In recent years, our family has transitioned from tradition material gift giving
to giving that is more relationally based. My oldest son Andrew had noticed that
I kept talking about activating Hayrick Butte but was a bit reluctant based on
the looks of it from the map and in person. He took notice and did a bit of
research. On Christmas morning 2014 I got an interesting relational gift of a
winter-time summit attempt and activation of Hayrick Butte.
Hayrick Butte is an interesting geological feature. Hayrick Butte is a tuya
volcano. From Wikepedia: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayrick_Butte)
"A tuya is a type of sub-glacial volcano, formed when lava erupts underneath an
overlying glacier or ice sheet and then melts through to the surface and pools,
producing the flat plateau on top with near-vertical walls along the ice-contact
margin as the lava cools and hardens. Hayrick Butte is one of the most perfectly
formed examples of a tuya in the contiguous United States with a nearly flat
triangular plateau about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) across and steep walls rising about
700 feet (210 m) above the plain below."
The date Andrew had picked out was pretty much a random weekend day, the 24th of
January. I had imagined Hayrick would be covered with 4-6 feet of snow and
ice and would be pretty much impenetrable. Who would have guessed that the day
would be warm, sunny, windless and pretty much snow-less.
We parked at pullout just beyond the Ray Benson sno-park next to Hoodoo Ski
Resort. This road, which normally provides access to the Big Lake area is closed
during winter months. According to the topo map and one entry on a geocaching
web site, the northeast approach was the only viable one. Navigating by eye and
GPS we reached the nearly vertical face of the Butte within 20 minutes after
leaving the road. There is no trail.
The ascent was helped by just enough snow which was easily compacted into secure
kick steps up some of the steeper places. The climb was one that had to be taken
with care. In many places, a fall could certainly be fatal, but most likely would
only make you wish you were dead after you stopped falling. The really dicey part
took only a few minutes and we were on top. If you climb slowly and look carefully,
there are at least two promising gulleys to scramble up. If you are with a small
party, beware of rock fall as there are many loose rocks and some of them are really
big. (think: kitchen table size)
The top of the Butte was pretty flat as most photos show. There was just a few inches
of snow on top. While finding the exact summit, I stumbled upon a wallet, open on
top of the snow. A couple of the credit cards were scattered about. It still had six
dollars in it. My first thought was, "OK, so where is the body?" Alas, no body was
found. We stashed the wallet, for a hopefully joyous reunion with its owner.
We moved on to the exact summit, setup shop and worked to empty the chaser bucket.
The day was glorious. There was no wind, we were warm in the sunshine. Amazing to
think it was the middle of winter. Once the bucket was drained, we started down.
On the ascent Andrew noticed a yellow fixed rope off to our right. We thought it
might be a quicker and safer way down since we were both equipped with climbing
harnesses and gear.
The rope was in good shape and we repelled down maybe 120 feet avoiding some of the
trickiest parts of our way up. Using the rope maybe saved a few minutes but it was
at least fun to bust out the climbing gear and use it.
We were back to our rig within the hour and an Oregon State Trooper on the forest
service road gave us a friendly wave. At that moment, I realized I forgot to put my
snow-park pass on the window. Arriving at the rig, I had a early valentines card
from the trooper informing me of my neglect and letting me know I now owed Deschutes
county $30. Drat. Fortunately, a few weeks later my check was returned to me from
the court clear and the case was dismissed as I had included a xerox of my permit
with the check.
The wallet found belonged to a guy from Dallas, Oregon. He had lost it on Hayrick
Butte two years earlier while geochching. I met up with him later one morning and
he and his wallet had a nice reunion.
It was a great trip. The climb up Hayrick, while not a cakewalk, was not particularly
dangerous or too hard. I received a gift from my son, one from the court clerk, and
got to give one back to the guy from Dallas. Relational giving is pretty cool I think.
