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I have been lazy about this report because I really didn’t do much. My first trip out after surgery, getting fat and WAY out of shape. Needless to say I was disappointed in myself and ability to climb this weekend. I have never been the fastest climber (going up) but have always been in good shape and able to climb what ever I had in mind. Not this weekend! I was going to do an overnighter till I talked to AB and she was for somthing on Sunady so I figured I would shoot for a day trip up Earl. HA HA HA JimK wrote a great trip report on Earl peak which was my destination also. I will spare all the details of route conditions cause he did such a good job of it. I didn’t get to Teanaway till 3:30 am Sat morning cause I got a late start from PDX. The plan was to get on the trail by 5am so I could have plenty of time to summit and get back down to meet Action Betty at 29 pines camp. I never woke up till 7am...OOPS! This just put a damper on things from the start. I figured I would try the SW ridge that leads to the summit from the intersection of the Bean creek trail and Beverly creek trail. The ridge looked good and even had a good section melted off on the south face. As I headed up the ridge I noticed an old ski trail headed up the creek. I had read JimK’s tr from last year and how the crossing of Bean was difficult. I also read another report from the weekend before saying the same. That is why I wanted to just head up the ridge to start. I was curious though, and headed back down the ridge to see if we could cross. I found the spot for the crossing but I knew I would get my feet wet and Tazz would have a hard time of it too. Not worth it.   
I headed strait up the side of the ridge. I should have stayed on the ridge the first time I was on it. Climbing up the side of it was very steep and a pain in the a.... I finally gained the ridge and headed up. Staying on snow till running into rock. This is where I stopped and took a break. I removed Tazz’s pack cause he had a really hard time climbing the steep parts up the side of the ridge and scrabbling around on the rock was hard for him too. At this point I was tired and not too sure I would make it by my turn around time. We scrabbled up the ridge. Half on snow and the other half on rock. FUN! I reached a point and just bonked, I needed food. We stopped and pulled lunch out. The views where really nice from here. I looked up and figured if I made it to the high point 5693' I would be happy and then turn around. Deflated I sat ate and rested.   
Tazz jumped up and gave an alert that he heard something. Hmmm must be a people coming up the ridge. I waited quit sometime till I could here anything. Dogs sure do have great hearing! Then three people came around the rock. I thought “damn that guy looks really familiar. Wait I think it is JimK.” I had seen many pics of him from his site and trip reports. So I just asked if he was Jim. Sure enough it was him and Trail pair. How weird it is to run into someone way up on a ridge not many climb. We chatted for a bit and they headed on up. It was a pleasure to meet them. I headed up to try for the high point. It was nice to fallows someone else’s steps and not have to kick them all myself. I reached a spot and decide to turn around. I made it to around 5400' or so and gave up. BLAH!!!!! Took some pics soaked in the sun and headed backdown. I stayed on the ridge all the way It was a nice ridge and was melted on a good portion of the south side. I kicked myself for wasting energy farting around with the crossing of Bean creek and climbing up the side instead of sticking with my original plan. I think I would have made it much further ifhad stuck with the original plan to take the ridge from the intersection. It was great to be in the snow and be in plunge step heaven on the way down. According to my map and calculations I did 7-7.5 miles and altimeter said acc gain was 3900'.      
Met up with AB and her two kids and had a good evening hanging around the camp. Her kids are both teens and wow it was a flash to the future with Josh! If one was not cranky the other one was. The next morning we got a late start out of the camp. We arrived at the Snow Lake trail head at 10am. AB’s son came with us but her daughter was not happy and wanted to stay in the truck and sleep. She was cold (she is from Florida) all night and was tired. So we took off and headed up the trail. A well beaten path was in the snow. At about a mile in her son didn’t want to go further. So he asked if he could go back. We figured he could fallow the tracks back and if worse came to worse he could drop down to the valley floor and hit the parking lot. The only way out of the valley is to hit the parking lot first. He headed back and we continued on. I was really tired and kinda had the kids back there on my mind. We came upon a huge avy slope. We had already crossed several on the way up. This one was nasty and steep. It was around noon time and the snow was getting really soft. The route would require us to head strait up the avy chute. I was not too thrilled about it. We decided to stop here and take in the views and then head back to the kids.   
We didn’t go too far but still enjoyed the outing. We went our separate ways. I headed towards home and on the way figured I would take a quick drive down the famous Middle Fork. I wanted to see what all the hub bub was about. Well to me it was just another road. The forest was nice in a lot of spots and the river is just beautiful. I never made to the end. I turned around when I ran into a huge mud bog. Not too sure where it was on the road. I was a ways past an inter section and on a rougher part of the road. In the distance I could see mountains up the river valley. I assume they where the Lemah group but not sure. It was a nice ride but wasn’t too impressed and kind bored. Maybe if I went further It would have gotten better as far as views but it was just a nice forest drive like many around the NW. The river is spectacular though. I think I made it about 22-23 miles from the highway. What waterfall? 
On the drive home I was feeling really yucky and tired. Come to find out I was getting sick. By Sunday night I was done! High fever sore throat and very stuffed up. I think that had a lot to do with my not having a lot of energy for the weekend. (Plus I am so out of shape.) Good to get out again though! Tazz had a blast!  Posted By: tazz In: SW ridge of Earl, Snow Lake trail, MFK |