We left Catlin at 8:02 (pretty much on schedule) under gray skies; 14 students and 3 adults ready to take on this 3000 foot climb. Intermittent sprinkles prompted use of the windshield wipers on the bus as we drove through Portland. The farther east we traveled, though, the drier it got, and there was no rain at all during any of the hike. The large Dog Mountain parking lot was already three quarters full when we arrived, with a volunteer directing parking for the forest service. We parked at the far end of the lot from the trail, then gathered at the trailhead for a pre-ascent discussion.
As usual, the eager ascenders charged up the trail at high speed, leaving the so-called leader to toil upwards in the rear. Discipline reigned, however, and all paused as planned and instructed at the first junction for a breather and initial check in. As all was progressing as expected, we set out as a rolling line for the next section; hiking in smaller groups, with each group pausing at every junction until the next group arrived, to ensure that all went the same way. That was the theory, anyway. Such was the energy level that the rear leader only saw the group ahead of him once during the ascent.
With the early warm weather this year (and the lateness of this hike in the calendar), the open fields at the summit were more flower strewn than they have been for the past few years for this particular conditioning hike. In fact the yellow balsamroot, though plentiful, were past their prime and starting to wilt. The Indian paintbrush and lupine were lush and quite beautiful. Although some of the earlier crowds, already descending, had said it was cold on the summit, by the time we arrived it was quite pleasant. Mt St Helens was visible to the north, although its flat top was hidden in cloud. Mt Hood was hidden in clouds across the Gorge on the Oregon side. The view west over Wind Mountain towards Portland was clear and verdantly green. As we headed down, into thickening crowds of hikers still wending their way towards the summit, the sun came out brightly and the air warmed considerably. It was a relief to plunge into the cool, shadowy woods, and to be on the descent.
After a discussion and reminder at the summit of the practice and necessity of waiting and checking in at junctions, this technique was much better adhered to on the descent (practice making progress in this situation). Even though (by design,) we followed different routes on the way down, each important waypoint had the requisite stop and check in by each subgroup before continuing the descent.
The parking lot was full when we arrived at the trailhead, and it took some adroit maneuvering to extract the bus. The return trip was in full sunlight, and the intrepid climbers dozed quietly in the back of the bus. We returned to Catlin a few minutes ahead of schedule, with visions already of even grander ascents to come, for which initial conditioning is now started.
