#bulgerlist

[onehikeaweek]

2015/6/20-21 - Primus + Austera Peaks / 普賴默斯峯+奧斯特拉峯

2015/6/20-21 – Primus + Austera Peaks / 普賴默斯峯+奧斯特拉峯

Inspiration Traverse, the one long traverse I had been putting off until this season, wasn’t exactly something I had been aspired to do since the beginning. For someone who’s not a big fan of snow, I knew personally it would be a huge undertaking with a whole lot of self convincing to be remotely interested. And if it weren’t for Primus Peak, the thought of crossing five glaciers in a day…

[suza]

#GlacierPeak eating up the scenery, as ogled from Mt. Maude at 9082'. #personalrecord #summitgram #bulgerlist #cascades #washington #mountains

[alderslifepics]

Tupshin, Devore, and Flora. Aka "The Stehekin Triangle," my 61st, 62nd, and 63rd Bulgers. The trip that in all likelihood gave me the most trepidation, consternation, and hesitation this year. It's a big trip, in a remote area, during a time of year that I hadn't seen done before. It also provided me with the confidence to propel me toward my audacious goals for the year. ° I was unsure of when to do this trip this year when Jake mentioned that I could do it for Labor Day once the Canadian Border had closed. This coming year, it's likely that he will remain be the force that influences my Labor Day plans, a tradition that I may keep in his memory. ° Trip stats: 50 miles, 16,500' gain (~8 miles of biking). ° #northCascades #PNWPeakbaggers @pnwpeakbaggers #BulgerList #WashingtonTop100 #WeLikeItOnTop @welikeitontop (at Glacier Peak Wilderness) https://www.instagram.com/p/CJHLs7CjwIV/?igshid=kcpptkrpbjur

[alderslifepics]

Feeling pretty meh. ° Not in a particularly bad way. I would like a three week escape though. If I did that, then there's no telling if is return; I've made some drastic changes in my life before. ° Life is good. :) ° 📸 May 2018 ° #northCascades #PNWPeakbaggers @pnwpeakbaggers #BulgerList #WashingtonTop100 https://www.instagram.com/p/CDIRtdoDuyv/?igshid=1am0b0809lwsm

[alderslifepics]

A sharp Luahna Peak oversees the Thunder Creek Basin. Much of this terrain was a pain to navigate. Loose scree scattered in abundance, often on top of larger rocks that could be used for stable footing. Much of the time I was trotting along a 40 degree slope, slipping slightly downhill with every step. It was more comfortable to gain or lose elevation than to make a straight line traverse. Stable rock and stone slabs are a reprieve from the pea-gravel and sand-sized rocks. Most of this trip above treeline consisted of shoes filled with debris, and I wonder why the bottom of my feet are like leather. Every time I curse the choss on the way up, but I always forget by the time that I'm out for the next climb; the shit doesn't stick. Type 2 fun, as they call it. ° 📸 September 2018 📍 Glacier Peak Wilderness ° ° ° #northCascades #FindYourPark #Washington #PNW #PacificNorthwest #PNWonderland #optputside #rei1440project #WildernessCulture #HikingCulture #igPacificNorthwest #IGnorthwest #WenatcheeNationalForest #GlacierPeakWilderness #GlacierPeak #Dakobed #BulgerList (at Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/Boeqkh6hNhn/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=roo1un6douko

[alderslifepics]

I'm at a loss of what to say. There are so many things on which I could elaborate, however, sometimes they're best kept close. ° Filled with gratitude, appreciation, bewilderment, love, serenity, overwhelm, among others. ° I don't post as much on my feed because there are simply too many beautiful things to share (visually and more). These images are from this past Friday and Saturday. ° Yes, that's my body. The fact that I share it means more to me than anyone else; I've always been extremely insecure about my body and I likely always will be. ° 📸 October 2020 ° #northCascades #PNWPeakbaggers @pnwpeakbaggers #BulgerList #WashingtonTop100 #WeLikeItOnTop @welikeitontop (at North Cascades National Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGEC3PQj7_9/?igshid=h6rwlbyqsp18

[alderslifepics]

Sunsets and sunrises have been far too kind to me as of late. These are all from within the past month (July 27th-Aug 27th). ° #northCascades #PNWPeakbaggers @pnwpeakbaggers #BulgerList #WashingtonTop100 #WeLikeItOnTop @welikeitontop https://www.instagram.com/p/CEmbv2MDIWw/?igshid=1fash8t8484x9

[alderslifepics]

"The standard pace is for chumps." ° 📸 August 2020 ° #northCascades #PNWPeakbaggers @pnwpeakbaggers #BulgerList #WashingtonTop100 #WeLikeItOnTop @welikeitontop https://www.instagram.com/p/CEmX2SVDOn-/?igshid=1xu85a4txlv6v

[alderslifepics]

85. ° Numerical patterns and coincidences fascinate me. This image of Mount Fernow (9,249', WA's 8th highest peak) was taken from Copper Peak (8,964', the 4th highest non-9,000'+ peak). Copper was my 85th Bulger summit while Fernow was my 58th. Additionally, I summitted Fernow on 08/26/2019 and Copper on 08/27/2020, almost exactly a year later. ° After climbing three inordinately elusive peaks this week, I spent a day and a half in Seattle visiting friends. While driving around on bluebird days, The Mountain (Rainier) was out in all it's glory. I finally began to envision summiting the big thing. Not because I'm ready for it; it's probably in the easier half of the Bulgers, with regards to actual effort. But because it's my planned finisher. I've planned on finishing this list with Rainier since I was in the first third of the list (which was only last year...) because it seems poetic. Many seem to finish on some of the more obscure, isolated peaks and for good reason; they're rigorous! However, a finish on Rainier is less common since so many mountaineers make it a goal to climb all five Washington volcanoes before even thinking about (or knowing of) the Bulger List. ° This is significant, again, not because I thought of climbing Rainier, but because I thought of finishing the list. It's dawning on me that the end is coming, though it's still a ways off and I still have to do the work to even knock off the single peaks remaining (sans Chilliwacks. *cough*Canada*cough*) ° Like most of my taks, I've thoroughly enjoyed the process. Learning, improving, struggling. And much more make this, in my opinion, a worthwhile pursuit. I was told to not take it on. Understandably, I was told that for my own sanity from those much farther along at the time; they're friends, too. And I tell others the same... Pick something else, something with more diversity, something of your own volition and creation. It's harder to stick with something personally curated than something that's been around for many years and it allows personal freedom and expression. ° 📸 August 2020 ° #northCascades #PNWPeakbaggers @pnwpeakbaggers #BulgerList #WashingtonTop100 #WeLikeItOnTop @welikeitontop https://www.instagram.com/p/CEhUuAND9pO/?igshid=42itnqxd110a

[alderslifepics]

"You got rid of them. Yes, that's just like you. Getting rid of everything unpleasant instead of learning to put up with it. Whether it is better in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing (them), end them. But you don't you either; suffer nor oppose. You just abolish the slings and arrows... It's too easy!" ° 📸 August 2020 ° #northCascades #PNWPeakbaggers @pnwpeakbaggers #BulgerList #WashingtonTop100 #WeLikeItOnTop @welikeitontop https://www.instagram.com/p/CEaN7CZjPQJ/?igshid=1r2w9eorw4uef

[alderslifepics]

"It would disturb the whole social order, if [people] started doing things on their own." Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World" ° #northCascades #PNWPeakbaggers @pnwpeakbaggers #BulgerList #WashingtonTop100 #WeLikeItOnTop @welikeitontop https://www.instagram.com/p/CEaLLS3D5Vm/?igshid=cl1npk7ya7jf

[alderslifepics]

Sometimes (most times) it's easier for your hand to be forced. ° Decisions are hard, and they seldom seem to become easier to make. Things become easier when there are no other options. This isn't only a function of "paralysis by analysis." When we don't have options (e.g. an out), then we have to take action. That includes not taking action, by the way. ° The mind games that I play with myself can be torment. Do I go, do I stay, which route, why not that one? The path becomes so clear once an initial action is taken. Everything that follows is a result, but it doesn't just happen by itself. It takes concerted effort. ° I know quite a few people who hate taking the ferries up (and down) Lake Chelan. I, on the other hand, love them. They take the choice out of my hands. As soon as take the distant and seemingly noncommittal step onto the boat, then the decision is made. I have to move when I get to my destination. And it won't be back for me until my reservation says. Unlike my car, which is comforting, homely, and safe. Stepping away from my car (i.e. Comfort) on some of my bigger outings is the hardest step for me. ° Mumbo-jumbo about a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. ° 📸 August 2020 ° #northCascades #PNWPeakbaggers @pnwpeakbaggers #BulgerList #WashingtonTop100 https://www.instagram.com/p/CETB2E-DCnV/?igshid=138hbuv4u72lr

[alderslifepics]

15,000 steps. ° As I hit "Six Mile Camp" on the way in, I took my first break. The camp is actually 8 miles down the trail and I looked at my watch, I had gained a little over 15,000 steps in the process. ° Fast forward to two days and 30 hours of foot travel later, I returned to Six (ahem, Eight) Mile Camp. This time, my watch read 44,000 steps. I knew immediately what more I had to do to get to my car; 15,000 steps. ° I often don't like to know my steps, miles, elevation, or other trip statistics. I know what they're supposed to he like the back of my hand; it's part of my research and preparation for each trip. However, when I'm out there, I don't want to think of those things. Not because they're not good to think about, but because of how my mind works. ° Numbers and patterns are my thing. They come naturally and I calculate even the smallest things. If I know where I'm at in terms of miles, elevation, or other statistic, then my mind automatically begins to relate it to what I've done and what I have yet to do. I instantly think of all the effort I've put in and how much more I have yet to put it. Rather than just doing, which is much easier for me. We can all do more than we imagine, but not when we're burdened with what is yet to come or how much more we have to do in addition to what we've already done. ° As soon I looked at my watch, I knew that I had 15,000 more steps to go, ending the day aylt 60,000 steps, in addition to a 50,000 step day the day before, and a nearly 40,000 step day before that. Adding in that those steps were combined with some 14,000' of elevation gain and it can weigh on the mind. Ignorance is bliss. ° I tried to not look at my watch. I tried to not think. I tried to just do. The simple act of walking down expertly carved trail in an old growth forest, meandering along a swift moving creek.I switched from intriguing and thought-provoking audiobooks to songs on repeat, for dozens of reps. Numbing myself from the monotony of just walking. Knowing that if I didn't move, then I wouldn't get any closer and I'd still have that much farther to go. ° 📸 Aug 2020 ° #northCascades #PNWPeakbaggers @pnwpeakbaggers #BulgerList #WeLikeItOnTop https://www.instagram.com/p/CEGEefNDe1T/?igshid=1m1tkyv3chrmg

[alderslifepics]

Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. ° 📸 August 2020 ° #northCascades #PNWPeakbaggers @pnwpeakbaggers #BulgerList #WashingtonTop100 #WeLikeItOnTop @welikeitontop https://www.instagram.com/p/CD9pIiLD4h0/?igshid=36antu7nmc2n

[alderslifepics]

Opposing views, 13 months apart. From Cosho to Kimtah (Aug 2020) and from Kimtah to Cosho (July 2019). ° There are a few trips that I've taken where I've dropped an essential objective while out there. It has always resulted from laziness. I've never gone without ample food and I've never not known how to proceed, I merely didn't. As a result, there are some very long days that I have to spend to clean up my own failures. ° Do things right the first time. ° 📸 August 2020, July 2019 ° #northCascades #PNWPeakbaggers @pnwpeakbaggers #BulgerList #WashingtonTop100 https://www.instagram.com/p/CDzhSUsjl0z/?igshid=ebt6prje6nck

[alderslifepics]

The Great Draft Purge of 2020 20/20. Batch of 5 (4/4). The End. I am publishing all of my draft posts that have accumulated, unaltered from where I left them. Original caption below: ° "New life amidst the burnt and broken." ° 📸 May 2019 ° #PNWPeakbaggers @pnwpeakbaggers #BulgerList #WashingtonTop100 https://www.instagram.com/p/CDj16zgD8IA/?igshid=1tocmwe3f01o1