Mt. Adams - Parking

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youngdoc
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Mt. Adams - Parking

Post by youngdoc » July 22nd, 2014, 6:16 pm

We will be hiking up Mt. Adams on Saturday, August 23, 2014. Our plan is to stay in Trout Lake the night before and drive up to Cold Springs Campground before dawn to begin our hike, rather than camping there the night before. SummitPost suggests that we "Start at the Cold Springs Campground (5,600') and hike up the South Climb Trail #183," so that's the plan, unless there's a good reason to do otherwise.

Question:

What is the parking situation at Cold Springs? I assume that it will be pretty well populated on a Saturday morning in August. Does/do the parking lot/s fill up? If so, can we park on a road somewhere nearby?

Many thanks!

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Waffle Stomper
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Re: Mt. Adams - Parking

Post by Waffle Stomper » July 22nd, 2014, 7:47 pm

The Cold Springs trailhead is a pretty busy place. We usually visit in early to mid August and find plenty of parking. I believe camping might be at a premium, but you said you were staying in Trout Lake. There is usually ample parking farther from the trailhead.

By the way if you are staying in Trout Lake I highly recommend Kelly's Trout Creek Inn. It's a bed and breakfast and they serve the best breakfasts ever. You will be full when you leave. :) http://www.kellysbnb.com/
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." - John Muir

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kepPNW
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Re: Mt. Adams - Parking

Post by kepPNW » July 23rd, 2014, 5:33 am

As I recall, there were just tons of little pullouts at Cold Springs. We got there at the darker shade of dusk, snagged the first place we found to pull over, and setup tents right beside the car. Probably room to at least park somewhere, but it could be a short distance from the TH.

I'm also thinking it was (at least?) an hour out of Trout Lake, and that was before dark. So you're looking at a really early start! At the TH, we woke at 3:00 and were climbing by 4:00. Hit the top at 11:30, and back to TH by 5:00. Plan on a very long - and exhilarating - day. :)
Karl
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drm
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Re: Mt. Adams - Parking

Post by drm » July 23rd, 2014, 6:05 am

As Karl said, people park on the side of he road if need be as far down as they have to to find a spot. So the worst case is that it adds a half mile or more to the hike if you are that far down the road.

youngdoc
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Re: Mt. Adams - Parking

Post by youngdoc » July 24th, 2014, 6:32 am

Thank you all. And Karl, yes -- we calculated about an hour to get to the TH from Trout Lake. Getting up absurdly early to hike is sort of my M.O. -- I typically don't sleep much the night before anyway, despite my best efforts. We won't likely hit the trail head quite as early as you and Peder did, but not because of the drive from Trout Lake. Rather, because you guys did the hike in July (when sunrise was 5:48 a.m.) and we will be doing it in August (when sunrise will be 6:20 a.m.). Like you, we will try to hit the trail 90-120 minutes before sunrise, figuring on some pre-dawn twilight about 30 minutes before sunrise that will allow us to kill the headlamps. Thus, I think we will leave Trout Lake around 3:30 or so and be on the trail by around 4:45 (we will have all of our gear packed and ready to carry the night before).

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kepPNW
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Re: Mt. Adams - Parking

Post by kepPNW » July 24th, 2014, 9:08 am

Sounds workable. I'm pretty sure we didn't use the headlamps for much over an hour, yeah.
  • Image
    First rays of sun on Hood at 5:42am, six minutes before official sunrise.
Karl
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youngdoc
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Re: Mt. Adams - Parking

Post by youngdoc » July 24th, 2014, 8:00 pm

Stop it, Karl, you're going to spoil the view for me!

:lol:

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kepPNW
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Re: Mt. Adams - Parking

Post by kepPNW » July 26th, 2014, 6:56 pm

youngdoc wrote:Stop it, Karl, you're going to spoil the view for me!

:lol:
Whoops. 8-)
Karl
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