(Edit: Re-reading this as posted, I again apologize to the group for clearly overdoing the newb description for this hike! Hopefully you get a sense of how awesome I thought it was.)
The day started with what I thought were the remnants of a head cold, so between that and that road up to Cloud Cap I got a pretty late start. At the trailhead, there were perhaps five other vehicles. I think I might've been the only high-clearance 4x4 there, too! Someone had actually driven a ZipCar up. I haven't decided if that's smart or twisted yet.
I was on the Timberline Trail just a bit after 10am. It actually surprised me how quickly I arrived at the Tilly Jane / Cooper Spur junction, and that almost right after that the shelter appeared. Looked farther on the maps. Being a Friday(?), I had the place entirely to myself. From other reports, I had really expected to be running into more folks here. And, as you can see, the weather was as perfect as it gets.
Continuing on, I took a side route over to the edge of the canyon, and saw another trail leading up the near lateral moraine. With people on it. More than I thought would likely be trying to cross the Elliot, so I really wondered about that.
See the hiker in this shot? No? Click for a larger image.
The view on the edge of the canyon was so nice, I didn't want to head back to the main trail, so I pretty much just went straight up from there for awhile. Taking waaaay too many crevasse photos along the way.
Ski tracks? Holy crap!
Not too much farther up, while I'm stopped to take yet another photo, the fellow I'd seen far below on the moraine appeared from behind a rock just a few paces away. We chatted a bit, and ended up hiking together much of the rest of the day.
After continuing straight up the fall line for awhile longer, we decided to go back to the "main trail" such as it was, when it crossed not too far away. About four or five switchbacks later, the trail dove under a snow field that we couldn't see the other side of. Having no reason to think crossing it would offer any benefit at all, we just headed off straight uphill again.
When we did arrive at Cooper Spur, there were two groups ahead of us, just soaking it all in.
A couple handfuls of trail mix and a dozen or so photos later, it was an easy decision to leave Cooper Spur to the folks already there, and move on upward! Didn't see a soul above us. We were at about 8500', and understood we could easily get to 9000' following this ridge.
I'd read all the TRs I found here, and have since done some Googling, but I'm still not sure which rock, exactly, is the one called "Tie-in Rock"? There were three suspects...
I really doubt it's this lava bomb, also seen in last shot, but the fracture patterns are pretty cool!
Certainly deserves a name, just for the sheer improbability of it being where it is! My money's here.
A memorial to five Mazamas who perished nearby. Perhaps fitting, but probably not this one?
So we got to the permanent snow. There was a very short windbreak there. (And this was actually the first point, all day, with a noticeable breeze.) Quick check the GPS and, damn!, 8960 feet. Need 40 more feet. There's a rock outcropping ahead that looks like it'd make the claim legit. It's that first rock clump on the upper-left in the preview (or, the right side as the camera pans directly towards the summit)...
Embedding this directly caused all subsequent photos to disappear?
We get there, and now the GPS is telling us we'd cracked through the 9000' level. Funny how successes are quantified, isn't it? Amazingly, just crossing that bit of snow, the temperature had now plunged from 62° to 45°, and the wind was very brisk. So the windbreakers came out not too far into our enjoyment of this magnificent perch. The views of glaciers on either side of us, the mountain above us (as well as other volcanoes from Rainer to the Sisters, and even beyond!), and the endless eastern Oregon desert below us were just marvelous.
Probably took 100 shots of crevasses alone!
Pulpit Rock?
Descending back down to solid trail.
The day was still fairly young, and neither of us wanted to go back to the cars, yet. I suggested two options raised in another thread - the Langille Crags to our north, or Gnarl Ridge to the south. I was leaning towards the southern option, and my new trail friend agreed it sounded fun. Given the trail was buried anyway, and seeing the Timberline Trail away in the distance, we just took off cross country, sticking to the snowfields where we could.
Not too long after hitting the Timberline Trail again, we encountered a family of Marmots who were clearly enjoying the beautiful weather as well.
I had it in my mind that I'd try getting to Lamberson Butte, which really didn't look all that far away yet. The GPS, afterall, said it was only about 1.5 miles in a GPS kind of straight line way. When we got this view, my new friend decided it was time for him to call it a day and head back. I did point him to PH, though, so hopefully we'll be seeing more of him in the future.
Much of the Timberline Trail, from this point onward, was still under snow. Although I could follow it, it really didn't seem to be necessary, so I did a little exploring from this point out. The lupine was (had to be!) peaking, with a smell that was at times nearly overwhelming.
And I came to learn that Gnarl Ridge was truly rather gnarly! Dead wood of many different qualities was there to enjoy. Some polished like a Budda's belly, some rough and nasty attesting to a long and hard life, and some just whittled down to spears marking a trail.
The trunk on this squat little guy was nearly 2 feet in diameter!
All along, I was hearing the roar of water coming up from some depths below. I finally spotted what I later convinced myself was the headwaters of Newton Creek. (Correct me, if that's not the case?)
This magnificent (there's that word again) waterfall tumbled down the mountainside for many hundreds of feet.
Heading back, there was perhaps nearly 1/2 mile of the trail under huge snowfields, in the mile or mile and a half north of Gnarl Ridge. I didn't find it very difficult walking across it with boots on, but met some folks in trail runners and full packs having a devil of a time with it. One was actually pretty freaked, and asking how much more was to come.
It ended up being farther than I'd thought back to the Tilly Jane junction. Which I turned down on, for the return. Hadn't ever been there before either, so I thought that'd be a nice way to wind up the trip. Fascinating history there!
Click for larger version that's readable.
I still can't believe they saved all these structures, as well as Cloud Cap, from that fire in 2008! Wow, wow, wow. The hike back to Cloud Cap passed through some of the burned area. Recovery is still very slow. The fire appeared to have been far more recent than four years ago.
Got back to Cloud Cap just as the sun's rays were at their warmest yellows turning to reds.
And started back down the road as the sun dropped below the charred horizon.
What a day! I apologize to the group for this newbish TR, gushing on and on about a place I'm sure many/most here are totally familiar with. But, well, I guess I'm the opposite of speechless over it, whatever that may be. I'll try to remember that, and keep this one high on the list of recommends for others who may not have had the chance to get up here before.
http://gpsfly.org/gps_map.php?gps_id=1721&w=645&h=440
According to gpsfly: 11.9 miles, 4600' EG
