Mission Accomplished!

At the top of Mission Ridge...that's Mt. Rainier in the distance.

My biggest goal for the summer was to climb Mission Ridge from the parking lot to the top of the ski runs at Chair 2...yesterday...I did it!  It took me 3.5 hours to make it to the top...which is a long way from fast (some yahoo says he can make it up in an hour and 45 minutes...shazbat!)...but faster than I thought I could (my goal was 4 hours).  This was simply my most challenging hike...ever.  Tom and Penny joined me...and though it was an awesome, inspiring and fun day...it's gonna take me a few days to recover.  

The path we took is in green...and we went down Mimi at the end.

There are no official trail guides for this hike.  In fact, I could find very little actually about the hike.  There is a hike you can do from Devil's Gulch trail head that starts about 800 ft lower than we did, but it meanders along a hike/bike that is 14 mile round trip.  The measuring I did for our distance and elevation are based on the Trails iPhone app that told me we went just over 3.75 miles to get to the top and had an elevation gain from 4190 ft to 6820 ft. ...so just over 2600 (starting from where we parked our car outside of the actual parking lot).  So I'm logging 7.5 total miles and a gain of 2600 ft for the Hike-a-Thon (I'm sure of the mileage as my app has been fairly accurate with official trail guides backing it up...but the elevation is sometimes sketchy).  Regardless of the exact elevation gain...my feet feel like they trudged up 2600 ft for sure.  

The first section is definitely the hardest.  You gain the entire elevation of Chair One (the chair that takes you to Mid-Way and the top of "Mimi") on a rocky road that goes straight up...no switch-backs, no stairs, no meandering...just straight up the mountain.  The first time I trudged up this hill (granted, in snow shoes), it took me just over 45 minutes and I thought I was going to die, even though I stopped every 50 feet or so. The second time (just two weeks ago), it took me 35 minutes and I had to stop 4 or 5 times and I was gasping for breath and red in the face much of the time.  This time...it took me 30 minutes and I only had to stop twice for about a minute to catch my breath....and though I was still much slower than Tom...I never felt like I was going to die.  On the way up, I met an older woman who said, "You're not trying to make it all the way up are you?  It's a grunt.  Are you sure you can do it?"  Her tone and looks of disbelief clearly showed that she did not think I was capable, confirmed by the fact that she asked me several times if I really thought I could make it.  Yeah, babe, I'm sure I can, why don't you and your herding pooch just keep skedaddling up to Mid-Way and let me be.   I didn't need her doubt to motivate me to the top...but it certainly added a bit of fuel to the fire already raging in my belly. 

Mmmm...Mandarin Orange Gu.

At Mid-Way, I met Tom (I ask him to move ahead at his own pace and just meet me at designated meeting spots so I feel no pressure to push myself farther and harder than is heart healthy).  We let Penny off-lead...and she was in HEAVEN.  She immediately took off, but made sure to stay basically "in-view" and explored the meadow while we "gu"ed up...love, love, love Gu.  Chocolate Outrage is my favorite (kinda tastes & feels like brownie batter...yum).  Tom just tried Mandarin Orange and liked it a lot...next time he's got a Mint Chocolate to try...I'm gonna let him be the guinea pig here....'cuz the Tri-Berry SUCKS. Gu is simply the greatest thing to use when you think you are hitting the wall and flagging...it immediately peps me up and makes the next stretch look not quite so daunting.

Hitting the cat-tracks at Mid-Way.

'Cuz the next stretch IS daunting.  Right after Mid-Way, the switch-back cat-trails kinda start...but they are still steep as heck until you cross under Chair 2 again (called "The Liberator" after a B-24 Bomber that crashed there in 1944). This is the section that always makes me question my sanity in taking on this climb.  It is super rocky and has a very steady, steep rise...I had to stop multiple times on the way up to meet Tom.  The great news is that I didn't have to stop as many times as I did two weeks ago, and my recovery time is really slimming down.  Once you get back under the Liberator, the cat-trails really mellow out...steady elevation gain the whole time, but nice and "easy" compared to the first third of the mountain. 

The blue roof is the Liberator quad chair lift  at Mid-Way , and to the right and up, you can see where the road ends and we parked the car. :)

We ski this!!

Every time I would look around, I would be struck by the awesome view...sometimes Glacier Peak in the distance, or Wenatchee below, or down some ski run I really loved last season--that now looks insanely steep in the summer.  I can't believe I ski down these rocky drops!  The wild flowers were in full bloom, the breeze was lovely (down-right chilly and fierce on top!) and the bugs were nearly nonexistent. 

Beautiful meadows of wild flowers all up the trail.

This middle section of the hike is really, really nice...and there are even some sections where the rocks thin out (the road is really rutted and rocky most of the way...painful on the tooties) and the pine needle cover gives a short vacation of padded bliss underfoot.  


Last time, I stopped at the junction of several runs right under the Liberator, right before the short jog up to see the bomber wing.  That day, my feet and legs were done and I just knew I couldn't make it any further.  However..this time, I was still full of energy and drive when I got there...it was awesome.  We pushed on through and made it to the bomber wing. 

Un-fargin-believable view!  Mission Ridge skiers try to make it up to the wing each year to touch it, as legend has it that the years when the wing was moved down to the lodge were bad snow years...when it came back up to the crash site...the snows came back :)  

Only in the summer can you see the wreckage still left from the Liberator Crash...this is what you see from the wing site.

View from the wing.

If you've made it all the way to the wing...you have to go all the way to the top...no matter how tired you are (and, boy, was I tired).  It got windier and chillier as we made our way up along the boundary road. I was super happy I packed my windbreaker even though it was supposed to be in the 90s...it was down-right cold with the wind whipping across the ridge.  I got a little teary when I turned the last corner and could see Tom & Penny near the radio tower...almost there. 

Tom & Penny in the distance next to the radio tower.

Check out the hair!  Windy!!

At the top, it was simply breath-taking.  The view of Rainier, Adams, Stuart & Glacier Peak all from the same spot was incredible. To see this place without snow was bizarre..."Hey, I didn't know those un-grated steps were there"...because they are usually under 6 feet of packed snow.  Wow.  After a brief (but scary) moment when Penny wandered off and the wind was so loud she couldn't hear us calling, we snapped up a bunch of pictures and then climbed up to the Ski Patrol Top Shack to have a much deserved lunch on the wind-sheltered deck.  

Ski Patrol Top Shack in the distance.

The sign that shows you where to look for each peak...you can see Rainier on the left.

Penny made it, too!

 

 

 

Rainier & Glacier Peak on either side of me along the horizon.

Tired pup and her hiking buds take a much deserved lunch break.

Oh you dirty dog!

A word about Penny...she was generally great on this hike.  She was off-leash 70% of the time and did an incredible job on the way up of running back and forth between Tom and I (he was generally out of my sight) to check on us.  Often times, I wouldn't see her for a few minutes and then she would run around a bend and stand at the top of the hill waiting for me (often taking the opportunity to roll in the nearest patch of flowers or sand).  When I would reach her, I got a quick, happy greeting and then she would run back up to check on Tom.  I would never let her have this much freedom on a crowded trail...but as we were just about the only ones going up the cat tracks (we did meet a few folks and one other dog on the way up)...I felt very comfortable letting her have the independence...and she loved it.  In fact, the only time having her off lead was an annoyance was on the way down...she knew we were done and going home just wanted to get to the car.  She stayed well ahead of us (Tom & I were together most of the way down) and almost seemed perturbed that we were lolly-gagging our way down the mountain.  We leashed her back up at Mid-Way as that is where we would be most likely to meet folks, and she & Tom scooted quickly down Mimi to the car.

Now...the up part was great.  Getting up the mountain was easier than before.  My endurance was great.  My legs did wonderfully well under the circumstances.  My feet...sucked.  The last 1/2 of the way down was excruciating.  The rocky terrain finally got the best of me (as well as a pinky toe, that despite being thoroughly wrapped and padded, was throbbing and sore)...I was frankly hobbling by the time we got to Mid-Way, and I still had another 20-30 minutes down the rocks to go.  We decided to try Mimi instead of the trucking road as I hoped the meadow would give a bit more cushion.  And it did...for a little while...but then the rocks were just as bad and loose and the going down was more treacherous than I had figured.  I didn't hit the wall until that point.  By the time I reached the Ski Patrol Bottom Shack, I was getting teary and cranky.  Thankfully, I was just a parking lot (fine gravel...thank all that is holy) away from a loving, supportive boyfriend's congratulatory hug, a pooped puppy's sloppy kiss and a car that promptly took me down into Wenatchee and Starbucks.  Best iced coffee...evah!

Hike-a-thoner & her trusty steed ready to depart.

Hike-a-Thon stats:  32.5 miles hiked (wahoo...and week three starts today!) and $247 raised (oops...and week three starts today.)  Next on the books...some kind of a fun hike on Tuesday...just gotta find someone to do it with me. :)


So...now that I've met my summer goal...I guess I need to set a new one...I'll let you know what that is once my feet stop throbbing. :)