Mount Catherine
 

I know this will disappoint Mark Wilson, but here I am using "Mount" as a noun rather than a verb. I woke up yesterday morning about 100 ft from the summit of Mount Catherine. The summit is too narrow for a tent. It was my fiftieth birthday. Breathtaking 360-degree panoramic view of the Cascades. Warm and sunny. Calm. Had champagne and coffee at sunrise.

I've been wanting to resume the backpacking habit I had in college which, obviously, was a LONG time ago. And since I live in the world's most ideal location for backpacking, I think I'll not just stop at mounting Catherine only. There are others that should be mounted. Many others. Many. Many that are at lower elevations. But the most attractive stretch to me right now is between Snoqualmie and Stevens passes, along the Pacific Crest Trail.

Anybody out there have any idea what I'm talking about?

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I'm a leg man. SmileWavy

[QUOTE=Superman;3477320] Many others. Many. Many that are at lower elevations... QUOTE]:eek:

Happy Birthday Supe! Half a century!

Did you slap the cratch?

Happy birthday Supe. You reminded me of this;
An old lady had two pet monkeys named Cuthbert and Catherine, coincidentally. The two monkeys were very close to each other and were like children to her. Cuthbert and Catherine would go everywhere she went and consequently everybody in town knew her and her monkeys. Everything was fine and the happy family lived together for many, many years until one day Catherine passed away. Cuthbert was devastated and in his grief took his own life hours later. The old lady was very upset to loose both her monkeys so suddenly, but spent the rest of the day trying to think of a fitting tribute to preserve the many fond memories of the time they’d spent together. Finally, late that night she hit on the idea of taking them to the taxidermist to have them stuffed.
Early the next morning she loaded the two little monkey corpses into the car and set off to the taxidermist. Obviously the taxidermist had heard about her loss,

“I’m very sorry to hear about Cuthbert and Catherine, but I guess you’ve decided to have them preserved in just the way you remember them, so I guess you’d like them mounting?”

To which the old lady replied,

“No, just holding hands”

yup, Mt. Washington, NH, Mt. Marcy, NY, Mt. Robson, BC, Grand Teton, WY, and countless more.

Thanks dad!

Damnit you beat me to it!

You mean sleeping on the cold hard ground when there are perfectly good hotels around? No... no, I don't know what you are talking about!:D

As my friend would say "my idea of roughing it is slow room service"

But seriously, I just turned 50 myself and I do love hiking outdoors and all that but my memories if backpacking aren't quit as fond as yours.

Happy B day! SmileWavy

My idea of roughing it,

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Happy B-Day. I used to do the same thing, and hiked up a lot of the mountains here in AZ "getting away from it all" at one time. Nice waking up on top of everything, fresh chilly air and just knowing you are going to have a great day.

[QUOTE=Superman;3477320]
There are others that should be mounted. Many others. Many. Many that are at lower elevations.
[QUOTE]

Now THERE I might know what you are talking about.;)

Okay for all you horny guys who are still snickering, consider this: At 5000 feet above the valley floor with the nearest road two days away, there are absolutely no old, fat, women. There are many women up there, and they are all healthy enough to carry fifty pounds for two days. So........clear water and air, breathtaking vistas and........sporty women with fresh faces and pony tails hanging out their baseball caps. One of the very finest locations for a BJ is on the shore of an alpine lake.

There are a couple of places in the Cascades I visit annually. Unfortunately, I haven't been to any of them yet this year.

As a consolation prize, I have been riding the snot out of the new Cannondale mountain bike I bought myself a few weeks ago.

By BJ, do you mean...
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...Billy Jack? :D

Thanks, Joe. I figured you'd understand. I've never woke up on a mountain top and then had a bad day. That'd be hard to do.

But again, I fully intend to hike portions of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, especially certain parts including the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Indian Heaven Wilderness and William O. Douglass Winderness areas. If anybody is interested, or has comments for me, please chime in. Here are a couple of pics:

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Happy birthday, Supe. We are now the same age:cool:

I spent most of my youth outside, from kayaking with my father to running rivers as a guide in the west as a college student so your recent trip resonated.

After I lose the uniform, I plan on getting back west...I'll tag along someday:)

Supe - I do know exactly what you're talking about. I too have spent some time in the mountains, miles from anywhere, a week at a time without seeing another person and it's great! My Uncle took me and my family backpacking in the Sierra Nevadas a few years ago and I loved it. The only bit I didn't like was being half eaten alive by mosquitos in one of our camp sites. I didn't mind having to hoist our food up trees to get it away from the bears, or having to chase the little buggers away in the middle of the night, just those damn mosquitos! I think you found a perfect way to enjoy your 50th. Best wishes and keep at those peaks.

Excellent. I was hoping this thread might attract a kindred spirit or two. You are all welcome to tag along. It would be a pleasure. A double-pleasure.

In the days of my youth I was a pretty avid backpacker. Been out in Desolation Valley on many occasions and seen no one for days, which I would not be able to do now, due to the population thing.

You need to go to Alaska or Montana if you think Washington is the best place in the world for camping. Did a whitewater rafting trip down the Talkeetna River in AK, mighty fine country up there.

Happy Birthday, BTW

Yesterday was my birthday, too Supe. I just took the day off and relaxed.

My brother, however, who is a few years older than you has climbed every serious mountain in the PNW, plus several in the Himalayas, including K2 -- a couple of times. He likes that stuff. It mystifies me.

Happy b'day.

Happy birthday Supe! I know what you mean. I've got around 3,900 miles of hiking, climbing & backpacking mostly in the Sierras, but also the tour of Monte Blanc, Acatanango in Guatemala and a few other places. I spent two weeks in the Sierras around my 60th birthday, so hopefully you'll have some good years to enjoy.

Aerkuld,
If you want to avoid mosquitoes in the Sierras, go up after the 10th of August of so. No mosquitoes, probably no bears, and fewer people. September & later is even nicer. You get cool nights and nice days (a few nice storms) with fall winds blowing pine pollen in the air. I always like to stay above 10K feet elevation.

Happy B-Day Supe. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1189743236.jpg

You've definately got a kindred spirit here. Until I had kids, I went on a 2-3 week backpacking trip every summer in the Sierra. Nothing like an 85-pound pack on your back and looking forward to trails through the wilderness and peaks to climb for the next 20 days.

Give me a thermarest pad on the hard ground and a restful night under the stars, secure in the knowledge that the food is hung well out of reach of the bears. I'm much happier there than in a 4-star hotel.

My older daughter is 11 now, and we went on a river rafting trip in July, with one night camping on the river. That's just the start for us. I'll be 50 in 1-1/2 years, and I plan on bagging more peaks well into my 70's and beyond.

Me too. One trip, we averaged 11,500 foot elevation camp sites for two weeks. No bears above the tree line.

What river did you run?

Thanks for the tip Marv. This particular trip was in the mid '80's and we were visiting from the UK so we were limited to whatever time of year that was, probably mid to late August. To be fair the mosquito problem was limited to one camp site that we spent one night in. It looked perfect, a pretty little meadow close to a stream. It was actually perfect up to dusk when the mosquitos arrived. There must have been clouds of them and you could hear the high pitched whine as they came in at you like an attack of stukkas. Little b@stards, it was bloody miserable. Once we got out of there it was no problem. I think it was that trip that we did Elizabeth pass and 11,375 feet was a exciting for me when the biggest elevation in Britian is Ben Nevis at 4,406. If I recall, we spent a week and a half backpacking up there and when I got back to the UK my work sent me on a three week Outward Bound course in Wales. After trekking around the High Sierras that was a walk in the park and a nice way to 'wind down' from my vacation!
The bear experiences may have been the same trip, but I'm not sure. I recall we had to hike in quite a long way on the first day as the rangers had warned us of the bears at the first of the camps that you'd get too on the hike in. Apparently the bears had learnt that people staying there are loaded up with food so they stood to gain a good haul if they hung around that site. We ended up hiking in to Bearpaw Meadow and staying there for the night. It was a bit too much for my mom and little sister and we had to leave their pack on the trail with my uncle while we hiked to the camp with them. Dad and I then left our packs at camp with the ladies and hiked back to pick up my uncle and the other packs. We arrived in the dark to a welcome meal though! It was Bearpaw Meadow where the ranger had to extract the bear that had half fallen into the toilet pit and got stuck. That couldn't have been fun.

South Fork of the American. It has many class 3 and 3+ rapids. We want to try the Middle Fork next, with class 4 rapids, but my daughter is too small right now. Maybe in 2 years.

Aerkluld,
Bearpaw meadow is 11 miles from Crescent Meadow in Sequoia Natl. Pard. Pretty easy hike without much incline. When I was a ranger in Sequoia, we had real problems with bears tearing up cars to get in when people would leave food inside. With the VW busses, they would just peel back the side doors to get in. Elizabeth Pass is a nice area. The east side leads over to a plateau leading to the headwaters of the San Juaquin River if I remember correctly.
We used to have to tranquilize bears occasionally when they became a problem in the campgrounds. We'd take them 10 to 15 miles away at first and let them out in the woods. Problem was they'd be back in the campground the next day most of the time, and we'd have to take them 30 to 40 miles away to get rid of them.

Same birthday? No wonder we're both handsome and charming.

I don't care much for heights. Catherine was a bit frightening, but manageable. No technical climbing, just the steep 'cable assist' stretch at the top. Interestingly, my favorite location might be in the seat of a jet fighter or a radial-engined biplane, and my least favorite would probably be a rock face.

I've run them both many times. Did you go out of Placerville, down the hill to Chilli Bar?

Satan's Cesspool, the Gorge to Folsom Lake:p

Good river for children, at least back in the late 70's, early 80's when I ran them...the rapids are fun and almost always end in calm water. Great that you are doing this with your kids, ckissick.

It probably was Crescent Meadow that we set off from but I don't recall, could it have been Cold Springs? I know that we were planning on stopping before Bearpaw as it was the first time we had all hiked with packs. My sister and I would have been about 15 and 18 respectively at the time. Our family was used to hiking, but only with day packs and not above 3,000ft let alone the temperature. Even if it was only 11 miles, by the time my dad and I had done the trek to bearpaw, turned around and gone back for the packs, and then gone back to Bearpaw I guess we might have done about 18 miles. I'll have to find out where we went exactly. Would we have gone to Elizabeth pass via Glacier lake? That sounds familiar for some reason.
I think the ranger at Bearpaw wasshooting some of the bears with salt pellets. It seemed to scare them off for a while.

Kindred spirit?
I spent 3 summers as a professional alpine guide in the US, Canada, France, Switzerland and Italy.
I would say I conservatively have 4-5k miles of experience wearing a backpack, including nearly all of the Appalachian Trail as well as some of the Pacific Crest (I've done the Muir Trail, for instance).

Here's a pic of me chilling with some local sheep in Switzerland (note fantastic farmer tan!)
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Great thread Sup. I enjoy your threads that don't involve politics, or you wearing a dress, although those do make me smile.

My wife and I spent lots of time back packing in our pre kid days. Mostly in Northern Minnesota. I have doen a fair amount of hiking here in Colorado, and its one of the reasons I love it here so much. We still camp, but it involes an 18 foot trailer and four wheel drive. I still can't stay in anything that resembles a campground and will only camp in off the beaten path spots.

If you get a chance, and you like to read, you should read "A Walk in the Woods", by Bill Bryson. Its a good book on his adventures along the Appalachian Trail (of which I have done almost all of).

Bill

did a lot of hikes in the Alpine Lakes area in my youth. the last real trip i did was in the Icicle Creak area below Leavenworth the year before it was wiped out by a pretty big fire. hear it has been reopened since, wonder what it looks like now.

now i just do the none to often day hikes. usually in the north bend to
sno-pass area.

I'll read the Bill Bryson book. I'm reading another of his books now. In a Sunburned Country. Very good author.

"Teener Ted," eh? Not sure what to think of that. Yes, Alpine Lakes. I feel like Richard Dreyfus in Close Encounters. Alpine Lakes is calling me in.

Happy Birthday Supe from the Cascade Saddle, paradise found. Don't go another birthday before doing the Rees-Dart Tramp. Plan now for a February-March 08 trip.

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Sunburned is a good book as well.

We camped at a spot near Lotus, and took the outfitter's bus to Chili Bar for the put-in. Folsom Lake is low so we had some bonus rapids all the way to take-out.