22 year old snowshoes 18 miles for her birthday
The Hike Vlog. Music by Cadejo, Taehun Lee, and Animal Divers
Having never hiked in snow, 22-year-old Elena climbs to Thorp Mountain Lookout in snowshoes. I had the honor to be able to take Elena on this trek for her birthday. Her request was to get up in the mountains for the greatest challenge of her life. Did we accomplish that? I think so!
Here’s Elena’s words about the hike:
“The best view comes after the hardest climb”
I climbed Mt. Thorp with Ross for my birthday. At almost 6000 ft elevation and a 17 hour journey in snow, it easily places as the most physically strenuous thing I’ve ever done in my entire life - but it was all so worth it. The view at the top was unbelievable and remarkable to say the least. My experience with Ross as a guide was nothing short of amazing. He was patient with me as this was my first time snowshoeing; he offered great tips, always checked in on me to see how I was doing, and always made sure we were going at a pace I was comfortable with. Ross is a very experienced hiker - you could not have a better guide in Washington. He is very well versed and knowledgeable about the surrounding areas and various hikes that are around, not to mention a talented photographer; his photos speak for themselves. In the beginning stages of planning our hike, Ross was extremely easy to reach and thorough on what to expect, things I should bring, and how to prepare for our hike. Could not have had a better experience with him, thank you again, Ross!
I don’t think there are many people out there who would think of signing themselves up to physically push the boundaries of what they believe is possible for their birthday gift to themselves. For that I have much respect for Elena! This hike experience was planned to do just that and Elena pulled through the whole way.
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Our planning process started in early February as we chatted through many options and narrowed down to snowshoeing as the preferred experience. With the recent mudslides and road closures in Mt Rainier Park we had to look elsewhere for our location. Finding the right snowshoe climb in the winter can be a challenge since forest service roads, even highways and passes, get snowed in and blocked off. I became acquainted with the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest area north of Roslyn, WA 15 years ago and have since gotten to know (and love) the area quite well. Needless to say, some of my options for Elena’s trek were in those nearby mountains.
Thorp Mountain
What’s just a 5 mile hike to the peak and back in non-winter conditions was 18 miles for us in the winter. We were able to start just off of Salmon La Sac Road which added a total of 10 miles walking on the snow-covered French Cabin Rd. And we doubled the normal 2400’ of elevation gain to 4800 feet.
Thanks to snowmobile tracks on the road we walked in our boots on the packed snow but once we got off the service road the snowshoes came on and it was time to blaze our own trail in the snow.
Just after turning off from the road we had to cross Thorp Creek. The water was about 12-15 feet wide. The logs previously used for crossing had been washed downstream. Luckily one of them was light enough I could get it back in place to make it across without getting wet, and off we were into the forest.
Recent warmer days had melted snow leaving lots of streams flowing at spots up to 8 feet below our feet. Navigating to safe routes, being aware of fallen trees under the snow, and deep tree wells were all on my mind while blazing our own trail.
3 miles later we broke from the heavy treeline and started to pick up more elevation. Up to this point we had averaged between a 5%-10% grade incline but for the last mile we averaged a 50% grade incline to the top.
Just before reaching the top comes the first view of Mt Rainier 44 miles to the southwest. Just a bit further up the fire lookout building comes into view on the top of Thorp Mnt.
Being the highest elevation for miles you get a 360 degree view. The sky was completely clear meaning we had views of Rainier, Adams, the Stuart range, and the jagged peaks of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness to the north.
The 360 view was a 2 tone of sky blue and snow white. We spent an hour at the top. It was hard to stop taking pictures but I didn’t want to be navigating the forest when it got dark. My goal was to make it onto the service road before needing to turn on our headlamps. So I put the camera in it’s bag and we headed back down. But not before taking a few landscape-selfies!
I think I really got that one pose down 😂
The trek back was long and a long day in general on our feet meant muscle aches and sore feet. We made it to the service road just in time by dusk.
Photo Gear:
This hike was captured with a Nikon z50 (with 16-30mm) and an iphone XR. I carried a Slik Mini tripod for HDR, panoramas, and self-portraits, and a DJI Osmo Mobile 2 for some iphone video clips. Iphone photos below:
Trail recording including pre-hike the evening before