Trip Log

Index

Richard Forbes Richard Forbes

TRIP REPORT - Skiing Great Scott Bowl - Snoqualmie Pass

Every first day of the season has to have some rough patches right?  Luckily, the day was glorious and the snow was deep, which helped me forget the bootpacking/powdercrawling... 

Bryant Peak shines through the clouds

I overnighted in my car in the parking lot at Alpental to avoid waking up early, and got to see dawn rise over the resort, before meeting up with Mike and Dimas and heading up towards Source Lake.

Alpental at dawn

It was wild to be at Source Lake in the winter - the last time I was up there I was scrambling over talus towards the Tooth, and the snow made everything way easier.  The Source Lake bowl was looking pretty thin, so we climbed up a steep skin track towards Great Scott Bowl. 

Scoping out Source Lake basin - Mike's pointing up at some avalanche debris

Halfway up, my skins decided they didn't want to hold on any longer, so I took some tumbles and finished the climb in my boots.   

This guy couldn't have been more stoked on the day - hopefully he finds this photo!

Luckily, I found Scott, whose skins were pulling the same shenanigans, and we took turns breaking trail for one another while the clouds cleared over Bryant Peak.  

My  bootpacking compadre - Scott

My skinning fiasco took up a fair while, and I didn't feel eager to get back on the bootpacking horse, so I packed it in and headed back to town for my afternoon shift.  But I can't wait to get out again!

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Richard Forbes Richard Forbes

TRIP REPORT - Snowshoeing Camp Muir

Descending Muir Snowfield, with Mt. Adams in the distance

Basic Stats: 4,640 ft of gain, 9 miles, 4 hours up, 2 hours down

 

Yesterday, Becky and I took advantage of the inversion (and unseasonably warm weather) and headed to Mt. Rainier National Park for my first trip south from Seattle.   Since avalanche danger was low, we decided to go big and snowshoe up to Camp Muir!

We started out in beautiful 45 degree weather, wearing only sun shirts and light pants, using microspikes for traction.  We saw the avy debris on the west side of Panorama Point from a few days earlier (when two snowboarders had triggered a decent-sized slide) before heading up the steep Panorama Face (just below Panorama Point).

The skin trail was relatively obvious, and we followed it from the top of Pan Point.  Midway up Muir Snowfield an easterly wind started gusting, and we layered up as we worked our way higher.  We put on snowshoes to get better grip on the icy snow for the final climb, then enjoyed our lunch in the relative calm of the public shelter on top of Muir.

On the way down, the wind obscured the skin trail and piled snow in small heaps, and we worked our way slowly down the Muir Snowfield.  The sun slowly set and the ever-changing light on Rainier made it hard to tear our eyes away to watch where we were going. 

 
 

But I kept us hurrying along because I'd been worried all day about descending the icy Pan Face.  We got to the top just after sunset but before complete nightfall, and it looked like what I'd expected - steep, tracked-out, and refrozen.  But the steep descent went uneventfully - we slowly picked our way down, appreciating the big teeth of our snowshoes.  At the bottom, we took a breath, then clumped our way down the final stretch to the parking area.

More photos:

Climbing up towards Panorama Point, the trail is well packed.

Panorama Face was almost too steep for microspikes, and on the way down we very carefully descended on snowshoes.  

Heading up Muir Snowfield, the snow began to soften up in the bright sunshine.

30 mph winds whipped us around at Camp Muir

Looking up towards the summit above us

Hunkering down in the shelter for soup and hot chocolate (with schnapps!)

Beginning the descent with the wind gusting around us

Almost back down, and ready to be back at the car for a celebratory beer!

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Richard Forbes Richard Forbes

TRIP REPORT - Pasayten Wilderness - 50 miles

In case you want to see it all on a map - Pasayten Loop GPX

Once I'd seen pictures of Upper Cathedral Lake, I knew I wanted to visit the Pasayten.  We planned a few approach routes, and ultimately decided to start at 30 Mile Trailhead.  We set off up the Chewuch trail in the blazing heat (there was a heatwave throughout most of our trip).  

The first 6 miles are through a burn, and there are no options to camp until just before the Fire Creek trail comes in (where there's room for at least a few tents).  We camped there, and changed our plans.  We'd hoped to go up to Windy Peak and Horsetooth Basin, but decided that due to limited water accessibility and the heat in the burn zone (the Windy Peak trail looked to have more burn along it), we'd go up the forested Tungsten Trail instead.

This proved to be a good idea, as the trail was well maintained, stayed mainly under treecover, and was lined by wildflowers.  We camped by the Tungsten Mine Cabin, where we found a somewhat maintained outhouse!  There's water access if you follow the wellworn social trail from the main cabin southwest (crossing the boundary trail) and then setting out across the somewhat boggy meadow (maybe a 15 minute stroll) to the beautiful little burbling Tungsten Creek.

The next day we followed the Boundary trail over Apex and Cathedral Passes, and got our first incredible views of the North Cascades.  We camped near Upper Cathedral Lake, where inquisitive mountain goats came to visit.  Turns out they really do lick the urine off rocks...

We spend our fourth day relaxing by the lake, visiting Lower Cathedral Lake (which seemed to be a lot less visited), and trying to summit Cathedral Peak (a bit too sketchy for us without gear).

View from our highpoint

View from our highpoint

 

 

Fifth day - we headed down to the Andrew's Creek trail, where we planned to camp near Airview Lake.  When we couldn't find a trail up to Airview (turns out it's a faint scramble through the burn zone), and realized that the rest of our trip would be in an unpleasantly hot burn zone, we retreated back up to Remmel Lake and found a beautiful campsite with a reflected view of Remmel Mountain.

Remmel Lake is worth visiting - and I want to climb Remmel Mountain next time I'm in the area

Remmel Lake is worth visiting - and I want to climb Remmel Mountain next time I'm in the area

 

Sixth day - we headed back down to the junction of the Chewuch and Tungsten Creek trails, where we'd found a great campsite on our second day.  There's a perfect swimming hole fifty feet downstream of the creek confluence.  

Seventh day - woke up extra early and hiked out through the burn zone before it got too hot.  

Overall, it was a great trip.  We saw only a few people the entire time, hiked well-maintained trails lined almost entirely with wildflowers, and found incredible mountain views (and almost summited Cathedral!).  We'd gone into the trip expecting some pretty damaged trails (due to blowdowns in burnzones) but the forest service and horsepackers have done some incredible trail maintenance.  Every junction is signposted, and it's one of the best maintained wilderness areas I've visited, with gorgeous campsites everywhere you'd expect them.

More info in a trip report at wta.org

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Richard Forbes Richard Forbes

Too Few Days in Red Rocks

I was lucky enough to join my brother and mom in Red Rock Canyon for a few days! It's just outside Las Vegas, but it's a whole different world.  Thousands of routes on beautiful sandstone.  I can't wait to go back - three days was definitely not enough.

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Richard Forbes Richard Forbes

The Warren G Hardings!

So, out of nowhere, I got to shoot my first music video yesterday!  The Warren G Hardings sounded great and were phenomenal to film.  I can't wait to get the final audio and start editing!

Here's a couple shots from behind the scenes - 

I love this shot

Heath sitting down between takes

This pretty much sums up the afternoon

Listening to the last take

Warming up

this is my favorite shot from the whole day

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Richard Forbes Richard Forbes

Settling Down?

One of my favorite parks in Colorado Springs - Stratton Open Space

Hidden Valley, Moab

I just finished moving everything I own.  3,000 miles of driving, alone, through the American West, from Colorado Springs to Seattle.  

And I didn't take the direct route, but went out of my way to visit friends and my favorite places.  There was no way I was driving through Colorado and not getting to Crested Butte, or driving through Utah and not going trail running in Moab.  Some people might think that driving solo so far, through snow and rain and long hours, would be hard and maybe even not worth it. But it's like exercising - at a certain point, after a few hours, you lose sense of time and you're just in the drive.   Hours go by and you don't notice.  The miles ticking up on the odometer and the gas gauge going down - that's the only way to tell time is passing.

I've lived on the road, out of a backpack or car, for a total of two and a half years.  Traveling is my default.  In doubt? Travel.  Happy? Travel.  Sad? Travel.  For me, the hardest part of traveling is not knowing when to stop.  After a few months of living on the road, I'll start getting jealous of my friends with stable lives.  I'll wish I had a home, a regular bed, a dog.  I'll settle down somewhere. And after I've been settled for a few weeks or months, I start getting the urge to head out again on the next trip.

When I've been traveling too long...

It's a crazy seesaw - I'm always pining after the next thing.  Now I'm in Seattle, and I'm hoping to be here a while.  Maybe I'll even sign a lease - which terrifies me! I won't stop seeing new things and going new places, but I want to adjust the scale of my adventures.  Instead of driving across the country, or flying to another continent, I want to explore the Pacific Northwest.  I want to start small. What can I find right here, near Seattle?  In between rainstorms, you can see Mt. Rainier looming on the horizon. Maybe trying to summit is a good next goal...

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Richard Forbes Richard Forbes

Only a few days away from a stable life?

So, after solo driving 2,000 miles in a week and packing all my stuff, I'm a day's drive from Seattle, and potentially settling down for a bit.  This is surreal.  Looking back over the last few days helps me calm down.

Of course, Colorado had to snow while I was cleaning my storage unit.

Duke licking his lips at all the pow

Sawyer and Moshup in Missoula!

Goodbye Pike's Peak!

A quick hike in Moab between drives

Idaho

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Richard Forbes Richard Forbes

Life on the Road

Coast Starlight!

After my river trip (check out "floating the border" if you don't know about it), I wasn't ready to stop moving.  So I hit the road and visited a few friends.  I drove from Albuquerque to Denver to Salt Lake City, flew to San Jose, and took the train (26 hours!) to Seattle.

A few days ago, my dear friend Kendall Rock recommended I start a photo journal.  So I figured I'd share a few of the things I've seen in the last month.

My biggest problem with the road is figuring out how to stop wandering!

What exactly is unnecessary travel? Driving to Salt Lake City for a huge powder day?

Benaroya Hall in Seattle for violin and piano sonatas!

My beautiful girlfriend in the redwoods of California!

The view from Seattle towards Bellevue.  I love Seattle

The view from Seattle towards Bellevue.  I love Seattle

My favorite dog ever

Snow in the Cascades

Truth

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