A quick hour drive landed us at the closed gate of Wyeth Campground.  I swung the 4runner around and parked along side Gorton Creek.  The snowline was lower than I had seen it in a long time and the thought of climbing up the ridge in five feet of snow was a bit unappealing to me this morning.

As we were blessed with fine weather, I quickly jumped into my gear.  Gaiters were a must as were snow shoes, providing me a rather portly daypack.  All loaded up, we skirted around the creek and made our way to the trailhead while trying our best to mimic memorable characters from our workplace.

The laughter belted out in long streams as Bobby did his best "Dave Chappelle acting like Rick James" impression.  I had to get in on the act as he got the goofy side of me going.  One last shot of Bobby and if things go right, we should be near the ridge behind him.

The walk to the trailhead was a pleasant one as we talked about upcoming New Years Resolutions.  More hiking was in it for Bob as he has had a rather limited hiking year.  For me, a closer walk with God, along with mountaineering and riding with my team again, were the issues I had brought to the table.  The cost of time required for such ambition was high as it will be quite the juggling act. 

We worked our way up the steep switchbacks as the snow line became immediately obvious.  The sweat started to flow as I slowed my pace to let Bob catch up.  While following small bobcat tracks, I stopped and studied them a bit to see how long ago the medium sized kitty went through the area.

No wind and cloudless skies were blessings after the weeks of rain that had flooded places like Vernonia that I lived nearby.  I thought it wise to throw on my snowshoes as I was up to my chins at this point.  The snow depth was mind boggling as neither Bob nor I had ever been here, this time of year, with this much snow on the ground.

A quarter mile up the trail, or what we thought was the trail, proved play time was over as the snow now deepened to post hole even in snowshoes.  The vine maple that was pulled down and across the supposed "trail" was making keeping a decent line almost impossible.  Going around it all proved difficult as I took a ten foot spill down the side of the ledge, tumbling over a large eight foot rock.  The snow provided a soft landing as I then worked my way back up to the so-called trail.

Up and up we climbed, often losing the powdered runway.  I received some excellent route finding practice as we were getting lost more frequently.  We soon broke out into the first clearing as we hit only 2600 feet.  I took this picture for a dear friend that insists it is the best one of the bunch.  I publicly disagree.

As I knew the creek would be flowing, it provided quite the obstacle.  The creek was the trail as a hundred yards were surrounded by as much as five vertical feet of snow.  I kicked steps with my shoes to get Bobby down safely, then we worked our way through the vine maple that was awaiting us on the other side.

2800 feet and the snow just kept getting deeper.  Never have I had this much snow, other than at Mt. St. Helens.  Now, post holing a good two to three feet on every step was becoming monotonous.  I let Bobby break trail for a while.  300 yards and I was at it again as there was just too much snow to pick up and put down with every step.  I took a short break to admire the day's beauty. 

Although 2007 has been a rather difficult year for me, there has been one person, in particular, that has helped me in my walk with the Lord.  Although she doesn't think she has done much for me, she has influenced me more than she realizes.  A text, just as I took this picture, brought forth a smile to my face as a song from Grease played in my head.

Me: "Bobby, how you feeling man?"
Bob: "Uh, I could call it a day"
Me: "Wow!  Dig this view!  How does this spot look?"
Bob: "(Out of breath) Yah...  Looks good John."

Just then my cell went off.  I never had service out here as this surprised me a bit.  Elaine's flight was landing in Portland as I looked at my watch.  1:30 and it was time for a long break before the slog back to the truck.

I quickly donned some warm gear and laid out my sleeping pad to sit on.  I got the stove roaring in seconds, boiling up water for some hot cocoa while munching on a Hershey bar with almonds.  Bob always brings the buffet as he had a mix of beef jerky, GORP and some incredible home made blue berry-banana bread.

After our rest, I packed my rucksack and thumped my way back towards the truck.  As Bob and I had plans to hit up Walking Man Pub after the climb (part of the tradition, you see), and I had to get home within a reasonable time to meet Elaine, I quickened my pace.  Within 45 minutes I was able to take off the snowshoes, increasing my pace even more.  I stopped to wait for Bob and decided to get artsy for a minute, taking a shot of the surrounding trees..

Back at the truck, we were bummed that we only got half way to the Lake.  We were further disappointed that Walking Man was not open on Mondays.  We drove to Mcmenamins on the way to drop Bob off to celebrate the upcoming new year.  Cheers buddy!

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