Category Archives: Mountains

MOUNT HOOD LOOP – GEMS HIDDEN JUST OUT OF SIGHT

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Bridge over the Zig Zag River
Abandoned bridge over the Zig Zag River.

Chester Moores was a member of the first party to complete a loop around Mount Hood in an automobile in one day.  They did it as part of an expedition he wrote about in a wonderful article written in the 18 July 1915 edition of The Sunday Oregonian.  They spent eleven hours out on the roads, starting with the Columbia River Gorge Highway only completed in parts the year before.  Construction of that road in Hood River and Wasco Counties would not be completed for several years.  They ended up on earlier roads, much steeper and narrower.  He writes of encountering grades of 25 to 30%. The actual Mount Hood Loop would take longer.

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ITALY IN SLOVENIA – NEW “Natural Borders” TO DEFEND

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Postcard shows new ‘natural borders’ added as a result of Italia irredenta,

It is easy to forget which ruins are from which war as you wander about in the Julian Alps.  Many trails have beginnings in one of the World Wars or in the events preceding or suceeding.  Many mule tracks still hiked on built by either Italian or Austro-Hungarian military engineers.  Vršic Pass became a main road only during the First War. The cost of hundreds of Russian prisoners of war dying during in its construction by some ten thousand POWs. The Julians were set to become Italy’s new “natural borders” with the east.

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LUKNJA – MAGIC UNVEILED WALKING IN THE SHADOW OF TRIGLAV.

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The majestic North Face of Triglav towering above the upper Vrata Valley.

Triglav is the mountain defining Slovenia.  The three-headed mountain – Triglav means three heads – is so beloved, it takes center stage on the nation’s flag (Quick aside – Slovenia is one of eight countries with mountains on their flags and one of three featuring a three headed peak –San Marino and Slovakia are the other two.  Costa Rica has three peaks on its flag, but they are separate mountains, actually representing different mountain chains, Slovakia’s three bumps also represent three separate chains.). A hike to Luknja in the shadow of the giant mountain can unveil magic on an incredible scale at nor too hard a physical cost, not always an easy sale on Slovene mountain trails.

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HIGHEST OF THE HIGH SIERRA

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Mt Whitney rises above the jumbled rocks of the Alabama Hills like the scene from Gladiator.

Mt Whitney is the goal of many who search out adventure and challenge in the High Sierra. It is the highest peak – 14,498 feet – in not only these mountains, but all the summits in the states south of Alaska beating out Colorado’s Mt Elbert by 65 feet and its neighbor to the south, Mt Harvard by 78 feet. Being the highest is a magnet.  A magnet means too many people and the result is the Mt Whitney lottery system.

But the crest of the High Sierra is so much beyond Whitney. There is a lifetime of peaks waiting for you here. The views are incredible and so can be the efforts to attain them.

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KARAVANKE – FORGOTTEN MOUNTAINS OF SLOVENIA

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Mountain haze shared with cows atop Dovška Baba with Visoki Kurjek ahead on the Karavanke crest

The geography of Slovenia’s greatest mountain range, the Julian Alps is a confused mess. Mapmakers are much more at home with the Karavanke.  This chain extends for about 75 miles – 120 kilometers – in a west to east fashion geographically separating the Drava and Sava river valleys.  They form a border between Slovenia and Austria. The Karawanke continue the function of the Carnic Alps separating Italy and Austria further to the west.  As a border, the Karawanke have served that purpose since at least Roman times.

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AWAY FROM THE VALLEY – A SIMPLE YOSEMITE

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Jeffrey pine growing through the granite at Olmstead Point – Cloud’s Rest is on the right horizon and Half Dome is to the left.

For most visitors to Yosemite National Park, a visit equals a trip to Yosemite Valley. I do not have any statistics but would easily say most visits are limited to a quick stay in the dale that Ansel Adams describes as “Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space.”

Nevada Barr, a mystery fiction writer best known for her Ana Pigeon series involving a myriad of national parks and law enforcement, related this tale about the park, “The story is, a man came up to Yosemite and the ranger was sitting at the front gate and the man said, “I’ve only got one hour to see Yosemite. If you only had one hour to see Yosemite, what would you do?” And the ranger said, “Well, I’d go right over there, and I’d sit on that rock, and I’d cry.”

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TABLE MOUNTAIN – THE BETTER OPTIONS

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Devil’s Peak to the left and Table Mountain to the right from atop Lion’s Head.

Cape Town has been described as the most beautiful city in the World.  The natural setting is indeed magnificently unique.  Table Mountain and the Atlantic Ocean dominate.  The original town lies in the City Bowl created by Table Mountain and Devil’s Peak to the east and south.     To the west, the Lion’s Head and Signal Hill complete the semi-ring. It is truly an urban equivalent of the glories found farther to the east atop the wilds of the Drakensberg.

Many times, to properly appreciate a mountain, you need to climb another to gain a better appreciation.  So, it can be with Table Mountain. My journey started here.  Lion’s Head gets it name because the shape resembles a reclining male lion looking towards Table Mountain. Signal Hill is also known as the Lions Rump.  Again, better appreciated away from the mountain.     

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BREAKING IN A NEW MOUNTAIN CORGI – THREE CORNER ROCK

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View south from the base of the former lookout atop Three Corner Rock.

One of my first posts covered the hike on Three Corner Rock with my last mountain corgi, Cuillin. Even at 12, Cuillin showed the style, stamina and simple good looks of the corgi in the heights of the Cascade Range of southern Washington State. He lived up to his Gaelic name. Three Corner Rock is high enough to be classified a Munro, even a metric Munro since the peak is 3,550 feet high (1082 meters). For those not familiar with the quaint system of mountain classification in Scotland, Munros are mountains over 3,000 feet (914 meters) and metric Munros are over 3,300 feet (1000 meters).

Of course, the mountains in the Pacific Northwest are higher and more numerous than Caledonia. We call Three Corner Rock, the perfect place for a fire lookout, at least until it moved north to the San Juan Islands.

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HOW TO CLIMB TRIGLAV IN ONE DAY – OR NOT

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Triglav rising with the Krma valley on the left and the Kot in the middle. Peak to Triglav’s left is Rjavina. View is from Jerebikovec.

Hiking route taken on my one day “climb” of Triglav – route is in light green.

There are not many countries thinking enough of their mountains to emblazon them on their national flag. Slovenia is an exception. Triglav, the highest, represents the strength of the Slovene soul. On a summer weekend, the goal of every Slovene seems a whack on the ass – the reward for a climb of Triglav. “Thank you sir. May I have another!” Afterall, Milan Kucan, the first president of Slovenia said, “It is the obligation of every Slovene to climb the mountain at least once in one’s lifetime.

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DOGGIN’ IT IN THE FLOWERS ATOP DOG MOUNTAIN

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The next to last switchback before the summit of Dog Mountain is reached. Indian Point is the tall rocky point in the sunshine on the Oregon side to the right center with Wind Mountain further to the right on the Washington side of the river.

Ahh, Dog Mountain. This seven mile, 2800 vertical foot gain hike is one of the most popular in the Columbia River Gorge. I would guess it to be number three after Multnomah Falls and Angels Rest, both on the Oregon side easily accessed from the freeway I-84. Dog Mountain is on the Washington side in between the towns of Stevenson and White Salmon-Bingen with the trailhead right on Washington Highway 14. The hike is a workout, but the views over the eastern sections of the middle Gorge during the wildflower season of mid-spring are what brings the crowds out.

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