#summitswagger

We had originally planned to climb Norikura-dake, one of the tallest peaks in Japan. As we approached the trailhead, we were stopped by a bicycle race. The road beyond Norikura Kanko Tourist Center was closed to both cars and busses. We were a long way from Utsunomiya, and even further from California, so I was frustrated to say the least. I perused the map and researched alternate objectives on the fly. I needed to chose a hike short enough such that we could do it with a late start while carrying our child, at least part of the way. I selected Utsukushigahara Highlands, as it was on the way to Saku, which had a Shinkansen station. Our dear friend Jon would join us for the hike then take the train back to Tokyo later that day.

We had already driven quite a bit that morning, and now we had to drive even further, but after a long windy ride we made it to the Utsukushigahara Nagawa Municipal Parking Lot. It was wet outside from a recent rain and the entire area was shrouded in clouds. There was a visitor shop at the end of the paved road and a dirt road continuing beyond towards the summit plateau. Today's "peak" is referred to as a highland, and while it was not striking in a traditional mountain sense, it did have almost two thousand feet to topographic prominence. Situated between several major mountain ranges, I now wonder how the views would have been from the top, considering we were socked in all day.

The dirt road took us through ranchlands. A wooden fence on each side barred us from the ponies and cattle, or rather them from us. It was a little mysterious and often I would find myself having to guess what the large animal was through the pea soup. 

The walk vaguely reminded me of hiking through the Diablo Range in California; grasslands, cattle and rolling hills.

The dirt road made for easy walking. We let Leif walk at first, but eventually his lack of urgency had us put him in the carrier. The summit area was covered with a large building called Ougatou, which translates to King's Head Hotel. Behind the building was a large radio facility and several shrines.

We walked around until finding the summit rock and a benchmark. From car to summit it was only 2 miles with about 300 vertical feet gain.

We stepped into Ougatou to get out of the weather. We ate beef curry and coffee jelly with soft cream inside the luxurious summit shelter. The curry was so good that I ended up eating two servings.

I could have sat there all afternoon, but we all wanted to get home that night. Rather than retracing our steps back down the bland dirt road, I picked up a trail system that circled around the southern part of the ranch.

The trail dropped down a couple switchbacks then contoured alongside the highland.

I left the trail briefly to investigate a rocky cliff that seemed a little out of place in the gentle rolling hills.

Leif wanted to walk again, so I let him do so for a while, but eventually I picked him up again because we needed to cover distance faster.

The trail reconnected with the dirt road. It was a longer, but slightly more aesthetic hiking route. We stopped for a short time for Leif to feed the pony.

The clouds began to clear as we reached the trailhead. We looked around the shop then began our trip back home. This wasn't the most spectacular hike, but it was good for our two year old.

Work had me flying up to Hillsboro, Oregon multiple times amonth. This gave me a good opportunity to explore the Pacific Northwest. I wasinitially interested in climbing Mt Saint Helens and Mt Hood, which are both visible for Portland. Mt Saint Helens has a strict permit quota, and didn’t have openings until late October. Mt Hood is a highly glaciated volcano, and since it was late in the summer, I expected the glaciers to have many open crevasses. I then started looking into Mt Adams, which receives a lot less attention even though it is taller than both Mt Hood and Mt Saint Helens. I looked into the South Spur route, which could be done late in the year. I periodically checked the webcams and weather and chose the first week of October to attempt the climb.

Day 1:

I flew out the morning of October 3rd, purposely choosing the right side of the plane so I could study the cascades from above. After passing Mt Lassen, we were shortly looking down on Mt Shasta.

I passed several other Cascade Peaks on the way, including South Sister, Mt Jefferson and Mt Hood. After a short flight, I landed at PDX, got my rental car and headed east in the direction of Mt Hood.

I followed the Columbia River Gorge listening to the NLCS featuring the Giants and Nationals. The further I got from Portland, the weaker the signal became. I reached the town of Hood River and filled up on groceries and supplies. I then continued north across the Columbia River.

Being a huge Giants fan, I listened closely to the radio, but the signal started to go in and out. I couldn’t wait in town to listen because it was getting dark soon, so I continued driving hoping the signal would last. The Giants were down 1 in the 9th inning when I lost the signal. I also lost phone reception so I had no way of knowing what would happen next. I went for about 15 minutes without signal, and after driving over a small hump in the road, I got just enough signal to make out Jon Miller. I stopped on top of the hump, and shortly after Buster Posey came through with a game tying RBI. At the end of the inning, I continued towards the Trout Lake Ranger Station in utter excitement while I picked up my volcano pass.

I arrived at the ranger station, but was a little confused on how to register for the hike. I did my best and had dinner at a gas station a half mile away. There was a café that served American food, so I got a burger and charged my phone. I had a little bit of service so I was able to follow the game while I ate. The menu was a picture of the café with Mt Adams in the background.

I finished my burger and left The Station with the game tied in extra innings. I decided to camp rather than stay at a hotel because it was cheaper and the site was right at the trailhead. I followed the road to Cold Springs Campground with the sun setting. As I drove down the road, birds kept flying out of the bushes in front of my car and I accidentally hit one. The paved road then changed to a dirt road with potholes, making my approach to the campground very slow. When I arrived at the trailhead it was already dark. I found a spot and set up my tent in front of my car headlights. I spent the next hour prepping for the hike. I could see the occasional eye shine walking behind my site, which was most likely either elk or deer. With everything set, I climbed into the tent and went to sleep.

Day 2:

The alarm went off the next morning and I got ready inside my sleeping bag. I ate breakfast, drank a bunch of water and grabbed my already packed bag. The trailhead was well marked and easy to find, so I ventured off by myself into the night.

I was expecting to see many others leaving at the same time, but at four in the morning I was all alone. I tried to put myself in a brave mental state. While I had hiked in pitch black many times and hiked by myself many times, I never hiked by myself in the middle of the night. I tried to focus on the route and not let any negative thoughts fill my head, holding my ice axe in my hand just in case I needed to defend myself.

The trail was gradual and really easy to follow. I followed the light from my headlamp constantly checking behind me in a paranoid manner. After about a mile of hiking I noticed eye shine staring at me. I stopped in my tracks and tried to figure out what animal I was looking at. We were in a stand off for a few minutes, and the figure held its position. I yelled at it, and after no response, I realized it was a tent. I had arrived at Timber Campground, and I was probably disturbing a sleeping camper.

Shortly after I passed the tent, I reached the trail junction with Round the Mountain Trail. I continued north hoping I would reach the tree line soon. Shortly after, I saw a light in the distance. Eager to not hike by myself anymore, I made an effort to catch up with the unknown climber. The trail got narrower and became somewhat more difficult to follow once I reached Morrison Creek. I could still see the light of the climber above and used him to point me in the general direction. I kept my eye out for cairns which took me across the creek.  I felt I was falling behind, but I eventually stumbled upon the other hiker at a flat break in the trail. He asked me if I knew were to go, and I told him I was from out of state and had never been in the area. He also was from out of state, so he investigated the ridge towards the left while I investigated further north below the Crescent Glacier. I didn’t find any semblance of a trail, and after about ten minutes of searching, the other hiker hollered down saying he found what he thought was the trail. Rather than backtrack, I straight lined up the steep ridge and reunited with the trail. I was glad to find another hiker, but at this point I was already out of the spooky forest and the sun had begun to rise in the east. 

As we climbed up and over lava flows, I got to know the fellow climber. He was from Boise, Idaho and was attempting to meet up with his group who were camping at the Lunch Counter. He felt sick the day before, which was why he was starting a day late. As we came upon Crescent Glacier, he decided to circumvent the river of ice, while I decided to cut directly across it to Suksdorf Ridge. 

I didn’t feel like putting on my crampons yet, so I was careful taking short steps on the slick ice. Looking back towards the south was Mt Hood. 

I angled my way to the base of the next snowfield above the Lunch Counter, where I intended to put on my crampons and climb straight up.

I arrived at the Lunch Counter above the Crescent Glacier and there was a confluence of other hikers. To the west was Mt Saint Helens and to the south was Mt Hood.

I continued up the volcanic ridgeline hoping to outpace the other climbers on this section.

I got to the base of the snowfield and put on my crampons. While adjusting the straps, I noticed Mt Jefferson behind Mt Hood.

I gradually made my way up the snowfield with the other climbers right behind me.

The incline got steeper as I climbed higher, but the route was always manageable.

From the top of the steep section, I could see the end of the snowfield, as well as Piker’s Peak which is the notorious false summit.

From the snowfield there was still a decent amount of scrambling to reach the top of Piker’s Peak.

I rested at the top of the boulder field where the trail passed just beneath Piker’s Peak. There I had a few snacks and met some other climbers that were climbing up. One climber even had the audacity to smoke marijuana in front of everyone, and then I remembered that this was legal in Washington State.

I went off the trail to reach the true summit of Piker’s Peak which ended up having very little prominence. The highpoint was hard to pick out with a thick layer of snow coating the top. You could clearly see Mt Hood to the south.

To the east was the Yakima Wilderness Area.

Due north was the summit of Mt Adams.

I made my way towards the saddle and ended up slipping a few times on the ice. I had already taken my crampons off, so I didn’t want to put them back on again.

After zigzagging my way up the ice, I finally made it to the dirt section. This section was very steep and loose but there was a clear trail straight up. As I closed in on the summit, the route switched back to snow.

I was starting to really slow down at this point, but there was no way I was going to turn around. With my body hurting, I finally made it to the summit hut.

Far below and to the west was Mt Saint Helens.

To the north was Mt Rainier, the tallest peak in the Cascade Range and in the state of Washington.

I noticed that the highest point was about 50 yards away from the hut, so I marched over and took a summit selfie.

I made my way back to the hut where a group of climbers were forming.

Once back at the hut, I had another climber take a picture of me with Mt Hood in the background to the south.

I was feeling pretty weak on the summit and I forgot to take my usual video. I shielded myself from the wind by sitting next to the hut and had lunch. There was a small drip coming from ice melting off the roof, so I placed my empty water bottle beneath the drip and collected some extra water. After eating, drinking, resting and still not feeling any better, I decided it best thing to do was descend.

Rather than hike back down the steep trail which I came up, I decided to glissade down a steep ice chute and cross over the saddle from Mt Adams to Piker’s Peak.

From the bottom of the chute, I was able to successfully angle my way back towards the trail on Piker’s Peak.

While crossing the ice a runner in short shorts and a t-shirt came running towards me. He was a skinny middle aged man and was wearing nothing but tennis shoes. As he approached, I told him that it was much colder on the summit and it was getting late. Without breaking stride he said he would be fine and kept on jogging, not even slipping once as he crossed the ice.

Once back on the trail, I said my goodbyes to the summit, and wondered what kind of maniac would ascend the last portion in shorts with a 6 inch inseam.

As the day moved along, clouds started to form around me and Mt Hood.

I down climbed from the top of the ice chute, and from there I glissaded down. I did a combination of sitting and standing glissading, but neither was very effective. I was having trouble with the iciness of the glacier, and felt a little sketched out at times. While precariously sliding down, I met several other climbers that I decided to team up with. I followed them down to the lunch counter and they invited me to Double Mountain Brewery. I told them I would join, and continued on my own to the Crescent Glacier as they stopped to break camp and put their packs together.

I walked down Crescent Glacier and as the grade became steeper I transitioned over to the rocks. I tired to intercept the trail and ended up taking a use trail in the wrong direction. I was off track in the middle of volcanic rocks, so I slowly made my way back towards the Crescent Glacier.

I eventually found the trail which was a relief. I lost a lot of time on my detour and the group I left at the Lunch Counter caught up to me. This was the first time I was able to see my surroundings on this part of the trail. Back behind me was the end of Crescent Glacier.

From here it was just a few miles back to the car.

Once I passed the creek the trail became very gradual which was a huge break for my knees.

I reached the car and just threw everything in the back. Once I got cell phone service, I learned the Giants ended up winning late in extra innings to cap a great trip.  My first stop was Double Mountain Brewery where I met the other climbers. I then headed to Portland where I had several successful work meetings the next day.