Today Karen and I hiked miles with over 2,450 feet of elevation gain and loss. We hiked up steep Spomberg Canyon and along a curving ridge. Huge dropoffs on both sides of the trail. At 4.5 miles, we descended for a mile to reach a giant spire. Karen wanted to show it to me.

Ascending steeply, I ate salted cashews and a Luna bar to boost me up the trail. It's hard to hike, eat and talk. We delay lunch until finding a view spot. Today we pushed to reach the spire.

"Holy cow!" I exclaimed when I saw the towering spire. "This is spectacular!" I have never seen a spire like this while hiking.

The Wenatchee Mountains are composed of bands of white silica and dark granite, I learned by hiking with a geologist. "Silica came from eruptions of Glacier Peak (,000 feet)," he said. "Silica is like glass. Granite has minerals that feed plants. More plants grow in granite soil than in silica soil."

Rock climbers love climbing granite because it does not crumble, I learned from dating a famous rock climber. Karen and I spotted climbing pitons and ropes left by climbers on the granite spire. "This is extremely dangerous to climb," Karen said.

Bitterbrush bushes ate one of the snow baskets on my hiking poles. So, I had one spear and one hiking pole with a snow basket. I felt frustrated for two minutes, then let it go.

Today we took micro-spikes on and off, on and off. The steep trail was a mix of slippery snow, ice and mud. Hard to descend. We looked like Pigpen when we got back to our cars.

What a thrill to see that amazing spire!

Photos:

1. Karen sat by the spire to show it's size. Dangerous to walk to it. Too scary for me.

2. Wenatchee Mountains foothills.

3. In the Spring, this plant has white flowers like Baby's Breath. See the dropoff?

4. One of four small spires we spotted while descending.