Mt Adams Wilderness: Round The Mtn Trail via Stagman Ridge

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Sean Thomas
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Joined: February 25th, 2012, 11:33 pm

Mt Adams Wilderness: Round The Mtn Trail via Stagman Ridge

Post by Sean Thomas » August 12th, 2012, 7:07 am

My gf and I hiked to Looking Glass Lake, The Round the Mountain Trail and a few miles north on the PCT yesterday on the south western slopes of Mt Adams. The Stagman Ridge trail is in great shape and is snow free all the way to the pct. There is a good amount of snow covering the trail heading north on the pct from stagman but it was never difficult to follow the well beaten path. Mt Adams and Horseshoe Meadow:


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Before the Stagman ridge trail intersects the pct an old cutoff trail leads over to Looking Glass Lake. I have a 1990 Skamania County Recreation Map that shows this trail as an active route but newer maps dont usually list it. My search for info on the Looking Glass cutoff led me to Van Marmots report from last year, which was very helpful. Thx Van :)


Looking Glass Lake is one of the prettiest little lakes ive ever seen, there was one tent at the lake:


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One of the best parts of the day was crossing all the streams, many of them while heading over toward Looking Glass Lake:


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From the Lake we hiked a mile or so up to the Round The Mountain Trail #9 and went left(west) toward the PCT and Horseshoe Meadow. This section of the Round the Mtn Trail is snow free as well. Looking up at Adams from Horseshoe Meadow is something else:


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From the meadow we headed north on the PCT toward the Hump and the Bumper. The Hump and The Bumper are two high points that rest on the west side of Adams around 6500 ft. We had lunch on the rocks behind this snow field, which was melting fast:


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From the lunch spot there were great views of St Helens and some of the surrounding meadows:


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We hiked further north on the pct past the Bumper and stopped trailside to take in some more of the views. Joie rested here while I attempted to climb the Hump. Looking back down toward the PCT and what I climbed up:


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I didnt reach the top but the rocky outcroppings were amazing and lots of fun to climb. Adams just looms over while there are great views toward Ranier as well, although a little hazy today:


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On our way back we stopped again to enjoy a meadow thats being over taken by young fir trees, with another great look up at Adams:


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Hikers beware, as expected this time of year the skeeters are out in masses and they are out for blood. I applied some bug spary but I think they just laughed :) Driving on gravel rd 70 back to rd 23 Joie spotted a bear on the side of the rd. The little Honda is pretty noisy but I guess it didnt here us turning the corner. Ive never seen a bear in the wild before so I was kind of freaking out like a kid in a candy store. Jojo tried to snap a pic with her i phone but the bear ran right across the road in front of us so fast we didnt get one. I still cant believe how fast it was :shock: What a day.

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jojomachine
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Location: Portland, OR

Re: Mt Adams Wilderness: Round The Mtn Trail via Stagman Rid

Post by jojomachine » August 12th, 2012, 7:53 am

Hikers beware, as expected this time of year the skeeters are out in masses and they are out for blood. I applied some bug spary but I think they just laughed Driving on gravel rd 70 back to rd 23 Joie spotted a bear on the side of the rd. The little Honda is pretty noisy but I guess it didnt here us turning the corner. Ive never seen a bear in the wild before so I was kind of freaking out like a kid in a candy store. Jojo tried to snap a pic with her i phone but the bear ran right across the road in front of us so fast we didnt get one. I still cant believe how fast it was What a day.
Finally saw a bear! Too bad it was way too fast for me to take a pic. :? At first I thought it was a cub because it was small, I was looking around to see if a bigger mama bear would come and eat me! lol. :lol: Fun hike. Except for the mosquitoes and flies ofcourse. :)
Ang pagkakataon sa buhay ay madalang dumating, Kapag narito na, ating samantalahin. [tagalog proverbs]

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Born2BBrad
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Location: The Dalles

Re: Mt Adams Wilderness: Round The Mtn Trail via Stagman Rid

Post by Born2BBrad » August 12th, 2012, 8:39 am

Looks like you had a great time. You guys sure are going all over the place this summer.

The Round the Mountain trail is on my short list, but I want to go all the way around Mt. Adams, even on the east side (Yakama land).

Brad
Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.
- Jean Luc Picard

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hlee
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Joined: April 16th, 2012, 12:41 pm
Location: St. Helens, Oregon

Re: Mt Adams Wilderness: Round The Mtn Trail via Stagman Rid

Post by hlee » August 12th, 2012, 8:45 am

Great TR! Very cool about the bear!

Hannah

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.
-- T.S. Eliot

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Crusak
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Re: Mt Adams Wilderness: Round The Mtn Trail via Stagman Rid

Post by Crusak » August 12th, 2012, 2:44 pm

Seeing a bear is cool, and gets your system all worked up really good. :shock: Stagman Ridge is one of those places that I've wanted to get out and hike. Like you mentioned, VanMarmot and others have posted reports of that area, and I've been curious.

Great report. And another example of the usefulness of old maps. ;)

So did you do a loop, or an out 'n' back hike? I recall from studying the map last year that it's possible to do a Stagman Ridge-PCT loop of some sort up there, is that correct?

Good to find out the current conditions, especially regarding the bugs. I was contemplating a day hike up there in a couple of weeks. Hmm...
Jim's Hikes

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mitch
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Joined: July 16th, 2011, 1:20 pm

Re: Mt Adams Wilderness: Round The Mtn Trail via Stagman Rid

Post by mitch » August 13th, 2012, 5:02 pm

My girlfriend and I backpacked from the Cold Springs climber's trailhead/campground up to the Round the Mountain trail and tried going west to Horseshoe Meadow and Lookingglass Lake. We hit a lot of snow a mile or so east of Horseshoe Meadow. Rather than trudging onward and upward (the trail looked like it was going to do some climbing to Horseshoe Meadow on the topo map), we decided to find a nice campsite with a good view of Hood, Adams, and the Parseids. Although we didn't make it to our intended destination, we still had a blast. Yes, the mosquitoes were aggressive, but tolerable for us with some deet. The meteor shower was beautiful. We only saw two other people on the Round the Mountain trail. It was a great little backpacking trip. It's nice to see your photos, since that's where we were originally headed.

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Waffle Stomper
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Re: Mt Adams Wilderness: Round The Mtn Trail via Stagman Rid

Post by Waffle Stomper » August 13th, 2012, 8:09 pm

Lucky you to see a bear. I'm jealous.

A beautiful series of photos and a great trip report. Looks like it was a fine day.
"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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bobcat
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Re: Mt Adams Wilderness: Round The Mtn Trail via Stagman Rid

Post by bobcat » August 13th, 2012, 8:12 pm

That's a great trail, certainly my favorite on that part of Adams (I just wrote the Field Guide entry for it).

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