Hiking Devil's Rest loop

Yesterday's European daytrip to bicycle with overseas friends was reworked into flying down to Hollywood for lunch with one of my best buds.

I didn't lead a hike this weekend, but instead stayed mostly local for what matters most: Spending time with family, ministry grads, and the amazing friends who make life worth living.

The first of the 2015 hikes I led for NW Wilderness was short, sweet, and not too steep.  I didn’t have time that February day for the longer events that I usually lead or get involved with, so I posted an 8-mile quickie to the top of Devil’s Rest.

Here is the link to my NW Wilderness event invitation, including our post-hike comments and additional photos:  http://www.meetup.com/NW-Wilderness/events/220733223/

I’ll dedicate blog posts to our earlier and bigger 2015 hikes, climbs, and scrambles when I get a chance!

Foggy hike I led up to Devil's Rest earlier this year

A photo posted by Garth Hamilton (@garth_hamilton) on Jun 3, 2015 at 12:18pm PDT

Devil’s Rest is what I referred to as the “most effortless” third of our brutal, annual Triple D challenge for NW Wilderness in August: Dog Mountain, Mount Defiance, and Devil’s Rest in one day.

Since I’ve summited Dog Mountain and Mount Defiance countless times since I was a kid, I decided to finally check out this easier segment to complete my familiarity with Triple D.  The actual date of the hike was February 27, 2015.

Wally, Shaun, Garth, Glenn, Francois, and Lou at the Wahkeena Falls trailhead

Clouds and drizzle greeted us at the Wahkeena Falls trailhead.  The weather didn’t brighten up until later on, but our ascent was anything but gloomy.

Wahkeena Falls

Francois makes the creek crossing below

Shaun and Glenn continue up

Cutoff to the Devil's Rest summit

The anticlimactic summit of Devil's Rest

Sadly, the heavy camera gear that poor Francois had schlepped from the trailhead was only brought out once.

In the summit photo above, he is snapping a single picture of... wait, what are you taking a picture of, Francois?

Returning down to the main loop, via the user-maintained Foxglove trail

Back in familiar territory

The sun almost peeked out for our descent as we returned to the Wahkeena Falls trail.  It was the icing on the cake.

Here are our stats (see notes on my event page for explanations of the discrepancies):

Distance: 8+ miles
Total ascent: 2,761 feet
Moving time: 2:14
Avg speed: 2.6 mph
Max speed 10.2 mph (Shaun and I got a little carried away on the descent)

Check back soon for a family update, travel stories, and the types of outdoor adventures that we USUALLY lead!