True, a favourite peak may be a one time adventure. That favourite summit may only be a memory that is as vivid today as it was when it happened. It may be a favourite due to the company you were with.
But then there are the peaks, mountains, hills, and buttes that lure you back, time and again.
Such is China Cap.
For me, China Cap is an "easy" stroll to the top. The record, from trailhead to the summit, made by a now anonymous person, was one hour and thirty-nine minutes. At least that is what is written on the cover of the summit register. My own personal best is unknown. I record how fast, but I haven't paid attention to what the fastest time was--perhaps three hours and change.
On a brisk November day, I left the trailhead and immediately was hiking on snow. I had tried five days earlier and was overwhelmed by the situation. This day was about twenty degrees warmer with a temperature hovering at thirty degrees F, and I was starting an hour earlier.
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| Left to Right: China Cap, Burger Butte, Granite Butte and Mule Peak, from near Thief Valley. |
It was the middle of rifle male elk hunting season, but nobody was at the trailhead and nobody was seen the entire hike. The snow on the trail had been packed down, most likely by the first season elk hunters a week before, and there had been no new snow. Off trail the snow was deeper, and usually with a breakable crust.
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| The view of the 'Cap from La Grande. |
The trail goes through a mixed conifer stand of Douglas-fir, grand fir, Engelmann spruce, lodgepole and western larch. In the summer the usual complement of understory plants are visible: snowberry, chimaphilla, twin flower, rattlesnake plantain and the occasional grass-like plants.
Shortly after entering the wilderness you start walking on the north side of Burger Butte and enter an avalanche path. This provides good views of both the north side of Burger, and the approach side of China Cap. For example:
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| The north side of Burger Butte and the avalanche path. |
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| China Cap from the avalanche track. |
Re-entering the forest after the avalanche track one notices a change in species composition, with a majority of the trees Engelmann spruce, lodgepole pine, and sub-alpine fir. A couple minor stream crossings, although in the early summer they can be problematic, and then one comes to the trail fork. From an unsigned junction the prong to the right heads up to Burger Pass while the left traverses slightly up across the side of China Cap.
There are a couple ways to summit the mountain but on this day I angled up to the left of a prominent rock outcrop. There were fresh footprints that went up about one hundred meters then turned around. Mark had been up here, attemptiing the summit two days earlier, but must not have had any traction devices with him. I stopped and installed micro-spikes on my boots and proceeded upward.
I seem to be slowing down, for it took much longer then previous trips, to reach the summit. Maybe it was steeper, or snowier, or slicker, or higher, than before. But after zig-zagging up the chute, walking a short distance across mostly gravelly ground for the wind had blown off the snow, picking my way through the elfin forest, I was on the apex of China Cap.
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| From the summit with Burger Butte in the upper right. |
From the summit you can, in clear weather, see to the Cascade Mountains (Mount Adams has been seen as the sun set earlier this year), Elkhorn and Strawberry Mountains, into Idaho to the east, and north to the Washington State Blue Mountains. Nearly every peak in the wild Wallowa Mountains is visible: Twin Peak, Sacajawea, Matterhorn, Aneroid, Pete's Point, Eagle Cap, Cusick Mountain, Needle Point, Red Mountain and all the peaks in between.
The hike back was uneventful. A little faster than going up, but care had to be taken not to start sliding too much, nor too fast. And the pull of the mountain was there--taunting, luring me back, each time I turned around to look at where I had been.
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| Snow has a tendency to slow down the travel time. |
It's one of my favouritest summits. I hope it isn't your favourite, or the place may become too crowded. But what is yours? Where do you like to hang out and ponder the big questions of the day?
