Day 5 of Lupe’s 2018 Dingo Vacation to Washington State!
Rain. It was pouring down when Lupe got up early on the last morning of her stay at the Baymont Inn in Bellingham, WA. The sky was so dark and gloomy and wet that the Carolina Dog only got to go on a very short walk before SPHP insisted upon returning to the Baymont. May as well go back to sleep!
Lupe’s U-Haul adventure, which had brought her to Washington state, was over. Today was supposed to be a big day! The Carolina Dog was now free to do whatever she wanted to. Arrangements had been made to climb Mount Walker(2,804 ft.) this afternoon with her friend mountaineer Jobe Wymore, whom she hadn’t seen since the Crazy Peak, Montana adventure more than a year ago.
The dreary downpour was discouraging. Maybe Mount Walker wasn’t going to happen?
Only a few hours later, though, things were looking up! The sky was brighter, the rain reduced to intermittent drippiness. For the last time, Lupe and SPHP went for a walk in the woods on the Shopping Cart Trail as far as the little creek. Back at the Baymont, Lupe again selected ham and cheese for her free continental breakfast. After checking out, the American Dingo and SPHP headed S out of Bellingham on I-5 in the newly rented Mazda CX3.
At Burlington, SPHP turned W on Highway 20. Mount Walker is on the Olympic Peninsula, and Jobe had suggested taking the Keystone to Port Townsend ferry to avoid a drive clear around Puget Sound through Seattle and Tacoma to get there. Jobe lives on the Olympic Peninsula, and could meet Lupe in Port Townsend after he got off work.
Jobe had another suggestion. Mount Erie(1,273 ft.) is an easy peak just off Highway 20. Maybe Lupe would like to climb Mount Erie on her way to the ferry? That would have been fun! The weather had improved tremendously. It was actually sunny out. Unfortunately, SPHP didn’t have any maps of the area, didn’t see any signs for Mount Erie, and didn’t know where to stop.
Probably best to get to Port Townsend in plenty of time to meet Jobe, anyway. Who knew how long the ferry was going to take? Reservations were recommended, and SPHP hadn’t made any.
S of Coupeville, SPHP started watching for signs on how to get to the ferry. A single R (W) turn was all that was required. Lupe arrived at the Keystone ferry landing before 11:00 AM. Hardly anyone was around. There was going to be a bit of a wait before the next ferry would depart for Port Townsend.
The fare was $11.90 for Lupe, SPHP and the CX3. Not bad at all. SPHP paid it and got the Mazda into the short line awaiting the next ferry. Lupe had plenty of time to get out and take a sniff around.
A campground was right next to the ferry terminal. Loop and SPHP walked through it. At the far end, Lupe could see the Olympic Peninsula across the Admiralty Inlet to Puget Sound. Soon Lupe would be sailing for Port Townsend!
Lots of vehicles were waiting for the ferry by the time the next one came along. The Mazda CX3 was buried in among big trucks on the ride over to Port Townsend. Confined to the CX3, Lupe could only see a little sliver of the ocean ahead.
The ferry ride took about half an hour. Lupe arrived in Port Townsend early in the afternoon. Jobe wouldn’t be available for a couple of hours yet, so Loop and SPHP took a walk near the ocean.
Jobe showed up at the appointed time right on the dot. It was so good to see him again! However, there wasn’t any time to lose. Daylight was burning! Lupe and SPHP followed Jobe in his glorious new Rubicon to the Mount Walker trailhead.
Lupe couldn’t contain herself when she hopped out of the CX3, and saw Jobe standing right there in front of her! She went into a barking frenzy, greeting Jobe for the first time since Crazy Peak. Fortunately, Jobe was not alarmed as Loopster danced around him. The Carolina Dog finally calmed down. Time was a wasting! After this tumultuous greeting, the trek up Mount Walker began without further delay. (3:30 PM)
Lupe had first met Jobe after scouting out route conditions to Odakota Mountain(7,200 ft.) for him way back in late March, 2016 when he was contemplating a one day lightning trip to the Black Hills. Jobe actually did show up a few days later, and Lupe had gotten to accompany him to Odakota Mountain. She even went on with Jobe for a prickly adventure in the Wildcat Hills of Nebraska.
Now Lupe was in Jobe’s home territory, and he was about to return the favor by guiding Loop up Mount Walker. Jobe had only recently moved to the Olympic Peninsula. For the last year or so, Mount Walker was his training peak. Sometimes he climbs Mount Walker 3 or 4 times a day, with each ascent involving over 2,000 ft. of elevation gain. Today’s stroll up the mountain was going to be his 235th. Yeah, Jobe’s a monster!
The Mount Walker trail was in great shape. It would have been easy to follow even without Jobe’s intricate knowledge of every twist and turn. The trail wound steadily up the mountain from the S. While relatively level sections exist, mostly it was just relentlessly up at a moderate to somewhat steep pace.
Early on, glimpses of the summit were occasionally present, but most of the time about the only thing that could be seen was the lush forest of towering Douglas fir the trail passed through. With daylight fading, Jobe set what was for him a leisurely pace, but about all SPHP could manage. Loopster trotted along just fine, sticking close by right on the trail while listening to the conversation.
With Jobe’s enormous and varied mountaineering experience, conversations with him are always fascinating. While SPHP did a Big Bad Wolf impersonation, huffing and puffing up the trail, Jobe expounded upon a number of subjects. Before long, he pointed out a mushroom.
Jobe maintained that almost everyone who lives in the Pacific Northwest develops some degree of interest in mushrooms. The cool, moist climate is conducive to the growth of a wide variety. Hunting for mushrooms is a popular PNW pastime. Jobe has a collection of books about them, and is well read on the subject.
As it turns out, keeping a sharp eye out for rare mushrooms is one aspect of climbing the same mountain 235 times that helps keep the experience fresh and full of possibilities. Jobe started talking about Bird’s Nest mushrooms, which are seldom seen. As these mushrooms mature, they resemble bird’s nests complete with eggs. He had recently discovered some on Mount Walker, and promised to show them to Lupe and SPHP.
A bit farther on, Jobe paused and looked carefully at a particular spot on an embankment along the upper side of the trail. There they were! Jobe pointed out several Bird’s Nest mushrooms growing next to each other in a little clump.
No wonder Bird’s Nest mushrooms are seldom seen! They were teeny tiny! True to their name, they did resemble bird’s nests. Itsy bitsy “eggs” were present in a couple of them.
Lupe had already made considerable progress up Mount Walker, when suddenly the sky looked leaden. In the PNW, one has to be prepared for rain. Soon SPHP was putting on the old plastic Cookie Monster outfit (blue rain poncho). Jobe had a waterproof jacket. Only the Carolina Dog was getting wet, but she didn’t seem to mind too much.
In darkness and rain, Loop, Jobe & SPHP continued up the trail. The mushroom dissertation was still in progress when Jobe unexpectedly announced that this was it. The American Dingo had made it to the top of Mount Walker(2,804 ft.)!
By flashlight, it was possible to see that Loop had arrived at a flat open area. A signboard stood along one side. Perhaps it contained a map or information about the view. Of course, nothing beside a black void was observable under current conditions.
Jobe said the true summit of Mount Walker was only 10 feet higher and quite close by. He led Lupe right to it. If Jobe hadn’t been here, Lupe and SPHP never would have found it in the dark.
For some reason, the camera’s flash didn’t seem to be working. SPHP seldom takes photos at night. No doubt the apparent malfunction was a simple case of operator error. In the rain, it didn’t seem worth trying to figure out what SPHP was doing wrong. After a few grainy shots by flashlight of the open area where the viewpoint was, Lupe, Jobe & SPHP called it good and started back down.
On the way down Mount Walker, Jobe showed Lupe and SPHP several Cat’s Tongue mushrooms. Even in pitch blackness, he knew right where they were. The Cat’s Tongue mushrooms had a ghostly appearance. They were soft and gelatinous to the touch. A real cat’s tongue would have been rougher.
The rain stopped well before Looper made it back to the CX3 (6:15 PM). Although her Mount Walker experience was over, Lupe’s time with Jobe was not. Jobe had cordially invited Lupe and SPHP to stay with him at his condo overnight. A most interesting and comfortable evening was ahead. While Jobe and SPHP chatted over dinner and on into the night, Lupe enjoyed a long snooze on Jobe’s red couch.
Perhaps her Mount Walker adventure wasn’t completely over? Maybe Loop was still out in the rain and darkness heading ever higher up the trail? Even Jobe noticed that as she slept, those Dingo paws were still twitching.
Note:
Jobe Wymore later kindly furnished the following mushroom photos. All of these photos, except for the mature Devil’s Tooth (from the web), were taken during other ascents of Mount Walker.
Jobe Wymore also furnished the following Mount Walker viewpoint photos from ascents made in the days shortly before or after accompanying Lupe to the summit:
Day 14 of Lupe’s 2017 Dingo Vacation to the Wind River Range, Wyoming & Select Peaks in Montana
Shortly before 6:00 AM, Lupe spotted Jobe’s silver Rubicon coming up Fairy Lake Road. Mr. Wymore was right on time, as usual. Loop and SPHP hitched a ride with Jobe the remaining two miles to the trailhead near the Fairy Lake campground.
It was the first time the Carolina Dog had ever been in Jobe’s Rubicon. As expected after yesterday’s adventure at Mount Powell(10,168 ft.), the Grateful Dead were playing on the stereo.
Lupe caught only a glimpse of Fairy Lake before leaving the trailhead. The trail to Sacagawea Peak(9,650 ft.) started out winding up through forest in a generally SW direction. Loop gained elevation steadily, and was soon above most of the trees. A red sun had just cleared mountains on the E horizon.
The trail was good and well-traveled. It continued SW up into a large U-shaped valley where only scattered stands of trees grew. The rocky slopes surrounding the valley glowed in the early morning sunlight.
Jobe was in fine form again today, regaling SPHP with tales of peakbagging adventures, and the incredible exploits and habits of some of the mountaineers he had become acquainted with over the years.
Time flew by. The saddle at the end of the U-shaped valley was only a mile from the trailhead as the crow flies, perhaps 1.5 miles as the trail went. The day seemed like it had hardly even begun, when Lupe started switchbacking her way up the slope below the saddle.
A cool W breeze was blowing up at the saddle when Lupe, Jobe & SPHP arrived. Trails went in several directions from here. Sacagawea Peak was in view less than 0.5 mile to the SE. A trail led up the mountain’s NW ridge.
The trail up Sacagawea Peak’s NW ridge was great. Lupe gained elevation rapidly. A couple hundred feet below Sacagawea’s summit she came to an unexpected intersection. A fainter, but still easily discernible trail continued SE across the rocky upper SW slopes of a long ridge, destined for a high point at the far end.
That high point, a little less than 0.5 mile away, was Naya Nuki Peak(9,581 ft.). Naya Nuki didn’t look hard to get to at all. The trail to it was fairly level, neither gaining nor losing significant elevation on the way. Jobe wondered if Lupe would like to go to Naya Nuki first before hitting Sacagawea?
Sure, why not? It looked easy.
Getting to Naya Nuki was easy, too! Twenty minutes later, Lupe, Jobe and SPHP were at the summit. Again today, the air was hazy with smoke from forest fires out W. Little could be seen toward far horizons, but views closer by of the Bridger Range were only partially impaired and still grand.
After 15 minutes enjoying the views up on Naya Nuki Peak, it was time to head back to tag Sacagawea Peak, which after all was still the day’s primary objective.
Half an hour after leaving Naya Nuki, everyone was at the summit of Sacagawea Peak(9,650 ft.). Jobe and SPHP signed the summit registry. SPHP made sure Lupe’s name was on it, too.
With 3,930 feet of prominence, the views from Sacagawea Peak were tremendous, despite being partially impaired by the hazy conditions.
Views of the mountains to the N, formed of layers of rock uplifted to very steeply inclined positions, were particularly impressive. Some of the exposed bands were quite colorful. Differences in color and how the rock had eroded away produced a near vertically striped effect.
Although Lupe, Jobe and SPHP remained only 15 minutes or so up on Sacagawea Peak, the Carolina Dog tried to sneak in a quick Dingo nap. Unfortunately, the summit offered little in the way of amenities.
Less than 3 hours had gone by since Lupe had left the trailhead when she, Jobe and SPHP left Sacagawea Peak’s summit and started down.
Jobe had asked SPHP earlier if Lupe would like to climb Pomp Peak(9,562 ft.) and possibly Hardscrabble Peak(9,575 ft.)? Jobe didn’t intend to climb either of them, but was willing to wait for Lupe at the saddle, if she and SPHP wanted to do more. Naya Nuki and Sacagawea hadn’t taken all that long. Since Loop had gotten off to such an early start this morning, there was still plenty of time left in the day.
SPHP had seriously considered Jobe’s generous offer, but concluded Lupe really shouldn’t accept for several reasons. First of all, Loop and SPHP were now tagging along with Jobe on a trip he had planned. It really wasn’t right to make him wait. Secondly, a trail that could be seen going up Pomp Peak from the saddle appeared to vanish high up on a steep slope above cliffs. Maybe Pomp Peak was more dangerous terrain than Loop and SPHP were used to?
Both of those considerations were important, but the third and final reason was the real clincher. The original purpose in joining Jobe on this Dingo Vacation had been to climb as far up Crazy Peak(11,209 ft.) with him as possible. Crazy Peak was on a ton of peakbagging lists, and one of only two peaks remaining on the EPIC list which Jobe hadn’t climbed yet. Looper wanted to be there, at the summit if at all possible, to congratulate Jobe when he got it.
Crazy Peak was not a trivial climb, however. The completely off-trail route Jobe intended to take up the SE ridge would be 5 or 6 miles long, involve 4,300 feet of elevation gain, and might well border on the edge of what Lupe and SPHP were capable of doing. And the attempt on Crazy Peak was tomorrow!
So in the end, SPHP declined Jobe’s kind offer on Lupe’s behalf. It was simply more important to be as rested as possible for Crazy Peak than to tag Pomp or Hardscrabble. Once at the saddle, instead of continuing on to tackle Pomp Peak, the American Dingo took the trail down into the U-shaped valley leading back to the trailhead.
Jobe gave Lupe and SPHP another ride in his Rubicon back to the G6. Much later in the day, he rendezvoused with the Carolina Dog again at the Big Timber picnic ground E of Crazy Peak. Lupe spent the evening relaxing and listening in, while Jobe and SPHP chatted until dusk. What she thought of the wide variety of fascinating tales Jobe related, she never really said.
On the way down the U-shaped valley on the way back to the trailhead, Lupe passed by a wedding party on its way up to Sacagawea Peak for the happy occasion. Not all events on the mountain have been so cheerful.
On 8-15-15, friends and family of prolific peakbagger Edward Earl climbed Sacagawea Peak to scatter some of his ashes. Edward had passed away on 6-19-15 trying to cross the Jago River following an unsuccessful attempt on Mount Isto(8,976 ft.) in the Brooks Range in remote NE Alaska. Only a little over 3 years before, Edward had climbed the mountain to scatter his mother’s ashes.
Lupe has succeeded in reaching the summits of a number of peaks aided by excellent detailed directions contained in trip reports written by Edward Earl, but sadly never got to meet him.
Days 10 – 13 of Lupe’s 2017 Dingo Vacation to the Wind River Range, Wyoming & Select Peaks in Montana
Day 10, 7-17-17 For the first time on this Dingo Vacation, the night sky was clear. Lupe wanted out. She sniffed around invisibly in darkness. Overhead, the Milky Way gleamed in the heavens amidst diamond bright constellations. The Carolina Dog was still tired, though. She quickly returned to resume her snooze.
Morning arrived. Time to leave the magnificent Wind River range. Lupe and SPHP went down to lower Green River Lake. The American Dingo gazed once more upon Squaretop Mountain(11,695 ft.), the massive NW sentinel of the Winds, looming silently beyond the clear, still lake.
Lupe’s attempt to climb Squaretop had ended in failure, though she did look down on its summit from New Benchmark(11,850 ft.), the high point of her 3 day journey. Though ultimately unsuccessful, the effort to reach Squaretop from Porcupine Pass had been a beautiful and challenging adventure.
Today would be the first of several travel and rest days. After stopping in Pinedale for supplies, Lupe and SPHP headed NW on Hwy 191 past Bondurant and Hoback Junction. The S approach to Jackson was teeming with tourists and activity. The mob scene at the heart of it all was avoided by turning W on Hwy 22, which took Lupe over Teton Pass (8,429 ft.).
Lupe crossed the border into Idaho for the first time in nearly 5 years. W of the Teton Range, Lupe and SPHP were in unfamiliar territory. Dark clouds hung over the Tetons. N of Driggs, Lupe experienced 20 miles of cloudburst, as SPHP drove N on Hwy 33. Beyond the thunderstorm, it was sunny again.
SPHP drove all day. Lupe saw beautiful scenery she’d never seen before. She barked at cows and horses. She lapped up chocolate milk. After several hours in Idaho, she left it again crossing into Montana on Hwy 87. By day’s end, Lupe was a mile S of Silver Star at a pullout along Hwy 41 overlooking the Jefferson River.
Day 11, 7-18-17 The next morning, Lupe and SPHP headed N. Approaching Deer Lodge on I-90, Mount Powell(10,168 ft.) came into view a dozen miles to the W. SPHP left I-90 at Exit 195 and drove all the way to the trailhead to see if the G6 could get there. The roads weren’t bad, although the final stretch on USFS Road No. 670 was so narrow it was a good thing no vehicles were coming the other way. Lupe spent most of the afternoon at the trailhead, happily relaxing in the shade watching squirrels and chipmunks.
Mount Powell was Lupe’s next peakbagging objective, but no attempt on the mountain was going to be made today. Late in the afternoon, Lupe and SPHP went down to Deer Lodge where Lupe enjoyed a McDonald’s ice cream cone. Lupe’s evening was spent watching boats, sea gulls, geese, and little fish jumping at Georgetown Lake W of Anaconda.
Day 12, 7-19-17 Three miles E of Georgetown Lake, SPHP noticed a sign for Storm Lake on the S side of Hwy 1. Lupe had time, why not check it out? The G6 made it nearly 8 of the 9 miles to Storm Lake on USFS Road No. 675. Lupe and SPHP continued on paw and foot. Clearings in the forest near the road were full of colorful wildflowers.
Several groups of people were fishing at Storm Lake when Lupe arrived. Across the lake Looper could see Little Rainbow Mountain(9,989 ft.), which didn’t look like it would be too hard a climb. A trail led across a dam at the N end of the lake. At the W end of the dam, Storm Lake Creek exited the lake. Lupe and SPHP crossed the creek, and followed the trail S along the W side of Storm Lake.
After a long week in the Wind River range, SPHP wasn’t too ambitious. Instead of climbing Little Rainbow Mountain with the American Dingo, SPHP opted for a swim in the lake. Lupe was content to go wading, too.
The trail continued SE beyond the S end of Storm Lake. Several hikers came along about this time. One of them showed SPHP a map indicating that the trail would wind its way S for a mile or so to Storm Lake Pass. Mount Tiny(9,848 ft.) was supposed to be an easy climb from there. Still feeling lazy, Lupe and SPHP skipped Mount Tiny. Lupe left the trail to circumnavigate Storm Lake instead.
After returning to the G6, Lupe and SPHP spent part of the afternoon at a park along Warm Springs Creek in Anaconda. By evening, Loop was back at the Mount Powell trailhead.
Day 13, 7-20-17 After a day of travel and two days spent lazing around, the Carolina Dog woke up at 5:20 AM. SPHP joined her outside the G6. Today was the big day! Lupe was going to climb Mount Powell! SPHP had everything ready in short order, but then did nothing. Lupe was puzzled. What was the holdup? She was anxious to get going.
Suddenly, those big soft Dingo ears heard a noise. Something was coming! A yet unseen vehicle was approaching the trailhead. A minute later, a silver Jeep Wrangler Rubicon appeared. Lupe ran over barking to greet it. Much to her surprise, out of the Rubicon stepped someone she knew – mountaineer Jobe Wymore!
Lupe hadn’t seen Jobe since she’d served as his advance scout at South Dakota’s second highest mountain, Odakota Mountain(7,200 ft.), back home in the Black Hills. That had been more than 15 months ago. On 4-2-16, Lupe had actually accompanied Jobe to Odakota, and then gone on to the Wildcat Hills of Nebraska with him that very same day. In Nebraska, she’d climbed Wildcat Mountain(5,025 ft.) before succumbing to the prickly terrors of cacti. Jobe had helped carry the tenderpaw Dingo out of danger back to the Bluffman’s house.
Now Jobe was coming with Lupe to Mount Powell! She could hardly believe it! She barked, leapt, and danced wildly around Jobe. Of course, Jobe’s arrival was no mere coincidence – it had been prearranged. And actually, Jobe wasn’t really coming along with Lupe and SPHP. It was the other way around, Lupe and SPHP were tagging along on a mountain that Jobe needed to climb.
Mount Powell(10,168 ft.), the high point of Powell County in Montana, is on two massive peakbagging lists Jobe has been working on for years. One list with 245 peaks (the short list!) contains all of the US county high points in all 48 contiguous states with at least 2,000 feet of prominence. The other, longer list includes all 414 county high points of the western contiguous states (all the mountain states W of the prairie states).
After greetings were exchanged, Jobe, Lupe and SPHP set out on USFS Road No. 670, which was extremely rough W of the trailhead. The road led steadily up the forested valley of the Dempsey Creek drainage.
SPHP’s prior research of possible routes up Mount Powell had shown that most climbers stay with the road at least as far as the mountain’s S ridge beyond Bohn Lake. Some go all the way to a SW ridge in the vicinity of the Elliot Lakes. These ridges were described in various reports as brushy, steep, cliffy, and containing boulder or scree fields.
However, climber Eric Higginbotham had explored a different route which sounded a lot easier. The Higginbotham route left the road much sooner. It passed through a huge alpine meadow (Marble Park on the map) early on, climbed in forest to High Point 8708, continued NW over a saddle, and eventually broke out of the forest on a broad ridge a mile SSE of the summit.
Higginbotham’s 7-19-15 Mount Powell trip report included a GPS track, an excellent description of how to find the trailhead, and a rather amusing account of his experience as well. SPHP favored trying Higginbotham’s route. Jobe must have, too. Being technologically competent, he had already loaded Higginbotham’s GPS route into his smart phone.
The first thing to watch for was an open grassy slope on the NW side of the road about 0.67 mile from the trailhead. The steep hillside soon came into view as Higginbotham had described it. Jobe and Lupe led the way up.
At the top of the steep hillside, Lupe re-entered the forest. The ground leveled out to some degree as she continued up, heading W near the edge of the steep stuff. Before too long, the terrain started pushing her N. Loop quickly came upon the S end of Marble Park, the giant alpine meadow Higginbotham had mentioned.
Marble Park was completely free of obstacles. Jobe, Lupe and SPHP made rapid progress up the steady, moderately inclined slope. Lupe stayed in the giant meadow as long as possible. She didn’t re-enter the forest again until reaching Marble Park’s upper N end. This allowed the American Dingo to completely avoid a shallow drainage to the W.
Once back in the forest, the next landmark along the way was High Point 8708, about 0.75 mile to the NW. The forest was mostly open, the only real obstacle being scattered deadfall timber. The climb initially steepened somewhat, but quickly became more gradual again. Now and then, Jobe checked Lupe’s position versus Eric Higginbotham’s GPS track on his phone, but very little course correction was ever required.
When Lupe, Jobe and SPHP reached High Point 8708, the top of Mount Powell was in view 2 miles to the NW.
At High Point 8708, Lupe had already climbed 2,450 feet of the over 3,900 feet of elevation gain required to get to the summit of Mount Powell from the trailhead. SPHP was amazed at how easy it had all been, and how quickly the time had gone by. Credit for the easy route went to Eric. Credit for making the time go by fast went to Jobe.
Lupe and SPHP really didn’t know Jobe well at all. The only other time Lupe had been with Jobe was on that one day over 15 months ago. Jobe had been friendly, considerate, and very kind. He’d come to Lupe’s rescue carrying her over cactus infested badlands in Nebraska. Jobe had also been a great conversationalist, expounding upon a variety of topics of interest to SPHP.
Shortly after leaving the trailhead this morning, Jobe had launched into a discussion of one of his favorite subjects – Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. Of course, SPHP was familiar with some of their top 40 hits, but that was about the extent of it. Jobe, however, was an expert. He didn’t consider the Dead’s top 40 hits even remotely among their best work.
Virtually the entire time it took to reach High Point 8708, Jobe had expounded upon the Grateful Dead. A truly dedicated (fanatical?) fan, he listens to them almost exclusively. Jobe knew not only all of the Dead’s songs, but how the songs had evolved and been perfected over time, at exactly which live concerts Jerry Garcia had performed the best renditions, all of the lyrics and their meanings, etc., etc.
SPHP couldn’t begin to absorb it all, but did gather that of the many Grateful Dead songs Jobe liked, he considered Morning Dew and Terrapin Station among their finest work. Even though the subject matter was almost entirely unfamiliar to SPHP, Jobe’s enthusiastic and lively conversation had been so entertaining, it hardly seemed possible Lupe was already so close to Mount Powell.
Close she was, though. Only a 0.75 mile long forested area, a significant portion of which was a relatively level saddle, now stood between Loop and the broad, bare S ridge leading to the final steep climb to the top of the mountain. As Lupe left High Point 8708, and proceeded NW across the saddle, Jobe continued his time and distance warping commentary. In no time at all, almost as if she had been teleported, the Carolina Dog broke out out of the forest and stood on the bare S ridge.
The lower part of the S ridge was a gentle incline, generously strewn with medium-sized flattish rocks, which were interspersed with small green plants and a few wildflowers. Mount Powell was directly ahead.
The final ascent wasn’t any steeper than the grassy hillside Lupe had gone up right after leaving the road early on. This slope was much rockier, but still just a walk up a hill. Vegetation was present most of the way. Lupe faced only a few short sections of nothing but scree.
Loopster arrived at the summit of Mount Powell(10,168 ft.) at 9:00 AM. Between Eric Higginbotham’s excellent route, and Jobe’s scintillating conversation (which by now had switched from the Grateful Dead to how life would be affected by coming technological changes), the whole trek up had taken only 3 hours. To SPHP, it seemed like the easiest 3,900+ feet of off-trail elevation gain ever.
The summit area was roomy, flat and strewn with rocks. Lots of rocks had been piled up to make a big circular Dingo fortress with a cairn in the middle of it. A survey benchmark was easily found. Not a tree or a bush grew anywhere, so the summit provided commanding 360° views. Unfortunately, smoke from forest fires farther W made the air rather hazy. Smoke could be seen rising from several points.
Lupe, Jobe & SPHP remained at the top of Mount Powell for a whole hour. Jobe pointed out several peaks in the distance he had been to, or at least recognized. As a treat, he shared chocolate brittle with Lupe and SPHP, who were both quite taken with it. An hour was plenty of time to gaze at the grand views in all directions. As a W breeze grew stronger, smoke began billowing up more noticeably from a fire to the SW.
Other than the haze, conditions on Mount Powell were near perfect with a light W breeze and temperatures in the low 70’s °F. Nevertheless, the time to depart drew near. Lupe took a final look around, while Jobe used his phone to enter data on this successful ascent.
Eric Higginbotham’s route up had worked great! There was no reason to stray from it on the way back to the trailhead. Jobe helped the time go by with stories of the exploits of other mountaineers he knew, and adventures he’d had with some of them. He discussed some of the major peakbagging goals he has been working on for many years, how he was within a few years of completing them, and what he might want to do when they were finished.
By the time Lupe was back at the trailhead (12:40 PM), she knew about an odd medical condition affecting Jobe’s hair, and the sad passing away of his favorite cat, known simply as “H”, in January. Only partly in jest, Jobe had pronounced himself a 3 dimensional person due to his 3 main interests in life – peakbagging, the Grateful Dead, and craft beers.
Climbing Mount Powell with Jobe had been super fun! The best news of all was that Loop’s time with Jobe wasn’t over yet. Tomorrow, Lupe would get to climb another peak with him! The original plan had been to go to Old Baldy South Slope(8,640 ft.). However, that plan had changed. Sacagawea Peak(9,650 ft.), with nearly 4,000 feet of prominence was up next!
Once details for the next rendezvous had been settled upon, Jobe roared off in his Rubicon. A short while later, Lupe and SPHP headed out, too. When Lupe reached I-90, temperatures were in the 90’s °F. So much smoke was in the air now that Mount Powell was barely visible. SPHP stopped to buy a box of ice cream bars in Anaconda. A certain eager Carolina Dog provided dedicated assistance in devouring all 6 on the spot.
An air-conditioned ride E to Bozeman ensued, where SPHP obtained a roasted chicken for dinner. Taking Hwy 86 N out of Bozeman, SPHP eventually found the road to Fairy Lake. The poor G6 took considerable abuse on USFS Road No. 74, making it 3/4 of the way to Fairy Lake before SPHP had mercy and parked at a big pullout. By nightfall, an American Dingo stuffed full of roasted chicken was ready for Dingo dreamland.