When the snows have melted some, but not all, we like to go for walks in the mountains. Who am I kidding? We always like to go for walks in the mountains, but especially when the spring (or summer) snow makes travel easier over rough terrain.
This time, we started under cloudy skies. Thick, gnarly clouds that hid the blue skies above. But the weatherman... er... person... er... app indicated these clouds were low and maybe we'd get above them. Sure. Why not? It was the weekend. What else were we going to do except adventure? We were way too close to a holiday to risk working in the yard. So we climbed one of the worst trails in the area through brush saturated by the thick mist casting a pall over the entire adventure. By the time we got to the waterfall we could see a tint of blue when looking straight up. By the time we got to the valley we were in the clear.
This route is one of my favorites. When there's snow, you can walk right up the valley. The only complication is the creek flowing underneath. Best stay to climber's left to be safe. At the end of the valley, we usually gain the ridge and circle the basin to the summit. But usually, the boy isn't with me. In fact, this was his first time. He had a crazy idea. "Why don't we just go up that way?"
Well, duh. That's a crazy way. It's... uh... huh. When there's no snow, it's impassable. But right now... sure. Why not? Let's go. At first it was steep. Then it was Steep. Finally, it was STEEP. Lo and behold, it did go. The only downside was missing the views north off the ridge. We now call this the "Three Hat Gully" and we'll likely use it whenever there's sufficient snow.
Once we exited the gully, we navigated berry patches that weren't quite ripe and a mini scramble to get to the top. We did our SCIENCE! and took pictures of me sporting sweet new Stio gear. Truly some of the best I've been asked to try. (If you want to give it a shot, use code MOOSEFISH for 15% off.)
Of course, one of the best parts about going up in the snow is coming down in the snow. For us: glissading! As usual, going down was WAY quicker than going up. The snow was hard enough to support us, but soft enough to make the sliding pleasant. All too soon we were below the snow line and we had to <gasp> walk. Worse, we were walking back into the clouds.
Still beat working in the yard. (Sorry, Mrs. Moosefish.)
📍 On the lands of the Wenatchee people.
