August 30, 2009 - Porter & Cascade Mountains

Only one year removed from her horrible lightening encounter on Buck Mountain, Ally decided that she was ready to head back out on the trails and wanted to climb her first high peak. Jack suggested Cascade, since it was the easiest hike with a good view (plus the shortest trip back to the car in case we had to cut it short). There were torrential rains the day before, but the morning looked promising and we got out the door by 6:00 AM. Unfortunately, both Sean and Otto elected to sleep in instead of coming along.

We made excellent time in the early going, and before we knew it we were at the junction to the trail for Porter Mountain. Ally recognized that no one else in the family had Porter as their first high peak, so in order for her to be different, she directed us towards Porter instead of continuing up Cascade. It was a good move, since a cloud had just come in, and the view on Cascade wouldn't have been very good if we had gotten there too early. By the time we made it over to Porter, the clouds parted and Ally got her first good view of the Great Range.

After enjoying a lunch of fresh banana bread (thanks Mom), we packed up and started the march back over to Cascade. Once we cleared the treeline and got near the summit, the wind really picked up and the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees. The view from the top was beautiful, although we had to huddle behind some rocks periodically to keep warm. Jack and Ally looked all over the summit for a letter box that we found last Summer, but to no avail. On the way back down, Ally announced that she was going to be a 46er. Also, I didn't have to worry about her keeping up with us; she and Jack were frequently stopping to wait for me.