[Gimpilator]

I got a chance to hike with a friend whom I don't see very often. I pitched some ideas to Robin for northern Olympics, since that is where the least amount of smoke would be. She was skeptical about the Cat/Carrie day hike but eventually came around. August 31 Eagle Point - 6247 Nice short hike from the road.

Eagle

Elk Mountain - 6778 Starting from Obstruction Point parking area we went to Elk Mountain. Some maps sets indicate a rocky outcropping labeled Point 6779 as the highest summit along the ridge. This is wrong.

Ptarmigan

resting buck

mislabeled false summit with true summit behind

A gentle rise a half mile to the east appears higher because it is. Old maps claim this rise is 6 feet lower at 6773 feet, but in actuality its about 15 feet higher than the rocky outcrop. I wasn’t sure, so visited both. Check the newer ArcGIS mapset if you don't believe it. Maiden Peak - 6434 Located east of Elk with a deep saddle in between.

Blue

Elk with false summit on the right

Deception group

Walkinshaw, Clark, Johnson, Deception

Baldy, Gray Wolf, South Gray Wolf

Gray Wolf

Obstruction Point - 6450 For the last peak of the day we went up Obstruction which has a fine view.

Obstruction

Eagle Point and Angeles behind

Elk

September 1 Mount Carrie - 6995 We took the lower trail to Heart Lake and then the Bailey Range spur to the traverse around Cat Peak. This section of trail is precipitous and narrow. It’s amazing that a trail could be built across the slope here and it stands out in my mind as one of the more impressive trails in the entire state.

night hiking friends

night hiking friends

Cat west face

We came to the “catwalk” which is just as hazardous as the reputation. There are a few big loose rocks on the standard scramble route which require care.

catwalk

Cat east face

Olympus

Robbin made it to within 300 vertical feet of the summit when she said she wanted to take a nap. So I finished it alone. I tried to traverse steep scree above a snow patch, but it wasn’t working, so I finished on the upper northwest ridge. Typical Olympic choss. Clouds obscured most of the views, but I could see some glaciers down below. No register.

Carrie

summit rocks

Fairchild

Fairchild, Michael, Ludden, Stephen

Cat Peak - 5900 Robin was feeling refreshed and joined me for Cat after we went back through the “catwalk”. There was a lot of talus on the peak to negotiate which slowed us down a bit. Two summit rock piles separated by 50 feet. No register.

double summit

Cat summit

Cat Creek drainage

We hiked back to the car and got there just after dark for a total of 17.5 hours and roughly 27 miles. Zero bear or goat sightings, which seems unusual for the area.

last look at Cat

back at Heart Lake

[Jake Robinson]

Great to see you getting out again! And nice to see you and Robin linking up. That's a huge day, kudos to both of you

[Jaberwock]

Nice to see you in person on the catwalk I had the little blue backpack.