View 2014-5-3 Nason Ridge in a larger map
I am way behind on the blog so the description will be brief for this and the next few trip reports. Colin and I were hoping to hit Mount Howard and Mastiff but due to a less-than-ideal forecast and questionable snow conditions we played it safe and started from the east end of Nason Ridge. We decided that we could be content with reaching the lookout, and if time and conditions allowed we could continue on from there. Snow stopped the truck just before the trailhead. The trail was tough to make out but the route was obvious from the terrain and soon we were on the mostly open slopes of a big burn.
The summit of Round Mountain is devoid of views and very flat, needles to say we didn't hang around long. Along the ridge Colin noticed a man-sized hole in the snow with bare rock on the bottom, about 7 feet below the snow surface. We explored this mini "snow cave" on our descent. As we continued up, turbulent clouds slowly lifted from the surrounding peaks exposing Icicle Ridge and the Chiwaukum Mountains to the south.
Before long the lookout came into view across a saddle with quite a bit of exposed rock and some huge cornices. We found a few short sections of melted out trail along the ridge at and beyond the saddle. The door was locked, so we set up for a break on the porch out of the wind, and Maverick promptly began to nap. Before leaving we dropped down on the North side of the ridge to explore a little column of rock which a goat must call home. The sky around us remained mostly filled with turbulent clouds.
On the way out we jumped into the little snow cave, which Maverick wanted no part of. Then we broke off some big cornices, riding them a whole 10 feet down to the little runout below. As we began the final descent back into the large burn, The sun really started to come out, bringing with it double and triple rainbows.
~9 miles ~4000 ft elevation gain
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