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July 2022

amyjensen98

Updated: Jan 2, 2023





I will never forget this hike as long as I live. I had been looking for a back door way to get up into the Indian Heaven Wilderness when the snows normally lock you out of that area still. I had been searching through my hiking books and maps and was sure that I had found an unmarked and gated road that could do the job to get me up to the Red Mountain Lookout tower. You know I am obsessed with lookout towers and this one was built in 1910 at 5000ft in the Washington Cascades. The first and second attempt at this hike had me ditching my truck way off a forest service road and snow hiking my way from there. I got in as close as I could until the under carriage of my truck was plowing the snow and I was on the verge of getting stuck and not getting out. That is when I turn to snowshoes and leave the old truck behind. The first time was just Nova and I in early winter. We tracked a pack of wolves (ironically at the time not knowing what was coming my way) and essentially spent miles post holing to mid-thigh level even with snow shoes on. The conditions were terrible. We kept climbing and climbing hoping things would get better, every step taking us to total exhaustion. When I got to where I would sink to my waist with each and every step and had to climb out of the hole and slither on the snow on my stomach, I knew we weren’t going to make it on our first attempt. I tried this with and without snowshoes, with and without ice spikes on my boots, but nothing worked. Every step took everything I had. Nova tried to follow me, but was sinking to her stomach with each step as well. What was so hard was that I felt I was close…..maybe within a couple miles (which it turned out I was), but it was taking me hours to do even just one mile when most of it was crawling and slithering on my own under carriage. Eventually I had no choice but to give up and return to try to find where I left my truck in the dark. Since my trail truck is army green, it blends into the background so well that I missed it when I initially got back to where I thought I left it and my heart sank thinking someone had stolen it. What a terrible feeling when you can barely lift your foot another step and are 20+ miles up snowy forest service roads!! But alas, then I found that beloved truck under a pile of fresh snow and we lived to see another day.


The second attempt at this hike was actually in early summer shortly after Josie had joined us. She only had a few hikes under her belt and it was my first time to see the wolf in snow. It was a magical moment indeed!! We left the truck in the same place and started up the road……snow was there once again, but not as deep. Josie seemed shocked at to what that white stuff was at first. But then she started to dig and jump and roll and pounce. When she broke through the snow she about lost her mind in the holes she could make. She licked it, she ate it, she army crawled in it flat on her tummy, she rolled on her back and seemed to never want to come up for air! I realized that this snowy second attempt would take as long as the first, but mostly in just keeping Josie moving when all she wanted was to lay in and play with the snow all day! Nova and I would just stop and stare at her because there was nothing anyone could do. I remember Nova distinctly looking from Josie rolling in the snow to me and back again, over and over. She could not understand what was wrong with that puppy. But before long, Josie’s enthusiasm warmed even Nova’s grown-up heart and she started to pounce and play with Josie until their leashes were a tangled mess and they were both covered in white powder. It was hilarious. Somewhere I have a video of this.


Unfortunately, after a few miles of climbing, I found us deeply post holing once again in the snow. My heart sank realizing that we probably were not going to make it on this second attempt. But I kept pushing, one sinking step after another, thinking we had to try harder, push deeper. I had to find deeper determination and more grit in adversity. My body and brain wanted to shut down after a few more miles of this. I was back to crawling on the snow with every few steps. We were climbing up and down snow banks, trying not to fall into super deep tree wells that seemed bent on sucking us in and fighting the cold and deep physical exhaustion. Nothing takes it out of you like post holing with every step and having to constantly pull yourself and your pack weight out of deep holes.


When I felt like a rope frayed at both ends, I stopped the girls who were also struggling and said that we needed to eat our hot soup to warm up. I was defeated and angry. I only eat when I am at my turn around spot for the day and knew it. I felt I had given up while standing under those snow laden fir branches bent overhead. We had made it at least a mile farther than our first attempt, so I knew we were even closer to that elusive lookout tower, which frustrated me beyond belief. The anger was spilling over inside my head as I was staring up the steep snowy hill ahead of us. It was impossible I thought!!! But then the clouds parted up ahead of us and sun rays shone down on the snow creating a brilliant and sparkling place that looked warm and inviting. I heard that still small voice say to me, “just climb up to the sun spot” before you turn around. So, we did. Then the sun spot moved a bit farther up the hill and I heard the same voice. Fine, I thought….just to the sun spot, then we go. But the sun kept moving up the hill and before we knew it, the snow was patchy and almost gone as we neared a peak. “What in the world” was all I could think…..then I recognized that bluff ahead from summertime hiking. That was indeed Red Mountain just above us! I couldn’t see the tower quite yet, but I knew right where we were. I passed the connecting trail to the PCT and the normal Indian Heaven trail system as we kept climbing. I was right….the road we found was indeed a backdoor climb to just where I thought it would put us!! As we cleared above tree line, the snow was melting off the peak and walking became normal again. We were all running to that tower shouting out with joy! The physical exhaustion was gone and replaced with an intense second wind for all of us! What was so shocking was as we summited that peak from the southeast side, we could see that the surrounding land to our west and north was not snowed in at all. If only I had found a route up that way I thought!!


But just as we got up to the lookout I noticed some very dark clouds rolling by our north side that made me stop thinking about other routes to hike. Those clouds gathered together and started to funnel to an angry churning point. The entire skyline seemed to darken almost instantly. I could see hail starting to dump to our north. “Don’t worry,” I told the girls, “I think that system is moving from west to east and staying just north of us. We are fine.” I took a couple photos. Josie was all smiles after our snow climb and both girls were so happy. The moment I took this photo, the loudest boom of thunder I have ever heard rolled overhead and I am pretty sure I felt the mountain shake beneath my boots. Oh, faith like a mustard seed can move mountains indeed!! Both girls wanted to run for their lives in that moment, and if I am being honest, I think I did too. But we stood there almost unable to even take a step watching those clouds head right for us. The storm turned south on a dime with us in her sights. Suddenly the hail started to pound down and repeated lightning strikes were hitting all around us. I could feel the hair on my neck and arms standing to attention against my will. The strikes were stretching from the clouds all the way to the ground with clear hits striking earth. What a moment to be at a lookout tower seeing full ground lightning strikes!! I felt like a true fire finder at that moment....just one unable to get inside the lookout tower! Of course, I would scream and shout with each strike and got out my camera again to try to capture the strikes. That timing is really hard I discovered, but then when I switched to video, I captured several strikes on film. Sadly with video, I forgot it picks up sound, so with each strike, you can hear either cursing or diabolical laughing in the background…..not sure who was doing all that. ;o] The huge booms of thunder were right on top of the lightning strikes….I could maybe count one or two seconds between them only……telling me this storm was literally on top of us.



I think it was in that moment when there was no difference between the monster booms and the strikes that I realized I was standing on a rocky outcropping at 5000ft and the only thing taller than myself was the lookout tower. Suddenly it was as if all my brain cells were gone. I kept trying to think what the right thing to do in this moment was, but for the life of me, could not come up with an answer. Should we lay flat on the ground? Should we climb up the tower to the cat walk?? But when we tried to do that I found out that Josie was too terrified to climb the ladder and only made it ¾ of the way up it before wanting to come back down-- barreling past me clinging to the ladder and pulling Nova right off the catwalk in the process. Then I thought, well perhaps we should sit under the tower and cling to her posts. She had a lightning rod off her roof after all. As I went through that thought process though, it seemed that getting away from the tower would be wiser, since she was more likely to be hit. I actually wondered if the souls of my boots were rubber and if that would be enough. In the end, I ended up just not caring and taking more photos of the girls with the dark clouds and hail all around. I figured when it is our time, it is our time and I was going to enjoy this once in a lifetime storm in the meantime. I have truly never experienced a better or louder storm in my life! Finally, what we decided was the best idea was to go back down just to snow line and start glissading up and down the hills there. If we were going to be struck, I figured a moving target would be harder to hit. So, our very first glissade with the wolf was in the middle of a thunder and lightning storm!




Here I thought Nova and I would be teaching the wolf pup to glissade. Oh, was I mistaken. As soon as she realized that we were laying down in the snow and about to go barreling down on our backs tied together along the ridge, Josie jumped to her feet and went into full Iditarod dog sled pulling mode. She pulled Nova and I the entire way while glancing over her to shoulder to make sure we were still coming. Every time she saw that we were gaining on her, she would go faster and faster. I have never glissaded so fast in my life!! Our unexpected speed did make the landings a bit trickier, but once we figured it out and created our glissading shoot, we did it over and over and over again. I even took a video of some of these runs and you can hear the thunder in the background (and cursing….not sure who keeps doing that!!). When it was finally time to hike out, I realized that while we were never struck by lightning, we certainly were on fire the whole way out!!! Oh how glad I am that we found our big girl panties and pulled up our bootstraps!





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