Cascade/Porter #5,6

I've had the pleasure of hiking both these mountains before, but it had been a while and I was looking forward to refreshing the experience and the awesome views from on top. These are two of the most hiked, easiest accessed, and awesomely rewarded views, hike peaks there are. The trail is only 2.4 miles to the top of Cascade from the trailhead, and another 1.4 there and back from the trail split to the summit of Porter. The weather was nice when my dad and I did this on 6/23/09. The temps were in the low 70's and was partly sunny with some hazy clouds hanging around. Black flies were definately out, as you would expect for this time of year in the 'dacks. The trail was wet and muddy in most places but not really anything bad or of hindrence other than the col between the two mountains. A few spots on the way to and back from Porter required some rock hopping and selective stepping to avoid boot high mud. There was a pretty good number of hiking parties on the trail today (a Tuesday), but I guess for these mountains any day could be busy. It was pretty amazing, as we approached the trail split for Porter we crossed a i'm guessing woman in her 80's, and then 5 minutes later a large family with several kids in the 2-3 year old range! Just goes to show that you can enjoy hiking at any age if you prepare and set your mind to it! This is a MUST hike for anyone thinking of getting into the hiking of the high peaks. It is relatively easy and the reward from the views on top are hard to beat!

Allen Mt (big nasty) #4

So, unless you've actually done this hike and or take someone who's done it before word, it really doesn't seem like that big of a deal. It's not the tallest or the most intimidating skyline, and most of the actually distance is quite easy. But, after having done it, I can certainly agree with its nickname "big nasty". The over all mileage is huge, 18 round trip. It is 8 miles to the base, over I think 5 river crossings, and although most of it is relatively flat and easy it still is time consuming and energy spent. Then you get the the fun part. Once you finally see the waterfall you know the real work is about to begin. The last mile is definitely up up and away! From the hikes I've done so far, very possibly the steepest in stretches, with Dix Mt being my reference; but the steepness is just part of the fun. Even though the trail is hiked and reasonably clear, it is still an unmaintained trail and very ruff and rugged. Then there is the red/brown algae... That is what this hike is infamous for. You spend pretty much most of the last mile going up very steeply, through a stream, over ice-like algae, after you have already hiked 8 miles! Oh, and when my friend Rob and I were doing it we had the pleasure of doing it in the rain. :D Well, we did make it to the top and through the rain clouds were able to get some nice views of Marcy, Skylight, Haystack, and Gothics. We had left the Upper works parking lot around 9am, and with a hour plus detour thrown in we reached the summit around 4:45pm. Knowing this we pushed ourselves as much as we could to get off the mountain itself and the trailess section of the hike before darkness hit. We actually managed to make it all the way to the last stream crossing before we had to use our headlamps to finish the trek out. By the time we reached the parking lot it was 10:45pm and 14 hours and 20 miles after we started. I'm so glad to have this one done!! I will say though that the trail up to the base of the mountain might be my favorite trail so far. It's a beautiful stroll through the woods and the trailess part is absolutely beautiful in its solitude!
6/7/09