Hiking, Mountaineering, and Climbing in the Eastern Cascades, Washington State
Jim and I were looking for a fun trip with Kevin and Lisa. Plan A was the Olympic Mountains but when the weather went bad, we headed east. Though the forecast was for smoke, we only had it on our hike in and it never got that bad. We had views the entire hike in.…
Jim and I had been planning to climb Spider Mountain last weekend. But when the weather turned bad, we headed east. Sherpa Peak has been on my list every since I climbed Mount Stuart and here we had 3-days. Just what we wanted. Jim had already climbed Sherpa but it was 38 years ago so…
Jim and I were able to squeak in one more summit before the weather turned bad last week. We were joined by Lisa and Kevin Loper and their friend, Doug. We all agreed our best chance of staying out of the bad weather was to go east and climb Reynolds Peak. The most common route…
Last weekend, Jim and I headed out on a trip up North Gardner. I missed North Gardner last year when I got sick and had to head home. Jim was eager to repeat North Gardner since he climbed it over 10 years ago in a frigid, gale force wind which even left him too cold…
Last weekend, we kicked off the climbing season with a 4-day trip into the Pasayten Wilderness near Winthrop. Jim and I were joined by Kevin and Lisa Loper, Kevin K, Tony, and two new comers in Steven and Colin, friends of Kevin K from Bremerton. The eight of us were set to climb Robinson Mountain…
After injuring my back in early January and spending most of the winter rehabilitating it, Jim and I felt a good first trip would be the Lakeshore Trail on Lake Chelan. We joined Kevin and Maria’s annual trip starting at Field’s Point where we would catch The Lady of The Lake. The boat dropped us…
It was time once again to go in search of the Golden Alpine Larch tree. This is a coniferous tree that losses it’s needles in the fall. The elusive alpine larch grows at high elevations, on the east side of the Cascades. They like wet, shady areas and can tolerate high winds. These trees can…
After spending years admiring the Gardners from Sun Mountain Lodge, I was finally heading up valley on a 3 day climbing trip with Fay, Deb, Steve, and Sandra. We were two groups. Deb, Steve, and Sandra headed up valley in the morning. Fay and I followed a few hours later. The trail was in pretty good shape though…