Final Camp Muir Prep hike on Mt Rainier

Ryan here. Katie's in Washington DC on business this week - so I'm resuming my blogging duties. Last weekend we made our final trek to Mt Rainier in preparations for the real deal summit attempt now only 3 weeks away! As usual we lucked out in terms of weather - it was gorgeous.

The Mountain through misty clouds on Sunday

This trip was was more than just hiking to Camp Muir. Saturday night we met inside the Paradise Inn at 7PM to talk gear before an evening stroll. Everyone was to have brought all the gear that is necessary for the summit attempt - helmet, harness, ice axe, and crampons. Lucky for us we already had the axe and helmet from the Alpine Scrambling course, also Katie had two harnesses and two pairs of crampons (that we've never used). We were set! So after the briefing the group ventured only a short distance up the slope - still in sight of Paradise - where we geared up. Harness first, then crampons, then threw the helmet on and grabbed the ice axe.

Katie all geared up (and looking hot)

Our fearless leader Mark had set up a series of wands for us to navigate like downhill skiing gates while roped up in teams of 6. For most of us this was a new concept, but it wasn't rocket science. You keep the rope on the downhill side of you, that is until you turn around a gate. Right before turning you step over the slack in front of you, putting the rope on your uphill side, then you turn - putting the rope back where it belongs on the downhill side. That's the process we'll be using above Camp Muir when we're roped up in teams. This was an early look at how things would run up high.

Snaking our way up the mountain at dusk

And for Katie and I it went swimmingly, but for a few people it took a little getting used to. The part that was new to us - the crampons - also went swimmingly. They fit the boots perfectly and weren't as awkward to walk in as we suspected. All in all we slowly snaked our way up the roughly 200' slope, and then back down, and called it a night. Along the way it finally got pretty dusky, allowing us to briefly use our headlamps. And to top it off we spotted a couple of foxes scurrying about in the snow too (no pics, sorry)!

Beautiful sunset view back toward Paradise

After a good night's sleep at the Paradise Inn, we geared up the next morning for basically a carbon copy of our last trip up Mt Rainier to Camp Muir. We did a few things differently this time, some personal, some as a group. Personally, I made sure to rest a few minutes, allowing the sweat to evaporate and then also blot any remaining sweat off before re-applying sunscreen. And this worked, because I didn't show any signs of sun after the trip (unlike last time). Also, both Katie and I were fully loaded with all the gear I previously mentioned plus all the regular stuff. So we did this hike with the same weight we'll carry to Camp Muir on the big day. Above Camp Muir, however, we will be a little lighter, leaving our hydration reservoirs, iPods, and sleeping bags behind. Full of food and water, our packs were a tad beyond 40 lbs. Above Muir it'll be more like 30-35.

This is a sweet shot I got from the back of the line - somewhere around 9,000'

The going in plan was to keep the entire group intact all the way to Camp Muir and for all intents and purposes we did! Everyone in the group made it to Camp Muir (that didn't happen last time). I stayed near the back of the pack, and in the last 1,000' especially, I walked with two of our teammates from our specific climb date cheering them on and making sure they didn't give up. The group made it to Camp Muir in a little over 5 hours, a little longer than last time, but the slowest in the group (3 people behind me) made it in only 5 minutes behind, much faster than the slowest group last time. So great progress!

Reaching Camp Muir (10,200')

Also of note was running into two co-workers of mine on the mountain. While sitting around during our first rest stop lo and behold I saw a familiar figure approaching through the mist with long flowing red locks. "Russ Lecompte?" I shouted. "Younko!" he responded. It was Russ allright. Russ and I actually talk a lot about outdoor activities but we've never done any together for no reason in particular. Russ was using his skins to ski up while his friend Billy carried his downhill skis. We met again at Camp Muir for some lunch.

Russ rocking some uphill skiing (he's smiling in this picture he said)

The way down was a little slower than last time, taking a little over 2.5 hours vs only 2.0 hours last time. Still pretty fast and we were able to keep the whole group together.   To top off an awesome day was a stop at Sonic in Puyallup on the way home for dinner! I love Sonic, and that is the closest one to where we live - over an hour and a half away. Now that's a good way replenshish those burned calories!

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.

Mt Ellinor

We hope everyone had a lovely Memorial Day weekend, despite the crummy weather in the Northwest. This past weekend we got in a little bit of training, some family time and even gear shopping.

The weekend started for us on Saturday with a hike to Mt. Ellinor. We woke up pretty early to catch the 5:45am ferry from Edmonds to Kingston, and then had about an hour and a half drive to Hoodsport. The weather was dismal when we woke up, very rainy and gray. We packed all of our rain gear and lots of layers prepared for the worst. As we got closer to the trail head the clouds were starting to part for glimpses of blue sky and sunshine. We met up with several other Mountaineers, representing both the Seattle and Olympia branch, at the Hoodsport Ranger station and then caravan to the trailhead. By the time we hit the trail (~9:15am) the clouds were back, and as we climbed the clouds just got thicker, so much for the chance of sun. It never really rained, but the air felt quite moist. Once at the top we had a little snack, which included a gourmet treat from our trip leader, Curt. He made pumpkin scone like cookies with lemon frosting, delicious! We hung out awhile hoping for the clouds to break but without much luck and the wind picking up, the best choice was to head back to the cars. The climb up was steep and in several feet of snow, a lot of work, but also a perfect setting for being able to glissade down. We glissaded down about 1500ft of our descent, what a ride, and it only took us about 20 minutes! The hike overall was great! We have plans to return in nicer weather to see the acclaimed views.

Mt Ellinor Stats: Highest point - 5944ft, Elevation gain ~ 2300ft, Time to hike up was ~ 2 hours and the descent took ~ 1 hr.

Close up of me, with a good angle of how steep the climb was behind me.

Heading up the last part of the climb, in soupy weather.


The entire group standing at the very top of Mt. Ellinor.


Ryan and I at the top of Mt. Ellinor. Apparently behind us is an awesome view of the Olympic Mtns(we will have to return to verify the rumors). Also check out those cornices, can you believe this is the end of May! Lastly, lets address the diaper like outfit I am wearing, the "shorts" are made of a trash compactor bag and duct tape intended to save my pants from being shredded on the glissade intent. Not only did my pants stay intact but I did not get any snow down my pants (due to the high-nerdy waist line) and it made me a little faster. Although dorky they worked perfectly, a special thanks to Amy and Tash for helping me make them.

The rest of the weekend we had a great time with my dad and my brother Troy. Sunday we did some work on my brother's house which is going through quite the remodel. Ryan got to knock down his first wall with a sledgehammer and crow bar! We took out three walls and a set of stairs, and had to put it all into a dumpster that had an opening about a foot over my head. Quite the unintended upper body workout! After helping out a little bit at my brother's place we took dad shopping in preparation for the climb. He is now loving First Ascent gear as much as us and got just as giddy in REI as we do!

Overall a great weekend, I just wish we had more time with dad and Troy, to take them in the woods for a training hike.

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?