July 17, Adams SW Chutes
7/15/10
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3705
1
SW Chutes are still in prime shape!
On Friday night Biker and I got to Cold Springs campground just in time to grab the primo spot right next to the crapper. In other words, the place was absolutely jammed. Oh well, it's not like we were there for the ambiance anyways.
We hit the trail just before 6 under clear skies. Weather was absolutely ideal all morning and we reached the summit at about 11. We hung out for a bit to take some pictures and give the snow a chance to bake.
Just before noon we headed down. The first few turns off the summit weren't anything to write home about, but things improved further down. By the time we got back to Pikers things were feeling pretty good and spirits were high checking out the line. What followed can only be described as ~4k of perfect freakin corn, awesome! We kept making turns until the snow ran out, then tromped down along the creek to the round the mountain trail for the slog back to Cold Springs. A couple cold IPAs at the car followed by a trip to the Full Sail brewery capped a totally sweet trip down south. Although traffic through Portland was definitely less than sweet...
St Helens in a sea of clouds
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OR Volcanoes
biker and MSH
biker drops a knee
On Friday night Biker and I got to Cold Springs campground just in time to grab the primo spot right next to the crapper. In other words, the place was absolutely jammed. Oh well, it's not like we were there for the ambiance anyways.
We hit the trail just before 6 under clear skies. Weather was absolutely ideal all morning and we reached the summit at about 11. We hung out for a bit to take some pictures and give the snow a chance to bake.
Just before noon we headed down. The first few turns off the summit weren't anything to write home about, but things improved further down. By the time we got back to Pikers things were feeling pretty good and spirits were high checking out the line. What followed can only be described as ~4k of perfect freakin corn, awesome! We kept making turns until the snow ran out, then tromped down along the creek to the round the mountain trail for the slog back to Cold Springs. A couple cold IPAs at the car followed by a trip to the Full Sail brewery capped a totally sweet trip down south. Although traffic through Portland was definitely less than sweet...
St Helens in a sea of clouds
OR Volcanoes
biker and MSH
biker drops a knee
