Columbia River Waterpark- A Ten Peak Hatfield Attempt: 10-17

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Sean Thomas
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Columbia River Waterpark- A Ten Peak Hatfield Attempt: 10-17

Post by Sean Thomas » October 20th, 2014, 2:42 pm

Last Friday(the 17th) running and PH legend Cornelius(Jim) and I met up at the new Columbia Gorge Waterpark they just installed by Starvation Creek ;) (dont worry it wont be anything like the ballon ride from timberline to multnomah :D. Before reaching the park we met up at Angels Rest to leave our cars while Corns wife was nice enough to shuttle us over to Starvation. The parks main attraction, a 75 mile waterslide that goes from Starvation Creek to Angels Rest all while visiting 10 of the major peaks on the Oregon side of the gorge was our goal and boy was it a doozy :D Like a Hatfield on steroids the Ten Peak transgorge never seems to quit going up, or down for that matter. Here's Jim and I at the new ticket booth:


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Hours before we hit the waterpark I drove up to Larch Mtn and stashed a re-supply bag full of food and dry clothes. Driving the old highway back down to the Vista House was a nice prepper for the trip as I hadnt been down that way in a while:


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Our intended meet up time was 5:30 pm at Angels Rest on Friday which would have us buckled in and ready to go just after 6pm. According to the brochure, the slide would take us "westbound" across the gorge summitting Mt Defiance, Green Point Mtn, Tomlike, Chinidere, Indian Mtn, Tanner Butte, Nesmith Point, Larch Mtn, and finally Devils and Angels Rest to round things off. A little confusion had us meeting up at Angels Rest more around 6 after I thought we were meeting up at Bridal Veil Falls for some reason :oops: Before realizing my mistake I took a short walk down to the falls and back and in the few minutes I was gone a car just across the lot from me had had their passenger window smashed out. I felt really bad for the couple who owned the car and wasnt excited to be leaving our cars in the same place for another 20-30 hours. Once we reached the Starvartion side of things we got our imaginary wristbands from the ticketbooth and hit the water. The slide took about 2 hours and 15 minutes to reach the top of Mt Defiance. Here we are just eating some pumpkin fig bars on the top of the mountain courtesy of the waterpark(comes free with the premium plus package that can be purchased at the Harry and David in Troutdale)


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Next up was Greenpoint Mountain where the crowds really started to thin out :D Coming off Green Point the slide powered us over to the Tomlike spur trail using the Rainy Wahtum and anthill segments. This is always a little slow as one has to navigate the rocky ridge for a mile or so in the misty night air. Once we hit Tomlike I was feeling much better about the trip overall(scared of waterslides) and we were off to go see Toms dad. By the time we hit the top of Chinidere the waterparks emergency sprinklers began to go off. We were already soaked to the bone from our 4 mountain swim and were beggining to wonder if they would fix the sprinkler issue and bring us those nice, warm scented towels they boasted about in the brochure:


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On the way from Wahtum Lake to Indian Springs we saw a few other riders complaining about the extra spice in the pumpkin fig bars. A few deer, a northwestern salamander and an angry bat that flew directly into Corns face were all lined up at the Indian Springs help desk looking for a refund. Check out the glands on the back of this guys head after they told him no refunds:


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Hitting Indian Mtn in the middle of the night was extremely cold as the wind and rain really picked up once we hit the exposed section near the PCT junction. Upon reaching the top we opted not to sign the register in fear of dropping it into the giant pool that was becoming the gorge for the night :D Back down to the campground and the slide really took a dive as it dropped to Eagle Creek. I know everyone has always dreamed about crossing Eagle Creek in the middle of the night during a rainstorm :? :D So heres corn trying to fight off the hordes of flipfloppers as he crosses the creek:


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The rain was incredibly pretty throughout the night despite its consistent nature and its seemingly relentless desire to break one down in mind, body and spirit. But like everything else in this world, the good, the bad and even the rain are only temporary:


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The day finally dawned by the time we reached Big Cedar Springs and Thrush Pond. What a beautiful area! The slide was really pushing hard to get us up the hill at this point but they still hadnt fixed the sprinkler problem. Not sure how they can get a waterslide to go uphill for 70 miles but cant fix the sprinklers? The slides operator likened it to so many other things in life where we dump all of our time and energy, all of our incredible intelligence as humans into creating or improving something we think means the world to us(like an iphone, or an uphill waterslide) while we might ignore things that could really benefit us if we gave them a little more time:


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Reaching the tanner junction and the sprinklers went into overdrive! In fact once daylight hit, the rain(im gonna call it rain now) really picked up and our hopes of a little sunbathing on Tanner Butte(promised in the brochure!) were dashed. Wet and cold we forged onto the summit amongst a world of wind and clouds:


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The Noble Fir on the summit block, needles flipped up to show needle pattern on the underside. Sometimes i'll grab a few needles of Noble Fir and rub them in my hands. The smell brings on good memories of the holidays(family usually got a noble fir at x-mas) and the scent just reminds me of home a little bit, all comforting thoughts out in the backcountry:


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Once the slide dropped us back down to the old road grade below the summit we made our way over to the cutoff trail to Tanner Creek. We both agreed it might be raining:


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The slide gets a little rough here and if you're scared of slides like me you might need a barf bag or two(one comes complimentary with the premium plus) otherwise you just have to lean over the side and hope your cookie toss doesnt engulf the passenger behind you(i hit the guy with the glands in the back of his head with a few chunks and he was less than thrilled) :roll: :D


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Here's Corn on the front of the new water park brochure. Go to the parks website and text "a" for the first pic and "b" for the second pic to decide which one takes the cover:


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The Tanner Creek Trail might have been my favorite part of the trip:


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The park had put up a few warning signs, something about sprinklers or something:


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Next up was the big climb out of Tanner Creek to the Nesmith spur road. By this point things were really starting to slow down. For the majority of the trip we had kept up a 3+ mph moving average and a 2.7 mph overall average with most of that through an incredibly wet(and steep!) night. I was starting to get chills and Corn had been infected with the same rash(actually much worse) that I spent a whole TR complaining about on my Timberline to Multnomah Falls balloon ride. Corn is one of the toughest guys Ive ever met, I know so because I watched him get stung like 6 times last year by the same hornets that the previous pictures signage had warned about. He didnt seem bothered the tiniest bit by the stings, didnt whisper a complaint when we did the Hatfield last summer and led the charge late in the day when we attempted the ten peak last year, reaching the big 8 and only missing out on Angels and Devils Rest. So when he looked at me and said, "im in bad shape right now" going up the Moffett Creek trail, I knew it was very serious. It was probably the single most impressive effort Ive ever witnessed on the trail as the two of us crawled up to the road, trying everything to work out the various issues we were both having only to come to the humbling realization that the gorge was just a little too strong for us on this day. Finally, the rain had backed off and the skies opened up in a way you only hear described in a fairy tale. Fortune had it that we would hit the amazing viewpoints on the rim just as the clouds began to lift out of the Tanner Creek Valley. Tanner Butte, where we had been just a few hours before, loomed ominously in the distance:


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Every step was worth it just to see this unfold with our own eyes:


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Once we reached the road, and having hiked 45+ miles with over 15,000 feet of elevation gain in what at times felt like a bathtub(or a waterpark ;) and needing to find the quickest way to warm clothes we contemplated our best route out. Obviously the route down the Nesmith Point Trail was our best option so we took down the steep trail where Corns wife and son rescued us with happy faces and a warm ride back to our cars at Angels rest. Looking back, the most impressive part was the fact that we knew when to call it quits. Any type of debilitating injury in a remote area like Moffett Creek could have been deadly after what we had put ourselves through the night before. The food, the water and warm clothes at Larch were just too far away and the gorge would again have the last laugh for the day. Fortunately, just like my two trips on the double hatfield route last year where i dropped out before making it back to mutlnomah falls, the gorge will still be there next year and we both have an entire wet season to work even harder so we can have the last laugh when we hit the Ten Peak again next year ;) Big thanks to Jim and his family for putting up with my horrible humor(that goes for everyone reading this too), the late start time due to my being at bridal veil and for just being an awesome guy. Here is the track(turned it off near nesmith) in comparison to a couple of others to illustrate the difficulty of this adventure and what it can do to your overall pace.


http://gpsfly.org/a/3715


http://gpsfly.org/a/3710


And here is the track from friday:


http://gpsfly.org/a/3708
Last edited by Sean Thomas on October 20th, 2014, 3:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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drm
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Re: Columbia River Waterpark- A Ten Peak Hatfield Attempt: 1

Post by drm » October 20th, 2014, 3:13 pm

I think that the brochure states that the sprinklers are a feature of the ride/slide.

Do you bring extra headlamps in case they get soaked and short out or something? It would be a lot colder sitting out the dark due to a lack of light than it is to be moving through it.

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Sean Thomas
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Re: Columbia River Waterpark- A Ten Peak Hatfield Attempt: 1

Post by Sean Thomas » October 20th, 2014, 3:55 pm

drm wrote:I think that the brochure states that the sprinklers are a feature of the ride/slide. .

Thats what I get for skimming the brochure :D


As for the lights I bought a flashlight to bring along with my headlamp before the trip and it was a huge help. Heavier than an extra headlamp but it was great to have for a long night like that. Had some extra aaa's on hand too and I know Corn had a bunch of extra batteries.

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jdemott
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Re: Columbia River Waterpark- A Ten Peak Hatfield Attempt: 1

Post by jdemott » October 20th, 2014, 4:03 pm

Amazing--that would be like three or four really hard hikes for me! And you did it mainly in the dark in bad weather. Great effort!

Even though I could never attempt one of your mega-hikes, I really enjoy reading about them. Thanks for taking the time to share all your experiences, even the fails. Congrats to both of you for making the right decision on when to call it quits. That way, everybody is still smiling about it (even if your humor provokes a few groans). :)

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Peabody
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Re: Columbia River Waterpark- A Ten Peak Hatfield Attempt: 1

Post by Peabody » October 20th, 2014, 9:04 pm

Sean Thomas wrote:The slide took about 2 hours and 15 minutes to reach the top of Mt Defiance.
Too funny! A hike to the top of Mt. Defiance only rates a single sentence in the TR. :lol:
"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”
― E.B. White

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RobinB
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Re: Columbia River Waterpark- A Ten Peak Hatfield Attempt: 1

Post by RobinB » October 20th, 2014, 9:50 pm

I'll say it again: wow!
Sean Thomas wrote:Looking back, the most impressive part was the fact that we knew when to call it quits.
Agreed. Though I tend to call it quits at least 60 miles before you do. (And yes, I realize that you "only" went 47 this time. I still would have called it quits 60 miles earlier than you.)

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Don Nelsen
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Re: Columbia River Waterpark- A Ten Peak Hatfield Attempt: 1

Post by Don Nelsen » October 21st, 2014, 8:39 am

Excellent! The rainy season commences - let the suffering begin!!

Really, you guys are awesome - thanks for the TR and pics.

Don
"Everything works in the planning stage" - Kelly

"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller

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Peder
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Re: Columbia River Waterpark- A Ten Peak Hatfield Attempt: 1

Post by Peder » October 21st, 2014, 8:51 am

Sean - That is a fantastic TR, but only a fool would set off the sprinklers before taking the joy ride. What were you and Corn thinking? Even attempting the Waterpark joy ride at this time of year in non-sprinkler conditions would be pretty amazing. Perhaps you both need another session with your psychoanalysts. The only good news is that you were sane enough to bail when required! My deepest respect to both of you for hiking that distance in those conditions and that terrain. Actually, utterly incredible!
Some people are really fit at eighty; thankfully I still have many years to get into shape…

mcds
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Re: Columbia River Waterpark- A Ten Peak Hatfield Attempt: 1

Post by mcds » October 21st, 2014, 10:03 am

I won't comment other than to complement that occasional idiocy is required on the path to a fulfilling life.

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Splintercat
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Re: Columbia River Waterpark- A Ten Peak Hatfield Attempt: 1

Post by Splintercat » October 21st, 2014, 11:58 pm

Amazing, Sean - what Peabody said, plus your casual side trip to Tomlike, too... wow! :lol:

Tom :-)

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