Yesterday I went on a day hike along Polallie Ridge, which separates the Waptus River and Cooper River valleys in central Washington. The goal was to reach the site of an old fire lookout just shy of Waptus Pass and then try to summit Cone Mountain. I’d noticed Cone’s formidable eastern face while backpacking to Waptus Lake. After examining a map of the area post-trip I noticed that the western side of the mountain wasn’t even a face at all, it was a flat expanse filling the space between the summit block and Polallie Ridge. Although satellite imagery indicated it was mostly forested rather than a rocky alpine basin I still thought it’d be worth a visit to see what kind of interesting camping opportunities might be available.
In what should have been very-related news I’ve been checking the Swift Creek Snotel on the south side of Mt. St. Helens every day for the past two weeks to see when it’s snow free so that I can schedule a Loowit Trail trip. Swift Creek is at an elevation of 4,400 feet, south-facing, and has just under two feet of snow. The Polallie Ridge trail has sections that top out at over 5,000 feet and is northeast-facing (aka in the shade) – care to guess how much snow it had? Having not even bothered to check, my guess was “zero”. Turns out the correct answer was 2-3 feet starting about 3.5 miles in.
Dammit.
You know, as someone who has done this (hiking) before, you’d think I’d have had the common sense to put two and two together and anticipate (or, at least entertain the possibility of) there being snow on the trail. But I did not. And although it wasn’t technical, slogging up and down bowl after snow-filled bowl without traction or a snow basket on my trekking pole made progress miserably slow. In the end I decided to head back well over a mile before the turnoff to Cone Mountain, which was itself another mile-and-a-half or so further.
On the bright side, at least I knew what trail I was on: I ended up turning two groups of people around (one just a few hundred feet in, one 3+ miles in – ouch) who thought they were on the Waptus River trail. So maybe I’m not the dimmest bulb in the thing-with-multiple-bulbs.
On an even brighter side: check out that photo at the top of this post! Shots like that make it all worth it.
Other noteworthy happenings: I bumped into a junior ranger on my way back, he did know what trail he was on but did not know how much snow he was about to run into so I was happy to share some intel. I also brought my handy pruning saw and cleared about 8-10 logs off of the trail. And, surprisingly, I can still move my arms enough to type up this trip report!
Gear
Turkey is on vacation so let’s talk ham*:
https://lighterpack.com/r/5qkc0z
I went the extra mile and even cataloged all of my food: gold star!
*I thought of this “joke” while I was on the hike. I’m sorry.
What Worked
Aside from the shoes (see below), all of my pieces of worn clothing performed admirably in the warm weather. The prediction was upper 70s but once I hit the snow it was obviously much cooler (in fact, I got a bit chilly while setting up the shot of the lake). These days I’m no longer carrying my thermometer along with me so I don’t have exact numbers to offer. Shame on me.
The Manfrotto Pixi Evo table-top tripod is, once again, a game-changer. Coupled with the Tiffen circular polarizer and Green L neutral density filter (although not at the same time) I was able to pull some pretty solid shots out of what would otherwise have been crappy midday lighting.
What Didn’t
We’ve already covered the snow bit: if you don’t bring traction or a snow basket they’re not going to do you a ton of good.
The other big mistake I made was lugging around an extra two liters of water. For some reason I thought that there’d be a lack of water sources along the trail, what with it being along a ridge and all. Of course, a ridge isn’t literally some knife-edge spine of rock: geologically, there’s some wiggle room. And on this particular hike, despite noting several permanent bodies of water along the route as well as multiple creek crossings, I decided I’d rather be safe than sorry and filled up my Vecto with two liters of tap water, bringing my total carry up to 3.4 liters. Now, I didn’t have to stop and filter as this turned out to be exactly the amount of water that I needed for the (shortened) trip but that’s not a lot to show for having needlessly carried four-and-a-half extra pounds of water.
My Oboz Arete Lows have been giving me trouble by way of blisters on the outsides of my big toes and on this trip I finally figured out why: whenever I’m going downhill and the insides of my feet are lower than the outsides (typical on trails which tend to be “scooped” rather than flat), my feet slide forward and down and they stop when the outside of my big toe collides with the side of the shoe. So that’s not great. Unfortunately the Aretes don’t yet come in wide so perhaps I could make do by going up a size. It’s funny, when I was trying them on I had the 10s, 10-and-a-halfs, and 11s all side-by-side and for whatever reason felt that the larger options were too roomy (despite wearing the Sawtooth in 11 wide) and opted for the snug size 10. I suppose it’s nothing that tape can’t fix, but still, I thought I had the shoe problem solved. It also occurred to me that maybe a mid (rather than a low) might help with keeping my foot in place. We’ll see.
When I got home I immediately headed into the shower. Unfortunately as I was doing so I caught a glance at myself in the mirror: I looked like an out-of-work mime who had been lost in the woods for the better part of a week. My previous sunscreen, Coppertone Sport Clear, was an all-chemical sunscreen which had the amazing property of being completely clear from start to finish – no more ghost face. It also had the less-than-amazing property of giving off fumes which burned your eyes while applying it, so once the bottle ran out I opted for the eye-friendly and zinc-based Coppertone Pure & Simple Baby. Rather than a weird, clear jelly it looks like and has the consistency of cream (in the dairy sense). It’s a bit runny to apply but I figured that somehow translated into being better-absorbing as compared to some theoretical pasty sunscreen. Boy was I wrong.
I use a Litesmith mini jar to hold Vaseline. Since I’m closing it with the same fingers I’m using to apply the Vaseline it inevitably gets slimy and becomes harder and harder to open over time. Perhaps some corrugations on the lid would help?
What’s Next
Well, first and foremost, I’ll be updating my pre-trip checklist with a bullet point (or two) on snow levels and water sources. Assuming I actually follow my own checklist religiously (some trips more than others) I don’t think we’ll have a repeat of the same mishaps.
I’ll probably be ordering some more Oboz to try and address the blister issue. Upon further review I’m going to give heel lock lacing a shot before making any purchases.
To avoid frightening children, always use a mirror to check yourself after applying sunscreen.
I’ll be looking for a Vaseline container that’s a bit more Vaseline-proof. One of Litesmith’s hinge-top containers (like the one I already use for pills) might be the ticket.
Route
Gaia track:
https://www.gaiagps.com/public/fhN49JezuFt6b7dbrDSh9pA1
Stats:
- Distance: 9.4 miles
- Elevation gain: 2,915 feet
Photography
SmugMug gallery:
https://turigrinos.smugmug.com/Adventures/2020/Polallie-Ridge/
I checked all the right boxes to get this shot of Diamond Lake. First, I walked the shore to find a good composition instead of just taking the first available shot. I also had the right equipment: a tripod and a neutral density filter so I could do an HDR long exposure. Without that the trees would have been black, the reflection (other than the wind-swept portion) wouldn’t have been glassy, and the sky and snow would have been washed out. Finally, the wide angle of the lens actually captured a large chunk of very uninteresting snow bank which I (reluctantly at first) cropped away. Very happy with the result.
On the way back I spotted a nice rocky spine (I believe my exact words were “Who’s this pokey bastard?”) and decided to follow it to get some shots of the mountains. Harsh lighting aside, this isn’t a horrible view of Davis Peak. As I was running short on time I did not attempt to follow the ridge further to get an unobstructed shot. I’ve also been playing around with removing the overly-yellow saturation of the warm daylight by shifting the yellow hue towards green and de-saturating it slightly. I think it turned out well.
This is the Waptus River valley and the peak just left of center in the foreground is the elusive Cone Mountain (note steep east face and incredibly flat western flank). I doubt you can make it out at this resolution but while I was processing the photo I noticed an incredibly bright band of solid white just to the right of the rocky bit at the bottom center of the photo – giant waterfall? I certainly don’t recall seeing any such thing on the Waptus River backpack but I’m going to double-check the topo map and see if this might be worth a side trip. Oh, and this is a “panorama” because I had to crop out all the dead trees on the ridge that were cluttering up the bottom.
I was trying to do some foreground composition here and, I dunno… doesn’t really grab me.
Food
If you’re going to keep reading then I guess I’m going to keep writing: I thought I’d share some notes on the food that I brought along.
Pizza pocket meets PBJ sans crust (which I don’t mind). In real life they start out frozen and you have to let them thaw to eat them. In the outdoors they make a great addition to a first-day lunch. Past that the bread dries out and they become slightly less awesome. The advantage over a homemade sandwich is that the crust is hermetically sealed to prevent the contents from oozing out over time.
I picked up this trail mix from the local Safeway. It stands out by offering chocolate-covered caramel balls instead of chocolate chips. Amazing. Tricky in hot weather and very, very chewy close to freezing.
The peanut butter dark chocolate flavor adds a little variety to my tried-and-true dark chocolate with sea salt. Delicious.
Last but not least, a somewhat fragile source of both whole grains and sugary fruits. I bring these on every trip and I just never, ever get tired of them.
Future Trips
Well, once the snow is melted out above 5,500 feet the ridge trail should be clear so a return trip – including Cone Mountain – would be in order. I’m honestly wondering if just doing the Waptus River or Pete Lake trails and then hitting up the pass on the back side would be better than dealing with all the ups and downs of the ridge. Or, I could just make the ridge day 1 of a two-day loop coming back via the Waptus River trail.
And if there is a giant waterfall in that valley I’m going to find it.