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rubywrangler Member
Joined: 04 Aug 2015 Posts: 509 | TRs | Pics
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I've been trying to persuade someone to go with me to Ulalach for the past couple years. Julia finally took the bait yesterday, and it was just as glorious as I had expected.
We took Neiderprum Rd out of Darrington to Squire Creek Road to a signed "last turnaround" about 10 minutes walk from where the road officially ends now. It's not possible to drive to the end of the road due to two slides - one where part of the road has slid into the creek below, and one where the hillside above has slid down onto the road.
Julia, Ruby dog and I headed up the old road/trail at about 8am. There was some patchy snow in the morning but it was gone when we returned. It looks like the road gets pretty brushy but it's all clear at the moment. It was about 2.5 miles from where we parked to the old squire creek trailhead. Maybe a hundred yards past the trailhead sign we turned left and headed south, then southeast, up into the forest until we popped out of the trees just below the 4600' saddle east of Ulalach. The route is described in a couple old trip reports and also here; it's straightforward.
one of many stream crossings along the road trailhead sign
The forest was nice and open for the first couple hundred feet, then we hit some blowdowns and brush from 2100' until about 2400'. From 2400' I was mesmerized by the awesomely massive trees and didn't take note of the conditions. But we stopped to put on snowshoes around 3200' and it was easy travel from there to the top. We saw lots of cornices hanging over the steep north face of Ulalach so we stuck to patchy trees on the south side of the ridge from the saddle. The summit was also corniced so we stopped on the summit ridge, maybe 40' shy of the top. The views were fantastic in all directions, with just the tops of the highest peaks hiding in puffy clouds.
big trees! climbing passing the north face of ulalach whitehorse north face of ulalach + whitehorse climbing up from the saddle, summit ridge beyond summit cornice, nothankyou squire creek pass, higher squire, big bear view from the ridge, summit left three fingers whitehorse jumbo big four + co sloan, cadet, monte cristo taking it all in
We hung out for about an hour naming peaks and soaking up intermittent sun, then retraced our path down. Such a gorgeous and fun day!
looking back toward the summit
~9 miles, 4000'
Used snowshoes, ice axe
even more photos
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wildernessed viewbagger
Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 9275 | TRs | Pics Location: Wenatchee |
Living in the Anthropocene
Living in the Anthropocene
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geyer Member
Joined: 23 May 2017 Posts: 462 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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geyer
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Tue Apr 24, 2018 10:22 am
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rubywrangler wrote: | taking it all in |
So majestic! D̶i̶d̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶w̶e̶e̶k̶?̶ How much did she dive in the snow this week?
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Fletcher Member
Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Posts: 1870 | TRs | Pics Location: kirkland |
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Fletcher
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Tue Apr 24, 2018 10:46 am
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Wow, awesome views of the Boulder River Wilderness from there.
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Nancyann Member
Joined: 28 Jul 2013 Posts: 2313 | TRs | Pics Location: Sultan Basin |
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Nancyann
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Tue Apr 24, 2018 11:32 am
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What a great trip! It looks like it was a perfect day to be up there for those amazing views!
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Stefan Member
Joined: 17 Dec 2001 Posts: 5082 | TRs | Pics
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Stefan
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Tue Apr 24, 2018 12:12 pm
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I think the topographic detail your camera picked up. Nice!
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RichP Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 5628 | TRs | Pics Location: here |
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RichP
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Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:54 pm
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Very nice. Looks like a perfect day out even without the tippy top.
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Fred Beavon Member
Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 48 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, WA |
A truly outstanding trip report. Good work.
A unique picture looking down on Exfoliation Dome, our most difficult 4000' foot range summit to attain. I liked how I could click to enlarge and zoom in on it.
And I like your shot of Higher Squire on the left and Squire Spire in front of Big Bear Mountain. Squire Creek Pass is down to the right behind the trees.
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