2014-5-10 Arrowhead Mountain

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I originally planned to climb Basalt Peak North of Lake Wenatchee, but was stopped by snow on the road several miles from the trailhead. Arrowhead Mountain was my backup, but the pull off for the more popular route from the north was a bit sketchy, so I went in search of an alternative. The Whitepine Trailhead looked promising but crossing the creek did not, luckily I stumbled upon a unmarked campsite on a spur just north with a gated bridge over the Creek.

Besides some minor bushwhacking, route-finding was fairly simple between the abandoned road and some game trails. Soon enough I was ascending the East ridge of Arrowhead with the summit in sight. Some wildflowers appeared just before I hit snow around 4000'. Snowshoes weren't necessary, but I prefer to carry them on my feet rather than in the pack.

The summit was clouded in for my entire stay. I did get a brief look at the ridge to Jim Hill. Somewhere on the descent I lost a map and compass in a map bag.

6.5 miles 3800' elevation gain

2014-5-3 Alpine Lookout (Nason Ridge)

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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

Rock Mountain (Stevens Pass) 11-23-2013

We left Renton at 4:30 a.m. and left the truck under the power lines East of the Rock Mountain Trailhead at 7. We scrambled quickly up to the trail and started up the endless switchbacks. As we climbed, a red glow moved into the foggy valley to the East and Icicle Ridge slowly rose from behind the Chiwaukum Mountains. Snow began to appear on the trail by 3500 feet. We carefully worked through few short sections of exposed switchbacks that were covered in thick ice before.



Where snow covered the trail it was fairly well packed, but as we gained elevation and the untouched areas remained soft powder it became increasingly clear that we should have brought snowshoes. We followed the sole pair of boot tracks on the mostly packed trail until they turned around, and continued on the trail for a few hundred feet more until reaching an exposed rocky peak. We crossed below the cliffs and then climbed to the top of the ridge where the false summit of Rock Mountain first came into view.

Three Peaks of Tonga Ridge 10-27-2013

Road 68 is in decent shape besides about 2 dozen gnarly potholes along the way. Road 6830 had even fewer potholes and just a few sections of wash boarded road. The lower slopes of Sobieski Mountain were visible across the Foss Creek valley on the drive up until I entered a thick fog around 3000 feet. Light snow began to fall before Road 310, and was a thin layer was already sticking in a few places. Trail 1058 was well kept to the Fisher Lake/Deception Creek Junction. I encountered several patches of firm snow above 5000 feet, mostly on the North side of Tonga Ridge. Mount Sawyer has a nice trail leading to the summit, but I found only game trails between lots of bushwhacking to the peaks to the West and East.

The first time I attempted to reach these summits there was a large blowdown blocking Road 68 less than a mile up. We turned back about 4.5 miles up the snow-covered road when my partners waterproof boots failed him. This trip was also a backup plan, as I had intended to hit Mastiff Mountain and Mount Howard until I read about 20-30 mph winds in the NOAA forecast for the Lake Wenatchee area.

5-25-2013 Dirtyface Peak

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I climbed Dirtyface Peak today with my pup Automahn. I bailed on this one a few Weeks ago sure to poopy conditions on Stevens pass, and I was reminded last night when I read the recent report from nwhiker ree.





Weather was so cooperative it was almost eerie . It started with beautiful blue skies and patches of overcast that made way for sun breaks that ran like clockwork. When we reached the former lookout site at 11am I could see light rain approaching from behind Mount Mastiff and Howard. I hurried along, hoping to get as much distance and elevation behind me as possible before the rain could show up and slow me down. To my surprise, as the front left Nason ridge it parted around Lake Wenatchee and left us untouched, continuing NW over Napeequa Valley. For the remainder of the day I watched rain clouds engulf the surrounding mountains and ridges, and we found ourselves under only one five minute sprinkle and an even shorter lived snow flurry.




After dropping into the basin to the North we lost another hundred feet or so to avoid some cliffs,we crossed two short snow fields then re-ascended earlier than planned and continued along the top of the last half of the ridge to the base of Pt. 6223 without issue.  From the next saddle over we also hugged the top of the steep ridge to the true summit. Auto needed help with two small moves along the way, and the scramble up the last 200 feet of the summit is way out of his league so he paced around and cried to anyone who might listen while I ducked out of view to sign the register and snap some pics.





We scrambled up Pt 6223 on the return, which is pretty dog friendly except for the last 5 feet. There is a survey marker here, although I didn't see one on the true summit which is just under 20 feet higher.




Nearly everything North face is covered in 2-4 feet of well consolidated snow. Under thick canopy the surface is too firm to get a solid bite with microspikes, and we found ourselves in several steep exposed traverses that made an ice axe indispensable. On the way out I noticed footprints from at least 2 others on the trail below the lookout, and met a group of 4 at the TH on their way up for an overnight.



~14 miles round trip
~6000 feet elevation gain
10 hours car to car with plenty of time for pictures and sunbathing.

pictures soon to come

2013-4-13 Mount Sawyer (Attempt)

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We are well into April and spring is finally here, right? Wrong! Joel and I set off on and ambitious plan to summit Dirtyface Peak (North of Lake Wenatchee) but when snow began to stick on Highway 2 with more than 2000 feet to climb over Stevens Pass, we reconsidered. While we likely could have made it up and over, the snow was expected to continue into the night and we weren't interested in finding out what the return drive would bring.


Our backup was to head up Tonga Ridge to Mount Sawyer. We parked on Forest Road 68 a half mile past the one-lane bridge near a gated junction, where a 100'+ tree blocked the road. The gravel road was free of snow but that changed quickly as we gained elevation and the flakes grew larger.  Snowshoes were not very helpful as every few steps the wet snow would cake up, tripling their weight.

After turning onto the 6830 Spur Rd I hoped to find an decent route to bypass the long switchbacks, but the steep terrain did not look inviting. We passed several small waterfalls along the roadside. We turned around on Road 6830 at about 3200' due to footwear issues. When we returned to the car at 1200' there were 2-3 inches of snow across the road. Weather could have been better, of course it could also have been worse. Either way it was good to get out.

~ 9 miles Round Trip
2000 ft elevation gain
4 1/2 hours car to car

Cleveland Mountain 3-30-2013

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I have been trying to get to this one since spotting it on a recent trip up Philadelphia Mountain, so when I saw that a few other NWHikers had made it up recently I jumped on the opportunity to poach their trench in some good weather. 68 degree temps were in the forecast and while I don't think it quite got there surrounded by snow a few thousand feet up, this was no doubt the warmest hike I can remember since last October.

I parked at the small makeshift campsite less then 100 feet up the spur road just before the bridge over Money Creek. On a side note, signs indicate that Miller River road is closed after Money Creek, and detours lead further East on Highway 2. I planned on taking the spur road to it's end but within 1/2 mile I noticed some red and orange flagging near a bootpath heading directly East, and could not help but check it out. Heading off trail is always a risk but this one came with a reward: a few hundred feet up the path seemed to come to and end at an old mine. I ventured no more than 20 feet in with a headlamp, and could see no sign of an end. As exciting as it would be to explore further, my best judgement prevailed and I chose to return on a later date with some company.

I bushwhacked to climbers right of the mine and the exposed rock surrounding it trying to pick up the path. Eventually I worked my way climbers left (Northeast) where I ran into a bootpath near the crux of the North ridge around 2400 ft. This may or may not be a completely separate path from the one I started up. Snow patches soon began to appear and it was mostly solid above 3200 ft as I crested over a small bump labeled "Temple Mountain" on my green trails map.

Just above 4400 ft I encountered a few pairs of snowshoe tracks from NWHikers EastKing, flatsqerl, and R3H - Thanks fellas! I followed the tracks up a small knife-edge and stopped for lunch above a small pond hidden under several feet of snow. From where I rested, I could see the snow-draped summit bathing in warm sunshine. It was clear I would need to approach from the south, which motivated me to hurry up before it got too soft and sticky up there.


The last push to the top took a lot out of me, and the dogs were both panting harder than usual. I'm not sure if I am just a bit out of shape from  a lack of regular hiking recently, or if the higher temps today were really taking such a toll on us all. The summit views greatly surpassed my expectations. Lennox Mountain looked stunning from this perspective, as did Baring and Index.



On the descent we followed the NWHiker tracks until the snow thinned enough on the road to remove snowshoes. With one more summit down and both dogs exhausted, I went home satisfied!