Stuart Shutdown

It wouldn't be alpine season without a requisite Mt. Stuart shutdown. Armed with a few days off on Mother's day weekend we headed to Leavenworth and the trailhead. The road was great until about a mile before and then we (and at least ten other cars) got stopped by mushy snow blocking the road for about 100ft. Daniel thought the 4runner and it's prowess in 4Low could handle the blockade...but the soft snow said hell no. However, though we were stuck I almost feel that subconsciously Daniel did it on purpose....you should have seen the smile he had on his face when he was using his new winch and all of it's accoutrements. It was like a kid in a candy store. The winch did prove it's prowess and once we were unstuck we parked and loaded packs.


The trail to Mt. Stuart is not one I particularly enjoy. It is about 8 miles in (plus the extra mile from the road being blocked by snow making it 9), some of which is on a trail, this time covered in mushy snow, and some of it on a cross-country post-holing adventure. Typically what happens is you're walking along and all of a sudden you leg disappears up to your crotch. Never pleasant falling in...and definitely not pleasant trying to find the correct angle of your foot (typically not the way nature intended your foot to bend) to struggle your way out...all with a pack on no less. This is the time to be the follower and not the leader as your luck is much improved...unless you are hiking with our friend John after he has eaten freeze-dried food, and then you will be thanking your lucky stars if you get to lead in order to avoid the subsequent stench :-D

before the majority of the postholing

So off we went. The weather was supposed to be questionable, but it's just one of those things you just have to try, especially this year where a perfectly stellar alpine climbing forecast is once in a blue moon, and most likely not corresponding with any of your days off. The longer we hiked the more we realized that yes it was raining, and yes we were getting wet. it wasn't until we were about 7 miles in that we finally let ourselves realize how wet we actually were and that a decision needed to be made. It was about 5pm and I wasn't sure if I could mentally handle hiking the 18 mile round trip back to the car...plus we had all of our overnight gear and we were almost there so why not.

Wet....and postholing

Hmm...Mt. Stuart in the Morning

Once we got to the base of Mt. Stuart, it was definitely raining and definitely windy. We found a spot as much under the trees as we could and holed up in our Firstlight tent for the night. After some fairly miserable sleep (I think it was worse for Daniel, he was wedged between me and a tree) we woke up around 5am and said this sucks. Got out of the tent and took a good look at Stuart with the clouds positively whipping over the top, freezing our arses off at the base, and conceded that the mountain had won this time and started the hike out. After a quick stop at Heidleburger we headed back to Olympia to pick up Reuben. We spent some quality time with my parents, wished my Mom a happy mother's day, and headed back home to reality once again.

Getting sunny on the way out...but check out Mt. Stuart (*hint it's the one you can't see)

Team Harro's always happy to be outside though....check out Dan's bloody nose, I didn't see that until I downloaded this pic.....ewww grrrroooosss...

Oh well, there's always next time... :-)