June 18, 2009, Castle Peak MRNP

SCHOOL'S OUT!!! First day of summer vacation and we slept in (a little!) and hit the Tatoosh. We took a chance on the weather and decided in the Paradise parking lot that the 7000' cloud level was not going anywhere fast. The Tatoosh, on the other hand was out with sun breaks. We skinned up to the Castle saddle and by the time we got up to the top of Castle we could see Mt. Hood below the cloud ceiling. Then the Goat Rocks and Adams cleared. Hello friends-great way to start the summer! We ran into some other new friends back down on the saddle, Bob and Kurt, who skied the Butter Creek drainage with us. They are an inspiration to those of us aspiring to retirement. Way to go Bob and Kurt, and thanks for sharing some of your lines in the saddle. The Butter Creek is still holding snow on east facing slopes, at least down to the trees where we stopped. It was a little softer than the snow on north facing slopes at the top of the saddle, but generally great. Snow is still good all the way back down to the road. Happy summer!