20 miles of hiking • 5250' elevation gain •
We have done it! We have completed our first ever 20+mile hike this past Saturday and we did it on none other than Tanner Butte. Fitting huh? Karl planted the idea a few weeks back when we had a conversation about wanting to get our first twenty under our belt before the end of the year. We sat around and waited for the perfect weekend weather report and once it happened, we started making plans for a Saturday hike. We were even happier that some trail friends both old and new decided to join us. We started out around 7:30 in the morning at the Eagle Creek TH and made our way up to the Butte. The temps were pretty chilly all day never really reaching much above 35 or so except for on top of the Butte, I believe we reached a balmy 42 degrees! There was some storm debris early on but nothing we couldn’t maneuver around. We did an off trail (correct me if I am wrong on this Karl), grueling 1600 foot elevation gain mile early on that had me silently questioning my whole plan, but that didn’t linger long. The views we got by doing that off trail were fantastic and well worth the calf pain. We had fabulous company, the forest was calming as always, got a little bit of snow off and on starting about 3000 ft, and OMG the view from the top, words can’t even describe what we saw. So stunning! We lingered at the top as long as we dared to. It was so hard to leave. There was no wind, it was pretty warm with the sun, and the views just made you want to pull up a chair and spend the day just staring at them. We begrudgingly begun the trip down around 2 pm and made it pretty far before darkness settled in. I think we only had to go the last couple of miles with headlamps on and we came out about 6:15 pm. Worn but exhilarated by completing our first twenty mile hike and doing so with a great bunch of people. Karl it was fantastic to hike with you again. Kathy, Brett, and Jim it was a pleasure to meet and hike with all of you and we look forward to getting the opportunity again. Thank you all for joining us on our first 20 mile hike!
Group photo and photo of myself and Mark courtesy of Karl P
Comments
Woodswalker
November 23, 2015
Congratulations!
Rhonda
November 29, 2015
Thanks guys!!
Karl
November 23, 2015
Nailed it! Your first 20, and within a month of the solstice for bonus points. What an excellent day! So appreciate being able to share it with you... :-)