Newton Canyon (Hood)

Discussions and Trip Reports for off-trail adventures and rediscovering lost trails
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Chip Down
Posts: 3037
Joined: November 8th, 2014, 8:41 pm

Newton Canyon (Hood)

Post by Chip Down » September 24th, 2017, 8:01 pm

My last 4 hikes have started at Timberline Lodge, due to heat and my obsessive nature. Saturday, following the freak late-summer snowfall, I set off from Elk Meadow to take another stab at a Nov 2015 failure: follow Newton Canyon up as far as possible. I failed on that first attempt because everything was iced over, and I was poorly equipped. I wasn't going to make that mistake again. I set off with crampons, axe, and rope. Never used crampons or rope, and the axe was good to have but not essential.

When I hit the Timberline trail (junction with Newton Creek Trail), I knew it would be smart to go slightly towards Meadows and then take a high traverse offtrail, parallel to Newton Creek. Once I got to my earlier failure point, I could then decide to stay high, or drop to the creek. Stayed high, and glad I did. As the creek took a sharp turn through a steep narrow notch, I discovered the creekbed was no longer broad and easy to navigate. It remained narrow/steep upstream from the notch, and there was even old snow to navigate (icy old snow with a foot of fresh snow on top). I was shocked; this wasn't at all how I imagined it. I continued my traverse upstream past that difficulty, but struggled to find a safe place where I could drop to the creek, cross, and ascend the other side. I ended up ascending parallel to the creek all the way up to its head, where it emerged from old snow. Here, it was easy to drop and cross at 6430'(curiously, right about where Google Maps shows the head of the creek).

Although I had crossed the creek higher than I wanted to, I was satisfied with attaining the portal (probably perennial snow, almost certainly not glacial). Now what? So many exploration opportunities.

Decided to ascend to Lamberson/Gnarl and see if I could pick up the trail. If not (i.e. if buried) I could find my own way down. But along the way I discovered another creek in an intermediate canyon, and it was flowing through a series of ice tunnels/caves. I had to investigate that.

By the time that turned into nothing but solid ice, I heard falling water. Looked around, spotted the waterfall up to my left (when facing summit). It was out of my way, but when will I be back in Newton Canyon? Likely never, so scrapped my Lamberson/Gnarl plans and headed up to the falls. Great scenery, although the falls disappointed.

From falls, climbed up to a blocky prominence via a sketchy couloir. At the top, I looked around, recognized a few features, and realized I was way higher than I had thought. For example, I looked over at Tie In Rock on Cooper Spur, which should have been much higher, and not even visible from where I thought I was.

For the first time all day, I checked the time. That's not like me, but I deliberately wanted to be oblivious. It was getting late though, and I checked the time stamps on my photos, determining that I had to travel at twice my ascent speed if I was to reach the trail by sunset. This was especially risky because I was going to loop down on a different descent route. Glissading was out of the question. Even quick plunge stepping was risky. I had to take it slow and easy. Mostly it was knee deep, but sometimes up to hips, and once or twice I fell through all the way to my chest. Spooky.

Along the way, I came to my senses and decided to hook up with my ascent route. Good thing I did; I arrived at the trail at sunset. If I'd been an hour later, I think I might have been able to pull it off, but I certainly didn't leave myself much margin. If I'd been an hour earlier, I might have ascended south to the Newton/Clark moraine* and followed it down to the trail.

On the trail hike down, below snowline, I decided to do something new just for fun: how far can I go without headlamp? Made it 64 minutes past sunset (in the forest, with partial cloudcover). Not bad. Gave up around the spot where the trail skirts an undercut washout. Yikes.

Weather was sublime all day. A bit nippy at times, but never windy. At the warmest time of day, it was just about perfect, never uncomfortable.

*A surreal observation I'd like to share: High in Newton Canyon, the Newton Clark moraine dominates the view to the south. At its top is N/C Prow, and at its bottom is the point where the Newton Creekbed abruptly narrows and curves. But wait, that can't be right. Timberline trail crosses the NC Moraine, down low, where it gets forested. How could I reconcile this? The only thing that made sense is that there must be a subtle spur from the main moraine down to the Newton Creekbed. Sure enough, on the map it's quite evident, even though when you're down in the canyon it all appears as one neat tidy continuous ridgecrest.
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Nothing to say about this, I just thought it looked nice.
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The source of Newton Creek. Notice the old dirty scalloped snow under the blanket of fresh snow.
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Looking downstream from the head of Newton Creek.
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Looking down on Newton Creek, snaking its way up from lower left. From this pic, you might think it was a lot of work to drop into that canyon from the other side and ascend to here, but it wasn't that bad.
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North fork, Newton Creek.
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I wanted to go in there so bad, but safety/cowardice won out.
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My final goal of the day. Took a couloir to the left, and descended much-easier slopes to the right.
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Half way up the couloir.
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Almost to the top.
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Chip Down
Posts: 3037
Joined: November 8th, 2014, 8:41 pm

Re: Newton Canyon (Hood)

Post by Chip Down » September 24th, 2017, 8:04 pm

reward
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20170923_171345.jpg

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mjirving
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Joined: July 5th, 2011, 10:40 am

Re: Newton Canyon (Hood)

Post by mjirving » September 24th, 2017, 9:11 pm

Nice work...so fascinating.

Mike

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retired jerry
Posts: 14396
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: Newton Canyon (Hood)

Post by retired jerry » September 25th, 2017, 5:57 am

nice, thanks

lots of area to explore above Timberline trail on that side of the mountain, I was just looking at that thinking about it but didn't have time...

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