Exploring the Mt. Adams Wilderness
Mt. Adams is the largest (by volume) and second highest volcano in the Cascade Range of Washington. Often overshadowed by its neighbors, Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Hood, we’ve taken a liking to Adams in part because its trails tend to be relatively deserted and in part because we have a fantastic view of the mountain’s east face from our neighborhood in the Yakima Valley. Recently we had the chance to complete a short backpacking trip on the north flank of the mountain which allowed us vantage points that far surpass anything we’ve seen on previous day hikes.
Our hike began and ended at a trailhead (Killen Creek) that is, as the crow flies, just 57 miles from our front door, but takes more than three hours to reach by car, giving some sense as to the relative remoteness of this area. Most of our ~20 mile loop was within the Mt. Adams Wilderness, a 48,000 acre wilderness area designated in 1964 with the original passage of the Wilderness Act.
On our first night, we camped at just under 7,000 feet on the north flank of the mountain in one of the most spectacular alpine meadows I’ve seen. No matter which way I turned, the views were extraordinary. To our south, the crumbling volcanic edifice of Mt. Adams loomed large, with the Adams Glacier descending in a stunning icefall from the summit plateau. To the north, broad expanses of dense evergreen forest stretched off into the distance, leading the eye to the massive Mt. Rainier and the rugged skyline of the Goat Rocks on the horizon. To the west, the truncated cone of Mt. St. Helens was backlit by the setting sun. Several lingering snowfields surrounded our campsite, providing a nice source of clear, cold water. A variety of diminutive alpine wildflowers were in full bloom, and the low rumble of rock and ice fall high on the mountain occasionally punctuated the silence, with clouds of dust the only clue as to their location. While this location is reachable by a long day hike, spending the night and being able to explore and photograph in the late afternoon and evening light is one of my favorite things about backpacking!
On Day 2, we descended to the Pacific Crest Trail before working our way around to the northeast side of Mt. Adams, passing through a series of wildflower-filled meadows and crossing several inviting streams cascading down from melting snowfields and glaciers higher on the mountain. These meadows also hosted a robust population of mosquitos and other biting insects….not unexpected for the Cascades in July, but an annoyance nonetheless, especially for an Arizona-born desert rat like me!
We had shared the trail with quite a few other hikers and backpackers on Day 1, but saw only a few other people from this point forward. Camp on night two was in a small clump of trees on the edge of a relatively recent lava flow. In contrast to the verdant alpine meadows of night one, this landscape was much more rugged, barren, and stark. After setting up our tent, we proceeded up the trail (with much lighter packs!) to find a spot for dinner. We quickly arrived at a stream crossing that we didn’t feel comfortable fording, so we left the trail behind and proceeded to pick our way up the rubbly bank until we arrived at a small knob with a spectacular view of the glaciers on Mt. Adams’ northeast face (Lava, Lyman, and Wilson). Here we enjoyed a delicious meal of instant mashed potatoes mixed with green chiles and an entire bag of bacon bits while listening to the roar of the creek.
Our best wildlife sighting of the trip actually occurred on the drive to the trailhead, when we happened upon a young barred owl sitting in the road. As we approached it flew into a nearby tree where it watched us warily for a few minutes before fleeing deeper into the forest:
Aside from this, we saw surprisingly little wildlife on this trip (unless you count mosquitos): only a few birds, chipmunks, squirrels, and a single marmot and mountain goat in the far distance from our first camp.
From our second camp, we were in a great position to catch sunrise on the final morning of our trip. There aren’t many things I’ll get up at 5:15 am for, but a Mt. Adams sunrise is definitely one of them!
After packing up, we hiked the eight downhill miles back to our car and drove back into the 100 degree blast furnace that is the Yakima Valley in late-July. We are thankful to have beautiful places like Mt. Adams so close to escape the heat this time of year!
Adventures with a telephoto lens (Part 2)
Here is installment #2 of recent photos taken with my new (well, new to me…used by someone else first) Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR telephoto lens:
Adventures with a telephoto lens (Part 1)
As a landscape photographer, I’ve never spent that much time working with telephoto lenses. For about as long as I’ve owned a DSLR, I’ve had an old Tamron 70-300 mm that I use mostly for taking photos of wildlife that would be inadvisable to get too close to. For a lens that only cost me a few hundred dollars, it takes pretty solid photos, but at a maximum zoom of 300 mm, it just doesn’t have the reach to capture anything more than a few dozen yards away in any detail.
This winter I decided to splurge on a telephoto lens upgrade by purchasing an AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens. For me, “splurging” means buying used on eBay, and unfortunately the first lens I won arrived rattling around loose in a paper-thin box with virtually no padding whatsoever. There was some external damage that hadn’t been disclosed in the auction listing, and, upon taking it outside for the first time, I quickly realized that the electronic aperture was non-functional. Fortunately, when I confronted the seller about these issues, I got my money back no questions asked.
It took a few more months to find another lens at a price I was comfortable paying, but by early March I finally had my hands on a non-damaged copy. Weighing in at around five pounds, this is an absolute beast of a lens. Thankfully, the tripod mount & collar that it comes with make a nice ergonomic handle to carry the entire kit by hand. (It’s actually been sort of nice to NOT have a camera slung over my shoulder for most of the past few months!) One does attract attention with a lens this large though: On a recent hike up the Carbon River Road in Mt. Rainier National Park, nearly every hiker I passed asked me some version of “Get any good photos today?” (I hadn’t really, and started answering honestly toward the end of the hike, which really seemed to throw people for a loop.)
Performance-wise, I’ve been really impressed with the lens so far. It’s been fun to use, both for wildlife and for closely framed landscape shots. The optics are sharp, and the vibration reduction is quite effective, allowing me to capture crisp images even at 500 mm in low light at sunset, which is pretty wild. This may be an entry-level telephoto, but it’s still a huge upgrade over anything I’ve shot with previously. Even after I made the decision to buy the lens, I had lingering doubts about how much I would actually use it given its size. Those concerns have been put to rest. To my surprise, I’ve spent most of the spring with this lens attached to my camera and have even been comfortable enough with its versatility to take only this lens on several hikes.
Without further ado, here are some of my favorite shots with the lens so far:
Several of the wildflower photos in my last post were also taken with this lens. Part two coming soon!
Zach Schierl Photography 