St Helens: High traverse above Plains of Abraham
Posted: October 21st, 2018, 3:21 pm
Plan: hike from Ape Canyon across Plains of Abraham to Windy Pass, then up in search of random fun. Last July I went poking around the slopes above PoA and discovered a fun route to the crater rim, via what I came to identify as East Dome and Ape Glacier. I figured that success was a lucky fluke, but I was willing to roll the dice again.
I dropped my car alongside Rd-83 where it crosses Muddy River, and walked a quarter mile to the Ape Canyon trailhead, arriving exactly at 5:00, my desired start time. Off to an auspicious start. I hate that trail, but in the dark it doesn't matter, it's like any other trail.
At 6:45 I arrived at the Ape Canyon overlook (above the slot) as it was just barely getting light. Perfect timing. I had considered starting earlier, but I knew the east slopes of MSW would appear to be a homogeneous bleak slagheap in dim light, so I wanted sunrise to illuminate it, bringing out colors and textures that would enable me to evaluate some possible routes.
I'd forgotten how long it takes to get to Windy Pass. Took 90 minutes, but it's a nice walk. At the pass I encountered a goat. I had already seen several up on the east slopes as I passed through PoA, but this one was close. We stared at each other for several minutes. He won, as I had things to do, while all he had on his agenda was eating grass. I went down the trail just a bit to a nice viewpoint. Haven't been here in ages, had forgotten how nice it is.
Back at the pass, I went up a trail that one would assume to be unofficial, but there was a wooden post a ways upslope, of the sort used to mark trails in the monument. I reached a junction, the left fork heading towards an instrument station, the right climbing and traversing, spiraling CCW. The terrain was gentle, but not uniform, and that combination made it hard to judge where I was or where I was going (there were no landmarks, but the slight dipping and weaving was disorienting when the rest of the mountain was mostly hiding behind the terrain I was ascending).
The "trail" faded. I came to realize if I continued working up and CCW I'd end up in the big gully that skirts Sugar Bowl, so I veered back CW and ascended a gentle dome. It was satisfying to reach a high point, where I could survey my options, and where I also found a sense of accomplishment. There were remnants of a drive belt, perhaps from a snowmobile, so I'll always remember this as Drivebelt Point. (10:00 5800')
There was a high point on the crater rim that I had my eye on, but it looked like maybe crampons & axe would be the way to go, and I had wisely left them behind. I saw fun terrain up and CW, so set off on a spiral, until I reached the crest of a jumbled ill-defined ridge (11:05 6380'). Ascend? Hmm. The day had been fun so far, but a further ascent could be miserable. What finally made up my mind was the realization that it would be fun and easy in June/July.
I dropped to PoA on a new route, seeking fun and scenery, but also favoring easy terrain when in doubt. As the slope became more gentle and blended into the higher reaches of PoA, I turned south, headed towards the area below East Dome, until I could drop to Muddy River (crossing Loowit Trail along the way at 3:00) and follow it back to my car (6:00, fifteen minutes before sunset). A leisurely stroll along the river took three hours, longer than the Ape Canyon trail would have taken, but it was worth it.
Weather: Crossing a breezy PoA at dawn was the cool point of the day, and I put on my jacket. As soon as the sun hit, it came off. By 10:30 6000' I was sweating profusely on my sunny ascent, but I knew that meant it would be a beautiful afternoon descent in the shade, so I didn't mind too much. Not a cloud spotted all day.
Other parties: The mountain was swarming with two types of large mammals: mountain goats, and people on bikes. The cyclists were loud! I can partly attribute this to the fact that they travel farther apart than hikers, so they have to speak louder, but some of them were just yelling for the sake of yelling. You know, kinda the way kids do at Jefferson Park. I didn't see any hikers, but of course people moving slowly on foot are harder to spot from a distance.
Just noticed that most of my pics feature Ape Glacier, quite by accident. It's like Ape and the East Dome were stalking me all day! Not that I mind.
I dropped my car alongside Rd-83 where it crosses Muddy River, and walked a quarter mile to the Ape Canyon trailhead, arriving exactly at 5:00, my desired start time. Off to an auspicious start. I hate that trail, but in the dark it doesn't matter, it's like any other trail.
At 6:45 I arrived at the Ape Canyon overlook (above the slot) as it was just barely getting light. Perfect timing. I had considered starting earlier, but I knew the east slopes of MSW would appear to be a homogeneous bleak slagheap in dim light, so I wanted sunrise to illuminate it, bringing out colors and textures that would enable me to evaluate some possible routes.
I'd forgotten how long it takes to get to Windy Pass. Took 90 minutes, but it's a nice walk. At the pass I encountered a goat. I had already seen several up on the east slopes as I passed through PoA, but this one was close. We stared at each other for several minutes. He won, as I had things to do, while all he had on his agenda was eating grass. I went down the trail just a bit to a nice viewpoint. Haven't been here in ages, had forgotten how nice it is.
Back at the pass, I went up a trail that one would assume to be unofficial, but there was a wooden post a ways upslope, of the sort used to mark trails in the monument. I reached a junction, the left fork heading towards an instrument station, the right climbing and traversing, spiraling CCW. The terrain was gentle, but not uniform, and that combination made it hard to judge where I was or where I was going (there were no landmarks, but the slight dipping and weaving was disorienting when the rest of the mountain was mostly hiding behind the terrain I was ascending).
The "trail" faded. I came to realize if I continued working up and CCW I'd end up in the big gully that skirts Sugar Bowl, so I veered back CW and ascended a gentle dome. It was satisfying to reach a high point, where I could survey my options, and where I also found a sense of accomplishment. There were remnants of a drive belt, perhaps from a snowmobile, so I'll always remember this as Drivebelt Point. (10:00 5800')
There was a high point on the crater rim that I had my eye on, but it looked like maybe crampons & axe would be the way to go, and I had wisely left them behind. I saw fun terrain up and CW, so set off on a spiral, until I reached the crest of a jumbled ill-defined ridge (11:05 6380'). Ascend? Hmm. The day had been fun so far, but a further ascent could be miserable. What finally made up my mind was the realization that it would be fun and easy in June/July.
I dropped to PoA on a new route, seeking fun and scenery, but also favoring easy terrain when in doubt. As the slope became more gentle and blended into the higher reaches of PoA, I turned south, headed towards the area below East Dome, until I could drop to Muddy River (crossing Loowit Trail along the way at 3:00) and follow it back to my car (6:00, fifteen minutes before sunset). A leisurely stroll along the river took three hours, longer than the Ape Canyon trail would have taken, but it was worth it.
Weather: Crossing a breezy PoA at dawn was the cool point of the day, and I put on my jacket. As soon as the sun hit, it came off. By 10:30 6000' I was sweating profusely on my sunny ascent, but I knew that meant it would be a beautiful afternoon descent in the shade, so I didn't mind too much. Not a cloud spotted all day.
Other parties: The mountain was swarming with two types of large mammals: mountain goats, and people on bikes. The cyclists were loud! I can partly attribute this to the fact that they travel farther apart than hikers, so they have to speak louder, but some of them were just yelling for the sake of yelling. You know, kinda the way kids do at Jefferson Park. I didn't see any hikers, but of course people moving slowly on foot are harder to spot from a distance.
Just noticed that most of my pics feature Ape Glacier, quite by accident. It's like Ape and the East Dome were stalking me all day! Not that I mind.
. All of them? No. A salient memory about that: My first rim hike was 11/10/2001. I knew the permit thing was a bit more lax after 11/1, so I went rogue. Strangely, I was the only climber, and stood alone at the top. On the way down I realized there were many others; they started late. A couple weeks ago I had reason to look up my old hand-written logbook, and reminisced a bit. Was shocked when I read my notes and discovered I didn't set out to climb to the rim. It happened along the way, an extemporaneous decision to seize the day. I've never felt guilty about it. The stated reasons for the permit system are to relieve crowding and prevent damage to the mountain. I was alone (no crowding) and walked on snow (no damage).