The Last Time, Really

On Saturday, while Doug was enmeshed in the Brown garage sale - "50 years of stuff, everything must go" - I snuck out for what really must be my last time into the high alpine.  I know I keep saying that, but, as I write this, the day before we fly to Australia, I really think it was my last trip into the alpine - at least for a while.

There were four of us, and two dogs, two from Nelson (who invited me) and one super friendly guy from Surrey.  Predictably, I got lost getting to the meeting place - couldn't find a way onto Highway One - and was about 10 minutes late.  Luckily, we were meeting early - 6 am - so my lateness had no significant effect on our day.  We drove south across the Canada-USA border and up a short logging road to a trailhead that led into the Mount Baker Wilderness Area. 


A good hiking trail leads to some tarns to the west of the diminutive Yellow Aster Butte.  At this point, you have hiked about 8 km (or so) and Tomyhoi Peak, our destination for the day, is still a long way away.  In fact, the summit is only just visible peaking over the horizon to the north.  At the tarns, we left Will and the two dogs behind, one of which immediately began to bark, and bark, and bark, and bark...  Frightfully embarrassing as there were many people around the lake who I am sure did not appreciate the serenade.  Eva, Andrew and I carried on along a good trail that basically leads all the way to the top of Tomyhoi Peak

There are a few ups and downs along the route,  probably 60 metres or so, for the longest down, that I thought might feel annoying on the way up, but, generally  this is ridge line hiking at its finest.  There are peaks, meadows, valleys, glaciers, all around.  This is an area that I don't know very well, so really could only identify the Cheam group to the north, the Rexford Group to the northeast, and, of course, Mount Baker prominent to the south. 

When you get closer to Tomyhoi, the trail contours around the east side of the peak, then a short stretch of glacier must be crossed before a scramble up a rocky gully to the ridge.  The trail then switches to the west side of the ridge for a short distance and then onto the ridge proper and a false summit before the real short summit tower.  The summit tower is an easy scramble up shallow gullies on loose rock.  The way is very obvious beaten in by the boots of thousands of climbers. 

We had a short break at the top, then headed back to the more capacious false summit for our lunch, and then the long walk back.  Eva was having trouble with her feet, and I think was also feeling tired, so  Andrew and I ambled along ahead.  At the tarns, Will was waiting patiently with the two dogs.  We let Eva soak her sore feet for 10 minutes or so, and then began the long dusty walk back down to the trailhead. I took one of the dogs with me as I thought Eva was getting tired of dealing with two dogs.  Descending the trail I found quite slow and I was wishing Alanna was there as together we would have bombed down the trail in no time. 

Mount Baker