I had been looking at doing a trip to one of the Cascade Huts for a year or two and finally pulled the trigger in the middle of March. My wife was also interested in the trip so we recruited Andrew and Elena to round out the crew. While the hut was only 5 miles in and included everything you'd really need except food, I wanted to try out my ski polk I built a few years ago and see how much weight I could easily pull. This would be a good test for future backcountry skiing adventures. I considered this backcountry glamping so we loaded and pulled 4 growlers in with us and enough food to feed twice as many people.
Andrew and I were going to test out our backcountry rig, while the girls opted for snowshoes. Taking turns hauling the sled, we pretty much stayed the same pace.
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| Gearing up at the trailhead |
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| All ready to go, but heading in the completely wrong direction. Took us a good hour to find the Mineral Jane trail. Trip almost failed before it even began. |
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| Approaching Barlow Butte |
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| Andrew beginning the long slog |
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| Elena and I |
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| Kerrie taking in the view of Hood |
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| Kerrie very happy to have reach the hut. |
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| Power nap for the Burker |
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| Pretty posh living space. |
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| After settling in, Andrew and I went out for a very very quick tour. Not the best terrain for backcountry skiing. The Barlow Butte hut is supposedly to be better, but it was booked. |
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| We got a few turns in the open glade below the hut. |
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| Cooking and drinking. Not much better. |
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| Quick little walk to the privy. |
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| Heading back down to the car. Thanks to Elena for taking a turn on the sled so Andrew and I could ski back down to the trail intersection. Definitely a lot faster. |
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| Skinning up |
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