I can hardly believe it either, but in less than a week, I will be tackling my biggest physical and mental challenge ever: Mt. Adams. Mt. Adams stands at a mighty 12,276 feet above sea level, above cloud level, above comfortable oxygen level…Adams is a stratovolcano but it hasn’t erupted in the last 200 years and it is second in eruptive volume only to Mt. Shasta within the Cascade Range. But it is still active; the USGS reports that there are “fumaroles emitting steam and hydrogen sulfide in the crater area.” The main cone is estimated to be 220,000 years old.
Adams, along with Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Hood, has been described by Northwest Indians for centuries. It has been called Klickitat and Pahto in different legends. Interestingly, its current name is left over from an 1839 scheme to make the Cascades the Presidential Range.
I will be setting off on the 11.6 round trip, South Spur Trail with a group of fellow AmeriCorps friends in the wee hours of July 11th. We will spend the night in bivouacs at a place called the “Lunch Counter,” make water by melting snow and throwing in iodine tablets, and then hike to the summit!
Hiking with an overnight pack (extra food, clothes, tent, sleeping bag, etc) will be harder but I think it will be worth it to sleep on a mountain at 9000 feet. I hear the stars are amazing. Plus, I hear the worst part is the snowfield up to the false summit, “Pickers Peak,” so better to attack that after a few hours of rest. Although some hikers have said it feels like a 45-degree climb, the max angle on the whole trail is [only] 30-degrees.
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