I shan't bore you with the gory details of the work crisis that began late the evening after this adventure. Suffice to say it consumed my every waking minute for almost a month before I was able to take a full day off for another significant adventure. But let's focus here.
I had hoped to do some off-trail navigation in the snow, but it turned out the recent meteorological storm had left the roads to my intended trailhead in a state that could charitably be described as "death defying" and more accurately as "don't be a dumbass." Since I'm trying to be less the fool I opted for a more sensible adventure. At least as far as the drive.
The snow started at the trailhead, but the trail was easy to follow for a ways. Where others had headed up to the peak, I continued on because my goal was 800 feet below the peak at a couple of darling little lakes. What's special about these barely-more-than-tarns? Nothing. I mean, they're pretty, but that's about it. However, I hadn't been there in quite a while so I figured this would be a good day to visit.
Apparently, nobody else thought the way I did because I had to break trail the whole way down. That might sound bad, but at least I wasn't breaking trail the whole way up. Sure, I'd have to climb back up, but it'd be easier after I'd cut a track.
Probably the reason nobody had gone this way is because it is a pretty steep descent. Down down down. There was two feet of fresh snow, but it was dry and easy to push through. More down. More snow. At the lakes, we relaxed for a few. The lakes were frozen and apart from the wind the only movement was the odd roller coming off the cliffs on the far side.
Now, back up. Yeah. That's definitely the reason nobody else had gone down to the lakes. Going back up is a pain. Apparently not too much of a pain, though, because when I got back to the broken trail I opted to continue up to the peak. Why? WHY NOT? There wouldn't be more days when I could get up here so easily until early summer when the snow melted out so getting the goods seemed the best option.
The views were great. Tahoma was sheathed in clouds, but there were just enough tears in her veil to make out her silhouette. It's such a pretty mountain.
From the summit, the down was welcomed. I ran into some other people that had braved the roads to get this high. Everyone marveled at the good snow. Even a family looking for a place to sled, though they didn't really have it in them to get high enough to get to the best slopes.
I got home and cleaned up, loaded Clara into the car to take her back to school, and then work called...
📍On the lands of the Wenatchi people.
