Bare It on Barrett, 25-July-2014 (SFW)

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kepPNW
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Bare It on Barrett, 25-July-2014 (SFW)

Post by kepPNW » July 28th, 2014, 6:06 pm

Okay, let's just get this out of the way up front. So to speak. Leave it to Brad to be right on top of the very latest in social trends...

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#ToplessTour has exploded all over Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and now Bare It Spur! Who knew?

Googling it, so you don't have to...
    • "In the simplest form, The Topless Tour is the opening of your bare chest and heart to the world; but it is so much more that that, it’s an experience," Edginton said. "Liberation that will connect you with your surroundings and the people you love."

      Forget planking or whaling -- if you just follow the hashtag #ToplessTour on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, you'll see people sharing pics from gorgeous locales around the world, with their arms raised high in jubilation -- topless, of course. And there are no frontal shots, so no worries on that front.
      [Continued]
Only time will tell if it's a trend that catches on here on PH. 8-)
  • : ahem :
It was a slacker day from the get-go. Steve (jointhedance), Brad (Born2BBrad) and I all met at Brad's house around 8:30am last Friday, and plotted a course for the Elk Cove trailhead just a mile south of Laurence Lake. We didn't get there until a bit after 10:00, or maybe even 10:15, and were finally ready to bushwhack by about 10:30 or so. Our plan was to cut through the burnt forest to the Pinnacle Ridge trailhead, so we could make a loop out of the day, later coming back to our starting point via the Elk Cove trail.

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Apparently there used to be a connector, but now it's just a scramble between trailheads.


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Takin' one for Chase.


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Right after picking up the Pinnacle Ridge trail, first time any of us had seen one of these.


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While the 2011 Dollar Lake Fire was immense, the recovery seems to be happening at a pretty good pace!


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Nice fire line that did it's job!


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Is it ironic that fireweed was prolific in the burn? Or only ironic to imagine it to be ironic?


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There can be beauty, even in death.


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Mmmmmmmmm... Okay, "Timeout, guys!!!"


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We ran into several patches of seemingly fairly mature huckleberry plants! The fire must've mostly raced through the crown here?


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Still, most of the way up looked a lot like this.


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More evidence the ground fire just wasn't all that intense, perhaps?


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Beargrass is basically done. These were about the only bloomers we saw all day.


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We waded through sea after sea of avalanche lily seed pods. Oh, to have been here a week or two earlier!


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Around 5500', we started to emerge from the burn, and found the lilies and other things blooming a bit more.


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Above 5600', there were still some impressive little swaths of lilies.


We hit no snow to speak of before the Timberline Trail. Once there, we turned west towards Wy'east Basin, thinking we'd head up towards Barrett from there. The basin was bare (and wet!), and snowfields were plentiful higher up.

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Wy'east Basin


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The snow was slushy enough to be slick, with little reason to think any sort of traction would help.


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Gratuitous shot to show that, for at least very brief periods of time, I wasn't the guy in back taking butt shots.


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We hugged the edge of the snowfields as much as we could.


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And finally our destination (or a close approximation thereof) came into sight!


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Stop me if you've seen this one. That mountain is just so damned impressive!


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Another firepit, surrounded by whitebark pine, for Splintercat to decommission! (N45.40269° W121.70737°)


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Cool rock.


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Cool tree.


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Barrett Spur is one of those places that doesn't seem to get much closer over time.


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First peek down into Elk Cove.


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What a backdrop!


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Having just climbed Cooper Spur last weekend, I'll say this one was a lot more sketchy. These rocks roll!


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The snow nicely illustrates the rough grade for the last ways up.


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Cresting what appeared to be the top, of course "another top" comes into view.


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Nothing says, "you've arrived!", like a thumb's up. What a hangout spot we'd found.


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Lunch with a view!


I guess we were probably up there for nearly 1.5 hours, eating, wandering, taking photos, just being. Wow! :D

The glaciers were endlessly fascinating. This north side is just sooooo much more sculpted than the others.

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Of course, there were many other sights up top, too! We could see up and down the Columbia River from the John Day dam to the Glenn Jackson (I-205) bridge. What a day!

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Bull Run and Lost Lakes, with Tanner Butte (behind Lost) and Silver Star (on horizon).


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The awesome, and incredibly grumbly(!), Coe Glacier.


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Cloud Cap Chalet


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Bizarre little #3-soccer-ball sized clump of fuzzy flowers.


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Clouds passed through briefly, which only added to the awesomeness of our perch.


Before leaving, we eyeballed our various exit strategies.

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We all agreed not to wander the Ladd, but instead head down this ridge towards that little meadow.


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But finally, it was like, "Damn, time to go?"


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Okay, one more glamor shot, and that's that then.


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Watch your step, if you feel an urge to get up here!


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Brad scrambled down the rocks as fast as Steve had scrambled up!


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We came back down the rocks, while I guess Craig & Co took the glacier route in mid-shot.


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Saw two other dudes traversing the Ladd. Anyone from here?


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Freaky snow formation! For scale, look at those trees beside it.


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No where to go, but down, from here!


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There were, of course, choices in how one might go down!


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How about them handbrakes?


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Wasn't really steep enough to bootski, so I sort of "speed skated" down. Heh...


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Some times a bit more graceful than others. :lol:


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The Mick Jagger ice field.


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Meadow in sight!


Back into a world that knows green...

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The western pasque flowers were in fine form.


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How many ways can the mountain be framed?


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Mop tops.


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Photobomb like an Egyptian!


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This grizzled old whitebark's trunk was at least 18" in diameter.


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Lupine may be my favorite alpine bloom, but these guys rate #1 for seedpods!


Okay, what now? It's about 6:00, and it seems about time to think about getting off the mountain.

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Hmmm, a little bit cliffy!


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Brad: "That won't cliff out." Steve: "Why wouldn't it?" :lol:


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What cliff? :?


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Timberline Trail in sight! We were veering right here, to avoid the crossing below the confluence of streams on all sides of us.


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Found a beautiful little water feature/falls on the way down.


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One last bootski down to the Timberline Trail.


Back on the (Timberline) Trail, Again...

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The golden hour was upon us.


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This is why I'm always in the back of the line.


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Mount Rainier looming high over Mount Defiance.


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Three volcano view to our north, which was really with us nearly all day long.


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Looking back at where we had been, as we wrapped into Elk Cove, well... wow!


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We were back down amongst the lilies again.


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I could look over and see Cooper Spur, and remember being up there at Tie-In Rock just last week.


From the junction with the Elk Cove trail on down, we pretty much just boogied. We thought it was maybe 3 miles back to the jeep, but it turned out to be a good bit more than that. Got back to the trailhead about 9:15pm. It was probably 11:30ish when we pulled back onto Brad's street?


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Again, we were marching down through the Dollar Fire.


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Again, the fireweed was "on fire."


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Our last view of Mount Hood for today! And what a view it was!


In all, we hiked about 16.5 miles, with an elevation gain of about 5250'.

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Our route. Click for GPSfly track.


Another damn fine day on the mountain! :D
Last edited by kepPNW on July 29th, 2014, 5:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Karl
Back on the trail, again...

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mjuliana
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Re: Bare It on Barrett, 25-July-2014 (SFW)

Post by mjuliana » July 28th, 2014, 6:41 pm

Dang - impressive day's work. Great shots as usual. I'm glad you are always bringing up the rear. :D Just means we get to enjoy your shots. We went up Vista Ridge the next day but did not get up Barrett Spur. Your shots have convinced me that I need to go again.
Thanks,
Mike J

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UTurn
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Re: Bare It on Barrett, 25-July-2014 (SFW)

Post by UTurn » July 28th, 2014, 6:56 pm

Wow! Very impressive! I must say one of my favorite shots is the mop tops. :)

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jointhedance
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Re: Bare It on Barrett, 25-July-2014 (SFW)

Post by jointhedance » July 28th, 2014, 7:08 pm

Karl, great photos of a perfectly highly memorable day! Great report as usual. Love the 'dis-clothed' hikers shot. Brad's idea! I still don't know what that soccer-ball-sized sedum is, but some astute PH'er will have the name. My thought is that it is probably 50-something years old, maybe older!

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CraigG
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Re: Bare It on Barrett, 25-July-2014 (SFW)

Post by CraigG » July 28th, 2014, 7:51 pm

Well done! #ToplessTour on Bare It Spur! Seemed like quite the experience! Wonder where they are touring next??? Let's see how that lasts into the winter months! :lol:

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Splintercat
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Re: Bare It on Barrett, 25-July-2014 (SFW)

Post by Splintercat » July 28th, 2014, 8:56 pm

Thanks, Karl - terrific report, one of your best! (...though I'm biased, of course, because Mount Hood is special...) Great photos, as always! :)

I'll defer to the botanical experts, but I think your mystery flower is Cushion Buckwheat (Eriogonum ovalifolium).

BTW, I floated the idea of simply moving the Pinnacle Ridge TH down to the Elk Cove TH a few years ago, and the USFS even started a project to look at that option, but later withdrew it for reasons unknown. Still on my list of obvious things to do (the concept included a new section of the Elk Cove trail that would avoid the logging road section, too), so will keep that on the TKO list.

Thanks for posting!

Tom :)

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Re: Bare It on Barrett, 25-July-2014 (SFW)

Post by adamschneider » July 28th, 2014, 9:18 pm

kepPNW wrote:Is it ironic that fireweed was prolific in the burn? Or only ironic to imagine it to be ironic?
Ummm... you do know why it's called "fireweed," right? :)

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Peder
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Re: Bare It on Barrett, 25-July-2014 (SFW)

Post by Peder » July 28th, 2014, 9:20 pm

Very tasteful topless photo, well done! Otherwise you might have been banned from PH for life for posting offensive photos!

That is my favorite spot on Mt Hood, so I was pleased to relive it through your great photos.
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Re: Bare It on Barrett, 25-July-2014 (SFW)

Post by woodswalker » July 29th, 2014, 6:29 am

Amazing texture shots on those glaciers. Loved them.
Woodswalker

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miah66
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Re: Bare It on Barrett, 25-July-2014 (SFW)

Post by miah66 » July 29th, 2014, 7:25 am

One heck of a "dayhike", though I use the term loosely! :lol: Awesome shots, one of my favorite trips on the mountain.
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