Love at First Sight
Mount Thomson So one day I was having lunch with some friends when -bam!- there she was! The most gorgeous little thing I had seen in years, her beauty was stunning. She really stood out from the crowd. I wanted to say something, but it was like my tongue was tripping over its own taste buds and all I could utter was “Wow!” It was love at first sight and I knew that we were meant to be together. No, I’m not talking about the first time I saw my wife, sorry sweetie, this here story is about Mount Thomson!
The first time I saw Mount Thomson was on top of Kendall Peak. A friend of mine invited me along on a hike he was planning to the Kendall Katwalk. I’m not much into hikes without summits, so fortunately Kendall Peak summit is very close to the Kendall Katwalk and I was able to convince my friends to hit the summit while we were there. They agreed, although reluctantly. I was the first to the summit and was greeted by a most impressive view of Thomson. I instantly fell in love with the mountain. I loved its profile, its sheer ridges, and its vertical relief from the surrounding scenery. I knew I was going to find my way up to the summit sooner or later, and turns out it was sooner. Three weeks later I set off from my home town of Chehalis, WA at 5 am for the 2 hour drive to the trailhead.
Kendall Peak Summit - First View of Mount Thomson |
To Bushwack or not to Bushwack?
During my research for the trip I had read about a couple of shortcuts. The first involved taking the Commonwealth Basin Trail instead of the PCT for the first leg of the hike to save about a mile worth of trail. This was a no brainer since I had been on the Commonwealth Basin trail twice before and it’s a great trail even though it is “abandoned”. The second shortcut I was contemplating was a cross country route that involved some bushwacking but supposedly saved 2 miles. I had read several trip reports of people attempting this route without much success. Here are some excerpts:
- ”...The first shortcut follows Commonwealth trail and is nice but the second one is a complete bushwhack and not recommended. This shortcut not only did not save any time it also wasted us.”
- ”...There is no boot track heading down to the Commonwealth Creek. We bushwhacked up and climbers left and it was awful, dangerous bushwhacking and 4-5th class loose veggie cliffs before we finally got to the trail again.“
- “...I took Alternate Shortcut 2 up to Kendall this past week. I am not sure if its really the much "shorter" in that it takes a while to bushwhack… I ended up up and down climbing to make my way around cliff bands.“
- ”...After some more brush-battling when the talus slope petered out we ran into more snow covered slopes, and then after a short steep section we finally stepped onto the PCT. Great success! By this point we were about 6 hours into our adventure, and an aging hiker who passed by as we were regrouping on the trail told us that it had taken him just 4 hours on the PCT.”
So did I listen to all this sage advice? Of course not… I took the bushwack route! I made quick time up the Commonwealth Basin trail, up to the PCT, and to the big switch back where the bushwack route starts. As I stared off into the brush I kept trying to convince myself that this was a good idea. Eventually I took the plunge and stepped off into the foliage. The going was slow and tedious, in fact it was miserable. About 10 minutes in I contemplated turning back and cancelling the trip all together but I pressed on. Tired of forcing my way through shrubs on steep sidehill, I decided to just head straight up the mountain. I had seen pictures of the west side of Kendall and I knew that eventually the terrain would open up. After another 10 minutes of plowing through bushes it opened up! Right into some cliffs! There was a nice looking class 3 gully across the way, but alas, it was blocked by a 30-50 foot ravine with no possible way to downclimb. Again I considered turning back and I was reminded of a quote from Jim Birdwell: “A sense of uncertainty that is potentially fatal is what makes climbing an adventure. Anything less is just working out.” I certainly felt the uncertainty part, although if I had actually though my life was at risk I would certainly have turned around. Instead I pressed on and up the mountain dealing with multiple route finding challenges up the class 3 rock and vegetation covered slopes. I would make my way left, back to the right, and back left again several times before the terrain became largely dirt and talus and shortly after I reached the trail!
Start of the Bushwack | Cliffs! Doh! | Morning Sun on Red Mtn |
I was pretty excited to reach the trail again. The bushwack route had taken me about an hour and certainly was an adventure. I was happy I took the bushwack route, but in hind sight I doubt I would do it again. I hiked the PCT a short distance to the Kendall Katwalk where I took out my GPS and looked at my stats: 2 hours and 2.8 miles! It WAS a shortcut!!! I saved about 30 minutes and about 2.7 miles of trail. I was pretty happy about this, and my legs still felt fresh.
From this point on I was feeling pretty good. The weather was perfect, mid to low 50’s with a slight breeze, sunny, and clear cloudless skies. Great weather for a hike. I recall a
trip report by
mvs commenting on how much he liked the trail from the Katwalk to Ridge Lake and I would agree, this section of trail is lovely! I was so happy gently floating down the trail towards bumble bee pass. This is what life is all about folks! Soon after I reached the sharp turn in the trail that marks the boot path up to bumble bee pass. The trail was steep and climbed up a couple hundred feet and upon reaching the pass the views of Mount Thomson and the basin below were stunning! As I reached the basin I noted a small trickle of a stream coming from some remaining snow in the basin and was grateful that I would have somewhere to fill up with water on the way back. I eyeballed out a route through the boulders up to the notch on the east ridge of Thomson and started the hike up.
Mount Thomson from Bumble Bee Pass
Fall Colors Along the Trail | View from Thomson's Basin | Wrong Class 4 Route | Correct Class 4 Route |
Lost and Found
Lost Water Bottle In my research for the hike I had read the climber’s log for Thomson here on SP. The
latest entry was from
Josh Lewis who stated “Did this one with Gimpilator. Sad to say I lost one of my water bottles on this one. This is certainly one of the better I-90 peaks.” Well, on my way across the base of the cliffs towards the notch I looked down about 30-40 feet and spotted a water bottle! The thing was pretty beat up and looked like it had taken quite the fall with nicks and scratches all over it. I thought “I wonder if this is Josh’s lost water bottle?” and tucked it away in my pack. After I got back I PMed him a picture of the water bottle and sure enough, it was the one that he had lost on the belay ledge near the summit! Crazy, huh! :)
The Summit
I continued up a steep boot path and reached the notch, then continued on more steep boot path towards the summit. After a few minutes of this I longed for some class 3 rock to scramble up as the steep class 2 boot path was getting annoying. Unfortunately there wasn’t much scrambling up until the last couple hundred feet. I made my way up some easy class 3 and was searching for the 20 foot section of class 4 I was expecting to find. I reached a wall and sure enough, a 20 foot section that looked class 4ish so I climbed up. It was fairly difficult and I had to be careful and remember my holds for the downclimb. Once I reached the top I was disappointed to find nothing but cliffs. I had climbed the wrong section of class 4! Oops. I carefully made my way back down and followed left around the base of the rocks where I found another 20 foot section of class 4. Not wanting to repeat my last mistake I continued left around this route where the terrain got seriously exposed and there was no obvious way up. I turned back and scrambled up the last section of class 4 I had seen and it turned out to be the right route. It wasn’t too difficult. More challenging than normal class 3 climbing but there was not much exposure at all or at least much less than I was expecting. After this a little more scrambling and I was at the summit!
Overcoat, Chief, and Chimney Rock | Summit Self Photo | Chair and Kaleetan |
The summit was amazing! Perfectly clear skies and a light haze of smoke from the fires off to the east made for some great scenery. The views of Overcoat, Chimney Rock, and Lemah were amazing and I could see Rainier, Glacier, and Stuart off in the distance. Chair and Kaleetan peaks looked good from this vantage point too. I spent close to an hour on the summit having lunch and soaking in the scenery. It was one of the best summits of 2012 for me by far. I signed the summit register and made my way down. I had no trouble downclimbing the class 4 although I did have to do that section facing in. As I made my way down the boulder field I ran into another party of three older gentlemen on their way up. They were pleased to hear that I was able to make it without protection since they did not bring any rope. One of the men said he had climbed it as a teenager without problems. I wished them luck and we continued on past each other. I hope they were able to make it up and down safely.
Mount Thomson Summit View |
Until We Meet Again
On the way back I stopped and chatted with a few day hikers, one of which informed me that there was possibly a bear on the trail. Another woman she had talked to said she saw the bear, and there was some bear scat on the trail. Fortunately I did not run into the bear and several hikers I passed remarked that they were happy that I was not the bear when they heard me coming down the trail. I decided to take the PCT back to the car instead of repeating the bushwack shortcut. I had had enough adventure for one day. Turns out to be a good decision as the trail back was nice and relaxing and took me about 50 minutes to get back to the Commonwealth Basin trail. A short while later I was back to my car and heading home. The whole trip took me 8 ½ hours car to car and was one of the best trips of 2012. I was one happy guy. Thank you Mount Thomson, until we meet again…
GPS Route for Mount Thomson - Bushwack Up, Trail Down
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