Reflecting on my trip

I am not even sure where to begin...

The last few days I have seen some of the most amazing sites ever! Little did I know I was about to embark on a journey more memorable than any other in my life!

Before we left the car we were suiting up and getting bug spray on for our journey through the rainforest. Tom decided to show us his ancient art of kung fun insect repellent and launched the bottle halfway across the parking log, up a tree, and then it splattered all over the concrete. We all just about died laughing!

Tom Darren, and I began our journey on Friday night as we hiked 5.7 miles to Happy 4 to camp. Our packs were heavy, we were sore, and Tom got a horrible sore on his back from his pack. This was only the beginning. The next morning we woke up and packed our things to head out to 9 mile, or otherwise known as Olympic Guard Station, to drop some weight like food and other random things we had that we would pick up on the way back. We had 11 miles ahead of us that day and boy was it brutal! The last 4 miles were a 4,300 foot elevation gain and it was killing my spirit but I knew I had to press on. I even threw my pack down a couple times because I felt like we were not getting anywhere. The miles seemed to go on forever!

We had a couple pass us that came from the car to base camp that day! I couldn't even believe it...18 miles in one day then summit and back is way too intense for me. We also saw a group of 5 with hardly anything in their packs that blazed past us. We couldn't figure out what was going on but later talked to them and found out they had hired an outfitter to have llamas bring their stuff up so they didn't have anything but water, snacks, and an ice axe to carry! I will have to remember to pay for pack animals next time! Fortunately for me, one of the girls let me borrow her sunglasses for summit day because I had lost mine along the way and didn't want to get snow blind...yes that does exist.

FINALLY we got to our base camp at Glacier Meadows, elevation 4,300 feet, and began to setup our tents for the night. We were going to summit that day but decided we needed our rest and time to scope out the route. As we cooked dinner a couple of deer came and walked around in our site looking for food. We got lucky and ended up being able to camp on a deck that was usually the rangers area but apparently there is no climbing ranger this season so we had it all to ourselves! All we needed was a hot tub and some ice cold beers to top it off! :)

Sunday we got up and did "snow school" and practiced anchor building, self arrest, crevasse rescue, traversing, etc in order to prep for the next day. In addition to this we planned our route and talked to folks coming off the glacier to see how their trip went. We even saw a bear in the meadow on the way up the moraine!

Monday - Summit Day!

We left base camp at 1 a.m. I was tired but spirits were high as we were about to accomplish all we had been working for. We put our gear in our packs and our headlamps on and headed up the moraine. As we got to the top we turned them off and sat there and looked at the stars. It was honestly out of this world! It was like we were in our own private planetarium. We were the first up there for the night/day and it was totally silent, stars blazing, and the moon reflecting off the snow.

As we headed down this section of crappy rock trying not to slip and fall, we made our way down to the glacier. As we geared up and put the rope on you could barely see a thing other than the light on the snow, the stars, and what you could see with your headlamps. We quickly made our way across the glacier jumping over crevasses on our way to the other side. Every once in a while we would stop and turn the headlamps off and as I looked around I couldn't believe how magnificent this really was.

Arriving at the other side of the glacier, we put our crampons on to start our long haul up to the top of Snow Dome. Tom and I were amazed at how cool the crampons were. They are seriously like velcro for snow! The sun was starting to rise and you could see the pink behind the mountain shadows. As we topped off on Snow Dome we could see the "orb", as Tom called it, rising behind Mt. Baker. It was by far the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen in my entire life!

We trekked across the Snow Dome and continued to watch the the sunrise over the mountains. We went through Crystal Pass to what we thought was the summit, only to find out it was the "false summit". As Darren began to climb this old man stuck his head out from behind the rock and said "hey"! It kind of startled all of us because we were the first up there that morning and couldn't figure out where they came from! Apparently, they had slept on top of the false summit that night and were going to summit that morning. We began to refer to them as The Goats. They were gray haired older men that were perched up on a rock...what name could be more fitting! We surely got a kick out of it anyhow!

Once we got up the false summit we realized we had to go down this steep snow slope, up another steep snow slope, and do the final rock climb to the summit. Darren soloed this climb in plastics and I have no idea how he made it! It was intense and honestly scared the crap out of me. I may have been on belay but it was truly one of the scariest rock climbs I have ever done. Later on Darren admitted that he too was scared. All 3 of us finally got to the top, we had finally made it! It was 8:00 a.m. and we had officially made a successful summit of Mt. Olympus! We hung out for about an hour eating snacks and soaking up the sun, the views, and the feat we had just conquered. We rappelled off the rock wall and began to make our decent to base camp. We could see: the surrounding Olympic range, the Cascades, the mountains of British Columbia and Vancouver Island, Mt Baker, Mt Rainier the Pacific Ocean, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Washington coast, and the Hoh River Valley.

As we came down Crystal Pass, over the Snow Dome, and began our actual decent to the glacier, we met up with a couple that had reached the summit shortly after us. They were a nice married couple and she was 4 months pregnant...now that's dedication to the sport! I was amazed that she made it! We glissaded down most of the way side by side roped up and it was a ton of fun! You can pick up a ton of speed going down and it makes the decent far faster than plunge stepping in the snow. One thing to note was that as we were coming across the Snow Dome

I will spare the details of the brutal hike down from base camp. We basically packed up after our summit trip and then hiked 8.3 miles back to 9 mile where our food was for the night. We had an 18 mile day and it was rough on all of us. The next morning we got up and headed out to the car, which was about 9.1 miles away from where we would find the car and the beloved cheeseburgers we craved so much! We rode the ferry home from Kingston to Edmonds and reminisced on the trip and all we had accomplished. It was an amazing and unforgettable adventure and I can't image 2 better people to share it with! We had good laughs, good times, and great memories!

Probably inside jokes to us but feel free to ask I shall tell! ...

The Goat's Nest. Float Plane. Power Walking. The Fart. The Pill. The Orb. Memories of Kindergarten through 6 grade. Many many more....

Words we used to describe the trip: Spectacular. Amazing. Unbelievable. Indescribable.