Erica (Wall) Campbell, sister-, brother-in-law, nephews, family friend hike into the Cascades
An “adventure” is defined as “an unusual and exciting – typically dangerous – experience or activity.”
Unusual. Exciting. Balancing on the edge of dangerous.
Well, if you’re gonna check something off of your life’s “Bucket List” – it might as well be an adventure.
And, when you’re looking for adventure, it only makes sense to select a guide team with that noun right in its name.
Former Mountain Lake resident, Erica (Wall) Campbell, joined in with her sister-in-law, brother-in-law, a couple of nephews and a family friend to team up with that adventurous guide team – Rare Earth Adventures of Portland, Oregon – to seek out that adventure.
All were ready for anything that came their way.
The six – all Missourians from the “Show Me State” – set out on the highway preparing for all they were about to be shown.
Their beeline trek took them from Missouri to Portland, Oregon, on time for a date to hike into the Cascade Mountains.
Erica, 39, a 1996 graduate of Mountain Lake Public High School, the daughter of Barney and Terri Wall of Mountain Lake, had been enticed by her sister-in-law into an earlier, tamer adventurous event – a Tough Mudder.
That sister-in-law, 52-year-old Clarrisa Brittain of Marshfield, Missouri, then upped the ante on their exploits – a hike into the Cascade Mountains on the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail. “It was a dream. She researched it, planned it, and when asked if I wanted in, I declared with an emphatic, ‘Yes!’ But . . . we really had no idea what we were doing,” explains Erica.
Added to the hiking team were Erica’s nephews, Michael Brittain and Drew Irwin, along with a family friend, Joey Waitman, all of Springfield, Missouri. Also making the trip was Clarissa’s husband, Chuck Brittain, officially recognized as the designated driver and RV-sitter.
On Saturday, May 21, Erica bid farewell to her husband, Dac and the couple’s four-year-old son, Oliver – as well as their comfortable Webb City, Missouri home, well-decked-out with indoor plumbing, washer, dryer, well-stocked kitchen and running water – and headed towards the wilderness – via recreational vehicle – with family and friend.
The hikers’ great adventure in the Pacific Northwest beckoned to them on Monday, May 23, after pulling into Portland in the wee hours of that morning. It all began at Rare Earth Adventures’ home base.
They met their guide team, Brandon Brown, along with Annastayzia Wilson, an intern at Rare Adventures, who captured the four-day hike with unforgettable photos – and whose nickname became, “The Intern.”
And the five hitting the trail (Erica, Clarissa, 27-year-old Drew and the two 23-year-olds, Michael and Joey) were presented with their backpacks – stuffed with all the food needed, sleeping bags, tents, first-aid kits and walking sticks. The guides assisted in the packing, making certain items were aligned a specific way, and assuring that only the necessities were taken so as to keep the weight as light as possible. Total weight, however = 40 pounds.
The path they took in the Cascades was but one small section of the Pacific Crest Trail, but it was taken in an area around Mount St. Helen’s.
The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail
The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (PCT) is a long-distance hiking and equestrian pathway through some of the most scenic terrain in the United States. Beginning at the Canadian border, it travels a total distance of 2,659 miles through Washington, Oregon and California until reaching the Mexican border. It is closely aligned with the highest portions of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Mountain ranges.
The PCT is one of the original National Scenic Trails established by Congress in the 1968 National Trails System Act. It is administered by the United States Forest Service. The Forest Service partners with the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, California State Park, and the Pacific Crest Trail Association to provide effective management and protection of the trail.
Trekking near the volcano
Mount St. Helen’s is a National Volcanic Monument, and hikers are only allowed near the site with a federal pass. Passes are allotted sparingly to individuals, but, because the group was heading in with an outfitter, passes were available. Guides teams, such as those from Rare Earth, apply each year for their chunk of passes in order to better serve their patrons.
Mount St. Helen’s
Mount St. Helen’s – known as Lawetlat’la to the indigenous Cowlitz people and Loowit to the Kickitat, is an active stratovolcano in Skamania County, Washington in the Pacific Northwest. The volcano takes its English name from the British diplomat Lord St. Helens, a friend of explorer George Vancouver, who made a survey of the area in the late 18th century.
The volcano, located in the Cascade Range, is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire that includes over 160 active volcanoes. Mount St. Helen’s is known for its ash explosions and pyroclastic flows (a fast-moving current of hot gas and rock that reaches speeds moving away from a volcano of up to 45 miles per hour).
The volcano is best remembered for its sudden eruption the morning of May 18, 1980. That eruption was the deadliest and most economically-destructive volcanic event in United States history. Fifty-seven people were killed and 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways and 185 miles of highway were destroyed.
A massive debris avalanche, triggered by a 5.1 earthquake on the Richter scale, caused an eruption that reduced the mountain’s summit from 9,677 feet down to 8,363 feet – replacing it with a one-mile-wide horseshoe-shaped crater. The debris avalanche was 0.7 cubic miles in volume.
The Mount St. Helen’s Volcanic Monument was created to preserve the volcano and allow for its aftermath to be scientifically studied.
Heading on in
What originally was to be a first-day eight-mile hike on Monday turned into an 11-mile trod. After taking a van from Troutdale, Washington to the trailhead, the hikers faced – literally – an uphill climb. “That first day, we climbed 2,000 feet from where we began,” explains Erica.
“Those three extra miles were tacked on on opening day because we needed to stop at a location with moving water.”
A look at the Cascades
On Tuesday morning, May 24, the hikers awakened to a snowfall. After a longer first day than expected, today’s hike was only four miles, with the backpackers finding an ideal place to set up camp.
Using their camp site as home base, the hikers hiked out-and-back, exploring five miles around the area on their third day in the Cascades, Wednesday, May 25.
Thursday, May 26 was the final day on the Pacific Crest Trail, the group heading out seven miles in a return trip to their van parked at the trailhead.
All told, 27 miles were hoofed by each of the hikers.
Erica notes that the nighttime temperature dropped to 33 degrees Fahrenheit on their first night out, the coldest night they experienced; and daytime temps averaged in the 60s.
The food stash was the same for each of the hikers. The first night out, they savored a freeze-dried meal, brought to life by adding boiling water. Packed into their backpacks were Ziploc bags of flat bread, one log of summer sausage, one brick of cheese, “trail butter” (“essentially peanut butter on steroids,” provides Erica as an accurate description), instant oatmeal, two big bags of different flavors of trail mix and instant coffee and tea.
For their final meal before heading out, macaroni-and-cheese with canned chicken was the featured entrée.
Unfortunately, the water filters to create drinking water were not working, so the outdoorsmen and women had to boil water before they could bottle it and use for drinking.
Keeping the environment in mind, the hikers packed out all of their garbage.
Fortunately, the Missouri hikers had some experience with camping, knowing how to set up and tear down camp – and came prepared with pocket knives for any unforeseen circumstance.
And, even though Erica wore the same clothes for all four days of hiking and sleeping (except for changes of underwear) – and group members had to dig holes in order to make spots for them to relieve themselves, “I had a really good time. We had no encounters with wild animals, although we did see bear and elk tracks. Our muscles were sore; there was a lot of Advil taken. But, I would do it again in a heartbeat – with a guide, of course.”
Return to civilization
Returning from the Cascades, the hikers met up with Chuck and the RV, and took a fast-track trip to northern California for a view of the Pacific Ocean and the Redwood Forest before heading back to their part of the Midwest.
While the hikers focused for four days on one corner of Washington state, the entire entourage visited a total of 11 states on their out-and-back sojourn to the West Coast.
What is the next drop in the Bucket List?
What is next drop in the Bucket List for the explorers?
Erica shares that, “Clarissa – the spark plug for getting things running – has mentioned a trip for 2017. She is doing research on Mayan ruins in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico – perhaps Chichen Itza, Chunchucmil, Dzibilchaltun, Mayapan, Oxkintok or Uxmal – or Yaxchilan in Chiapas.
“We’ll have to see.
But . . . I’m game.”
