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.
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!
I love the sound of rain on a tent. It’s calm, quiet, and is the absolutely perfect backdrop to just letting my mind wander.
This last weekend, I had a little bit more time to let that mind wander than usual, thanks to a series of… unique… events with my trip. But lets not get ahead of ourselves – instead of starting in the deep middle, let’s start in the middle-middle.
The scene: It’s pouring rain. It’s cold, low 40s, but I’m still sweating from the exertion. My legs are tired, they’re kinda cramping, and I have a slight headache. I’m not particularly happy, I’m frustrated, and more than a little cranky that everything seems to be so difficult.
I stop to take a break, going to lean onto my hiking poles… and they slip off the packed snow, onto the fluffier snow to the side of the trail.
I faceplant as they collapse underneath me, down into the 5ft deep snowpack. If I may brag, I’m pretty sure the string of curses that I muttered into the snow was as unique as it was curdling.
But as I levered myself up, from under the weight of my full winter pack, I reminded myself that I’m still happy to be outside. This is still better than having a broken leg, or being at work… and regardless of how frustrating it can be, I’m still feeling, which is kind of the whole point of life in the first place.
To quote a song I’ve been listening to, “This life is a ride, not a fight”.
So I rode. One step in front of the other, forward into the rain.
The day had started frustratingly, when a doctors office cancelled my appointment when I was a few minutes late… after they’d made me wait 30min the last time I was there.
Then, the rain. The weather had predicted snow, but… well, rain is precipitation too, right? Just… worse. In pretty much every way for backpacking.
The hike, as mentioned, wasn’t particularly fun… but was still at least outside and in the woods, you know?
Then, when I finished setting up my tent (and after realizing that most of my gear was wet…) I made the really fun discovery – I’d brought the wrong campstove. See, I have a few stoves for various purposes… I’d brought the fuel for my whisperlight, which is a bottle of white gas, and had accidentally brought my canister-fuel stove to go with it.
The two do not work together.
I stood back and took stock. I had snacks – I never eat all my snacks, so I knew that they were effectively extra calories. I had wet gear – but I’d planned on that possibility, and had more than enough contingencies to keep myself more than warm enough. I had a tent set up – Shelter is important, in every situation. It was 7:30 – Sunset was in an hour.
I nestled into my sleeping bag, and started snacking.
That night, I let my mind wander. I had the whole evening ahead of me, I was snuggled up in a warm sleeping bag, and I had a good book to read. I had snacks, a wine-skin, and I had the beautiful melody of rain on a tent.
It was a bright evening, with a nearly full moon illuminating my tent through the rain, so I didn’t even bother with a headlamp… the little bit of light from my kindle was more than enough to read by.
But I mostly just thought, letting my mind wander. It was exactly what I needed.
The next morning dawned bright and… wait no, it was misty and raining still.
But you know what? That’s fine. I’d gotten the evening that I needed – no distractions, no electronics (kindle’s don’t count), and no beeping buzzing alarming desperate-for-attention cell phones or video games. Just the patter of rain, the silver moonlight, and a warm Ben.
I had my breakfast snacks, armored myself in my still-wet rain gear, and packed up my gear. Took a little walk around to warm up, and then headed back down the glacier to my car, and the promise of a hot meal…
No offence to protein bars and brownie bites, but… I was looking forward to a hot meal and a cup of coffee.
P.S. – For those adventurers, or just curious kittens, who may wonder how I manage to stay warm with wet backpacking gear, in high 30s temperatures… – Synthetic sleeping bag. It’s a big heavier than down, and bulkier, but it stays warm when wet. – Emergency bivy sack. It’s basically just a heat-reflective blanket, but put it around the sleeping bag and it limits any more water getting in, and adds quite a bit of warmth. – A dry set of synthetic clothes. First thing I did when getting into the tent – change out of damp / sweaty clothes and into warm dry ones. – Chemical warmers. I never used these in New England… but I bought a whole box of them for a trip to Scotland, and never used them… so I’ve started packing them in. And ohh man are they lovely.
And, for anyone curious what sort of graffiti we get in the woods of the Pacific Northwest… or what the general opinion of the police in Oregon is, here’s a beautifully simple opinion piece, penned by a traveler of the same area I was in.
