Mt Adams '12,  Mt Adams Wilderness,  Aug 16, 2012 - Aug 17, 2012     page 8 / 48

Shortly thereafter, reaching 8000 feet, the trail met the lower reaches of a snow finger. The gentle snow slope was inviting, so we followed it up.

Lunch Counter is the name for the broad camping area for climbers who take two days to reach the summit. This was our plan. Lunch Counter extends from about 8500 feet up to around 9200 feet. As the day warmed, we were anxious to find a couple of good campsites and call it a day and began looking for good sites around 8500. We followed the gentle snowfield upward. We didn't stop until reaching 9100 feet. We found some good camp spots around 7:00pm. We had climbed roughly 3600 feet with full packs. Though we were tired, we weren't exhausted. We quickly made some dinner and set up our tents, while there was still plenty of daylight left.