My 70th Year Begins: Enchaining the peaks above Lava Lake
Updated: Oct 6
Forest and I were committed. It happened much sooner in the day than I expected, but I didn’t want to descend this climb. It was a 1,000-foot ascent up boulders and meadows to gain the ridge above Lava Lake and damn it was steep. I could hear the wind in the trees. High winds were forecast for later in the day. I had hoped that with an early start and fast pace we could crest all the peaks that were ahead of us before the winds slammed us. It took an hour to gain the ridge; I wasn’t sure we were going to make it.
There was something of a trail on the ridge. I wasn't the first one to have the idea of climbing Jumbo. In fact, I had been up here once before with Doug, my graduate advisor at Montana State, and Eric, a fellow graduate student. That was in 1984; far enough back in time that the only detail I remembered was the picture with goofy face that Doug took of me on Jumbo. For years I referred to it as my business photo.
We climbed steadily through the forest. Big trees for the first mile, their downed brethren slowing us down. We gained 2,600 feet to reach the ridge, and 3,600 by the point the trees petered out. The winds were harsh, but they came in blasts mixed with periods of calm. Tolerable. Jumbo is a broad sloping rock strewn meadow. We were on the north side; the highest point, 5,140 feet of total gain, was a mile or more to the south.
I had screwed up two things that morning: I left Forest’s collapsable bowl in the car, and I forgot to fill my spare liter water bladder at Cascade Creek. I only had two liters for both of us and there was a lot of spillage giving Forest water without a bowl. As we neared the top of Jumbo, I spied a small pothole in a rock filled with last night’s rainwater. Forest lapped it up; I refilled it twice. A little while later we came to a larger pothole. He drained it. Good. That’ll help.
It was Wednesday, September second; my 69th birthday. This was the BIG start to my 70th year. I hadn't originally planned this as a birthday statement. The prior Saturday had been the plan, but the weather didn’t cooperate. Lava Lake was fogged in when we arrived that morning, so instead of blindly trying to find my way up to the ridge, Forest and I went in the opposite direction.
Jumbo sits above the western side of Cascade Canyon, the basin encompassing Lava Lake. The eastern half of the basin has a trail that switchbacks to a series of high meadows. The trail is lightly used, nothing but cairns in many stretches, but it's a marked route, nonetheless. The plan shifted to doing the trailed half first, then climbing the peaks, weather permitting. Not my preferred option, and the threat of thunderstorms turned us back. From up high, at least, I could gather information about the route.
Cascade Canyon is on the eastern border of the Spanish Peaks Wilderness. From the top of Jumbo, I'd be able to see into the heart of the wilderness, and it would be a high perch for viewing mountain ranges all around.
The idea of an enchainment is simple. Trek around the rim of a basin climbing every major peak and return to your starting point. Execution is more of an issue. The thing about enchainments is they generally have long off-trail sections that are not heavily traveled. The possibility of being committed miles from the start only to reach a band of cliffs that Forest and I could not climb (or descend), was real. On Saturday, we hiked and ran the trail to where we would be picking it up coming from the other direction. I could see the whole route, it looked doable.
There are endless possibilities for enchainments all over the mountain west. Every basin is rimmed with peaks. In practice, however, most require technical gear or free soloing to cross sections of ridges or climb one or more of the peaks along the way. This is my third attempted enchainment; it's the second one I’ve completed.
The 'Why' of an enchainment is the element of adventure added that is missing from treks on well beaten paths. Even at my age, I still seek to challenge myself. A well-chosen enchainment can be a great day or ultralight overnight spent climbing mountains generally considered inaccessible.
My Garmin registered Jumbo at 10,455 feet. Beyond it were two unnamed peaks we were going to have to reach and then climb: 10,424 and 10,331. There were nerve-wracking moments. The southern edge of Jumbo was cliffs; I hadn’t noticed this on my reconnaissance. We found a way through. The next two peaks were rocky and steep. I looked into the upper part of Cascade Canyon; could we go that way to get out if we couldn’t climb these peaks? It would require miles of bushwacking through thick forest and down steep terrain to reach Lava Lake. Not an option.
We made it up the north ridge of the first peak. Up top I imagined us as possibly being the first visitors to this spot on the planet. Okay, probably not, but few likely climb this unnamed mountain far from any trail. We dropped down the east ridge and started up the next rockier peak. We could go around the south side of this one, but we really should climb it. I found a route, but I didn’t think Forest could manage it. Determined to prove me wrong, he beat me to the top.
We dropped off the north side and moved toward a rockpile that I recognized from our reconnaissance. From its base, the formations where we would meet the trail were visible in the distance. We still had to trek over 9,872-foot Table Mountain and then downclimb a steep rocky rib, but I was starting to smell the trail.*
We had trekked 9.8 miles and climbed 6,100 feet by the time we reached the trail; the last 6.3 miles had been off trail. We still had 8 miles to go, but it was all forests and meadows from here with no significant climbs. I had been stingy with our water supply all day, but high on the first meadow I determined that it was time for Forest and I to more than whet-our-whistles. We drained what water I had left. We still had miles to go, but there was a seep a few miles away that would provide enough water to get us to Lava Lake. Forest must have sensed the water as we drew near, because he raced ahead, jumped in and drank his fill; that boy was thirsty.
Running down to Lava Lake, Forest showed his impatience. He took the lead, and every minute or so would turn around and look at me as if to say, faster old man. It’s times like these that I see intelligence in his eyes, and I wonder about his thoughts. Is he solving the Grand Unified Theory, working through problems in cancer research at the speed of an AI, or humming the next hit single? Is his silence an expression of the depth of his thinking? The question of what was on Forest’s mind was answered when we reached Lava Lake: STICK! Stick, stick, stick! In the water! Throw it, throw it, throw it! Fling. Splash! Swim, swim, swim. Bite. Swim, swim, swim. Again, again, again! “You bet. You earned this buddy."
*The trail actually goes over Table Mountain, but I mistakenly located Table further north at the intersection with Asbestos Mine Trail, so I didn't look for the trail until I had crossed over Table.
Garmin statistics:
distance: 17.76 miles
Vertical: 7,129 feet
Trekking time: 7:49:15
Fastest Known Time (includes breaks): 8:48:51
Garmin Route: I accidentally hit the save button near the middle of the trek, so the mapped route is divided in 2 parts.
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