"After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, which is the most horrible thing in the world."
--Oscar Wilde on Absinthe
© 2006-2021 SummitPost.org. All Rights Reserved.
Don Nelsen - Feb 2, 2005 12:20 am
Route Climbed: Spur trail from the parking area, et al. Date Climbed: About 1955Well, what can I say - I was about 7 or 8 when my parents drove up here for the view. It was a pretty big deal for me, though!
I made my first "real" climb of Larch on my 1937 vintage Shwinn bike about 1960. I did the 80 mile round trip from 17th and Thompson St., where I grew up in Portland. I liked the Shwinn because it had a comfortable wide seat that made such long rides more enjoyable.
I rode a succession of bikes up there over the next few years but only ran/hiked the trail for the first time from sea level in '79 or '80 but didn't write a climb down in my hiking/running log until 11/28/81.
Since then, I've done this peak from the bottom about 50 times. (hmmmm -- let's see, 50x4,000, that's about 200,000 vertical feet total!)