a few days in the hills

I don’t really feel the need anymore to embark on 10-day long backpacking jaunts – its almost always miserable*.  Eating gruel for days on end, dodging hungry bears, drinking spotty water, carrying 1/3 of my body weight on my back, sleeping on ice sheets, tending to unspeakably painful blisters.  I did that for years.  These days I get the same battery-charge out of spending two nights in the backcountry.  Don’t get me wrong, I am always up for a good challenge – but I can do without the joys that multiple days of such challenges heap on to a “vacation”.

It’s been a while since I've been in the hills, so a short trip up-slope seemed like it was in order.  My buddy Aaren flew in to Seattle on a beautiful Pacific Northwest morning; I picked him up, we had a leisurely lunch, and then we piled in the car for the three hour drive to a trail that I’ve been wanting to visit for ages.  Our destination: Spider Meadows.

The trip did not disappoint. We hit the trail at 5pm on Saturday and returned to the car at 10am Monday, logging 30+ miles in the high backcountry of Washington’s Cascade Range.  I’d spent lots of time traversing the Olympic Mountains, and I’d climbed a few volcanoes around here – but I had never gotten deep into the heart of the Cascades.  

What a treat.  The area was all it was cracked up to be, and more.  It was bigger, wilder, and more jaw-droppingly beautiful than I had imagined.  Below are some pictures from our overland journey into some of the state’s most pristine country.

*I hereby reserve the right to continue doing miserable 10-day trips if I so choose

 John and Aaren at the trailhead parking lot - with about 10,000 cars

The famed Spider Meadows

Even though there were a bajillion people in the lower meadow, we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves

The giant red mountain above our camp - aptly called Red Mountain

Going up through Spider Gap on Spider Glacier

The pink algae that forms in the late summer snows

View north from the pass - stunning!

Hoary Marmot!!

Aaren in the ice bunker

The prettiest picture I took

Some far away mountainy place

Johnny Meyer in the backcountry

That's a 30ft glacial ice wall coming into the lake

Aaren on the red red rocks

Back up over the Pass we go...

Aaren on top of the world!

A perfect example of a glacially-carved valley

A nearly full moon rising over the valley