Shellrock Peak 2018
by Mike Thompson, 7/29/2018
Damon, Ella, and Sevy Dreke and I did a three-day backpacking trip to Shellrock Peak on Wednesday, July 25th through Friday, July 27th. Early Wednesday morning the Drekes drove east out of Portland and up the Columbia Gorge, while I drove east out of Edmonds and over Snoqualmie Pass. We rendezvoused in Yakima at 11:00 AM at Tahoma Cemetery, out near the airport. There the kids left flowers at the graves of their Great Grandparents Tommy Thompson and Agnes (McFadden, Thompson) Desserault, their Great Uncle Bobby Thompson, their Great Great Grandparents Andrew and Ellen McFadden, and Al Desserault's parents.
We drove into Yakima for lunch at the Lariat Drive-In, long famous in my home town for great hamburgers and super-delicious milkshakes.
Then we drove west out of Yakima on Highway 12, also known as the White Pass Highway. We intentionally overshot the Bethel Ridge Road turnoff by a couple miles in order to reach the east end of Rimrock Lake, where we cooled off with a swim. Next we backtracked to Bethel Ridge Road, on which we drove north for five miles up to the crest of Bethel Ridge. Then we drove west for another mile or so through Cash Prairie to the end of the road at the Trail 1141 trailhead. There we parked our cars and shouldered our backpacks.
We walked west on Trail 1141, then north on Trail 1132 until we were east of the summit of Shellrock Peak, and then in to our campsite. Along the way we enjoyed spectacular views of snow-capped Mt. Rainier to the northwest, Mt. Adams to the southwest, and the Goat Rocks in between. This is the spot where Jane, Erika, Laura, Buddy the Wonder Dog and I enjoyed great backpacking trips when our girls were young, and it was wonderful to be able to share the place with Damon, Ella and Sevy.
After a good night's sleep and a quick breakfast of oatmeal raisin cookies baked and sent by Jane, we headed up toward the summit of Shellrock, pausing to play on the last patch of snow left over from the previous winter.
Shellrock is an interesting peak, with its dinosaur spine of basalt columns, and with lichen-blackened rocks on the its moist west side and bleached basalt on its dry east side. From the summit of Shellrock we could see as far north as the Stewarts and as far west as Mt. St. Helens.
On Friday morning we were up early, had a breakfast of oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar, packed up all the gear, and hiked back to our cars. Damon, Ella, and Sevy then headed west on Highway 12, over White Pass and on th I-5 and then Portland. I backtracked to Yakima and drove home through the Ellensburg Canyon and over Snoqualmie Pass. It was a great first backpacking trip for Ella and Sevy, who were terrific to be with on the trail and had no trouble covering the miles with their backpacks on!
