Upon returning to Vancouver from the Olympic Peninsula, we had the incredible good fortune of finding a place to stay through Jason, our friend who had put us up and toured us around Germany earlier in the year. He moved back to Vancouver over the summer, and arranged for us to use his parents' vacant second house for many days. He has practically been our personal travel concierge, finding us perfect (and free) accommodations on multiple continents. A million thank-yous to Jason and his wonderful parents!
Sarah's brother Shaun invited us to do a day hike with some of his friends to northern Washington State. Sarah couldn't go but I was game, if a bit resigned to trailing far behind Shaun and his hard-core, incredibly fit mountaineering buddies.
Good thing I went - Tomyhoi Mountain was probably the best all-around day hike I've been on.
Shaun, Misha, Tina, Mike and I left from Vancouver at about 6 am in Misha's truck, crossing the border at Sumas shortly after passing some police investigators marking what appeared to be the scene of a drive-by shooting. Ah, Sumas.
Tomyhoi Mountain is a bit north of Mt. Baker, close to the Canadian border. I'm not sure how long the hike is, but it was a very full day - about 1200m elevation gain (not counting the big roller-coaster ups and downs) with some serious scrambling at the top. Misha brought climbing rope, and most of the others brought ice axes and climbing harnesses and helmets just in case. Me - well, my equipment consisted largely of a floppy hat... thankfully my lack of gear didn't turn out to be a big issue.
We hit the trail at 9:10am, climbing up through forest for over an hour before hitting subalpine elevations.
While the sky was clear, it was quite hazy from forest fire smoke. So while it looked cloudy, it was really hot the whole day, and there was almost zero shade.
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| Mt. Baker through the smoke |
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| Low-level mist |
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| Now that's hiking. A great dane with two saddle bags and a back pack. After all, it is almost as big as a mule. |
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| View from not quite halfway. We were headed for the pointy, isolated peak on top and in the middle of the photo. And yes, in front of us was the first of several unfortunate downhill slopes we encountered on the way up. |
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| Quick break for a view |
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| Shaun on steep switchbacks down to the plateau |
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| Looking NW - impressive rise from the valley to the peaks |
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| Tomyhoi pokes it head out from behind the next hill |
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| Surveying another very steep downhill, followed by more uphill |
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| About to plunge into the gulley |
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| Looking back at the knife-edge ridge we just made our way along |
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| Almost 3/4 of the way up. You'd be able to see even further without the smoke haze. |
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| Shaun with Tomyhoi in the background, which is the lower peak on the left (though it's the highest - it's just far behind the right-hand peak) |
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| Tomyhoi. See the little white dots on the right side of it? People. That's the route up. Gulp. |
At this point I looked at the peak and thought "yikes - it looks totally impassable without full rock-climbing gear." It's definitely steep and exposed, but looks better up close.
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| Walking around a couple of small glaciers - it was nice to borrow an ice axe, since if you got sliding you'd end up either in a crevasse or going over the lip of the glacier and down a large cliff. But the path along the edges was stable. |
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| Not the peak, just a quick scramble we needed to make |
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| The "crux" - the final steep climb to the peak. Zoiks. |
When we hit the crux, well, it still looked pretty formidable. No one was going to go up unless they felt comfortable, and we did have some harnesses and rope. After some analysis, it looked like there was only about a 15-foot stretch that was exceptionally challenging and exposed, so we all thought we'd give it a shot without aids and see how it went.
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| Shaun just after the crux, getting up on the shoulder |
And we all made it! Once past the crux there's a bit more scrambling, and you definitely don't want to lose your footing as there are serious drop-offs on all sides - but the work is pretty much done at this point.
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| The crew, just past the crux. The guy at the top was fixing ropes so his girlfriend and 12-year-old son could climb up the crux, which is on the other side of this rock |
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| At the peak of Tomyhoi, striking an appropriate pose. |
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| The rest of the group, as seen from the summit looking east. What an amazing view. |
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| Chad and Shaun |
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| Apparently you can see this glacier from the highway near Chilliwack. |
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| Crevasses near the cliff edge |
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| Explorer poses |
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| Tina and Mike on the peak |
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| The valley floor is a looooong way down from here |
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| Starting my descent down the final peak scramble. Knife-edge ridge is noticeable in the distance. |
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| Misha on top |
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| The 12-year-old coming up the crux with rope and harness |
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| Looking back at the knife-edge ridge we walked earlier, and that we would traverse again on the way down. |
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| Mike and Tina coming down the crux. A bit steep, no? |
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| The team coming down the crux - as seen from the bottom of it |
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| Closeup of the crux |
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| It started to clear up a bit on the way down |
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| Lots of red fungus/lichen on the snow |
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| Hardy mountaineers, with conquered Tomyhoi peak to the right |
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| Shaun and a sweet view down |
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| Oh God, seriously, we have to go back up these unnecessary gulleys? |
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| Yep, there's our path up one of the climbs on the return trip. Ugh. |
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| Mt. Baker became a bit more visible toward sunset |
The hike out was pretty long after such a big day, and I was happy to have Shaun's hiking poles for the last 1/2 hour as my legs/knees were starting to cramp up. We had each taken close to three litres of water, and had all run out more than an hour from the end - it was much hotter and more exposed than we had bargained for. Idyllic weather.
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| Mt Shuksan, just east of Mt. Baker, is very impressive in the evening light |
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| A final look at Baker just as we descend to the parking area |
We made it down just before 6:30pm - about 9:15 hiking time all-in, including breaks and waiting for people to clear the crux (at least 30 minutes, probably more). We stopped at a gas station for much-needed rehydration, and then drove to Bellingham for a well-deserved bite and pint at Boundary Bay Brewing Company.
Hiking days don't get any better than this! Many thanks to Shaun, Misha, Mike and Tina for a great time all around.
