Nature doesn’t care about numbers and yet a simple thing like 2103ft can make one mountain a national symbol and another a little known side note. Last week, despite the ubiquitous clouds, the meadows at Paradise were jam packed with people but it was jam packed with flowers too! The bloom this summer has been amazing and with sunny skies in the forecast this weekend we went looking for an encore. It just seemed logical that we could find what we were looking for on Mt. Adams.
We had a hard time finding info about possible destinations; it appears that beyond the South Spur, Mt Adams is virtually ignored. The first thing that piqued our interest was the Adams Glacier – a ‘sexy’ looking icefall on the north side of the mountain. There was some debate over which approach to take – Divide Camp or Killen Creek – in the end we compromised and did both with the PCT and road biking completing the loop. It turned out to be a good choice as those seven miles packed in more purple than you would find in Prince’s mansion. Flowers were varied but the lupines dominated the entire route like the famed Viking’s defense of the 70s. Time constraints kept us from exploring the side trail up to High Camp but what we saw in this little day hike we will definitely return for a multi-day adventure in the future.
From the free forest service campground at Killen Creek we drove to Bird Creek Meadows on the Southeast side of Mt Adams. The road is rough but passable by regular cars (although it seems endless when your baby – unable to suck her thumb - protests the entire way). You need special permits to hike here but you need not have ‘reservations’ about this trail as the Yakima Nation does a great job managing the area. We were greeted near the parking area by a uniformed Yakima ranger where we filled out our permit and paid the $5 fee. He was very friendly and went out of his way to show us the map of the area. With this nifty map in hand we mulled over several options before deciding on a small loop that followed Bird Creek and a ridge with sweeping views of Mt. Adams. The flowers here were excellent, earning high marks for consistency, variety and range of colour. Oddly enough there were several picnic tables available, we didn’t pack a lunch but we were happy to sit in the shade and soak up the views of Mt. Hood where we would continue our volcano tour the next day.
For our first ever hike on Mt. Hood we started at the Timberline Lodge and hiked the PCT to Paradise Park. The experience was very different from our previous hikes as the meadows here are much drier and shade is hard to find on a hot summer day. We had brought along an umbrella to keep Kasey out of the sun but this meant hiking without the benefit of trekking poles. This made the hike a lot tougher as the trail dips in & out of a series of gullies until climaxing with 800ft deep Zigzag Canyon. Once past this chasm however the effort starts to pay off as the next series of gullies are filled with bright beautiful flowers. Though not as consistent as the meadows on our previous hikes these little streams packed the biggest photogenic punch. At last ups & downs finally gave way to the vast expanse of Paradise Park and we were rewarded to sprawling views of Mt Hood, Mt St Helens & Mt Jefferson.
We still had a long drive back to Canada but since we were returning home on a Tuesday we decided to make a little detour to Mt. Rainier National Park as well. Despite many visits to the park we still hadn’t seen ‘the mountain’ from Paradise and for once that was going to be a guarantee. What we didn’t expect to see was such a change to the meadow since it had been just eight days since our last visit. No longer were lupines the dominant flowers, however the blooming of several other species masked their decline. We topped off the day by doing the Burroughs Mountain loop again – our personal favourite in the park. Along the way we ran into a couple lugging their 10-month-old baby girl. We love volcanoes and we love our little girl – combining the two just seems logical.
For those of you who like numbers:
5 meadows over
4 days at
3 different volcanoes by
2 thoroughly exhausted parents and
1 well traveled baby.
Bad luck it seems comes in one of three forms. First there are things you can’t control like the only bridge to our home in Maple Ridge being closed due to an accident, which then results in a three-hour detour. Secondly there are bad choices that are not your fault like picking the wrong lane at the border, which results in another long delay. Lastly there are the choices that in hindsight you come to regret.
If you have ever wondered why there isn’t a ‘round the mountain’ trail on Mt. Baker one just needs to look down into the chasm created by the Demming Glacier and up at the Black Buttes, which make up the far wall to understand why. We followed the lip of this canyon down a ways until we finally gave up on finding the lake. On the traverse back we encountered the same gullies however this time they were far shallower but had near vertical walls, getting back to High Camp became tediously slow. Seeing the waterfalls pouring off the Demming Glacier was cool and discovering a small meadow that was still in bloom was neat however the ten buckets of sweat required didn’t seem justify it. Oh well on Sunday we were taking it easy.
This is where we made our big mistake – you see hiking along a ridge you go up & down a series of bumps – you see a small 30ft rise and you think if you just get to the top of that the views will improve. The problem here is that the views get WORSE the farther you go – and you find yourself three hours away from the vehicle facing yet another 30ft bump and the trail has dwindled down to that goat track. Actually there were two goat tracks in front of this 30ft band of rock – we chose the right fork which ascended a near vertical gully that required veggie belays. Two more modest bumps followed that and we reached the end unfortunately lava buttes on either side blocked off large parts of the mountain. Another ridge below us looked promising but you needed to cross a 20ft snowfield and we were not equipped with crampons. The view here was a little better that when we first crested the ridge but again was it really worth all that extra effort?
As documented earlier the drive back was a nightmare and we didn’t stumble in until 10pm. I think the experience of this past weekend has certainly tempered our desire for off trail exploration. All I know is this weekend we are going to focus on giving our feet a little TLC.
Maui 2005 - Adventures with Babysitting
The dictionary definition of adventure is “an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks” – what sort of parents would take their baby one of these?
This was a very different trip than the ones we have done in the past. Camping was out as the options were high winds (Kanaha) heavy rains (Wainapanapa) or freezing cold (Haleakala). Fortunately we knew of someone who owned a condo in Kihei and were able to secure affordable accommodation. Plus we were able to convince Karen’s brother to come along to share both the cost and the babysitting duties. However the first of many ‘unknown risks’ cropped up when her brother – a man who had managed to avoid romantic entanglements for 36 years suddenly met a woman – and in an instant we became a party of five.
The condo (Shores of Maui) was perfect for us; located near Charley Young & the Kama’ole beaches we had lots of good snorkeling and good boogie boarding plus fabulous sunsets every night. Kasey had no problems sleeping on the beach so we were able to hang out there the whole day.
On day three we decided to go on a mini-adventure driving through West Maui to do a little snorkeling and to see how the other half lived. Every island is slightly different and we soon discovered that Maui had a traffic problem and then when we finally reached Ka'anapali we found out they had a major parking problem too. Soon we were seven dollars lighter and we had three hours to snorkel around Black Rock before we had to rescue the rental car. We got to take the first shift in the water while Kasey was given a tour of the resort and Kahekili Beach. The snorkeling was good but not great as the ocean was a little stirred up and that clouded the water. As we were leaving the shore break got really nasty and soaked many of the affluent tourists sunning themselves on the beach. That was it for the ocean that day so we decided to take the long way around West Maui via an exciting/frightening little road.
After an easy day lazing at Maluka Beach, one of the many 'turtle towns' in South Maui we were ready to tackle to famed Road to Hana. A beautiful drive it's famous for it's fabulous waterfalls like the Three Bears & Wailua Falls. Our only complaint was that it took a long, long time to drive a mere 100 miles - twists, turns, traffic and often less than two full lanes. Another day of 'rest' hanging out at the local Kihei beaches then off on another adventure - Molokini.
A half-sunken volcanic crater Molokini boasts the clearest water in Maui and some of the coolest snorkeling. We took a tour and the combination of an open bar and no baby made it a really special outing. Like kids on recess we slid down the slide, made faces at the glass bottom of the boat and generally acted silly.
The next day the other half of our party had the car so they dropped us off on Oneloa Beach in West Maui while they went parasailing. The waves were too high for snorkeling but they were perfect for boogie boarding provided we could find a safe place away from all the rocks. After a little searching we found a spot and rode the best waves of our entire trip.
The next day was ours to use the car and we went on a hike of all things. Coming in just under four miles it wasn't really a hike but it still took three hours to get to the end because there was just so much to see. There were numerous waterfalls big & small but that was somewhat expected - the real treat were the Guava trees which filled the air with a heavenly scent. Another highlight was hiking past a massive banyan tree then through the dark tunnels of a bamboo forest - a one of a kind experience.
We went on another hike the next day but that wasn't intentional. The Ahihi-kina-u natural reserve is a protected area but it also has magnificent snorkeling that, thanks to a certain guidebook has attracted droves of visitors. The state has countered this by eliminating all the parking along the road and obscuring the access trail. We made the mistake of trying to reach a feature called the Fishbowl via a signed trail in the designated parking area over a mile away. That trail soon dissipates to nothing (as it shows in the guidebook) and we were on our own lugging a baby, a full-sized playpen and all kinds of other paraphernalia over the sharpest, nastiest terrain we have ever faced. We made it - the Fishbowl was magnificent and we took the easy 20-minute trail back to the road on the return.
As badly as Thursday started out Friday was worse. 'Black Friday' started with a move to the couch of Karen's brother's room. Then we went on an aborted trip to Palauea (White Rock) Beach. A recent earthquake in Japan had created a deadly shorebreak so all water activities were off limits. The beach itself was pretty but piles of garbage and bums sleeping nearby soon had us on the move. We decided to drive to the top of Haleakala instead despite the fact that the summit was shrouded in cloud. Our guidebook assuaged our fears by saying that the 10,023ft summit often rose above the clouds. Well this day it didn't and with zero visibility we didn't stay up there long. Since the waves were inordinately high anyway we thought it would be a good idea to check out the surfers Ho'okipa Beach. We were treated to quite a show although we were unable to capture much of it as our $1000 digital camera chose that moment to stop working. With no car the next day, we had only Sunday to do everything we still wanted to do in Maui.
It started with a debate between snorkeling at La Perouse Bay and making another attempt at Haleakala. In the end we decided to do both. Fortunately things worked out and we were treated to both excellent snorkeling and fabulous views from the summit of Haleakala.
So we had our adventure - Kasey survived and all is well that ends well. It was a lot of work, far more than we first imagined but in the end we can say: "We did it!" (Cue the Dora the explorer dance)
