[ozzy]

Tis the season for another good larch report! This was my larch baptism day, ive never really been out during prime larch season and wasnt sure where to go. I knew i was goin somewhere because i came across Aaron Wilson's larch report and knew i would be calling in sick monday, bahaha! I then came across a pic of Choral Pk in Geyer's recent tr on Emerald Pk, it looked pretty badass! I was going to take the Fern Lake approach but didnt want that much distance, then i came across Wildernessed's nice tr on the Anthem creek basin approach! There's 3 nwhikers that helped me out lol, i need all the help i can get! Thanks a lot guys btw! So the mission was on, i was stoked to get some good larching in and made the 4 1/2hr drive to the Entiat River Th. The plan was to wake at 5am and go. I forgot how hard it is to get out of a warm car and start hiking in these cold ass autumn mornings! I ended up leaving the car at 8am lol. I made quick time through the burned out forest to the "T" where you take the switchbacks up the side of Duncan Hill, and there is about 58 of them! The grade of the trail is nice the switchbacks just seem endless on the way back down. Around switchback #58 you come to another "T", there is a old burnt metal sign on the ground take left here. I missed this and climbed 300ft up towards Duncan before i figured it out. From the "T" the trail is not maintained but never gets too bad, just 10-15 easy blowdowns to negotiate. I followed the trail til it crossed Anthem creek. This was the off trail portion, i follwed the creek up to 6400ft and started to get some larches, the stoke was high! I left the creek and started in a more northerly direction, travel was pleasant on slabs and more and "Larches"! At 7000ft you reach Anthem creek basin!! Larch Freakin Insanity!! They were probably a few days past their prime but i know no bettter, right?! Also got my first glimpse of Choral Pk, and a beaut she is! Oh and i appologize for all the pics but yall know how it is by now lol.

Garland,Devils smokestack, and rampart from the burn

The smokestack, rampart and 5th of july

My last little climb up the creek before i veered off

Its just beginning

Beauty

Contrails over anthem pk

Its a larch party up in here

Up in da basin

Larch grove grooviness

This basin is something else

I made my way very slowly through the basin taking it all in, wow ive never seen trees so hard to take your eyes off of! It was such an incredible change to go from gnarly burned out forest to the serenity of the larch kingdom i now found myself in! On my way to Choral i thought the nearest summit was the true one, so i bee-lined it straight up the thing rather than go to the col above choral lake(mistake, dont do this). I found some good class 3 up there! Once i got to the highpoint the main summit came into view, dammit i was on a sub summit just to the S. This, ladies and gentleman is why i should just stick with the program and not take shortcuts haha. I had to downclimb about 100ft, i found some good class 4 up there. I found a nice gully class 3 to finish off the last 200ft, and the views were astounding! Only other peak ive done around here is Reynolds so this area amazes me with how big it actually is! The views of the burn in the entiat are something else too! I think this area must be the larch capital of the world, i mean damn, larch groves on every damn ridge and basin everywhere!! As you can tell i was pretty excited! This peak also has one of the best registers ive seen too, dating back to 1985. Its seen few visitors this year!

The col i shoulda went to first

Goin up towards what i thought was true, true summit is back right

Higher

Basin below

Stuart range on horizon

First views next door, emerald cardinal

The true one from sub peak

Yours truly on top at last

Cardinal, friends

Fernow, friends

Dakobeds, gp

Fernow and friends

Cheers to all

Pinnacle

Gopher saska emerald

Anthem peak and basin

The sub peak in which i so willingly climbed

1400ft down to the larches, a lot has been burned down there

The basin from which i emerged

I chilled on the summit for a good 1.5 hrs. Spectacular all around, a great day to be alive indeed. I kept it classy and sipped on some jim beam up there while looking for future endeavors. I headed down a nice little gully system then worked my way to the col above the lake to see what that was all about. It was pretty cool too then i meandered my way down sandy slopes and back through the larch kingdom again! This was a proper trip for my first larch viewing i cant wait til next year! I took my time through the basin and made good time the rest of the way out including the endless 58 switchbacks. Talked to and saw only a handfull of hunters the whole day, and that was down on the entiat river! 8am leave car, 1130am larch mania begins, 130pm choral summit, 430pm larch mania ends, 830pm 4.5hr drive begins.

Gully i went up/down

Scramble terrain on choral

Choral lake

I call this one The col and i

North ridge, looks a little easier than my way

Into thy golden kingdom

Sands below col

Moonshot

Choral again

Gettin shady

Cant get enough

Endless larch groves

Slabs just below basin

Goin back down anthem creek

[Matt]

that's a beautiful basin. thanks for the report on approaching Choral from that side.

[Nancyann]

Great trip report and larchy pictures! It looks like you put together an awesome larch baptism! It was so great to wake up this morning and read another amazing larch report, because despite my best laid plans to do the same, instead, I have been home sick for three miserable days with the flu. NWHikers to the rescue, helps keeps my spirits up!

[rocknclimb]

Good one Ozzy

[Get Out and Go]

A whole bunch of great camp spots in your photos. Even saw the names of friends in the summit register.

[Kascadia]

[geyer]

This is sweet ozzy! From the angle of my picture, I would have thought it was a technical climb, but there always seems to be a scramble route on most of these cascade peaks