Pushing Our Luck on Ptarmigan Ridge

 

Sammy is mad at me. Second time in a row I forgot to take him. I left my thermos of hot chocolate on the counter as well; but more importantly, I forgot to put my headlamp in my day pack. "No worries," I thought, "there's no way I'll need it." Tempting fate is a bad habit of mine. 

Debbie and I were not getting an early start, so I really wasn't expecting to get too many miles in. Though this being another "must do" hike, I was hoping to see as much of Ptarmigan Ridge as possible. I got a small taste of it on my very first backpack on Chain Lakes Loop 14 years ago, so it holds some nostalgia for me. Spending the night at another climber's camp would be AMAZING, but I knew it wasn't in the cards. Today was just about spending some time with one of my very best friends, so if we needed to turn around before getting to the end, that was totally fine. 

Expecting to find a parking spot in the Artist Point lot at 11am is a foolhardy plan. We kept circling anyway. Then, seeing that there was actually plenty of space at the end of a row where the traffic cone had been set, my rule follower friend suggested that the cone could be moved over just a smidge. Being a "is it a rule, or a suggestion" type of person, I was all about it. Then I put my "expired in September" forest road parking pass up (don't yell at me - I'll buy another one soon) and we were off to see how far we could get. 

It's been YEARS since I hiked with Debbie. (Stories here, here. here, here, here, here, and here. We've had some good times.) Therefore, I had forgotten what a go-getter she is. Apparently she had forgotten too - because she confessed on the drive there she was worried she was going to hold me back...me being such a pro now and all. OH BROTHER! 

I may hike a lot, but I'm not good at it. I'm slow, I'm clumsy (proof is coming later in story) I'm direction-ally challenged and worst of all, I take risks I shouldn't. My only "skills" are I'm stupid enough to love the suffering and I can easily sacrifice hygiene. 

Can you see the Ptarmigan? He's right on trail!

Anyway, you guessed it, I could barely keep up with Debbie. She kept going, and going, and going. This trail is particularly addicting...so we both couldn't help to continually say "just a little further." I kept checking my AllTrails app - and dang, we were actually getting close to the end. But the thing is, the AllTrails end point is "The Portals East"...a place we had no business going to. This is from the Washington Trail Association:

"At 4.5 miles and 5970 feet is a plateau suitable for camping, and what maps show as the end of the trail. Beyond the plateau, a primitive boot trail continues up the rocky hill to East Peak (also known as The Portals East)...The up-close views are outstanding, but the path requires route-finding skills and possibly mountaineering experience (depending on snow conditions). Each hiker must decide where their stopping point is, before returning the way they came."

So close...and yet so far away

We had actually made it to the end; except the trail was still beckoning us up further. "We need to turn around," I scolded, "neither of us have headlamps and it's almost 3:30." 

"You're right," Debbie agreed, "but just look up there...it's like it's the top of the world." (Video) Seeing those stars in her eyes - how could I say no? We may not have had headlamps, but we did have micro spikes. And it's going to be much faster going back. When is it dark? Around 7pm? Okay...just a little further.

Heading up!

Of course, once you're on top of the world, you can see there is still another top of the world "just a little further." We got to it at 3:41. Except you know it; another top of the world was still in sight. But even though we may be stupid, we're not complete idiots...we knew it was time to turn around.

It's hard to see with the snow, but in the middle is an awesome camp site surrounded by rock...I knew we should have brought my tent! ;)

We would have made it back before dark just fine if not for my fall. I've fallen MANY times during my "pro" hiking career, but I think this one hurt the worst. The adrenaline rush caused me to feel a little nauseous, and then VERY dizzy. It took a good 10 minutes of laying there before I could get up. But luckily, I could get up - and most importantly, I could still hike reasonably fast. An injury would have been "a situation," as Debbie put it. 

It was sobering. You can only push your luck so far before it catches up to you. It really is time to break my tempting fate ways. I would really prefer to not ever have to deal with "a situation" - but I know I need to be better prepared to face one need be. 

As it was, luck was still on my side, and we got to the car JUST as darkness fell. (With no ticket!) For future hikes I promise to buy another headlamp that always stays in my day pack. Happy "prepared for when luck runs out" trails!

It's pretty dang dark at 7:20!

And to whoever made this cute little guy - thank you! He made our night :)