Baker Summit Part 1

I've had "Summit Mount Baker" on my list of things to accomplish for a few years. 

This is the summer we stopped talking about it and went for it.

 It started with a pretty big group of possible hikers, but in the end it was

me Jim Das Dane and Dan.

Roxanne and her family hiked with us to base camp. 

Dane was our guide. He had the gear and the know how. 

We rented crampons and boots and ice axe. 

Spoiler: it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Top five hardest. 

One contributing reason is because our packs were heavier than normal to carry all the gear and winter clothes. 

Stats: In 24 hours we hiked 15 HARD miles, and gained 7,000 feet elevation. 

Also spoiler: we didn't make it to summit because of a STORM. We made it to the volcano crater hole. 

Roxanne was so nice to sherpa the rope for us since she didn't have an overnight pack. They turned around at base camp.

For future (IF I try it again), I would definitely bring people to help sherpa stuff. The hike to base camp is a hard 4-5 miles depending on where the snow starts at the base of the glacier. 

The first few miles are a lark.

Of course Roxanne is fun to have on the trail. We talk and talk and she takes all the pictures of me without me knowing. haha

In the future: I insist she comes with us all the way. 

There is the mountain! To the top!

Things start getting real once you get to the ridge line. 

This is a steep drop to your right where the glacier has cut out the land. 

Sometimes it's a drop off on both sides. 

It goes UP HILL forever and ever leading to the glacier. Longest ridge line in the world. 

Theaden and Vance also Sherpa that rope. It's about 8 pounds when it's dry. 

The trail gets more and more rocky, leaving the trees and the marmots behind. 

Soon it was time for the Lochridges to leave and time for us to find a base camp. 

Here is when it took another notch up in difficulty. 

You can't totally tell why it would be so hard, but it was super technical, big rocks to pick our way over. No set trail, somewhat sketchy terrain. This last hour of finding the right spot was one of the most difficult parts physically. It wouldn't have been so bad, but with 30+ pounds on your back, it was so hard. 

We had to find a good "boat launch" where we could go from tent to snow easily considering the rope and crampons. 

For future: this winter there wasn't a lot of snow pack for Baker ski resort and the mountains in general. So it was extra tricky picking over these technical rocks looking for a good spot. I would need a winter with more snow so that we could have an easier base camp and boat launch. That hour of hard terrain killed me. 

We eventually had to swap to boots and walk through snow, but then the boots were not good on the rocks again. It's hard to explain but weirdly the hardest thing. 

Finally we found a good place to camp!

Phew, I was so happy to take off that pack. 

Another hard thing is you have to get up in the middle of the night to start the hike to ensure the snow is hard enough, not slushy. 

Slushy is like hiking through sand and wears you out faster. 

So we set up camp pretty quickly and ate a hot dinner, then tried to go to sleep by 8pm. 

I brought a mask because by the way the sky is so bright until about 10:30. 

If you think I could get actual sleep, you are wrong. I lay there and rested and tried, but couldn't quite make it to sleep. 

Base camp was so so pretty. 

It was warm and the sky was blue and you could see all the peaks around us. 

Dan brought his crazy drone and they flew it up and over Baker to scout the route. 

There's Das's tent,

Right here by our tent is where we would launch in the middle of the night. 

There are some other campers down mountain from us,

and up mountain from us is the Baker. 

See those amazing scraggly mountains? When you look at Baker from our house, you can see those peaks. And here we are, right in the shadow of them. It was so so pretty. 

Example:

See those scraggy peaks to the right? We camped behind those. 

So we ate some chicken alfredo and set our alarm for 12am...

Baker Lake "Group Camp"

As per the weirdness of this summer, our giant group camp was reduced to just 10 of us:

Me and Lindsay were the last adults standing, plus our kids, plus Hunter and Hudson. 

So since we have super strong, capable kids, we took them backpacking to Baker Lake. 

It's actually the easiest, most best place to camp with kids. 

At the beginning of the trail someone told us the bridge was out, so you have to cross the river at your own risk. I was a little nervous because the boys were way ahead of us. 

It turned out to be no problemo. A couple of rock hops. 

Because the boys got to camp first, they picked this side of the Point. The sun was shining and there was a cool dock down below!

We set up camp, then me and the big kids went to the river to get water. 

While here there was a group of older hikers trying to cross the river. It is a little bit sketchy, but we thought they wouldn't want or need our help. 

But then one of the men fell, and his shirt buttons popped open,

so I went down in my water shoes and gave them a hand across. 

haha the teenagers averted their eyes. 

The water was so perfect! Clean and crisp but not too cold. 

And the sun shone on us and it felt like summer with the whole gang jumping in and floating on the log.

Gus always finds a way to up the ante. 

After a while we got out, got changed, got dry, dinked around.

Me and Lindsay walked around the Point seeing if we want to move to a less windy area?

When we came back, the kids had unhooked the dock and were back in the water. 

They sailed around on the doc for a while, then brought it back to shore. 

I swam around the corner to see if we could see Baker yet (for a while it was covered in clouds), and yep there she was!

Avery gasped and said "this really is Baker Lake!"

This was so funny watching Christopher jump in. He would bend his daddy long legs in like a frog and everyone cracked up.

It reminded me of newborn legs. 

We ate dinner then watched the sun go down over by Mount Baker.

It thrills me every single time to see Baker just sitting there. 

They moved the table away from the edge so there would be less wind to play cards. 

Group picture!

Here are the last of the group campers. 

Two moms and 8 cool kids. 

It was getting dark, 

and there is a burn ban,

so we gathered around the lantern that Gus lugged in his pack.

It felt like we were sitting around the campfire,

we told stories and played games. 

Johnny Oops made an appearance (the worst!),

Black Magic,

and then Lindsay told scary stories about Little People - indigenous legend that tells about creatures that lure children away from camp to disappear forever.

All fun and games until Hudson was properly freaked out! Poor kid had a whole night to think about that while sleeping in a hammock under the stars. haha

Then we discussed stars - who has seen a shooting star?

did you know there are people in the world that have never seen a shooting star?

So we turned off the lantern/fire and watched the stars. 

This was my favorite part:

There is something so magical that happens when staring at the night sky. It's just unimaginable. 

Then we saw a shooting star! We all whooped at once! 

By the end of the night there was a total of 5 shooting stars. 

There were a few bats flying around our heads, so we moved over to another view of the sky:

Can you see? There is the Big Dipper hanging out right about Baker.

Again we all oohed and ahhhed. 

After about 30 minutes of watching the show, it was time for bed. 

Good morning. 

Seniors

As me and Lindsay brought up the rear, we discussed how happy we were that we made this happen. 

With all the busy schedules this summer, it wasn't easy. 

But it felt like a whole summer was packed into the two days.