Phelps

May 19, 2012

When we finished our lunch atop tabletop, we descended and decided to summit Phelps. We began around 3:00. I had done phelps a while ago and was surprised at how much easier it felt this time. I feel so fortunate to have friends who are willing to go into the woods nearly every weekend with me because hiking never feels like a task, it’s just what we do.

The ascent to Phelps was pretty steep but the path is marked and it’s impossible to mess up. At the base, I had decided to run ahead of the boys because they typically beat me to the top and I didn’t want to get left behind this time. The traffic on Phelps was pretty heavy considering that the sun was gorgeous. It was a good time of day to summit because the temperatures were beginning to cool down a bit.

Around 5:00 or 5:30, I summited Phelps and waited for the boys for about 15 minutes. Phelps had a false summit but no plate or sign. There was a perfect spot on a rock where I was able to sun for a bit and have a quick snack.  The view was spectacular. The nice thing about summiting so late was that most people were descending at that time so we had the whole summit to ourselves. Again, It was a perfect day for sprawling out on a rock and sunning.

We returned to our campsite at the dam very hot, sweaty and terribly hungry. We had laughed when packing our food because it seemed like we were definitely overpacking but we ate nearly everything that evening and had a chance to watch some of the sunset over the dam. It was a beautiful, perfect weekend that we finished off with some bouldering at McKenzie ponds and not one, but TWO stops for ice cream.