Welcome to Off-Trail

Climbing Pinnacle Peak (6562’)

The Off Trail section is featuring video shot during excursions of solitude. The latest iterations of GoPro cameras have very good audio and good enough software stabilization to enable shoulder mounted shooting while ambulating, skiing or biking. Prior to 2024 I recorded mostly in 2.7K, but the newer cameras allow for 4K/60fps. As of 2022 I am adding 360 video when appropriate. Many of these will be during peak bagging outings, where I can go hours or days without seeing another soul. Some include usually high traffic and popular trails, but during off season or early/late hours, also devoid of people. Enjoy the sounds of footsteps, the crunch of snow, birdsong, wind…and sometimes labored breathing.

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The Hummock (6,000’) Unicorn Peak (6971’) Tyee Peak (6,000’) Pigeon Peak (4280’) Antler Peak (7017’) Marcus Peak (6962’) Meany Crest Ski 4/14/24 Chinook Peak (6904’) Three Way Peak (6796’) Silver King Peak (6998’) Norse Peak (6856’)

Boundary Trail (Nisqually)/Ridge Mt. Wow (6040’) Florence Peak (5508’) Lane Peak (6012’) Seymour Peak (6337’) Yakima Peak (6226’) Old Desolate (7137’) Central Cowlitz Chimney (7421’) Pinnacle Peak (6562’) Third Burroughs (7828’). Barrier (6521’)/Buell (5756’) Peaks Scarface (6108’) Foss Peak (6524). First Mother Mountain (6480’) Howard Peak (5683’) Banshee Peak (7400’) Bald Rock (5904’) Paul Peak (4800') Castle Peak (6120') Castle-First Mother Ridge Transit. Old Wonderland Trail Section: Carbon River Mt. Rainier: Mowich Rivers 50 Mt. Rainier Peaks. A Senior’s Backcountry Ski Experience DUNEs! Martin/August/Virginia/Berry Peaks Satulick/Iron/Copper Peaks Whitman Crest (9323’)/Fryingpan Glacier Lake Allen “Trail” Aurora Peak (6094’) Wahpenayo/Chutla/Eagle Peaks Plummer/Denman Peaks. Andrew Benchmark (6716’) Mount Ararat (6010’) Anvil Rock (9584’)/Muir Snowfield Ski Cowlitz Rocks (7450’) Tamanos Mountain (6790’) Sunshine Point (MRNP) Tahtlum Peak (6567’) Joshua Tree National Park TumTum Peak (4678’). Mt. Rainier: Select Summits Mt. Adams RTM Off-Trail Timelapse

The Hummock (6,000')

OCTOBER 24-25, 2024 Taking advantage of a short weather window, I went to a place I had visited in 2006 to record a timelapse sunset: a hummock above Emerald Ridge. I thought a revisit was in order, and carried 4 cameras with me; a Panasonic G9, GoPro Hero 11 Black, GoPro Hero 12 Black, and a GoPro 360 Max. As it turned out I only used 2 cameras, the H11 and 12. I failed to record a timelapse sunset on the G9 due to user error, and I never set up the 360 Max.

Looking west: Emerald Ridge lower left frame

I parked at the West Side Road and walked the road to the Round Pass trail, then intersected the South Puyallup trail to the Wonderland, continuing CW on the Wonderland to Emerald Ridge. An extension of the ridge continues to the base of what I call “The Hummock”, a grass topped rocky mound that actually blocks a good portion of the mountain from the Emerald Ridge vantage point. A short class 2/3 scramble put me on the apex of the mound, where I saw 3 mountain goats below me heading for the base of the Tahoma Glacier. From there it was a matter of setting up the cameras, with the 2 GoPros plugged into a power brick to keep them going all night. It wasn’t especially cold, but there were brisk gusty winds on the mound. I found a flattish spot for the bivy (with a cross country permit) below the mound and hunkered down, letting the cameras run all night long. I had excellent vistas to the west, finally seeing the comet along with the lights of Puget Sound.

Mt. Adams perfectly framed from The Hummock

During the night the moon rose behind the mountain, and I figured that amount of light would wash out the GoPro timelapses, with the 11 set to “nightlapse” and the 12 set to “star trails.” However, I was pleasantly surprised with the results, as you will see in the video. As I retraced my steps back to the vehicle, there were brief moments of sun and pleasant temps. Although I was schlepping more weight than I am accustomed to, this was a great way to cap off the hiking season. Happy Hiking everyone!

Unicorn Peak (6971')

Because of the uniqueness of this being my first ever trad climb, I wrote about it on the regular williswall blog…you can read that article here.

Tyee Peak (6,000')

Tyee Peak is accessed from Mt. Rainier's Northern Loop Trail near Windy Gap, with a social trail that deposits the hiker right at its base. I tagged this peak on a 2 day NLT transit, along with Pigeon Peak. My decision to circle the mid base of the peak to the east and climb the east face was doable but not prudent. The much easier route up the wooded west ridge proved to be the "normal" way, as I found out on my descent. Both routes are shown in this video.

Pigeon Peak (4280')

This remote peak is really just the end of a ridge, but it's on the Mountaineer's 100 peaks in Mt. Rainier National Park list, which is the only reason anyone would go there. Once I stepped off the Northern Loop Trail, I had 4.5 hours of brush, creeks and tightly packed trees to negotiate. On the return trip I dropped to a lower contour and the going was a bit better, but I was very glad to be back on trail. Rated Mature due to a few cuss words.

Antler Peak (7017')

Antler Peak is easily accessed from the Sunrise Parking lot via the Sourdough Ridge Trail. I took a late afternoon jaunt to the peak utilizing two cameras, my usual chest mount plus a handheld pole mounted 360 camera to provide some alternate viewing. The entire transit is captured in this 11 minute video.

Marcus Peak (6962')

Marcus Peak was the last peak remaining in this part of the park for me, so I bagged it when I was camping at White River for a few days, driving up to Sunrise Point to hike the Palisades Trail. A left turn to Hidden Lake brings one to an informal trail that goes to the saddle between Palisades and Marcus. The Mountaineers book shows the route going up the ridge to Marcus, with the description saying stay mostly to the right. After floundering in the trees on the ridge, I dropped back down to open country and came across a trail that led to a gully, taking you right up to the base of the summit block. However, first I traversed over to the saddle on the NW side of Marcus to check out that route; it didn’t look inviting. I circled back to the trail and finally summited by gaining the ridge from an obvious gully. The summit block provided good solid holds to the top. Stats: 8.5 miles/3,500’ elev. Video rated Mature due to one cuss word.

Meany Crest Ski 4/14/24

Why in the Off Trail section? We had to bike on closed roads to the point where we could skin the road, then the trail to below Meany Crest. The actual trail was never seen, and creek crossings and other obstacles slowed us down. For the blog post click here. Stats: 15 miles skiing with 4000’ of elevation, plus 14 miles of biking adding another 1400’ of vert.

Chinook Peak (6904')

Capping off a multi day peak bagging trip, I drove early to the Crystal Peak trailhead to ensure a parking spot on this Saturday morning (August 12, 2023). The Chinook Peak approach is accessed right at a switchback from the trail, with a gentle climb to the right of Peak 6706, followed by a traverse right to Chinook. Despite intimidating rock features, there is basically a trail to the summit involving mild scrambling. On the return I continued up the Crystal Peak trail to the Crystal Peak summit (6595') as the last time I was there in June 2018 it was snowing. Fabulous views, especially lower down on the trail where Rainier dominates a 180 viewing horizon. Stats: 11 miles/4400'

Three Way Peak (6796')

Basically, I bungled the approach to this peak (August 11, 2023), ascending straight to the summit from a hop off point on the PCT. This was probably much harder than had I stuck to the description, ascending to the col and then via the ridge to the summit. However, my approach luckily went and I eventually intersected the "normal" approach maybe 100 feet below the summit block. The Mountaineer's description for the last 50 feet is "The Three Way summit block and final 50' are somewhat exposed but not technical." I found this to be the case, actually much easier than the nasty gullies I ascended and descended in the process. I had been peak bagging staging out of the Crystal Mountain RV lot, so my approach was via the Silver Creek Trail to a PCT connector, then the PCT. Stats: 10 miles/2932' elevation gain. Beautiful weather was on the palette this day! Rated Mature due to a few mild cuss words.

Silver King (6998')

Basing out of the Crystal RV lot, I accessed Silver King (August 10th, 2023) via the south ridge. I started at the Silver Creek trail, then branched off via Elizabeth Lake to climb to the ridge. Then it was a fairly straight forward walk along the ridge connecting to the Campbell Basin area, dropping down to the top of Forest Queen run and back to the van. In referencing attempts at this peak in the past, I got in some doggie cam and a few ski shots, as the ridge connecting Silver King and Campbell Basin is the access way for the South Backcountry during ski season.

Norse Peak (6856’)

First I will qualify that Norse Peak is actually a hike; there is a trail that leads to the summit. I put it under this heading as it is one of the peaks listed on the Mountaineers "100 Peaks in Mt. Rainier" list. On August 9th, 2023 I started the hike at 2 PM under patchy cloudy skies hoping for clearing on the peak. Luckily I was rewarded, with the fast moving clouds below peak level obscuring some of the distant views, but the local views didn't disappoint. Much of this hike is through the burn zone of the 2017 Norse Peak fire, eerie but beautiful nonetheless. Highlights on the trail: 3 immature elk skittering out of the way and a hummingbird that hovered in front of me as I was taking a photograph.

Boundary Trail (Nisqually)/Ridge

On May 17, 2023 I explored Mt. Rainier’s Boundary Trail (Nisqually entrance) as a possible approach to Mt. Wow. I followed the trail to a saddle where a social trail continues towards Mt. Wow on a ridge, steep in some places. Actually the Boundary Trail is steep and my unaccustomed downhill legs were quivering at the end of this hike. I turned back on snow covered slopes just below 5000’ as I was in trail runners and concerned about my legs and the length of day had I continued on (I summited Mt. Wow on June 6 from the West Side Road approach). This video will give the viewer an overview of the Boundary and Ridge leading to Wow.

Mt. Wow (6040')

First a note on the wonky video, which I eventually diagnosed and corrected after this trip. For those GoPro users, after a firmware update I had to make the Hero11 recognize that I had the Max lens mod installed

Third time’s a charm, trying for Wow from the West Side Road via the steep and unmaintained Lake Allen “trail.” Blog post is here. If you want to see more about the Lake Allen trail, click this. For this old guy it was an unrelenting, brutal day; stats: 6.7 miles/5018’ elev

Florence Peak (5508')

Mt. Rainier National Park's Florence Peak (5508') was #66 on the 100 peaks list for me. The Boundary Trail (Carbon River entrance) was in nice shape all the way to the saddle on Alki Crest, and the social/climbers trail along the crest led me all the way to the false summit. An easy scramble deposited me on the summit proper. May 26th, 2023 had me only stepping on a few very short sections of snow. I mistakenly figured that hitting Sweet Peak on the way back would be easy, but my attempt to reach the saddle leading to that lower wooded summit was a tangled mess of mossy rocks, snow, slide Alder and Devils Club. Surmising that perhaps I wasn't taking the best approach to Sweet, I elected to turn around an save that for another day. NOTE: I experimented with recording this trip in GoPro’s Superview mode…that won’t happen again.

Lane Peak (6012')

Lane Peak resides in the Tatoosh Range in Mt. Rainier National Park. It is described as a difficult scramble in the "100 Peaks in Mt. Rainier" guide due to a steep gully that must be ascended to attain the summit. On a beautiful summer like Thursday (October 5/2022) I decided to give it a go. The description was correct; but although steep, there are bountiful hand holds and I never felt very exposed. This was peak #65 for me in my ongoing chipping away at the list. The fact that the Tatoosh side of the park is simply spectacular, especially clad in fall colors, was icing on the cake. I mounted a GoPro Max 360 camera on my helmet to try to capture the essence of the gully climb.

Seymour Peak (6337')

Seymour Peak (6337') can be accessed a few ways. Since I was camping at Ohanapecosh campground, I elected to bike from my camp site up highway 123 to the Seymour west ridge, accessed right from the road. I stashed my bike out of sight and began the steep forested ridge climb at 8:30 AM, planning on getting the effort part of the bike/hike/bike done before the temperature reached close to the forecast 100 degrees. This was a straight forward climb and non technical, but the angle of the ridge was constant effort. In some ways the descent was more difficult, especially in the footing amongst the forest detritus and pointy sticks. By the time I got back to the bike the temperature was around 90, but minimal pedaling was required to arrive back at my camp site. Seymour is #64 on my Rainier 100 list.

Yakima Peak (6226')

Yakima Peak has the shortest access I've encountered yet, pretty much right out of the parking lot at Chinook Pass (WA 410). In fact, Strava had the round trip at 1.25 miles. This was a pleasant short jaunt despite rising temperatures, sporting great 360 degree views. Yakima was my first peak on the Rainier 100 list this year at #63.

Old Desolate (7137')

Old Desolate in Mt. Rainier National Park towers above Mystic Lake. Unlike singular peaks, Old Desolate occupies a long ridge. Towards one end the high point tops at 7137'. For this iteration I started at Sunrise and hiked the Wonderland Trail past Mystic Lake, Mystic Pass, and entered the area of Moraine Park. After ascending a dry wash to a plateau in Moraine Park, I climbed straight away to a sub peak on the ridge which offered astounding in your face views. However, to reach the summit proper I had to descend a bit and traverse the loose rock that covers the whole western face. The summit area is round and broad, peering down to Mystic Lake and across to the Burroughs Mountains and the entirety of the Winthrop Glacier. Stats for the day: 25 miles with 7700' vertical.

Central Cowlitz Chimney (7421')

This video starts on the contour below and around Banshee. Central Cowlitz is described as a moderate scramble, but I found the hardest part of the day to be the side hilling and route finding below Banshee to access the peak. The star of the day is the view from the summit, looking across to the sheer wall below Banshee and the Sarvant Glacier with Rainier in the background. As usual for this area of the park, goats were seen lounging in various places during the hike. Because I started and ended at White River campground, the day was longish at 22 miles with 5500’ elevation. Link to blog writeup.