Mount Washington, NE Bowl, June 24, 2006

We got a great start out of the Willamette Valley on Saturday morning, and were hiking south down the PCT near Big Lake a little after 6 am.  The bugs were tough at the trailhead, but calmed down as we got going into woods.  After 3 miles, we picked up the climber€™s trail, and headed east up towards the mountain.  We lost the trail fairly quickly due to snow, but had a relatively easy bushwhack up to the main ridge that separates the NE and NW bowls.  Both bowls had good coverage.  Once on the ridge, it was an easy bootpack up to the top of the NE bowl at about 7,200 feet.  From there, we took two creamy runs down the 1,000 foot bowl, and then traversed back to the ridge.  We soaked in the views for a while, and then headed back down into the trees, following the climbers trail.  We lost the trail again, and took a slightly longer foray through the trees back to the PCT.  With the heat and bugs mounting, spirits dropped a bit, but were well replenished following a great swim in the Santiam on the way back to the 100 degree temps of the valley.  All in all, great turns with a relatively straightforward bushwhack.