Day 2 2184ft gain/2184ft Loss, 5 miles, 23,371 steps.
One of the best night’s sleep I’ve had yet in the backcountry! Sporting my newly aerated shirt, we quickly eat breakfast and gear up packs for our jaunt up to Gilbert Peak, but before that, pictures had to be taken. The lake is like glass and the pinkish sunrise glows off the Goat Rocks, and they reflect perfectly off the still water. What a way to start the day, with a view like that. Just southwest of the lake and our campsite is a good place to climb up the Klickton Divide and it appears we’re not the only ones that think so. I remember doing this back in 2012, and there were a few boot prints then, but now, even more, almost leaving a climbers path up to the top of the ridge. Once on the ridge, you could continue to follow the worn boot path through the dust and rocks.
“…sounds as if you’re walking on dinner plates…”
We follow this visible path as it winds its way up the ridge, through monolithic black stone, lonely Hoodoos that stand like sentinels along the ridge. After 1.4 miles of some steep rises, you come to a large wide flat bench, that closely resembles the surface of Mars, covered with a layer of broken shale, that when stepped on, sounds as if you’re walking on dinner plates that break and crunch under foot. We stop for a quick break at the cairn where there is a Nalgene bottle, used as a geocache. WE opened it, and took out the small notepad where everyone that had found the bottle had added their name to the list of people that had come before. To my surprise, there in the bottom of the bottle was the business card that I had put in there back in 2012. Everyone signed in, and we continued on.
As the flat runs out and we start up along the backside of Gilbert Peak, the view here is inspiring. You’re so close now; you can see the black rock pinnacles ringing the horned peak like a crown, standing proudly above the Meade Glacier, more like a huge permanent snowfield than glacier. Swirls of white clouds, wispy like long strands of hair, move silently in the turquoise blue sky above the horn, like banners waving…More pictures ensue…
Stowing cameras, we head around the west side of the peak, and there is now a well-established climber’s trail that leads to the summit. Picking our way carefully up through loose sand and rock, we reach the point about 100ft from the top where you are in a 4 point scramble up and over a rock ledge that has well established ledges like steps to help aid you up. When all 4 of us are safely above this, we continue the last bit over small boulders and rock to the obvious cleft in the black rock above that leads up to the summit on the left. Well, I should say this may not be the “true” summit, as the pinnacles to the right seem to be a bit higher, but they are well beyond our skill level to even attempt. Instead, we opt for this tip that has a flat on top to sit on.
“…The effort though is worth it, as you are rewarded with epic 360 degree views…”
The last 10 or 15 feet to the summit requires you to drop trekking poles and scramble with all 4 points of contact, and once on top there is a flat that is only about 6×8 feet, making it tough to get all 4 on top at once. The effort though is worth it, as you are rewarded with epic 360 degree views. Looking north, you can see Mt. Rainier, south Mt. Adams, and west, Mt. St. Helens. There is a haze in the air at distance, so I don’t attempt to get shots of Mt. St. Helens, but the rest of the tableau spread out before us makes all the energy expended to get here so worth it. You can follow the ridge north along the Goat Rocks, and see Ives Peak, Old Snowy and the Knifes edge of the PCT. And, looking straight down off the precipice we are now sitting on, you can see Cold Lake below the Conrad Glacier. We don’t spend much time looking over the edge, though, as its several hundred feet straight down, which leaves a little tingle in your gut…
After taking our hero pics from the top, we pick our way carefully down from the summit and retrace our route back down the ridgeline back to camp. Our feet are hot and sore, so it’s a welcome relief to shed the torture chambers on our feet, and soak our sore feet and bodies in the refreshing waters of Warm Lake.
Blair isn’t feeling well, hasn’t really felt well since yesterday, so he stays in camp and Kipp, Joe and I go for a quick dip. Kipp swims across the lake to a rock outcropping on the opposite side, but it seems too far for me to try, afraid I’ll tire before reaching the other side…I backstroke out to the middle, then start thinking, “Hey, I’m this close and I still feel good, I think I can make it!”
“…and I have to admit I felt pretty foolish…”
So I try…And, just as I feared, start running out of steam quickly…Apprehension starts to set in, and I go for the shortest route to the shore. I feel like I barely make it to where my feet can hit the bottom, but not before I tell Kipp to keep an eye on me, I was getting nervous that I wasn’t going to make it. He shouts at me that I should be close enough, so I put my feet down, and stand up in chest high water…What a relief! I go and stand on the shore with hands on knees, gasping for breath for several minutes, and I have to admit I felt pretty foolish…
Safely back at the shore by camp, we sit in the sun to dry off, and notice that the wind has crept back up. A little parlay and we decide probably the best thing to do is make this our camp for the second night as well. Our original plan was to pack camp after peak bagging, and go overland to Cold Lake for night two, but…After the summit, everyone just felt like staying again for another night.
Dinner tonight was the Beef Summer sausage with Parmesan noodles, with of course, mashed taters and Cheeto’s!
Blair didn’t join us, he still wasn’t feeling well, so we woofed his share…Sorry, Blair!
“…and the small, swirling dervish creates a funnel cloud of water about 6 feet tall…”
As night set in, the wind continued to get stronger and we prep for another campfire. Just as we start the fire, Joe and I see a big swirling wind hit the surface of the lake and start a mini white tornado!!! The swirling wind blowing like a dust devil starts picking water up off the lake and the small, swirling dervish creates a funnel cloud of water about 6 feet tall. This lasts for about 3 or 4 seconds before collapsing…Whoa! Never seen anything like that before, will this be a precursor for what to expect for this evening??
We’re sitting once again around the fire, hoping for the wind to die down so we can have another relaxing evening, but the wind had other ideas…
The fire had only been going about 10 minutes, until gust after gust kept blowing embers out of the ring. That made us nervous, and then one big gust blew an engulfed branch out if the fire, I remember leaping up as if the fire was lit under my butt, fully prepared to chase a burning stick before it reached the tree line. Well, after that, we decided the best thing to do was to douse the fire; last thing we wanted to do was start a forest fire…
We all had the collapsible Helinox chair, a great collapsible camp chair that only weighs about a pound to sit in…They are great, lightweight additions to bring into the back country, but they are not so great in gale force winds…Every time we got up, you would have to bring your chair with you, otherwise, the wind would pick it up like a kite, and sail it into the trees…
We endure the evening wind until dark, and then everyone heads off to bed.
Of course, that doesn’t mean the wind was gonna relent, oh no…I had to shake off my sleeping bag before climbing in, as it already had a fine layer of dust covering it and everything I owned, from the constant wind.
“…that just seemed like a lost cause, like trying to put on a tablecloth during a hurricane…”
Once in bed, all there was to do then was listen to the raging gusts outside. You could hear them coming seconds before they would hit, sounding like a freight train barreling down on us from the mountain tops. Then, like a pitcher winding up and letting go, a huge gust would come tearing in, doing its best to dislodge our tents from Terra Forma. On particularly strong gusts, the side of the tent would flex in, and I had to help hold up the side of the tent facing the gale, for I feared it would snap or at least dislodge the eyebrow pole, then I would have to get up and try to put things back together during this siege, and that just seemed like a lost cause, like trying to put on a tablecloth during a hurricane…Futile…
Since my tent was the vanguard, closest to the shores of the lake, the gust would hit me first, and I’d yell out something laced with profanity at times, or sheer surprise at the intensity of it, and through the ensuing roar, I’d hear the guys laughing at me and the whole situation.
Finally, after doing its best for a couple hours of trying to remove us from the lakeshore, the wind settled enough for us to drift off to sleep.
I had gotten up once during this tempest and just from the way the wind hit me, I would estimate 40 to 50 MPH gusts. While I was out of the tent, I looked up at cloudless night skies, so the stars were out shining brightly. It just seemed strange to be enduring this wind event under such clear skies…
Hey there! Do you happen to have a GIA GPS route for this up to the lake?
Hello, Bryce, I have a GPS route only, which is a .gpx file format, I’m sorry, but I am not familiar with the GAIA platform…I am assuming it will use the same format? If you can tell me what it uses as a file format, like the .gpx format, I can send it to you.