the Flagship REI store!  Yeah we had to remind ourselves when we were going in why we were there, and yet we still wind up buying more than daypacks!  Don't worry the extras were on the list and now we are both much safer with helmets and a 3 liter camelpack to go in my new daypack!
LESSON 4 - Decide what you are looking for, what is most important to you.  This daypack is going to be carried for several hundred miles (hopefully) and will be something you only have to purchase once.  (i.e.our backpacking bags circa 97/98)
LESSON 5 - Make sure you do not change your mind about what is important to you in a pack because of something superficial like the color, brand, model name, etc. 
LESSON 6 - Do not go to REI without a list, thank goodness for dividends!
OK so now what bags did we get and why?
Our requirements were:
1. Side pocket on each side of the pack for water bottles
2. Camelbak bladder holder
3. Ice Axe loops
4. Easy access to the inside of the bag from two angles, not just the top.
5. Want ability to hold trekking poles and/or snowshoes, maybe even skis for later down the road.
6. Side straps for making the pack smaller when needed. 
7. Comfortable hipbelts. 
With these requirements the only brand that matched was Osprey.  All the other brands while great packs in their own right only covered 6 of our 7 requirements.
I got an Osprey Kestral 38 Pack-S/M, pretty bag, super useful, great match for me, Even comes with its own rain cover!

Ryan found that the Osprey Talon 44 pack was more to his liking, his favorite color is orange so I had to be sure he wasn't just drawn to the color.  it does make sense that he go up a size since his gear is a little larger and volumous than mine.  Besides the size, the bag is very similar to mine.

To end this very long post just in case all you do is look at the pictures I post here is a picture of Ryan leaving the store.  His quote of the evening is "I do not plan on taking my new pack off, I am going to wear it everywhere", including out of the store, yes we were those goobers, but we were happy goobers. 

Tonga Ridge...Well the Fire Road to Tonga Ridge

After quite a busy week at work, and evenings spent painting our home indoors, we were ready to get outside and away from town. 
Sunday morning, our good friends Jacob and Natasha met up at our place, loaded up the Skybox (car top storage) and we headed off for adventure. 
Side Note-This was our first trip using the newly acquired Skybox for all our gear, Lily had the entire back of the Tribute to herself, and all 4 people rode with plenty of space.  Thanks Mom and Dad!
The best thing about traveling with J&N is that they are up for just about anything and will push to see around the next turn just in case there is a perfect vista! 
Today's hike after starting to drive north; we decided on doing Tonga Ridge.  The snowshoe book does mention that this trailhead may be hard to reach after the early season because of too much snow.  We decided although we are in the middle of winter that the chance was worth it because the book also mentions superb vista views.  After about a hour and a half of driving we reached Tonga Ridge Rd.  Unfortunately we only made it about 4 miles down the road before we were stopped by a lot of snow on the road.  We parked the car and decided to just walk along the road.  The first half of our walk was without snowshoes, because although our car could go no further there were tire tracks that had flattened the snow making it quite walkable. Since we knew at some point we would need the snowshoes, I got a little pack training in too.  I hauled both Ryan and my snowshoes along with all our clothing (because Ry can sure sweat when he is going up) in my pack. 
Side note- I think that we learned a little lesson on this hike.  If we want to really condition for Mt. Rainier we are going to need to both carry our own packs and make them heavy with a gourmet lunch or something else fun like that. 
About 2 miles or so on the main road we took a right as the book says to do and tried to find the actual Tonga Ridge trailhead.  We did have the option to go on a more leavel trail or head up towards the trailhead.  Without even really thinking Natasha says lets go up.  I love Natasha's attitude!  This is one of many reasons I love hiking with J&N.  We have a mountain to climb in July and we are going to be prepared.  This side road (we think it was #310) required our snowshoes, so we strapped them on and up we went.  A little over 3.5 miles we came to the trailhead for Tonga Ridge.  Well at least we know where it is and perhaps we will visit again on a sunnier day for another chance at some good vista views.  Today we got a glimpse at a few jagged mountains for a moment, but mostly we enjoyed the solitude of just us out in the snow with pretty evergreens looking even greener in the grayish background.   The hike back to the car was just about all downhill and sure seemed A LOT easier then the way up, we made it back in just over an hour. 
To end a great hike we stopped for some burgers, fries and shakes, and still had time to make it to church.  Great day!

No pictures from our trip, in our excitement to go we completely forgot the camera. 
Here is a picture from Washington Trail Association of what we should have seen had the weather not been so socked in and we had actually started at the trailhead.  Definitely a reason to go back, who wants to go?