We left Saturday around 2pm. Stopped by the Seattle house on the way out to drop off some Monsters and Modelos for the crew, then headed south. Decided to take the Tesla since Kelso is only about 60 miles from Marble Mountain. On the drive down we listened to *The Snow Leopard*, which made me want to go to the Himalayas, along with some yacht rock. Good weather the whole way. Got into Kelso around 4pm, charged for about 30 minutes up to 95%, then continued toward the trailhead.
Missed the turn for Forest Road 83, which was easy to do since the turn off is not well marked, and overshot it by about 15 miles before turning around. Autopilot was trying to route us all the way around the mountain. Got into Marble Mountain Sno-Park around 7:20pm.
We set up the back of the car as a mobile camp, basically turned it into a comfortable sleeping setup with blankets and extra layers. Made couscous (Mediterranean style, which was a very solid choice), had some strawberry Safeway cake, and called it a night.
We set the alarm for 2:30am. I had a vivid dream where it felt like something was walking on the roof of the car. In the dream, the roof was mesh so we could actually feel the animal walking on top.
We started hiking at 3am. The first 2.5 miles were flat and went by quickly. We covered the first couple miles in about 45 minutes. After that, it ramped up hard. The remaining 2.5 miles accounted for maybe 4,500 feet of the total elevation gain. We took a slight detour up one of the gullies along the Worm Flows.
It was unusually warm, even stepping out of the car it felt like mid to high 50s, warmer than inside. On the way up, intermittent warm gusts of wind made for comfortable climbing conditions early on. Very few people were out. I think there were two parties ahead of us. One sounded like they left around 11pm, another maybe around midnight or a bit before us.
Snow conditions were solid on the ascent, firm enough for crampons, but right on the edge of transitioning into spring snow. Higher up, the wind picked up and the final push got slower.
By late morning it had warmed into the high 60s, maybe low 70s in the sun. Some cloud cover came through on the way down, but it cleared out by the time we hit the lower mountain. Fully sunny by noon.
On the descent, the snow softened quickly into slush. Snowshoes helped in some sections but weren’t really needed. We tried glissading, but it didn’t really work. The trash bags we had were too small, and once we tore out holes for our feet, the bag turned more into a diaper than what it was intended for.
Total time was about 11 hours round trip. We were on the trail at 3am, and back at the car at 1pm.
Once we got back to the car, we had some snacks, then stopped at Safeway again on the way out for sandwiches. I just copied the elderly gentlemen in front of me, which was a success.
After that it was sunny all the way back to Seattle. A successful trip indeed.
Missed the turn for Forest Road 83, which was easy to do since the turn off is not well marked, and overshot it by about 15 miles before turning around. Autopilot was trying to route us all the way around the mountain. Got into Marble Mountain Sno-Park around 7:20pm.
We set up the back of the car as a mobile camp, basically turned it into a comfortable sleeping setup with blankets and extra layers. Made couscous (Mediterranean style, which was a very solid choice), had some strawberry Safeway cake, and called it a night.
We set the alarm for 2:30am. I had a vivid dream where it felt like something was walking on the roof of the car. In the dream, the roof was mesh so we could actually feel the animal walking on top.
We started hiking at 3am. The first 2.5 miles were flat and went by quickly. We covered the first couple miles in about 45 minutes. After that, it ramped up hard. The remaining 2.5 miles accounted for maybe 4,500 feet of the total elevation gain. We took a slight detour up one of the gullies along the Worm Flows.
It was unusually warm, even stepping out of the car it felt like mid to high 50s, warmer than inside. On the way up, intermittent warm gusts of wind made for comfortable climbing conditions early on. Very few people were out. I think there were two parties ahead of us. One sounded like they left around 11pm, another maybe around midnight or a bit before us.
Snow conditions were solid on the ascent, firm enough for crampons, but right on the edge of transitioning into spring snow. Higher up, the wind picked up and the final push got slower.
By late morning it had warmed into the high 60s, maybe low 70s in the sun. Some cloud cover came through on the way down, but it cleared out by the time we hit the lower mountain. Fully sunny by noon.
On the descent, the snow softened quickly into slush. Snowshoes helped in some sections but weren’t really needed. We tried glissading, but it didn’t really work. The trash bags we had were too small, and once we tore out holes for our feet, the bag turned more into a diaper than what it was intended for.
Total time was about 11 hours round trip. We were on the trail at 3am, and back at the car at 1pm.
Once we got back to the car, we had some snacks, then stopped at Safeway again on the way out for sandwiches. I just copied the elderly gentlemen in front of me, which was a success.
After that it was sunny all the way back to Seattle. A successful trip indeed.
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