Sunday, August 2, 2009

Damfino Lakes/Excelsior Pass and Peak


Portland Hikers on Excelsior Peak

Mt. Baker from Excelsior Pass

Boots and Baker

Meadow of wildflowers on the way to the pass

Left Peak: Boundary Peak (Canada) Right Peak: Larrabee

Since one of my goals for this year's hike-a-thon was to get out beyond the Mountain Loop highway and 1-90 corridor hikes, I decided what better way to meet that goal on day one of the hike-a-thon than driving up to the Mt. Baker area and hiking up there?

My hike of choice was Excelsior Pass (this hike is also referred to as Damfino Lakes on the forest service website and on many of the trip reports on the WTA website). It had a moderate amount of mileage at 6 miles, a good amount of elevation gain certain to give you a good hard workout and promised fantastic views at the end. The trail did not disappoint in any of those categories.

It was a 3 hour drive to the trail head, including 15 miles on a forest service road with several places where the road on one side ended in a sheer drop-off into a valley far below. There are numerous family members and friends who can attest to my great fear of heights in cars (heights in any other situation do not bother me but put me in a car on a forest road with a drop off on one side and I'm reduced to clutching the seat in front of me in fear and hiding my head until we are 'safe'. Crazy? Yes. Can I help it? No, not really). Thankfully as the driver, I was able to focus all my attention on the road and avoid a total meltdown. And really as forest roads go, this one is really quite nice with much of the mileage smoothly paved.

I got to the trail head at about 9:30am and was on the trail by 9:45ish. True to the guide books and trip reports I had consulted the first bit of the trail is through the woods on a fairly typical forest trail. Damfino Lakes are passed early on. The trail was described as neither steep nor gentle in one book and I believe one trip report described it as easy and not at steep. Those of us that spend 50hrs a week sitting at a computer with only our scrolly finger getting a work out might disagree with those sentiments. I would say the trail up to the meadows is a steady climb that will have you sweating profusely (especially in the 80+ degree weather it was on Saturday). Your quads and glutes will definitely get a workout. After breaking out of the woods, the trail flattens for a bit as you cross the open meadows, full of wildflowers right now. It was beautiful! However, the hills weren't done yet, to make Excelsior pass requires another climb up the hillside, but somehow this hill didn't seem all that bad. At the pass, you are treated to a view of Mt. Baker that can only be described as 'Wow!'. You can certainly make the pass the final destination of the hike and have lunch in the meadows (there is a toilet at the pass too!). I had no intention of stopping at the pass. I had hiked that far, nothing was going to stop me from the final goal...the Peak of Excelsior itself. There are two options to get to the peak. One a meandering trail around the base of the peak OR the steep vertical climb straight up for a 1/4 mile or so. I of course did the straight up approach. We'll blame my huffing and puffing and profuse sweating on the blazing sun and the high altitude (5000+ feet). But the view from the very top was well worth it with 360 degree views of several peaks and views into Canada. The way down the trail I was immensely thankful for the trekking poles I had purchased the day before. One thing that was not pleasant about this trail is the bugs. Lot's of and lot's of bugs call this trail home, most of them seem to be biting flies and not mosquitoes. And worse of all, they don't appear to be phased at all by insect repellent of any sort (there is even a note about this on the Forest Service webpage for this hike, warning hikers the bugs aren't put-off by the spray, which I found hilarious). I've so far counted 5 bites from yesterday, including one on my face. All in all, a great hike with great views. I saw several kids making the hike with their parents most looked under 5 with the youngest being a baby so those of you with kids could definitely. And I can not forget to mention the wonderful group of people from the Portland Parks and Recreation department who were up on the peak of Excelsior with me and who after hearing I was doing the hike-a-thon promptly donated $10. To the Portland Hiking Group (the name they said they wanted on the donation form), I thank you and hope your last day of hiking in Washington ended well for you all!.

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