Tag Archives: White River Glacier

Mar12

Backpacking up to the White River Glacier

Posted on March 12, 2024 by perfectusvarrus

Friday and Saturday, 16-Feb-2024 and 17-Feb-2024

I really do stick to the spots I know, don’t I?

But why not, when the goal is just to get out of town and sleep on the glacier? I mean… the goal here isn’t to get crazy views (even though I like to!), nor is the goal to hike a ton of distance (though I do hike some extra miles when I can)… The goal is to get out of town, carve a spot into the snow, and appreciate the cold and solitude.

The white river glacier works well for that – I know it like the back of my hand, it’s not a long hike, and I can take my time on the drive out. I mean, I’ve never set alarms for days that I go up onto the white river glacier. I wake up slow, get brunch, then… take it easy. It’s nice.

This trip was no different from the others. I mean, I didn’t even get to the trailhead ’till 5:00 or so! And Sundown was 6:30!

But that’s fine – I know the path, I have headlamps, and…

Why was there a fire going near my campsite? Was there someone else in my spot?? For the first time in three years???

No, dear readers, thankfully I hadn’t been site-sniped. It was better… so much better. I’ve never seen any one else camping near my area, in the 3+ years I’ve been up that trail. Which is kind of strange, since I only found this specific spot because, when I went up in 2021, someone else had already carved it out from the hillside…

Anyways, I met a team of folks who were making fondue, and we shared fondue. It was delicious, and I very much plan on making fondue the next time I go backpacking. Also I plan on saying fondue as many fondue times as I fon-can. Do. Due.

In trade, I promised aerial pictures of their camp – I made sure they were okay with my flying my drone ahead of time, of course, and they were quite psyched for the opportunity, so… win-win, right? Heck yeah, right.

The rest of the trip was exactly as normal – quiet, relaxing, and exceptionally enjoyable. I adore the snow, the cold, and the quiet that I can’t ever seem to find in the summer. Something about the stillness of the air, maybe? Or where the world seems to be hibernating, and not expecting anything from us? I can’t say for certain, but I can say that I appreciate it.

May11

Snow backpacking on the White River Glacier – with Jess!

Posted on May 11, 2023 by perfectusvarrus

Standard

Friday and Saturday, 14-April-2023 and 15-April-2023

It’s been a hot minute since I went backpacking… and an even hotter minute since I’ve been backpacking with someone!

This weekend, I’d be taking Jess on her first snow backpacking experience – so I went with the basics, and we headed up to the White River Glacier to hopefully take advantage of the campsite that I’d tamped down back in… January? Okay, yeah there’s no way that campsite is still prepared.

Ahh well – it’d just make it more of a learning experience, right? Right. Right!

Friday:

We got a nice Pine State biscuits breakfast, and headed into the woods. Snow. Onto the Glacier.

As always, it was beautiful.

As always, there’s not much to say about walking. We snowshoed, it was fun, had a blast.

Got to camp, carved out a campsite, and settled in for a relaxing and cold evening… good books, good gin, and delicious cocoa!

Nothing really huge of note, though I was really happy with how the tent site came out!

Saturday:

Saturday dawned nice and clear, with a beautifully crisp and cold world around the campsite.

We had some coffee and tea, a good breakfast, and headed upward, toward the little overlook at the top of the glacier. It was lovely, with solid snow and great views of the Cascades down to the south – and some stellar clouds filtering the light around us!

We hiked upward, and descended back down. Packed up camp, and made the shortish walk back to the car… just in time to make the early dinner bell at the Timberline Lodge, and get to see the sunset from the restaurant!

Mar11

Snowshoeing up the White River Glacier

Posted on March 11, 2023 by perfectusvarrus

Standard

Saturday, 26-Feb-2023

It’s been a while since I’ve done a friend-hike up the White River Glacier… I think this is becoming a lovely tradition for my friend Ben and I, though. Even if it’s not super frequent, it’s lovely and a great chance to get out of town for a short adventure.

See, we work together. More accurately, we work in the same building but in different groups. Same department… but we don’t have any regular overlap. So we don’t get to chat in the office that often, and stories and ideas and thoughts always build up.

By the time we finally get a hike in, we basically just talk for seven hours straight about almost literally everything. Like, I legitimately have a whole page of notes about work ideas we had… and we didn’t talk about work the whole time (thankfully!). It’s lovely to decompress, and get to blather with someone else who understands on multiple levels.

So… yeah.

Breakfast at Best Baguette (yep, it’s accurate. They’re that good).
Then a drive to Mt. Hood through the snowbound Portland (you thought Wilsonville was hit by the storm?)
A hike up the glacier, to the lovely little spot that I camp (for lunch, don’t’cha’know)
And finally, a gloriously relaxed and well-tired drive back into town.

A good day, by any and every metric.