Revenge of the Pooperine on Middle Chiwaukum
Some of you may recall our first encounter with the Pooperine at the Table Mountain A-Frame back in January. The Pooperine returned last month on Sasse Ridge. When would we see him again?
Jasper and I had turned our backs to the wind on Middle Chiwaukum a couple weeks ago (Soapy claims to have continued on to the summit), and were itching for a return trip. I managed to recruit a few more dogs and people for another stab at the Mighty Middle C: The Alti-Family (Tisha, Jermey and the Cool Whips), Team Yellow Dog (minus Josie) and some guy wearing a yellow fleece. What is his name again?
Somehow we all managed to fit in the Green Machine* and arrived at the trailhead in one piece. I remembered from my visit a couple weeks ago almost stepping on a couple piles of poop in the trees near the parking area, and tried to keep an eye on Jasper. Unfortunately he got out of my sight while I was putting my gaiters on and got attacked by the Pooperine. Luckily this time he escaped with only minimal staining, and we all started up the snow covered road to the summer trailhead.
We headed uphill directly from the summer trailhead at 2,800′, and found the snow conditions to be annoying. Conditions improved over 5,000′, and by 6,000′ feet we were breaking new trail again. Well, mostly Scott and that guy in yellow were breaking trail. There was a very slight breeze, but nothing like the hurricane (possibly a slight exaggeration) I hiked through a couple weeks ago. We eventually all arrived at the top of North Chiwaukum (Pt. 7,132), and took a food and liquid break before heading to the saddle then up Middle Chiwaukum.
As we started up from the saddle we encountered a couple telemark skiers who had booted the last few hundred feet of Middle C. Jasper voiced his disapproval of their method of descent. He obviously prefers randonee skiing to telemarking. We decided to switch snowshoes for crampons, and leashed the dogs up as one side of the final ridge was fairly corniced and would make for a swift descent if one fell off the edge. Scott and Z & A led the way, with the rest of us close behind. Soon we were all huddled on the top of Middle Chiwaukum, careful not to fall over the edge. Well, except for Soapy who hopped right over to the brink and demanded that I set up a rappel for him.
Another food, liquid and photography break was taken, but all too soon we began the descent. We tried to make to upper part of the descent fun as the snow was nice up high and we knew it would be a little less nice down lower. Somehow we got a little off track on our descent, but managed to hit the WHitepine Trail only a couple hundred yards away from the summer trailhead. The others blame me, and they’re probably right, but I just wanted to take the scenic route down.
The road had gotten several miles longer since the morning, but we did make it back to the car without needing headlamps. Unfortunately Jeremy took a fall right at the last icy spot, but appeared unbroken so I kept my Vicodin in my pack. The drive home was quieter than the drive over as all the dogs were snoozing.
Another good day in the mountains with some friends, and another monkey lifted off my back.
*My car in high school was nicknamed the Green Machine. This one is much nicer.
























