While locating the rock sample in George Smith's field notes (see blog post, I've located all but two. I've located numbers 201-216 and 219-223 with samples 214 and 215 missing from the notes. I can't find the locations of samples 217 and 218.
The field book describes the locations of these samples as:
"Along the east slope of (Mount) Rainier in the Parks and on the gentle slopes there are accumulations of light brown pumice, #217, seemingly rather red in compound. This was first noted in Moraine Park, and in the interior of Little Tahoma “V” was especially abundant, long slopes being wholly covered the fragments of pumice even reaching 8-10 inches in diameter. The quesation of the source of the pumice was not answered definitively by an facts observed.
A dark purple compact rock, #218, with the texture of a porphyrite rather than of an andesite was collected on Thompsonʼs Peak."
I can't find a Thompson's Peak or the "Parks". The samples were taken after their return from Paradise across the east side of the mountain July 26-27th and before sample 219 taken on the east side of Carbon Glacier July 29th. This means the samples were taken somewhere and sometime in between and in the area of their camp at the Winthrop Glacier.
I've searched through old documents and the maps I have from 1880 to 1935 along with the newer edition of USGS 1:24,000 (7 1/2 minute) topographic maps. So if anyone has any suggestions or knowledge, please send an e-mail.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Public Input
The National Park service routinely opens work and planning proposals about Mount Rainier National Park for public review and comments. it's the requirement for many of the planning activites for the NP, some of which I have written about on this blog. You can view the on-going proposals at the NPS public comment Web page.
The list of plans available for comment vary from the small, like buildings, to the large, like public transit and access in whole river valleys (eg. Carbon River road and trail). It's the way the work and because it's your national park. The money the NPS gets is public tax dollars and they need to show the management and operation of the NP is worth your money and interest. In short, you have a say.
One example of this is the work the NPS did with the public about the Carbon River road and trail. It's clearly an issue that isn't easily resoveable with engineering. The road which has existed there for most of the 20th century has frequently been damaged by floods, and now in places either is the river or is lower than the adjacent river. It's the nature of the geology and hydrology of the mountain.
So sadly the road can't be repaired and maintained any longer past the NP entrance. But the NPS offered several alternatives to the public to consider, comment and choose. After all denying the public road access, which has long been the area's advantage for access to the northwest corner of the NP, would add 5+ miles (one way) to people's hike and restrict access to less able people.
Anyone who's hiked the Carbon River trail would know and see this. But the NPS leadership was willing to keep the road if the public expressed the desire and understood the costs. We did and decided the road wasn't cost-effective, and later this year and into coming years, the NPS will be revising the route of the trail and improving the existing trail to ensure future hikers have year-around hiking access to Ipsut campground and beyond.
This is just one issue and decision that was available to the public through the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment Process. You can get other documents about the management and operation of the NP and related information about Mt. Rainier itself from the NPS Web page.
The list of plans available for comment vary from the small, like buildings, to the large, like public transit and access in whole river valleys (eg. Carbon River road and trail). It's the way the work and because it's your national park. The money the NPS gets is public tax dollars and they need to show the management and operation of the NP is worth your money and interest. In short, you have a say.
One example of this is the work the NPS did with the public about the Carbon River road and trail. It's clearly an issue that isn't easily resoveable with engineering. The road which has existed there for most of the 20th century has frequently been damaged by floods, and now in places either is the river or is lower than the adjacent river. It's the nature of the geology and hydrology of the mountain.
So sadly the road can't be repaired and maintained any longer past the NP entrance. But the NPS offered several alternatives to the public to consider, comment and choose. After all denying the public road access, which has long been the area's advantage for access to the northwest corner of the NP, would add 5+ miles (one way) to people's hike and restrict access to less able people.
Anyone who's hiked the Carbon River trail would know and see this. But the NPS leadership was willing to keep the road if the public expressed the desire and understood the costs. We did and decided the road wasn't cost-effective, and later this year and into coming years, the NPS will be revising the route of the trail and improving the existing trail to ensure future hikers have year-around hiking access to Ipsut campground and beyond.
This is just one issue and decision that was available to the public through the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment Process. You can get other documents about the management and operation of the NP and related information about Mt. Rainier itself from the NPS Web page.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Schedule Openings
The NPS at Mt. Rainier NP has released the initial schedule for openings for facilities, campgrounds and roads, as well as additional news on road closures and other possible delays see their press release (PDF). Note this is the initial schedule and as always, subject to change with the spring weather, as we've all known over the years.The other news is that snow activites are closed Sunday April 5th. This is to ensure the snowmelt and people don't damage areas underneath the snow. As such they write:
PROJECTED OPENING DATES FOR PARK ROADS, CAMPGROUNDS, AND OTHER FACILITIES FOR 2009 ARE LISTED BELOW:
APRIL
State Route 410/Cayuse Pass April 24 (tentative)
State Route 123 @ park boundary April 24 (tentative)
MAY
Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center (7 days/week) May 4
Paradise Inn May 15
White River Road to Campground parking lot May 20
State Route 410/Chinook Pass May 22
Cougar Rock Campground & Picnic Area (noon) May 22
Wilderness Information Center – Longmire May 22
Ohanapecosh Campground (noon) May 22
Paradise Valley Road May 22
Ohanapecosh Visitor Center May 23
JUNE
Paradise Picnic Area June 19
White River Campground (noon) June 26
Sunrise Road June 26
JULY
Mowich Lake Road July 3
Sunrise Lodge July 3
Sunrise Visitor Center July 3
The June-July schedule follows the normal dates for these areas and may change if the snow melts sooner or last longer than normal. We had a surge of snowfall which increased the snowpack significantly, but everything changes once the area gets into snowmelt in late April and especially May. A warm spring could bring the openings earlier as well as the opposite.
The NPS will keep us posted, as I will here.
Photo public domain by the NPS, the general store at Longmire, April 2, 2009
April Update
I have update the current conditions and the NP map along with the April report. In addition I have moved all the past reports to its own Web page.
So what is and what will April be like this year?
Well, it's a continuation of March, like obviously, but really this year because of a late spring snowfall which raised the snowpack from about 80% of normal to about 110-120% of normal. And snow is deeper at the lower elevations, meaning it's thorughout the NP, including the normally cleared lower Carbon River valley. Longmire has 3+ feet of snow as does the Mowich Lake entrance. All of these areas are usually clear by now with snow starting above 3,000 feet.
This means the same ideas and rules applies, it's winter and it's snow, so be prepared and be flexible for both snow, melting snow and cool to cold weather. The daytime temperatures should start warming up during the month, so many lower elevation scenes should interesting photographically, such as waterfalls.
In other matters, I'm still working on the 1896 expedition. I have the initial route determined and the Web pages for the narrative and map ready (on-line sometime later this coming week). It's been interesting as you can see from the recent blog entries. Without decent or accurate maps, they didn't have a lot to go by on the expedition, so deciphering their description has proven difficult.
Anyway, that's about it for now. You're always welcome to send me e-mail with any comments, corrections, suggestion or questions.
So what is and what will April be like this year?
Well, it's a continuation of March, like obviously, but really this year because of a late spring snowfall which raised the snowpack from about 80% of normal to about 110-120% of normal. And snow is deeper at the lower elevations, meaning it's thorughout the NP, including the normally cleared lower Carbon River valley. Longmire has 3+ feet of snow as does the Mowich Lake entrance. All of these areas are usually clear by now with snow starting above 3,000 feet.
This means the same ideas and rules applies, it's winter and it's snow, so be prepared and be flexible for both snow, melting snow and cool to cold weather. The daytime temperatures should start warming up during the month, so many lower elevation scenes should interesting photographically, such as waterfalls.
In other matters, I'm still working on the 1896 expedition. I have the initial route determined and the Web pages for the narrative and map ready (on-line sometime later this coming week). It's been interesting as you can see from the recent blog entries. Without decent or accurate maps, they didn't have a lot to go by on the expedition, so deciphering their description has proven difficult.
Anyway, that's about it for now. You're always welcome to send me e-mail with any comments, corrections, suggestion or questions.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Translating III
Ok,, I'm still working on the expedition for specific dates and places, and I'm almost done with the narrative and map Web pages for the expedition. Even then it will still be the first draft of the pages so I can get feedback or suggestions to improve or correct the pages and information. There still are some segments in their travel which are confusing at best.
When the team which did the summit climb they descended down the standard "tourist" route by way of Cowlitz Cleaver and Gibraltar Rock, where Camp Muir is located at the 10,000 foot elevation. They simply followed the obvious trail down to Paradise Park and the people camping there. They spent the night there before getting some rations and starting back to the Winthrop Glacier base camp with the rest of the team.
Their narrative is what I haven't grasped yet. This is what I.C. Russell wrote:
"Bidding our friends in Paradise Park good-by, we resumed our journey early on the morning of July 26. Ascending toward Gibraltar until an elevation of about 10,000 feet was reached, we turned eastward for the purpose of traversing the eastern slope of the mountain and regaining our camp at Winthrop Glacier. After crossing the upper portion of Paradise Glacier, we traversed broad and but little broken snow fields to the brink of the valley down which Cowlitz Glacier flows. Beyond Cowlitz Glacier, at about the same level that we had reached, we could see the bold, cathedral-like crags of Little Tahoma, the upward-pointing angle of a secondary mountain mass which divides Cowlitz and Emmons glaciers. Not wishing to descend into the deep valley before us and climb out again on the farther side, we chose to cross the névé fields to our left and endeavor to pass over a rugged and much broken region where the main current of Cowlitz Glacier descends a rocky slope about a thousand feet high. In following the route chosen we became involved in a succession of crevasses and ice precipices, which caused much delay. Slowly working our way upward, we reached the base of the highest ice wall, but a vertical cliff of ice about 50 feet high barred all further progress in that direction. Reluctantly we turned back and, losing all the advantage we had gained by three or four hours of excessively hard climbing, went down the central portion of the Cowlitz Glacier until we reached the level of the highest grove of trees on its left bank, and crossing to the land chose a delightful and well-sheltered spot beneath low pine trees at which to rest for the night."
As much as I try I can't follow this on any map. If they went up to the 10,000 foot elevation that would put them at Camp Muir, but there isn't anything in the report about Camp Muir. So I'm thinking the only got as far as Anvil Rock, which is only a few hundred feet above 9,000 feet. I think this because Russell talks about "... brink of the valley down which Cowlitz Glacier flows.", which fits the Anvil Rock location.
In addition I'm lost on their traverse across upper Cowlitz Glacier between Cowlitz Cleaver and Cathedral Rock. I don't have a real idea where they ended up on the Cathedral Rock side to face the ice wall, and then turn back.
And the last thing I don't understand is their next decision, to go down nearly 4,000 feet to the east side of Cowlitz Glacier below Ingraham Glacier for the night when Camp Muir was just a few hundred feet above them. on the west side of Cowlitz Glacier. It was then what it is today, the overnight camp for sumitt climbs. I would have thought they knew about this camp and it's closeness to where they were on the Cowlitz Glacier.
Anyway, any help appreciated by climbers. I'm rolling on with the Web pages.
When the team which did the summit climb they descended down the standard "tourist" route by way of Cowlitz Cleaver and Gibraltar Rock, where Camp Muir is located at the 10,000 foot elevation. They simply followed the obvious trail down to Paradise Park and the people camping there. They spent the night there before getting some rations and starting back to the Winthrop Glacier base camp with the rest of the team.
Their narrative is what I haven't grasped yet. This is what I.C. Russell wrote:
"Bidding our friends in Paradise Park good-by, we resumed our journey early on the morning of July 26. Ascending toward Gibraltar until an elevation of about 10,000 feet was reached, we turned eastward for the purpose of traversing the eastern slope of the mountain and regaining our camp at Winthrop Glacier. After crossing the upper portion of Paradise Glacier, we traversed broad and but little broken snow fields to the brink of the valley down which Cowlitz Glacier flows. Beyond Cowlitz Glacier, at about the same level that we had reached, we could see the bold, cathedral-like crags of Little Tahoma, the upward-pointing angle of a secondary mountain mass which divides Cowlitz and Emmons glaciers. Not wishing to descend into the deep valley before us and climb out again on the farther side, we chose to cross the névé fields to our left and endeavor to pass over a rugged and much broken region where the main current of Cowlitz Glacier descends a rocky slope about a thousand feet high. In following the route chosen we became involved in a succession of crevasses and ice precipices, which caused much delay. Slowly working our way upward, we reached the base of the highest ice wall, but a vertical cliff of ice about 50 feet high barred all further progress in that direction. Reluctantly we turned back and, losing all the advantage we had gained by three or four hours of excessively hard climbing, went down the central portion of the Cowlitz Glacier until we reached the level of the highest grove of trees on its left bank, and crossing to the land chose a delightful and well-sheltered spot beneath low pine trees at which to rest for the night."
As much as I try I can't follow this on any map. If they went up to the 10,000 foot elevation that would put them at Camp Muir, but there isn't anything in the report about Camp Muir. So I'm thinking the only got as far as Anvil Rock, which is only a few hundred feet above 9,000 feet. I think this because Russell talks about "... brink of the valley down which Cowlitz Glacier flows.", which fits the Anvil Rock location.
In addition I'm lost on their traverse across upper Cowlitz Glacier between Cowlitz Cleaver and Cathedral Rock. I don't have a real idea where they ended up on the Cathedral Rock side to face the ice wall, and then turn back.
And the last thing I don't understand is their next decision, to go down nearly 4,000 feet to the east side of Cowlitz Glacier below Ingraham Glacier for the night when Camp Muir was just a few hundred feet above them. on the west side of Cowlitz Glacier. It was then what it is today, the overnight camp for sumitt climbs. I would have thought they knew about this camp and it's closeness to where they were on the Cowlitz Glacier.
Anyway, any help appreciated by climbers. I'm rolling on with the Web pages.
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