Mt. Jefferson West Rib attempt

12 miles of hiking • 6750' elevation gain •

Left Portland 10pm Friday after work and drove out to Pamelia Lake. Left the car under headlamps around 1:30am and followed the trail to Pamelia Lake and up to the PCT to Milk Creek. Then off trail along the creek, taking the north fork to eventually reach treeline and traverse over on to the West Rib. Snow was not great and showed lots of recent avi debris. We were moving slowly and were wary of the sun loosening the snow, so we stopped at 9700 ft around 8:30am. The summit block looked so close! The sun crested the south ridge as we were snacking and the descent ended up being super easy plunge stepping all the way down. Then bushwhacking back down Milk Creek (with a long break to try to find the GPS waypoint for the low cut shoes I'd stashed from the night before - no one likes hiking in mountaineering boots) and down the Pamelia Lake trail, which seemed endless in the daytime, to finally get back to the car around 2. Beers and foot soaking ensued, and then the exhausted drive home. Not sleeping is so fun.