9/6/2010 Posting

I just got back from a wonderful weekend spent on a backpacking trip with friends up into the Goat Rocks Wilderness. We spent two glorious days exploring Snowgrass Flats, Goat Rocks, and a high section of the Pacific Crest Trail. Despite a rainy forecast, we enjoyed amazing views of Mts Rainier, St Helens, and Adams on several day trips from our campsite below Goat Lake.

The highlight of the trip was a day hike up the Pacific Crest Trail to the shoulder of Old Snowy Mountain. A couple of us scrambled up the block summit of Old Snowy and saw some amazing views of Mts. Rainier, St Helens, and Adams along with Mt Stuart in the Enchantments. We then enjoyed a ramble down the other side of the pass on a narrow rock ridge to a view of Packwood Lake and dreams of hiking farther up the trail on a true knife-edge ridge. But save that for another day.

It was very cold last night, right around freezing in fact, and woke up this morning to windy, cloudy, and very cold weather. So we packed up quickly and headed back down to the trailhead. We were amazed when it started snowing on us at Snowgrass Flats. The first signs of fall, I guess. Summer always seems to go so quickly.

While on my backpack trip, I was reminded of the advantage of being prepared for unplanned events in the backcountry. This means that it’s a good idea to bring along items which may not necessarily be used on any given trip, but which would come in handy if you had them. For example, despite having had my Yaktraks attached to my backpack for most of the summer, I declined to bring them along on this backpack trip as I didn’t think we would encounter any snow. Well wouldn’t you know, we did encounter snow when we were high up on the PCT. There was an icy snowfield with a long runout that we had to cross to get up to Old Snowy. Those yaktraks (which weight maybe a couple of ounces) sure would’ve come in handy. I also looked at some chemical handwarmers in my daypack and decided they didn’t need to come along too. Did I mention that it got down to freezing on our last night out and was snowing on our hike out? Those handwarmers sure would’ve felt nice this morning. There was also the extra pair of long underwear I didn’t bring along…

Do you get the idea that I wasn’t thinking it would be that cold? That’s kind of a silly assumption given the fact that it’s been a bit chilly on my hikes these last few weekends. Even if it had been warmer and I hadn’t needed them, it still would’ve been easy to bring them along and to be prepared for the unplanned event. Keep that in mind as you pack for your all of your adventures, regardless of season.

Graduation Party:

Hold the date of Saturday, October 2^nd on your calendar. The evening will be spent celebrating your graduation from the 2010 season of CHS. You will receive an invitation soon with more details. Remember that in order to be recognized as a graduate, you must have also completed your trail maintenance requirement. If you have not completed your trail maintenance requirement you can schedule an outing on a non-CHS trail maintenance trip with either WTA or some of the other outdoor organizations. Once you have completed your trail maintenance requirement, please email me to let me know what date you did it on

September Hike Signup:

September hikes are available for signup for more than two hikes. Hikes with space still available:

CHS1:

9/11/10—W Cady Ridge/Benchmark Mt, Kim Westerhof & Jennie Douglas (16 miles, 3300 ft gain)

9/18/10—Deer Lake/Bogachiel Peak, Barry Kellems (16 miles, 3450 ft gain)

9/25/10—Cathedral Rock/Deception Pass Loop, Jan Davis (14 miles, 2300 ft gain)

CHS2:

9/17/10—Copper Mountain, Sue Shih (20 miles, 6000 ft gain).

9/18/10—Pacific Crest Trail from Snoqualmie Pass South, Bill Scheket (20 miles, 3000+ ft gain)

9/25/10—Mt David, Mark Harniss (16 miles, 5000 ft gain)

CHS Pictures:

If you took any pictures on your hike this weekend, please be sure to forward them to chshiker2008@gmail.com to post them on the picture site for everyone to view. You can access the picture site through the CHS Web Site or directly by going to http://picasaweb.google.com/hiker.chs. The last date to submit pictures for inclusion on the graduation DVD that we hand out to all graduates is Sept 26^th.