| Moondance Leadership log (2004-07-15 -> 2004-08-04)
Leaders: Mitch Davis and Kristine Oelberger
Students: Chrissy Baccich, Harris Diano, Kristin Eckstein, Tom Gilliland, Will Keyes, Andy Kross, Amanda Morton, Hugh Ogburn, Matt Oorbeek, Matt Pickard
Opening Day
We are all accounted for and ready to get this trip underway! We are off to the Olympic coast of Washington. Check back in a couple of days.
It seems like weeks, not days, since we turned over the cell phones and wallets and departed the Sea-Tac airport. This is not only a result of all that we have accomplished, but also the friendships that have already formed. On our first drive, the laughter and conversation that filled the "white dragon" (our trusty ford van) seemed that of lost friends, not newfound strangers.
Our first Leaders of the Day (LOD's) Chrissy and Matt P. stepped up and took the initiative by getting us organized for our first backpacking section. Along with his "razzle dazzle" flavored Crystal Light we discovered that Matt P. packed everything he needed and more. Chrissy's former Moondance trip has given her the experience to be a real leader to the rest of the group. We were all inspired when the trail led us to a beach with giant sea stacks and huge pieces of driftwood. Harris summed it up by saying "It is so amazing it seems like we should have worked harder for it" Working hard would come soon enough... For the next few days we altered between a great calf workout while hiking in the sand to inland trails through lush forests. When it was her turn as LOD Amanda was up early starting breakfast, then her LOD partner, Tom, led us through the days' hiking. Tom is quite the experienced hiker!Amanda "took the bull by the horns" and volunteered to be the "kitchen organizer" as we packed for our next hike. Kristin sacrificed her dry feet to help with everyone's dishes and continues to test the waterproof treatment on her boots. Our friend Ralph, a skunk, wanted to join our group. From high on a driftwood log, Will was heard to say "I feel like I should be more of man, but I am kind of scared... that thing charged me!" Despite his hesitations about Ralph, Will has been an excellent leader in the group. He has a positive outlook and is always willing to lend a hand. Each night on the beach the sunset over the Pacific Ocean seemed a little bit sweeter as we fell asleep to the sound of the waves. We saw bald eagles, deer and seals. We explored waterfalls, swam in the ocean, and played in the sand. The beach has a way of bringing out the kid in all of us. Matt O. volunteered to be buried in the sand and the boys spent the better part of an afternoon digging in the sand. It hasn't happened yet but we expect to hear a "ya'll" out of Matt very soon due to the southern influences on this trip. On our third night out we wore ourselves out playing an intense game of ultimate frisbee. We woke up early on day 4 to beat high tide on our hike around Hoh Point. Everyone worked together and made impressive time breaking camp. Harris & Hugh led the way. Hugh's
Stetson hat, adorned with newly acquired bald eagle feathers, was easy to follow through the jungle. It was easily the most challenging day of hiking, not to mention that we were met with rain, wind, and a muddy trail. We all prevailed and even agreed that the rain made it more fun since we all stayed warm! Andy showed us up as he scurried over the rocks and roots then sat to rest while taking in the view. We finished the day with a great sense of accomplishment & were rewarded with chocolate chip pancakes before heading back to our front country campsite for the night. Tomorrow we will head into the Hoh Rainforest and then up on the glaciers of Mt. Olympus. Our next hike will be for six nights and seven days in the Olympic Mountains and we are all psyched to get up high in the mountains! Everyone is working hard so that we will have the opportunity to climb to the snow covered summit of Mount Rainier!
More to come soon from the Moondance Leadership group in Washington....
NEW LOG
7-28-04
For our second backpacking section we decided to change our route due to snow pack conditions on the skyline ridge trail. Our first day we hiked nine miles from Olympus Mountain Visitor Center, through thick moss covered trees to our campsite in a clearing by a river. Matt P. was delighted to find that he did not need a permit to fish and broke out his fly rod. Although he denies having any skills in the kitchen, Hugh cooked us up some great chicken soup for dinner. This was accompanied by Amanda’s corn mush creation, sending us to bed with full stomachs. I think we all felt a sense of relief to leave the front country and fall asleep, once again, under the stars to the sound of flowing water rather than cars.
Our second day put us all to the test. Another long trek, we covered the majority of our 3400 ft. of elevation gain up steep switchbacks in the last 3-4 miles of the hike. We met some climbers along the way who were heading for Mt. Olympus and who we would encounter again the next few days on the trail. We camped at Glacier Meadow and other than hearing the climbers break camp at 4 am, we had a well earned relaxing morning. At breakfast, Tom suggested that we have cinnamon rolls, so with a little extra time we decided to make some! After cinnamon rolls and cheese grits, we packed our daypacks and scurried up to the ridgeline just below the summit of Mt. Olympus. Feeling like we were on top of the world and spotting the climbers that we heard leave the campsite hours before inspired us all for Rainier. We stopped at a glacial pool on the way down and although it was too cold for swimming, the boys couldn’t resist the opportunity for a snowball fight. Matt D. held his own even though he was outnumbered. When we returned to camp there was time to rest and write in journals while Chrissy, Harris, and Andy prepared delicious BBQ chicken pizzas for dinner.
Our fourth day was another tough hike. We descended the climb that we did two days prior, covered four miles of flat terrain, and then began another steep ascent. As the LOD’s for the day, Harris and Hugh did an excellent job of setting the pace and keeping us all moving. Matt D. showed his generosity all day by putting others in front of him and helping everyone out. However, with scorching heat and water being scarce, we all felt challenged. Through it all, Amanda kept her great sense of humor, commenting that, “you know you smell bad when you pass a llama and think, ah, he smells nice!” That’s what happens when you reach day ten without a shower.
There was one moment of sadness during the trip when we realized that we were already halfway though our trip. Our family of twelve is closer than ever now. Our students call Kristine “mom”, and Mitch “Mitchell”. There is sibling-like bickering about how to cook Mac-n-cheese or which seat is whose in the white dragon (van). Being away from reality this long we have also discovered that money is of no value, but negotiations for GORP and granola bars are always happening. With plenty of capitalists among us, Kristin seems always willing to share at no expense.
Our campsite on our fourth night was in a meadow full of wildflowers next to a creek. As we sat and watched the alpine glow on the mountains, a deer strolled past without even taking notice of us. We decided that since we had such a sweet spot and had worked so hard to get there that we’d try to stay an extra night. In order to stay, we had to meet the ranger bright and early at the top of the mountain to get permission to do so. As LOD’s both Will and Andy showed great leadership and were more than willing to do the hike with Kristine. The three of them were rewarded with gorgeous views of Mt. Olympus from the high divide trail and spotted a Black Bear in the valley. Although Will is a little nervous around wild animals, he stood his ground and watched in awe as the bear turned to them, and then ran away into the woods. The rest of the crew met up with them and then all enjoyed a refreshing swim in Hole Lake along with more fishing and bear watching. That evening, half of the group repeated the two mile hike up to the ridge to watch the sunset. On the way down, Hugh, Matt P., and Will made up a scary story that had us all jumping out of our crazy creeks at moonup.
The next morning we broke camp early to begin our hike out. Making good time, we covered nine plus miles quickly, and decided that with the stellar shape that we were all in now, five extra miles to the van was no biggie. With Tom leading the way, those five miles took no time.
On our way home we used our fast food stop for a trip to Gordy’s Pizza Restaurant and we were dumbstruck by such novelties as soap in the bathroom and icy carbonated drinks! We are now getting ready to moonup here in Leavenworth so we can get a good night’s sleep in preparation for climbing tomorrow.
Talk to you soon!
RainierUpdate!!! 8/2/4
Moondance Central just received a call from the world famous mountaineer, Phil Ershler, who reports he was standing on top of Mt. Rainier with Mitch, Kristine and a bunch of ecstatic 17 year olds! We will fill you in on more details as they are received...
8/4/2004 Final update.
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky for our first day of rock climbing in Leavenworth, Washington. We climbed in Icicle Canyon on granite cliffs overlooking the Icicle River.
Our guides Kristin, Jeff, Travis and Mike were extremely helpful and provided us with the opportunity to climb as easy or difficult of a route as we wanted. Everyone pushed themselves to climb harder in preparation for Mt. Rainier. We were all relieved to learn that Travis and Mike would be our guides going up Mt. Rainier as well.
Matt P. and Tom quickly took to climbing and had most of the routes “worked” before lunch. Hugh and Will were very patient belayers and climbed the harder routes once they had belayed other folks. Chrissy was great at going up the rocks but decided that rappelling back down was not her favorite thing to do. Everyone focused hard on climbing right up until we announced we would swim in the river after climbing. Then the focus became swimming. Andy, Harris, and Matt O. braved the small rapids and swam downstream a little while Kristin and Amanda took the time to clean the dirt and grime from climbing off of their skin in the calmer water. Everyone went back for another day of climbing on a bigger cliff and we ended it in the same river at days end.
Next up…Mt. Rainier!
Along a drive from Leavenworth to Ashford, Washington we got our first glimpse of Mt. Rainier. It looked huge. Everyone got a serious look on their face and it became clear that we had some tough days ahead of us. All we could see was snow and ice on top of rocks.
Everyone decided it looked like a huge ice cream sundae so we had to hit Dairy Queen for “Blizzards” before going to our campsite for the night.
We began snow school with our head guide Phil Ershler. Phil has climbed Rainier 419 times and we hope to be his 420th trip to the top. Phil taught us all about self arrests and crampons, Hugh especially liked the “spikes on his feet and in his hands.” We slid downhill feet first; face first, upside down and backwards stopping ourselves each time using our ice axes. We learned to walk in a “rope team.” We learned how to “pressure breathe” in order to take advantage of what little oxygen there is at 14,410 feet. We basically played around in the snow practicing all sorts of new techniques for mountain climbing. At camp everyone was nervous for the next 24 hours.
We woke up early and headed to RMI’s base camp office. Once we had all of our gear together we boarded the shuttle bus to take us up to Paradise inside Mt. Rainier National Park where we would begin our climb. From Paradise, it is about 5 miles and 5,000 feet of elevation gain to Camp Muir. We covered that ground in a little over five hours. That impressed our guides and gave us all a little confidence booster. We started thinking we really could climb this big mountain. Phil told us that five hours for the climb to Muir was a great time and that we should have no problem up high on Rainier. Still no one got much sleep over the next few hours and Phil arrived promptly at 11:30 PM to tell us it was time to go “walk up a hill.”
We left Camp Muir at 1 am under the glow of our headlamps. It was quite a sight to only recognize folks by the glow on their helmets. In our rope teams we motored along at a good pace for an hour before our first break. At break we put on our heavy down parkas to keep out the bitter alpine cold. Another two hours brought us around and over the Disappointment Cleaver. This would prove to be the most difficult section of the climb; both going up and down. After our second break we headed up the Emmons Glacier, winding around huge crevasses and ice seracs. The sun came up and brought out a “second wind” in everyone. We made good time to our third and final rest at about 13,000 feet. From there we made the summit in a little over and hour. We arrived at the Columbia Crest, 14,410 feet, at around 8:30 am under 45 mile an hour winds. We spent half an hour or more taking photos and talking at the summit crater before starting the long hike down. After five more hours and 5000 feet of elevation loss we arrived back at Camp Muir. We loaded our packs and set off sliding down the mountain. Yes sliding down the mountain using our plastic boots as skis and we made some pretty good time doing so! Plus it was a great deal of fun. Five o’clock found us back at our beloved “white dragon.” After returning our technical climbing gear we all dove into some hamburgers and pizza. It was great to sit around with Phil, Mike, Travis and Linden and talk about the climb. Phil was very impressed with our groups speed on the mountain and how well we all listened to his directions. It was an honor to climb with someone like Phil.
The next day brought us to Millerslyvania State Park south of Seattle. We cleaned the van, cleaned tents and cook ware, then cleaned ourselves in the campgrounds hot showers and had a nice Mexican dinner for our banquet together.
Everyone was very sad to leave on August 4.
We had been through a lot together. To be exact: Over 23,000 feet of elevation gain from July 15 to August 4. We hiked over 100 miles including up and down Rainier. Climbed almost 10,000 feet and ate too many pancakes to count!
Back to 2004 Logs
Back to Trip Logs |
|
