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Family trips out to Oregon are always a treat, and I had been inspired by their mountains since my first visit. Becoming accustomed to the mountains here in Colorado and their generally friendly exteriors, Oregon peaks are a stark contrast. Many seem to stand alone and tend to stand tall above the surround forests seemingly taunting one another with their snowy slopes. I had always wanted to get into the mountains, but it seemed that our timing did not correlate with reasonable conditions for much of anything for the last few years. Particular interest had been drawn to the 3 prominent volcanoes that are notable for rock instead of snow. Mount Thielsen, Mount Washington and Three Fingered Jack stand like lonely sentinels and seem naked compared to their statelier, snow-covered companions.
Three Fingered Jack and Mount Jefferson
The low snow levels in the Cascades this year gave our normal trip timing prime conditions for the rockier peaks and my hopes rose. Mount Washington and Three Fingered Jack became my top goals due to their lovely appearance and short scrambling challenges. Although I had contemplated soloing either peak, the alleged rotten rock and high-consequence 5th class scrambling had me doubting my thoughts of going alone. Unfortunately, problems soon began to arise as I started to search for partners. Oregon's climbing community exists, but simply is much smaller and tighter knit than here in Colorado and I wasn't having any luck finding anybody interested in volcano peakbagging. Fate does work in mysterious way, and I coincidentally found out that a dude that I had bought some chalk bags from a year or so back had moved to Eugene and would be stoked to go with me. We chose Mount Washington and set to meet at an ripe 4:30am at the trailhead.
Per usual, morning came quickly and we soon were plodding up the dusty PCT. A large fire had destroyed pretty much all of the tree cover and the dust from the trail was expanding rapidly into my lungs as we continued along. The PCT allowed rapid progress and we soon hit the well-marked climber's trail that allowed rapid progress up to Washington's aesthetic North Ridge. Once on the ridge line the terrain gradually became more rugged, but a good trail kept the going good and we soon scrambled up the final scree slope to the base of the imposing summit tower. Helmets went on and we discussed if we were going to get out the rope while we eyed the crumbly terrain above. After a few minutes, we agreed that it didn't look terrible and started to scramble up unroped. Due to the large amount of loose rock covering the ledges, it was obvious that we could only put limited trust in the holds and we cautiously worked upward through the steep terrain. Although the climbing was easy, the exposure served as a constant reminder of the consequences of choosing a poor hand hold. Keeping this in mind, we slowly worked upward and happily discovered the angle decreased after a few hundred feet and we soon arrived abruptly on the small summit.
Cinder hike
Crumbly scrambly
Small flying ants delighted in covered any inch of bare skin while we tried to enjoy the views. Mount Jefferson and Three Fingered Jack loomed to the north while the Three Sisters stood to the south. The Cascades are a very linear range, and it was very interesting to see the peaks forming a line across the landscape. Bellknap Crater stood out sharply with it's sunken summit crater and massive lava flow that had consumed much of the nearby forest. The air held a slight haze for some reason and we discussed if the ocean could be seen on a clear day. After spending a decent time on the summit, the ants drove us toward the decent. Prior ascents had left a mass of webbing on all of the established rappel anchors and I was thankful to not have to leave new webbing. Rappelling the steeper sections and downclimbing the rest, we made quick progress back to hiking terrain. The forecast called for near 100 degree temps and the exposed rock on the ridge acted like an oven. A mix of jogging and walking got us into the trees quickly and we happily cruised back to the car in just under 6 hours from the time we began. It was a pleasant outing and a nice change of pace from the majority of what we have here in CO.
I was just out there on vacation a few weeks ago. We did a cool hike up Canyon Creek meadows to a saddle on Three Fingered Jack. Nice to see it from a more distant perspective! I have some pictures of Jefferson from there.
That rock out there on most of those summits really seems like junk. I guess that’s what being a remnant of a volcano gets you though.
Good to see some Oregon love on here...Mt. Washington is a sweet peak! Glad you didn’t make the mistake I did and wrap around too much to the left via the first ramp, that was some scary climbing. Great photos!
Jon – It really is a beautiful area. Three Fingered Jack and Jefferson are so awesome, I’ve yet to see any bad perspectives of them!
Dave B – I didn’t know you’d done Washington! I would have bothered you about the beta. What else did you do out there?
Dave J – We should go climb some peaks out there!
Sarah! I actually tried to do that, but quickly changed my mind.
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