charlybldr
08-09-2005, 06:16 PM
OZ/US Northwest Rendezvous
Thursday July 87
Unicorn Creek
Participants: Rob Cobb, Joe Bugden, John Hart, Dave Haavik and Charly Oliver
Summit Creek campground lies in the National Forest within close proximity of Mount Rainier National Park. It’s a small campground with only half a dozen campsites and sits as you might imagine close enough to Summit Creek to stumble right into if not being careful. As it passes the campground the forest service road crosses a bridge from which you only get a glimpse of what lies below. And what lies below is a very short, yet very sweet canyon. Tired and hungry from our day in Davis Creek and the drive south, we still had a couple hours of daylight in which we could tick this diminutive gem. The canyon sports a number of short drops through a narrow gorge pushing over 100 feet deep at the big waterfall punctuated with numerous swims and down-climbs. If you started walking the rim of the canyon downstream from where the road crosses the bridge and didn’t stop until below the big drop you would have to really be draggin’ ass for the hike to take more than about fifteen minutes. In spite of its close proximity and ease of access, once in the campground with tents set up and beers cracked, it just wasn’t going to happen. An early start would be required the next day so no sooner than we were fed, the sun set and we hit the sack.
Up and moving at first light we broke camp and headed up the road into Mount Rainer National Park. The two-lane blacktop road wends through ancient old growth forest providing occasional glimpses of nearby Mount Adams and once far enough up the road, awesome views of majestic Mount Rainier. As a guy from Colorado high mountains don’t really impress me anymore. I live within view of the Continental Divide and from just a few miles east of my home, I can see 14, 255 ft. Longs Peak to the north and 14,109 ft. Pikes peak over a hundred miles to the south with Front Range Fourteener’s Mounts Evans, Bierstadt, Grays and Torreys Peaks in between. But when you consider Washington’s dormant volcano’s rise to above thirteen thousand feet from less than 1000 feet above sea level, their sheer bulk is impressive to say the least.
A brief stop to view Box Canyon, another of the Northwest’s “seven undescended�, was well worth the time. Box canyon reminded me of the Crystal River Gorge near Marble Colorado, another “undescended� problem. Mike Dallin, John Hart and I have visited the Crystal no less than three times never finding conditions suitable for a descent. Even in drought conditions, the water has been too high and too dangerous. Like the Crystal Gorge, Box Canyon is maybe thirty feet across and a couple of hundred feet deep. Standing on the bridge looking down into its dark depths we could see why no one has yet gone in. “We thought about putting a blow up doll in a wet suit and dropping it in upstream to see if it would make it through.� said Rob. Not sure I would want to be that blow up doll.
Back in the car we soon arrived in Paradise, the end of the road and starting off point for climbers headed up the standard route on Mount Rainier. Typically, climbers leave the parking lot and have an easy first day to camp Muir then a 12am start the next day designed to get them on the summit just after dawn. This allows time for photos and gawking in the early morning light before heading back down before the sun-warmed glaciers become avalanche and crevasse riddled death traps. Due to the crowds at Paradise we opted to skip Edith Creek, a nice canyon that leaves right from the parking lot. So back down the road to the Unicorn Creek trailhead we dropped gear and packs while Rob and Dave spotted a car a little further down the road just across the gorge and about a thousand feet of white granite talus above Unicorn’s terminus, which appeared to offer reasonable egress from the grand finale two hundred foot waterfall. On a descent a few years earlier, Mike Dallin and Ken Liebert had opted to skip this last drop in favor of catching the Wonderland trail from where it crosses Unicorn creek just above these falls and offers a short hike back to the road. Rob had been ribbing Ken about this telling him “we’re going to get the first complete descent.� fully intending to include this final falls.
Back up top I misunderstood the plan and started to pull on my wetsuit in the parking lot. “This one’s not Sally Style� chuckled Rob. “We’ve got a bit of an approach first�. Sally Style, a term coined by Joe, means leaving the car decked out in wet suits and full canyon regalia. As you might imagine, more than a very short walk could make a Sally Style approach problematic. I am sworn to secrecy as to the origin of this term but with a little imagination, I’m sure you’ll have an idea. The “bit of an approach� is actually a pleasant stroll through the forest to Unicorn Lake, a beautiful alpine lake situated just below timberline with a magnificent view of the south flank of Mount Rainier. Joe had brought a waterproof video camera on the trip and had been dutifully videoing our antics of the previous days. As Rob was continually offering suggestions like “Get the shot from over here.� and “Send Joe down first so he can shoot back up the drop.� I jokingly referred to him as the director and Joe the cinematographer. Once at Unicorn Lake Rob began taking his directorial responsibilities seriously ordering us all around and explaining his vision of “the shot� to Joe. Finally he threw up his arms and exclaimed, “Ok, take a break. We’re doing the money shot next. Bring in the fluffers.�
Unicorn Creek starts out pleasantly enough. A short walk through the woods from Unicorn Lake and we found ourselves hiking and scrambling as the drainage slowly deepened up. Not terribly committing, escape from Unicorn Creek can be had at just about any time. A steep hike up a talus or forested hillside takes one back to the road with little difficulty. At one point you can look up and see the stonework supporting a switchback in the road just a few hundred feet over your head. But before long a narrow slot appears presenting interesting down climbing through and around waterfalls, nothing terribly difficult but very enjoyable. The canyon continues like this for a while then the drops begin. Waterfall followed waterfall, each with its own individual character. Bright sunlight glinted off the spray creating backlight problems for the photographers but a fantastic show for the rest of us. We seemed to see frogs everywhere and Rob even found a snake to snatch up and present to Joe. Joe took this all in good humor considering the fact that he grew up in a place that is home to eight of the ten most venomous snakes in the world and typically, gives any serpent a wide berth.
Although it presented little in the way of technical difficulty, Unicorn Creek was a very enjoyable adventure. Good fun, plenty of natural anchors (we even built a cairn anchor, Dave’s first) and great scenery makes this a “don’t miss� for visiting canyoners. After enough waterfalls that I quit counting we finally arrived at the Wonderland Trail. Considering the thousand-foot hike up that white, granite talus field in the full-on sun, Dave and I opted to bail on the final drop and hike out the trail and back to the car. Rob, John and Joe chose to continue on.
It only took Dave and I a little over a half hour to hike back up the trail and down the road to the car. Once there we watched and waited figuring we would soon see the intrepid three toiling their way up the white granite slope. Twenty minutes, thirty minutes, soon we had been waiting an hour but still no sign of the group. We couldn’t figure out where they had gone. It didn’t surprise us that we hadn’t made it back to the car in time to see them rappel the last waterfall. But if they were coming up the talus, we should have seen them by now. After all the white granite offered uninterrupted visual from the road almost all the way down where it was separated from the river by a short bit of scrub and bushes. Maybe they were coming up through the trees and we just couldn’t see them. So, up and down the road we drove, from the car spot at the top of the talus to the trailhead, back and forth. Finally we settled on waiting at the trailhead. I hadn’t had time to light a Camel before a very tired looking trio walked out of the woods. Red faced and sweating they looked beat. Dropping their packs we pulled cold drinks out of the cooler and demanded the story.
As it turned out, the three had made it to the top of the falls, easily before Dave and I had made it back to the road. In the time it took us to walk back down the road to the car the boys had rapped the last drop, pulled their ropes and started working their way across the river. Here’s where things got sticky. And when I say sticky, I mean sharp and pointy. First of all the river was running fairly high presenting its own problems in the crossing. Then that short bit of scrub and bushes turned out to be an impenetrable fens of Devils Club and Slide Alder. They fought with this uncooperative mass of vegetation for half an hour but couldn’t make it ten feet. You northwest mountaineers know what I’m talking about. When faced with this obstacle prudence demands finding an alternative route. So slipping and sliding in the strong current the three worked their way downstream to where they could cross back and climb some short and thankfully shady talus back to the Wonderland Trail and on out to the road. During the ordeal, Rob’s shoe delaminated (I will leave you to guess what brand shoe it was) and he was forced to flip and flap the entire hike out. In the end, I’m sorry we missed that last rappel. It looked fantastic from the highway and photo’s and video confirmed this. I’m not however, sad we missed the Devil’s Club encounter.
Thursday July 87
Unicorn Creek
Participants: Rob Cobb, Joe Bugden, John Hart, Dave Haavik and Charly Oliver
Summit Creek campground lies in the National Forest within close proximity of Mount Rainier National Park. It’s a small campground with only half a dozen campsites and sits as you might imagine close enough to Summit Creek to stumble right into if not being careful. As it passes the campground the forest service road crosses a bridge from which you only get a glimpse of what lies below. And what lies below is a very short, yet very sweet canyon. Tired and hungry from our day in Davis Creek and the drive south, we still had a couple hours of daylight in which we could tick this diminutive gem. The canyon sports a number of short drops through a narrow gorge pushing over 100 feet deep at the big waterfall punctuated with numerous swims and down-climbs. If you started walking the rim of the canyon downstream from where the road crosses the bridge and didn’t stop until below the big drop you would have to really be draggin’ ass for the hike to take more than about fifteen minutes. In spite of its close proximity and ease of access, once in the campground with tents set up and beers cracked, it just wasn’t going to happen. An early start would be required the next day so no sooner than we were fed, the sun set and we hit the sack.
Up and moving at first light we broke camp and headed up the road into Mount Rainer National Park. The two-lane blacktop road wends through ancient old growth forest providing occasional glimpses of nearby Mount Adams and once far enough up the road, awesome views of majestic Mount Rainier. As a guy from Colorado high mountains don’t really impress me anymore. I live within view of the Continental Divide and from just a few miles east of my home, I can see 14, 255 ft. Longs Peak to the north and 14,109 ft. Pikes peak over a hundred miles to the south with Front Range Fourteener’s Mounts Evans, Bierstadt, Grays and Torreys Peaks in between. But when you consider Washington’s dormant volcano’s rise to above thirteen thousand feet from less than 1000 feet above sea level, their sheer bulk is impressive to say the least.
A brief stop to view Box Canyon, another of the Northwest’s “seven undescended�, was well worth the time. Box canyon reminded me of the Crystal River Gorge near Marble Colorado, another “undescended� problem. Mike Dallin, John Hart and I have visited the Crystal no less than three times never finding conditions suitable for a descent. Even in drought conditions, the water has been too high and too dangerous. Like the Crystal Gorge, Box Canyon is maybe thirty feet across and a couple of hundred feet deep. Standing on the bridge looking down into its dark depths we could see why no one has yet gone in. “We thought about putting a blow up doll in a wet suit and dropping it in upstream to see if it would make it through.� said Rob. Not sure I would want to be that blow up doll.
Back in the car we soon arrived in Paradise, the end of the road and starting off point for climbers headed up the standard route on Mount Rainier. Typically, climbers leave the parking lot and have an easy first day to camp Muir then a 12am start the next day designed to get them on the summit just after dawn. This allows time for photos and gawking in the early morning light before heading back down before the sun-warmed glaciers become avalanche and crevasse riddled death traps. Due to the crowds at Paradise we opted to skip Edith Creek, a nice canyon that leaves right from the parking lot. So back down the road to the Unicorn Creek trailhead we dropped gear and packs while Rob and Dave spotted a car a little further down the road just across the gorge and about a thousand feet of white granite talus above Unicorn’s terminus, which appeared to offer reasonable egress from the grand finale two hundred foot waterfall. On a descent a few years earlier, Mike Dallin and Ken Liebert had opted to skip this last drop in favor of catching the Wonderland trail from where it crosses Unicorn creek just above these falls and offers a short hike back to the road. Rob had been ribbing Ken about this telling him “we’re going to get the first complete descent.� fully intending to include this final falls.
Back up top I misunderstood the plan and started to pull on my wetsuit in the parking lot. “This one’s not Sally Style� chuckled Rob. “We’ve got a bit of an approach first�. Sally Style, a term coined by Joe, means leaving the car decked out in wet suits and full canyon regalia. As you might imagine, more than a very short walk could make a Sally Style approach problematic. I am sworn to secrecy as to the origin of this term but with a little imagination, I’m sure you’ll have an idea. The “bit of an approach� is actually a pleasant stroll through the forest to Unicorn Lake, a beautiful alpine lake situated just below timberline with a magnificent view of the south flank of Mount Rainier. Joe had brought a waterproof video camera on the trip and had been dutifully videoing our antics of the previous days. As Rob was continually offering suggestions like “Get the shot from over here.� and “Send Joe down first so he can shoot back up the drop.� I jokingly referred to him as the director and Joe the cinematographer. Once at Unicorn Lake Rob began taking his directorial responsibilities seriously ordering us all around and explaining his vision of “the shot� to Joe. Finally he threw up his arms and exclaimed, “Ok, take a break. We’re doing the money shot next. Bring in the fluffers.�
Unicorn Creek starts out pleasantly enough. A short walk through the woods from Unicorn Lake and we found ourselves hiking and scrambling as the drainage slowly deepened up. Not terribly committing, escape from Unicorn Creek can be had at just about any time. A steep hike up a talus or forested hillside takes one back to the road with little difficulty. At one point you can look up and see the stonework supporting a switchback in the road just a few hundred feet over your head. But before long a narrow slot appears presenting interesting down climbing through and around waterfalls, nothing terribly difficult but very enjoyable. The canyon continues like this for a while then the drops begin. Waterfall followed waterfall, each with its own individual character. Bright sunlight glinted off the spray creating backlight problems for the photographers but a fantastic show for the rest of us. We seemed to see frogs everywhere and Rob even found a snake to snatch up and present to Joe. Joe took this all in good humor considering the fact that he grew up in a place that is home to eight of the ten most venomous snakes in the world and typically, gives any serpent a wide berth.
Although it presented little in the way of technical difficulty, Unicorn Creek was a very enjoyable adventure. Good fun, plenty of natural anchors (we even built a cairn anchor, Dave’s first) and great scenery makes this a “don’t miss� for visiting canyoners. After enough waterfalls that I quit counting we finally arrived at the Wonderland Trail. Considering the thousand-foot hike up that white, granite talus field in the full-on sun, Dave and I opted to bail on the final drop and hike out the trail and back to the car. Rob, John and Joe chose to continue on.
It only took Dave and I a little over a half hour to hike back up the trail and down the road to the car. Once there we watched and waited figuring we would soon see the intrepid three toiling their way up the white granite slope. Twenty minutes, thirty minutes, soon we had been waiting an hour but still no sign of the group. We couldn’t figure out where they had gone. It didn’t surprise us that we hadn’t made it back to the car in time to see them rappel the last waterfall. But if they were coming up the talus, we should have seen them by now. After all the white granite offered uninterrupted visual from the road almost all the way down where it was separated from the river by a short bit of scrub and bushes. Maybe they were coming up through the trees and we just couldn’t see them. So, up and down the road we drove, from the car spot at the top of the talus to the trailhead, back and forth. Finally we settled on waiting at the trailhead. I hadn’t had time to light a Camel before a very tired looking trio walked out of the woods. Red faced and sweating they looked beat. Dropping their packs we pulled cold drinks out of the cooler and demanded the story.
As it turned out, the three had made it to the top of the falls, easily before Dave and I had made it back to the road. In the time it took us to walk back down the road to the car the boys had rapped the last drop, pulled their ropes and started working their way across the river. Here’s where things got sticky. And when I say sticky, I mean sharp and pointy. First of all the river was running fairly high presenting its own problems in the crossing. Then that short bit of scrub and bushes turned out to be an impenetrable fens of Devils Club and Slide Alder. They fought with this uncooperative mass of vegetation for half an hour but couldn’t make it ten feet. You northwest mountaineers know what I’m talking about. When faced with this obstacle prudence demands finding an alternative route. So slipping and sliding in the strong current the three worked their way downstream to where they could cross back and climb some short and thankfully shady talus back to the Wonderland Trail and on out to the road. During the ordeal, Rob’s shoe delaminated (I will leave you to guess what brand shoe it was) and he was forced to flip and flap the entire hike out. In the end, I’m sorry we missed that last rappel. It looked fantastic from the highway and photo’s and video confirmed this. I’m not however, sad we missed the Devil’s Club encounter.