Tiffany for Two

The Burning Man gathering concluded a couple of weeks ago. I have long admired the guiding principles of the participants. In many ways it parallels the deeply personal pursuit of Cascadian wilderness of many who post here.
 
Participation: We believe that transformative change, whether the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation in experience. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.
 
I invited Tina along for this trip; she was familiar with daytripping, but this was to be an introduction to a sunrise-to-sunset experience, as well as the wonder of the night sky. Tiffany Mountain was a good choice given the high beauty/pain ratio. Open meadows beckon within the first mile on the trail. We stayed on the summit (8242’) to maximize sunshine and minimize bugs.
 
Decommodification: We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.
 
Nothing fancy here; most of our gear was thrift store stuff, including clothing and sleeping bags. Meals consisted of whole foods dehydrated and mixed at home. We lounged in golden grasses and reclined on granite boulders.
 
Radical Self Reliance: Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise, and rely on his or her inner resources.
 
I brought along a five gallon bladder to gather water for our stay from a spring on the south slope 1000’ below the summit. We easily found a trickle emerging from the steep grassy slope and soon had 5 gallons of cool clean water, plus another 1.5 gallons in other containers.
 
Keeping the bladder from rolling downslope was kinda tricky and I thought I had it under control, but a moment’s distraction by a low soaring turkey vulture set things in motion; our water supply became a careening liquid ball. I chased it despite the impressive speed it picked up (Bodhran too, thinking all this was great fun!) with an equally impressive stream of exclamations. I finally caught up with the container 100’ below, mortally wounded and leaking badly. Alas, we carried our meager supply upward through the sweetened breezes of lingering lupine and paintbrush blooms.
 
Fortunately there was still snow on the north face just below the summit (plus I had plenty of fuel); so we re-purposed the damaged bladder to a basin for solar-melting snow. It worked well-enough to provide 2 gallons at a time, plenty for man, woman, and beast.
 
Immediacy: Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, appreciation of the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.
 
Mornings and evenings were punctuated by the near-simultaneous arrival and departure of moon and sun in opposition. Our summit vantage made appreciation of these phenomena as easy as a turn of the head. Moonlight probed the airy confines of our tent during slept. We dayhiked Whistler pass, N. Fork Mutton Cr., Honeymoon pass and back to the summit through charred trees on Monday. We also made a stop at Little Tiffany L. for a much needed cleansing rinse in bracing waters; fortunately the substantial sun warmed us again quickly (sooo pleasurable to be clean again!). Coyotes sang-out days and evenings; Bodhran sat on granite boulders in audience, trembling slightly. I think I understood the thrill.
 
Leave No Trace: Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better condition than we found them.
 
We packed up to leave on Tuesday under a thin layer of cirrus edging in from the west. As I looked back to our camp, the only evidence of our residence was a flattened patch of grass. Additional evidence of our passage could be found on the old trail south of the summit where I removed any cairn I could find; anyone having trouble staying on-route there should probably not be hiking. My last act, as always, was to monkeywrench the parts of the trail made by rock-intolerant horses and bicyclists. The accumulated effort over the years endures, and some of it is slowly reverting back to its pre-stomped state.
 
We sure did soak-n some great views and fabulous experiences (including my gaff with the water container). We worked, we played; I think we loved it.

What a spectacular hike! The wildflowers were so lush - they filled the air with a gorgeous perfume. It was truly magical.

We actually attached this hike to the Tiffany Lake hike that starts at the campground 4 miles up the road. Friends dropped us off there, and we were able to hike up past Tiffany Lake, over Honeymoon Pass and down into the valley on the other side before climbing back up to Whistler Pass and Tiffany Mountain. That gave us lots of variety, including trail through the ghostly, wildflower-rich forests that burned in 2006.

I had been prepared to write off Tiffany Mountain as an utterly forgettable hike, as the guide book description and trail reports weren't all that flattering. However, it ended up being exactly what I wanted on this sunny Friday: a short, not-so-strenuous late afternoon hike with at least a satisfying if not spectacular summit view.

My favorite North Cascades guidebook claims that because the trailhead is so far from anywhere, solitude can be expected. However, when I arrived at the trailhead at 2 pm, having passed at least two dozen hunters camping at various spots along the way, there were four cars already there. I ended up passing three hikers on their way down, which equals the total number of hikers I've seen over the past two days hiking Easy and Twisp Passes.

The hike starts off through the charred remains of a forest, the burn leaving the trail open for views. The trail is easy on the paws, mostly packed dirt, with very little to trip on. Tiffany Mountain comes into view early on and seems rather undramatic and tame compared to its harsher, more rugged cousins in the North Cascades. The meadows looked blonde like winter wheat and what few trees remained alive were all evergreens, with a few golden larch sprinkled here and there. Climbing to the summit there is a single metal pole capped with a rusted tin can that marks the top of Tiffany Mountain, at 8242 ft. It's hard to believe the summit is that high, as there was not a trace of snow, everything appeared to be bone-dry, and the winds were surprisingly calm after being rather windy on the way up.

The summit views, while not necessarily awe-inspiring or jaw-dropping, are nonetheless quite pretty. To the west and south, the mountains above Twisp River valley roll like waves one on top of another and the meadows look tawny gold. I'll bet in the summertime they're bright with wildflowers but in the fall, they look dry and tired and ready to slumber under winter's snow. To the north are the mountains along the Boundary Trail, and to the west are Goat Peak, Mount Ballard, and Robinson Mountain. Below are two blue lakes and a perfectly round muddy depression that must have held water till recently.

There is no water along this trail and it's nearly all sun-exposed, but it's such a short walk that you and your dog probably don't need too much hydration.

STATS:
Round-trip distance: 6 miles
Elevation gain: 1742 feet (trailhead at Freezeout Pass 6500 ft, Tiffany summit at 8242 ft)
Time: 2:00
Map: Green Trails No. 53
NWFS Pass required

Trail starts at Freezeout Pass, about 6500', in a recent burn. Standing snags and some live trees, widely separated, with lush undergrowth of huckleberry, various wildflowers, grasses.

At about 2.5 miles a sign points onward to the official end of the trail at a road, but most boots have taken a left here to reach Tiffany Mountain. The overcast has lowered by this time, and a blowing drizzle has started. We entered the clouds halfway up from the junction. The summit is on a jagged rocky ridge at about 8200', about 3 miles from the trailhead. The drizzle had become ice pellets clattering on raingear. A little fresh snow was plastered on the steep north face of the ridge. Would be a huge view from here if it was clear.

No trouble following the path on the way down. Trail is in good shape, if a bit rutted in places. No creeks to ford, and no snow on the trail yet. There was a family with small children near the trailhead, but they apparently got sidetracked by the huckleberries.