With the addition of Zyla to our lives, the summer started with a bang. Mom and Carl came out to visit almost immediately and gave Jacqueline and I some much needed baby advice. They helped with the meals and also got lots of grandparent time. They stayed until Memorial Day weekend and then were off to go back to Washington. With the baby to ourself we began getting her on a schedule so that we could sleep. I quickly learned that I would be getting more sleep then Jacqueline
. There just was not a ton that I could do in the middle of the night. Zyla was such a good baby as she only seemed to cry when she was hungry. While that was frequently, she needed to grow as she was so amazingly tiny. It had been a week of baby management and no school and I needed to get out for a hike. The thought of climbing Little Cone had been interesting to me since I saw it last fall. So I got up early and drove toward the mountain on the Fall River Road. I did not know
exactly where to park, but following my GPS, I saw that it was at the bottom of a private road. There were lots of no trespassing signs up, but I figured that if I was just walking the road it would not be considered no trespassing. Still I moved quickly uphill on the road until I got to a nice big open meadow, where I ducked off the road and back onto National Forest property. The view from this spot was absolutely fantastic as I could look back toward the Wilson Range and see the still
snow covered peaks rising out of the bright green all around me. I wondered if I would run into snow. At this point it was just picking a route with the GPS as a guide to get to the base of the mountain. The route was steep, but without much resistance even though there was no discernable trail. I was definitely in worse shape at this point in the summer than the previous summers, though I was not missing my backcountry job yet. It was fun to be in the mountains for some time. As I got to higher elevation, the snow started to show up. Soon my route was chosen based on
where the snow was not. Eventually it was chosen by where the snow was least until it was chosen by a straight line that minimized the amount of dampness entering my shoes. In the middle of this, I found a seasonal snow melt lake that looked pretty with the reflections of the green trees. From here the route became steeper until I was out of the snow, out of
the trees, and looking up toward the summit of Little Cone. From far away, it looked like a gradual climb to the top, but when I looked at it from nearby it was blocky toward the top. I thought I would be swinging right and going up a ridge, but heading straight on looked like a bettter option. I could follow some trees to a saddle. It started out gradually steep, but right where I found a dead deer, it started to get steeper. I didn't feel like I was in big fall danger, but I was definitely in break ankle danger, which out here where no one goes, would mean trouble. So I was careful as I did use some hands and
feet in places. Eventually I hit the saddle and with some tricky route decisions to avoid the patches of snow near the top, I was climbing my way up the loose rock to the top. It was a three hour trip from car to summit as I hit the top a little before 11am. The view was awesome with peaks all around me. I knew others had been there, but you could tell that it was not too often. I was thinking that maybe I could descend a different way, but after circumnavigating the summit, I realized that it was not going to be possible. It was down the same way with all its loose rock. I took it slowly and could relax when I was standing looking up at the peak once again. This time I flew down the snowy parts as it was
much easier to go down then up. It took about half the time to get back to the car, which just showed how good of shape I was in. I returned home and saw both my beauties had a good workout on the day also. It was a good day that gave me a chance to look forward to further summer visitors and further summer adventures.
With the addition of Zyla to our lives, the summer started with a bang. Mom and Carl came out to visit almost immediately and gave Jacqueline and I some much needed baby advice. They helped with the meals and also got lots of grandparent time. They stayed until Memorial Day weekend and then were off to go back to Washington. With the baby to ourself we began getting her on a schedule so that we could sleep. I quickly learned that I would be getting more sleep then Jacqueline
. There just was not a ton that I could do in the middle of the night. Zyla was such a good baby as she only seemed to cry when she was hungry. While that was frequently, she needed to grow as she was so amazingly tiny. It had been a week of baby management and no school and I needed to get out for a hike. The thought of climbing Little Cone had been interesting to me since I saw it last fall. So I got up early and drove toward the mountain on the Fall River Road. I did not know 
exactly where to park, but following my GPS, I saw that it was at the bottom of a private road. There were lots of no trespassing signs up, but I figured that if I was just walking the road it would not be considered no trespassing. Still I moved quickly uphill on the road until I got to a nice big open meadow, where I ducked off the road and back onto National Forest property. The view from this spot was absolutely fantastic as I could look back toward the Wilson Range and see the still 
snow covered peaks rising out of the bright green all around me. I wondered if I would run into snow. At this point it was just picking a route with the GPS as a guide to get to the base of the mountain. The route was steep, but without much resistance even though there was no discernable trail. I was definitely in worse shape at this point in the summer than the previous summers, though I was not missing my backcountry job yet. It was fun to be in the mountains for some time. As I got to higher elevation, the snow started to show up. Soon my route was chosen based on
where the snow was not. Eventually it was chosen by where the snow was least until it was chosen by a straight line that minimized the amount of dampness entering my shoes. In the middle of this, I found a seasonal snow melt lake that looked pretty with the reflections of the green trees. From here the route became steeper until I was out of the snow, out of 
the trees, and looking up toward the summit of Little Cone. From far away, it looked like a gradual climb to the top, but when I looked at it from nearby it was blocky toward the top. I thought I would be swinging right and going up a ridge, but heading straight on looked like a bettter option. I could follow some trees to a saddle. It started out gradually steep, but right where I found a dead deer, it started to get steeper. I didn't feel like I was in big fall danger, but I was definitely in break ankle danger, which out here where no one goes, would mean trouble. So I was careful as I did use some hands and 
feet in places. Eventually I hit the saddle and with some tricky route decisions to avoid the patches of snow near the top, I was climbing my way up the loose rock to the top. It was a three hour trip from car to summit as I hit the top a little before 11am. The view was awesome with peaks all around me. I knew others had been there, but you could tell that it was not too often. I was thinking that maybe I could descend a different way, but after circumnavigating the summit, I realized that it was not going to be possible. It was down the same way with all its loose rock. I took it slowly and could relax when I was standing looking up at the peak once again. This time I flew down the snowy parts as it was 
much easier to go down then up. It took about half the time to get back to the car, which just showed how good of shape I was in. I returned home and saw both my beauties had a good workout on the day also. It was a good day that gave me a chance to look forward to further summer visitors and further summer adventures.
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