LOCALadk Magazine

46 Fall 2017 LOCALadk Magazine LOCALadk Day 2 was rainy again (the Hoh Rainforest is one of the wet- test places in the continental USA), but we plodded along with the same routine of numerous rest breaks and photo stops in the mesmerizing forests. I stayed quite dr y by wear- ing a poncho that completely covered me and my giant back- pack, a tip I picked up from our adventures backpacking in New Zealand and Tasmania. Our original goal was to hike all the way up to Glacier Meadows camping area, near treeline, so that we'd be in good position to attempt the summit on the third day. However, I was realizing that I wasn't as strong or fit as I had been in my younger days, when I'd roam and hike around for months at a time. In our backpacking duo, I was the weaker link. We camped at Elk Lake, 15 miles in from the road, but still 2.5 miles short of our goal. Elk Lake is among my favorite campsites. It's on a ridgeline, surround- ed by beautiful old-growth forest, and with plenty of space between tent-sites, giving campers solitude in the forest. We had so far met no one else who intended to attempt the summit climb. We knew from the ranger station that we were in for a rainy stretch of weather, but could only allot the next two days to for summit attempt. Day 3 was indeed rainy, but unsure if we'd get another chance, we hiked up to the lateral glacier moraine just for the views, and to keep busy. Shortly above our base camp at Elk Lake we got into spring snow, remain- der of the ver y deep snowfall last winter. Looking around the snow-covered Glacier Meadows made us glad we hadn't tried to push further with our heavy packs the day before. At about the 18-mile mark, from the edge of a ver y tall lateral moraine (a glacial moraine is piles of earth and rock gouged out and pushed aside by the slow-moving ice of the glacier) are the first views of the famous Blue Glacier. Like all glaciers, the Blue Glacier is rapidly retreating and thinning, so some mountaineers say descending this steep (40 -de- gree), crumbling gravel slope is the most difficult part of the route, because of the rockfall danger. The clouds were com- ing in low overhead and covering the massif of Mt Olympus at the head of the Blue Glacier, but we scrambled down so we could at least say that we got onto the ice. With certainly no summit hopes today, we headed back to our lovely campsite for the night. Day 4 was forecasted to also be cloudy and rainy, prevent- ing a summit attempt, but I awoke at 6 a.m. to brilliant clear skies and sun hitting the now-visible peaks above. We got ready in a hurr y, not sure how the weather was predicted to change (no cell ser vice to check) and not sure of these moun- tains' weather patterns. We made it to the Blue Glacier in half the time it had taken the day before, but took a little lon- ger than we intended setting up our rope for glacier travel. Then we headed off across the expanse of the glacier toward a southerly ridge called Snow Dome. This is the classic route, and for the first time we could see where we were going. Unfortunately, by this time the warm summer sun was soft- ening the snow surface and it became a tiresome and slow slog. We sank in with almost ever y step. If the 45-degree

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