The morning of the third day of our Glacier Peak backpack arrived much like the evening had departed: dark, grey and lightly raining. The idea that the Pacific Northwest had so far received nearly four months of unending heat, sun, and dryness seemed somewhat lost on us this morning. What a foul stroke of timing we'd had with the weather on this trip!
Gloom
The day before, we had slept in when the rain did not stop, because we had held out hope that perhaps it would clear up and we could get on with our climb. Today, there was no such hope - only a desire to get back to the car and dry ourselves out as soon as possible. To that end, there was no sleeping in - we got up at 5 a.m. and were packed and ready to roll by 6:30.
The first part of the hike back again required a bit of routefinding - thick cloud made dead reckoning a bit difficult, and more than a few times we had to consult the GPS to maintain the proper course. Once back on the faint climber's path, though, we were able to pick up the pace a bit.
Traversing foam crk drainage
Our pace picked up even more once we hit the Foam Creek trail (although we did stop for about half an hour at a small side trickle to filter water). We were glad to arrive at White Pass, for we knew that from this point on, we had a wide, first-class, almost entirely flat or downhill trail all the way back to the car. The weather had remained remarkably constant up to this point - constant cloud and rain, that is. In a way, I was happy about that. I would have been far more annoyed if - now that our opportunity to climb Glacier Peak had passed - the weather had suddenly turned clear and stunning.
Moist Morning at Foam Creek
From White Pass, things proceeded quickly. A few minutes along the PCT and we encountered the top end of trail #649. This we branched on to, following the beautiful and easy high-level glide down to the trail's top switchback (definition, glide: the effort and pace that results when a trail goes downhill at just the precise angle such that no propulsive effort is needed and at the same time does not require muscular back-pressure).
courtesy BConnell
Fireweed against the mist
Upon reaching the switchbacks, trail #649 got steeper. "the glide" was no longer possible, but the excellent construction and good footing meant that it was still a pretty sweet and easy descent. We quickly lost elevation, and seemingly in no time, we were approaching the Mackinaw Shelter and the bottom of the switchbacks. The clouds above started to break up at this point, and there were even a few periods of warm sun by the time we arrived at the shelter. We gladly ditched our damp outerwear.
courtesy AHyndman
The last five miles (8km) from the shelter to the car was a simple exercise in trudgery - albeit on a nice trail and through beautiful old-growth forest. However, after three days of mostly rain and carrying heavy packs and negotiating rough terrain, we were feeling a bit sore and worn-out, so the trudge moniker is appropriate. Nevertheless, we managed a very good pace, and two and a half hours later, we arrived back at the North Fork Sauk trailhead, at a very respectable 2:30pm.
Back to beautiful flat trail
It felt great to put the heavy pack down, ditch the heavy mountaineering boots, get out of wet clothes. We carefully packed everything into Rosty's 4-runner, taking special care to put the smelliest items in plastic bags, then settled in for a relaxing combustion-engined, suspensioned vehicle ride back to civilization.
Interactive trackmap with photo points - Glacier Peak South Route Day 3 - click map to view
Glacier Peak South Route Day 3 (failed to summit) - Climb Data
Start Time:
6:28a.m.
End Time:
2:27p.m.
Duration:
7h58m
Distance:
20.01 km
(12.44 mi)
Average Speed:
2.5 km/hr
(1.6 mph)
Start Elevation:
6426ft
(1959m)
*
Max Elevation:
6607ft
(2014m)
*
Min Elevation:
2140ft
(652m)
*
End Elevation:
2140ft
(652m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Total Elevation Gain:
626ft
(191m)
*
Total Elevation Loss:
4900ft
(1494m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Elevation Graph
We learned from Rosty - on several different occasions - that any outdoor adventure was completely worthless if it wasn't followed by some superb culinary event. In order to ensure the worthiness of our trip, then, Rosty brought us to a very nice gourmet burger place in Seattle known as '
Uneeda Burger'. I had the signature #2 (caramelized onions, watercress and blue cheese). After having it, I thought "oh yeah, our trip was decent, wasn't it?". So, maybe Rosty is on to something. Still woulda been nice to summit something, though...
After our satisfying dinner, Rosty drove us to his home and we spent the evening reorganizing our stuff for the next phase of our trip out west. After three days of damp weather, mostly everything was wet and dirty. However, now (but of course!) the rainy weather had cleared away and it was warm sunshine and blue skies over Seattle - good drying conditions. In the end, I pretty much laid out every single thing I had to dry out.
As I wrap this one up, I'd like to thank Rosty for his very generous hosting of us during our time in Washington State: picking us up at the airport, staying at his house, driving us around in his 4-runner - and, of course, being a good member of the team. And for the good coffee. And Uneeda Burger. And anything else I've forgotten. Thanks a bunch!
This wasn't the end of our time on the West Coast. After our adventuring with Rosty, the rest of us were booked on a ferry the next morning to bring us from Seattle to Vancouver Island, where we'd meet up with Jenn and start a two-week adventure exploring the biggest island in the North Pacific, from tip-to-tip and side-to-side, on both water and land. If you have a lot of time on your hands, and you want to read all about it,
click here.
