Heading out of Las Vegas, it was time for the Airstream to get out of the desert and head somewhere new. Skirting around Death Valley to avoid the long and hot hill climbs, I ended up spending a few nights in the Mono Lake area, first at a lovely hidden boondocking spot called Sagehen Meadows. The road in here was tight with brush on both sides and low tree branches. I may have to start deploying the drone to scout ahead before committing the trailer to roads that aren't wide enough to turn around on.
With the Tioga Road already open for the season, I dropped the trailer in Lee Vining and tagged Tuolumne Meadows so the truck would have its first official visit to Yosemite National Park under its belt.Back down in the valley I found another more easily accessible, albeit more crowded, boondocking spot in the forest south of June Lake.After a few days hiding out in the forest I proceeded north to pick up Laura in Reno and head for Lassen where we hiked to the summit of the 2nd most recent volcano to blow its top in the contiguous US.
Continuing our trek northward we set up for the night near Mt Shasta and watched the sun set.Making our way into Oregon we rolled up to the rim of Crater Lake for a lunch spot with a view.
The next day found us on the slopes of Mt Hood having breakfast at Timbeline Lodge. A beautiful historic hotel built during the depression, and later used for the exterior shots of the hotel in The Shining.
Proceeding ever northward we visited the Bonneville Dam and went down the Columbia River (no raft required for our wagon) to Portland where we crossed into Washington State.In Bellingham we met up with the crew from the American Alpine Institute and climbed some easy slabs on Mt Erie, overlooking the Salish Sea.And at last we reached our objective, Mt Baker, on a misty day. Our ascent started with a hike up the "Railroad Grade", actually the lateral moraine of the Easton Glacier which we would be using to access the summit later in the week.We set up the tents just where the bare dirt and rocks of the Railroad Grade tapered off into the snowpack at Sandy Camp and were treated to a full view of the mountain ahead when the sun rose in the morning.During the week our party practiced crevasse rescue, by dropping other party members into a crevasse.Finally it was summit day and we set off for an alpine start at 1am, crossing the glaciers as the sun rose and arriving at the crater itself before climbing the Roman Wall and on up to the summit at Grant Peak.The next day was spent practicing ice climbing in the crevasses before heading back down to the land of trees.

Tags: Airstream, Mountaineering, Hiking, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Climbing, Yosemite National Park