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Church Mountain trail looking Northwest towards Vancouver, BC. (Click image above to download the Google Earth KMZ. For a little help click here.) |
The trail started off at 2000 feet and climbed to 4000 feet just before the 2 mile mark. While that might seem on par with the other hikes, one thing that made this a non-standard hike was the presence of a 3 year old girl, Arlissa, and her younger sister, Katie (9 or 10 months old??). Yes, times have changed since Eric and I last went on a hike together. This was evident as we found ourselves taking turns and rotating from holding Katie to pushing the 3 wheeled stroller up the trail. I must admit, this was a first for me, taking a stroller along. It was a good challenge. If you ever want to realize how many roots there are on a trail, take a stroller.
I had been away from the mountains for a while so I was really grateful Eric organized and got me on this trip. Moving to Dallas for the 1998 year was the worse thing I could do for my outdoor opportunities. It was great to get back out there, even though the weather wasn't cooperating that well. It was cold and misty and the snow hadn't yet all melted off. But, snow or no snow, I was going.
Arlissa did great. I was getting tired of my pack so I had her take it for a while. Let me tell how impressive it is to see a 35 lb three year old haul a 70 lb pack up the side of a North Cascade mountain. It was actually kinda freaky. She must've been on the 'juice' at the time. Katie on the other hand did absolutely nothing. Give her some creative thinking credit, because she had it all figured out by pretending to not be able to walk or talk and so we all took turns carrying her while she basked in the smooth ride.
About half way up we took a break at the end of a switchback… somewhat of a flat area. Arlissa had needed a break from hauling my pack up while at the same time fending off a grizzly bear (I didn't feel like wrestling the creature, so Arlissa obliged), so she was in the stroller sleeping. We all took off our packs and were talking when the stroller started down the hill. Don't worry, it didn't go far, maybe 3 or 4 feet before it tipped over and planted Arlissa's face into the ground.
So that sucked.
Hard to remember, but I think she bloodied a lip or something. We were all in this together though, no matter the sacrifice and kept going. We had a trip to finish. We patched up Arlissa, made sure she was conscious and had the athletic trainiers make sure the level 3 concussion wasn't going to effect her vision or balance (coach said she was a "go") and were back on the trail. About 2 miles up, we lost the trail in the snow but managed to pick it up again a few hundred feet later. By this time we came to a relative flat area at 4900 feet and found an island of dry ground with 4 freshly cut stumps grouped together… perfect for a camp site. This is where I setup my tent with a broken pole and had to improvise with some rope and two trees - let me tell you how much is sucks to be broke and not be able to afford a respectable tent.. Eric got a fire started, we tried staying warm but I just don't think we came prepared enough for this wet misty weather.
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Eric, Susan, Arlissa and Katie (on car) at a turnoff on the road to take a gander at Mt. Baker
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The next day was a little better weather-wise with some partial clearing. Not enough to see the majestic Mt. Baker to the south but enough to warm us up a little. Eric stayed back with Susan and the kids while I did some exploring up on the ridge. I did a little 1.2 mile hike on mostly rock because of the wet slush that the snow had become. I went up to the saddle east of Church Mountain at 5900 feet. Looking down on the other much steeper side to the north revealed the two Kidney Lakes and a beautiful valley. After spending a few minutes up there I made my way back down to camp and started packing. This was just an overnighter, just to get out of the grind where 'the man' couldn't find us.
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Susan and Katie approaching the flatter part of the trail. We setup camp soon after.
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The hike down went smoothly, without injury at least. We headed back down the logging road to Highway 542 and drove around the area a little trying to get a glimpse of Mt. Baker peaking through the clouds. This was the best look of Mt. Baker I've had and was very impressed. I would like to climb that mountain sometime and hope to do so in the future.
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From right to left: Arlissa, Susan/Kaite, Eric, Stroller |