Each summer I take my boys on a backpacking trip. This summer, Adam got married so was not available for our annual adventure, so Andrew said he was ready to conquer a mountain. Since we don’t have technical mountaineering gear, Mt. Rainier was not an option, so we chose the second tallest mountain in Washington State: Mt. Adams.

One of the five Washington volcanoes, Mt. Adams reaches 12,276 feet, and from about 8000 feet and above, the terrain is bleak, desolate, only rock and snow.

The first day of the hike, the mountain was shrouded in smoke from forest fires. That night was crazy windy, and c-o-l-d! But the next morning was incredible! God used the wind to blow all the smoke away… hallelujah!

Our two options for ascent were either ice or rock. Since we didn’t have cramp-ons, most of the way we chose rock.

After about four hours of rigorous climbing, we reached the summit! Freezing cold, 30 mph winds, we snapped some pix and then headed down.

On the way down, the sun had melted glacier fields enough for us to be able to glissade down a “bobsled run.” In about 45 minutes we descended the distance that it had taken us four hours to ascend! And so much fun! Check out this video:

Along the way, we had a furry observer who seemed quite comfortable both with us and his mountain.

But the best part of the whole experience was doing the challenging trip with my son, Andrew. The talks we shared, and memories we made, I will treasure for many moons to come.