THE WILHELM FAMILY

For about a week Andrew has been talking about setting up a lemonade stand outside our house. I think he saw someone in the neighborhood doing it at some point this summer and got the idea stuck in this head. I think every child gets excited about selling lemonade. Today he finally decided he was going to have his very own lemonade stand. He got out the lemonade and made it all by himself. Then he made his signs and asked for help with the small card table and chairs. I was a little worried that he wouldn't have many customers so we all bought a lemonade from him to start out. Boy was I shocked at the random people who drove by or walked by that bought lemonade from Andrew. The kids from across the street came over and another kid from school rode by on his bike and bought 6 lemonades. Andrew was beside himself and if we had let me he would have sold lemonade until dark. In the end he made $4.40. He paid Peter and Emma each 50 cents for being good helpers and proceeded to pocket the rest. More than anything it was just fun to watch his excitement.

So two years have passed since we climbed and summited Mt. Rainier at 14,410 ft. Mike has wanted to climb Mt. Adams ever since and it was this summer or never since we are moving next June. We didn't have that much time to prepare and train for this mountain but relied on our good cardiovascular shape from training for the Half Marathon and our previous experience climbing to get us through this awesome adventure. After saying goodbye to our family we headed out for a couple of last minute items for our trip...the biggest of which was boots for me to rent. Since I only had low top boots I needed something sturdier. The only problem is that since my feet are so small it is hard to find my size. After a couple of stores and two hours later we finally ended up doing the unthinkable and buying a new pair of good hiking boots. It is usually taboo to hike in new boots but seeing as it was my only option I had to take it. We left for Mt. Adams in the afternoon and got to the trailhead right before dark. The four hour drive didn't seem that bad and I really enjoyed driving along the Columbia River. We passed Multnomah Falls and it was gorgeous. I wish we could have stopped to see them longer. As we were ready to head over the bridge back into Washington across the Columbia River we realized the bridge was a toll and we literally didn't have a penny. We didn't even think about bringing cash and we only had our credit cards. We had to turn around because we didn't have the 75 cents to pass (so pathetic I know) and as we were turning around pass the toll booth on the other side the people inside the booth stopped us to tell us we could go because the people behind us coming through had paid for us. It may seem a small thing but to us it was a miracle. Lesson learned: carry emergency cash in the car!

The view of Mt. Adams from the base was spectacular and a bit overwhelming. It seemed weird to think that we would actually be climbing all the way to the top. We drove the last mile up on a really bad and windy dirt road to the trailhead where we would be sleeping for the night. Our friends the Bakers made it shortly after us. After repacking our packs we went to sleep early in preparation for our early start time.

We woke up at 4:00am and ended up leaving by 5:00am. We weren't walking in the dark for very long before we could see the sun! We were hiking for almost two hours when we came across our first steep ascent across a little snowfield and up some bolders. The climbers ahead of us told us that the route was not easy and to maybe try walking up the snowfield a ways before climbing up the bolders. We thought we might try that and quickly realized that the snow was still quite frozen. This made it more difficult to walk up without crampons on. Without having to get our crampons on we slowly and carefully side stepped it up the snowfield to a point where we could scramble up and above the set of bolders. We made it without getting hurt and a little upset that we didn't stick to the trail but instead listened to the fools ahead of us. Unfortunately this is where we got separated from our friends. We both had walkie talkies so that we could communicate in case we got separated. We decided to keep hiking figuring that they would catch up when we stopped to rest. We never did meet up again on the mountain but stayed in touch as much as we could. Luckily we put some time into studying the topo map of the mountain ahead of time and the different elevation changes. We had a time schedule that we were trying to follow in order to get to the top and make it down before it was too late in the afternoon and keeping in mind we still had a four hour drive when we got back to the bottom. About half way up the mountain at a place called Lunch Counter, we ran into a really nice couple who offered to let us use their water filter to fill up our jugs. We were so grateful and later realized that we wouldn't have made it without that refill. Mike ended up drinking 6 galloons of water and I drank 2-3 gallons of water on our hike. After passing Lunch Counter we stopped to eat some lunch and rest before our toughest part of the climb...Suksdorf Ridge. This ridge is a really steep 2000 ft ascent. It reminded us of summit day on Mt. Rainier with how steep it was. There were many who were wearing their crampons but the boot paths were so good that we opted to keep going without crampons. As we were climbing we were passed by many who had already made it to the summit and were making their way down the mountain. Most people hike to Lunch Counter and camp overnight and then summit from there the next morning. I was a little jealous to see them glissading down the mountain. I knew it would be my turn soon enough.

We finally made it to the false summit at Piker's Peak. There we met a scout troop who were headed down the mountain. It was so amazing to see the swarms of butterflies here at the peak. They look like little black dots in our pictures because they were flying so quickly. I was surprised to see that they followed us all the way to the top. We were pushing it for time but were so close to the summit (only 800 ft left) so we decided to keep going. We made it to the summit at 12,276 ft around 2:30pm and stayed there for about 20 minutes. It was well worth the 9 hour trek to the top. We had the most gorgeous view of Mt. Rainier and it was surprisingly warm at the top. We hiked in shorts and a long sleeve shirt. At the top I only had to add another long sleeve shirt...WOW. What a difference the weather was from Mt. Rainier. After signing the log and getting a few photos on the shack and in front of Mt. Rainier we speedily made our way down the mountain.

After we got back down to Piker's Peak we got our snow pants and windstopper jackets on in preparation for the long awaited glissading back down to Lunch Counter. This was by far the funnest part of our day. We descended down the 2000 ft ridge in 10 minutes when it took us almost 2 hours to climb. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! The rest of the hike down was tiring and by the time we got back to the trailhead we were beyond exhausted. The worst part was the four hour drive home. I was so relieved when we finally did get home safely, take a shower, and jump into our cozy bed! Another climb completed and so many more to go! Until next time!!!