Climb to Rattlesnake Ledge

 Saturday, April 27th, 2024 - Rattlesnake Ledge Climb

On Saturday, Robert Smith and Jerry Martin and Roger Matthews arrived at the Rattlesnake Ledge trailhead at 11am. By 11:20, they were around the lake and ready to go up. It took 3 and a half hours for the Roger, the slowest, to make the summit, and return to the bottom. Good outing by all. The most surprising thing was it was a rainy Saturday, and yet the parking lot was filled to the brim. Guess the rain kept very few people away :).

Trailhead

This four year old had already climbed Little Si
earlier today, and now was climbing Rattlesnake Ledge.

And he passed me (Roger). So I don't even have the
metabolism of a four year old :).

Robert, Roger and Jerry on Rattlesnake Ledge (the Top)

Mt McDonald Climb - April 18th, 2024

Jerry Martin and I hit the trailhead at 8:30am, and were back at the car at 4pm, which meant we did the climb in 7-1/2 hours! I am thrilled about that, because 5 years ago, the only other time I did the climb, it took me 9 hours :). It was still a long slog. But I'm not sore the next day, much. After I did Mt Si two weeks ago, I could barely move the next day, so the comparison is amazing :). Conditioning works :). 

The last time I was at the top of Mt McDonald, I had an amazing/scary encounter with a mountain goat, which you can see here:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS43tyJxeT0

This time, while we saw no evidence of the mountain goat, I still couldn't keep from glancing over my shoulder all the time we were at the top, to be sure it didn't sneak up on us :). Below are some great photos of our trip. Clicking on one will bring up a slideshow :).

Jerry and Tanner

 

Stats for our trip

Map of our trip

 

Gravel Pit visible on way up

 

View of cloudy Mt Rainer from a knoll on a cliff

Jerry and Tanner sitting on the cliff-side knoll

 

An interesting relic on way down. Cement, looks very heavy.
Sort of like a lawn roller, but maybe for the roads.

Jerry and Tanner

One of several DNR gates we passed on the way up.

Snow, yes we hit snow. Tanner liked to snack on the snow.

Another DNR Gate

Jerry at the top by the tower,
looking out over a vertical cliff at the distant scenery.

Here is the 100' tower on top.
You can see this tower from Water Gardens,
it looks like a needle on top of Mt McDonald.

A view out from the tower, with cliff below.

Jerry and Tanner on way down,
Tanner requesting a cookie from Jerry.

Half way up, looking at the next half :).

Jerry and Tanner during one of our breaks on way up.

View of distant Mt Baker from the half-way point.

Mt Si Climb April 1, 2024

 Mt Si Climb, April 1, 2024

Jerry Martin picked me up at 7:30am at my house, we left the trailhead at 8:40am, and got to the summit at 1:40pm. We left the summit at 2:40pm and got back to the car about 6:40pm. I was slow and stopped a lot, and Jerry, who is a marathoner, was very patient, and just went my pace. 

We are getting ready to try to summit Mt Adams in July, a 6 mile, 6,000' elev gain hike. We plan to take several days to do it, more than usual. This is a win win. We improve our chances of summiting, and we get to spend extra time in a gloriously beautiful place.

Here are some pictures of our hike yesterday. You can click on one for larger versions.

Halfway up, Jerry in distance reading plaque

On bench 1/3 of way up.

On the trail

Jerry and lunch at summit

Kids playing on rocks

A camp robber sharing my sandwich

Mt Adams Conditioner Climb

2024/03/18

Roger Matthews and Jerry Martin are planning a climb of Mt Adams this summer. To kick off our Mt Adams attempt this year, we are starting with a climb of Little Si, which we completed on Monday, March 18th, 2024, with the group of hikers below. Jerry & Roger on on the right.

On this climb, we covered 4.87 miles in 3 hours and 25 minutes. The standard time to climb Little Si is 2 hours and 15 minutes, so we took about an extra hour and 15 minutes to do the climb. We did take about 20 minutes for lunch on top, so that puts us close to one extra hour for the climb. Not bad for a start.

Kicking off our Mt Adams attempt, we are at the Little Si Trailhead on March 18, 2024