I entered this winter season with two primary goals in mind. The first was to notch at least one winter high peak, having failed to do any last winter. The second goal was a sunrise on Cascade.
Sadly, I think this past MLK Day weekend will be my only peak bagging trip up to the high peaks this year. Real life continues to intrude quite unreasonably into hiking life. But I think I made the most of it.
I was the first to sign in at the register for Cascade and Porter Sunday, 1/18/26, doing so at about 5:30 am or so. Another car with two younger guys pulled in as I was walking from my car to the trailhead and I assumed they would overtake me fairly quickly, but I was mostly wrong.
I really took my time going up Cascade. My legs were sore from doing Colden the day before. That hike was good. Uncharacteristically for me, I hiked with people for that one: two fellows also working on their winter 46, one whom I met through my in laws and the other being the first gentleman’s frequent hiking partner.
The trail up Cascade was very much like the trail had been to Colden. Quite nicely packed snow sidewalk, with several feet of looser snow on either side off the trail. On the way up Colden, I had stepped just off trail at one point and went in up to my knee.
I found it pretty cold both days, but colder and definitely windier on Sunday. The two younger guys finally did catch up to me at the open slab lookout just below the Porter junction. It was light enough to start getting the views, which were much better than they had been anyplace on the Colden hike the day before, but still cloudy. I pressed on while the duo stopped to both take a break and take it all in.
Shortly thereafter, I got to tree line and suited up for the summit. With respect to face covering, I started with just the balaclava but didn’t make it very far up the cone before I had to stop to pull out and put on the ski googles as well, such was the wind.
I came up on the cone and had a perfect vantage east for the sunrise, but the cloud cover muted it substantially. So I get to come back another time.
I didn’t dally on the summit, given the very frigid wind, but I did enjoy the fact that this was the second time I’ve had the summit of Cascade all to myself.
Did Porter too.
That puts my winter 46 tally at 11. Hopefully I’ll make it up again in early March to do another one or two, though I may stay closer to home and hit some Catskills as a day trip instead. I’m coming to feel like there is nothing in the world better than being in the mountains in winter.
Heading up Colden’s north summit.
Best of the sunrise on Cascade.