Here are some pictures from my weekend. I took the family camping to the Cold Springs Campground in the Mount Adams Wilderness (WA State).
The mountain is an active Cascade volcano, elevation 12,296 feet.
Here are a couple of picture for reference:
The campground sits at about 5,700 ft.
We set up camp at about 2 pm on Friday.
Some pics from that:
Exploring the trail with my boys:
I set my alarm for 1:45am to start my day trip. The first 2 hours I hiked under full moonlight and a headlamp.
A bit creepy hiking through the woods in the middle of the night, but sort of cool, too.
Here I am about 2 hours in, at the bottom of the first glacier:
Sunrise on Mount Saint Helens, about 50 miles away:
Mt Adams casts it's shadow into the sunrise:
Mt.Hood in the distance, about 50 miles away:
Putting on my crampons:
Looking down at some camp sites at about 9,200 feet:
Again, Mt Hood in the distance:
Looking up the snowfield/glacier to the South Summit (11,200 ft). What you see is a 35-45 degree slope spanning about 2,000 vertical feet.
It took me about 2-1/2 hours on the way up. I realized that 99% of people on that mountain were in better shape than me. But, I trudged on. Starting at 9,000 feet, the air is sufficiently thin to make walking a chore. From 10,000 ft on, I counted forty steps, then 1-3 minutes rest. Another forty steps, break. Rinse and repeat, all the way to the summit.
At the end of each forty steps my heart was racing like I had just run a marathon. Altitude is crazy.
Some guys sliding down that slope. It's called glissading and it is MUCH faster than walking down. What took me 2-1/2 hours to get up, took me 15 minutes to glissade down.
Some more views up the steep pitch:
Some views down the slope:
Finally at the south summit! The main summit is in sight. So is Mt. Saint Helens.
View up to the main summit:
Almost there:
The path leading up from the south summit:
Finally! The summit! There is an 80 year old shack on the summit.
Views are of Mt. Hood, Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Goat Rocks.
And myself, of course.
A freaking bird on the summit!
Getting ready to slide down 2,000 vertical feet from the south summit:
That's all I got. Awesome trip.
The mountain is an active Cascade volcano, elevation 12,296 feet.
Here are a couple of picture for reference:
The campground sits at about 5,700 ft.
We set up camp at about 2 pm on Friday.
Some pics from that:
Exploring the trail with my boys:
I set my alarm for 1:45am to start my day trip. The first 2 hours I hiked under full moonlight and a headlamp.
A bit creepy hiking through the woods in the middle of the night, but sort of cool, too.
Here I am about 2 hours in, at the bottom of the first glacier:
Sunrise on Mount Saint Helens, about 50 miles away:
Mt Adams casts it's shadow into the sunrise:
Mt.Hood in the distance, about 50 miles away:
Putting on my crampons:
Looking down at some camp sites at about 9,200 feet:
Again, Mt Hood in the distance:
Looking up the snowfield/glacier to the South Summit (11,200 ft). What you see is a 35-45 degree slope spanning about 2,000 vertical feet.
It took me about 2-1/2 hours on the way up. I realized that 99% of people on that mountain were in better shape than me. But, I trudged on. Starting at 9,000 feet, the air is sufficiently thin to make walking a chore. From 10,000 ft on, I counted forty steps, then 1-3 minutes rest. Another forty steps, break. Rinse and repeat, all the way to the summit.
At the end of each forty steps my heart was racing like I had just run a marathon. Altitude is crazy.
Some guys sliding down that slope. It's called glissading and it is MUCH faster than walking down. What took me 2-1/2 hours to get up, took me 15 minutes to glissade down.
Some more views up the steep pitch:
Some views down the slope:
Finally at the south summit! The main summit is in sight. So is Mt. Saint Helens.
View up to the main summit:
Almost there:
The path leading up from the south summit:
Finally! The summit! There is an 80 year old shack on the summit.
Views are of Mt. Hood, Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Goat Rocks.
And myself, of course.
A freaking bird on the summit!
Getting ready to slide down 2,000 vertical feet from the south summit:
That's all I got. Awesome trip.
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