Forum Index > Trip Reports > abernathy & other wanderings around winthrop 10.12 - 10.14
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rubywrangler
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rubywrangler
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PostThu Oct 17, 2019 10:34 pm 
I was going to post this in the lazy thread but it got too long to qualify. wink.gif No one could be persuaded to do an overnight trip this weekend so I headed to Winthop for some hopefully uncrowded larch hunting. However it ended up being more crowded than I had anticipated over there - as noted in another thread it was the first weekend of modern rifle season, so both the town and the surrounding area were crawling with hunters. I arrived in Winthop early Saturday afternoon, threw on my brightest orange OR echo hoody, and headed for a short hike to Tiffany mountain via freezeout ridge. On the advice of a couple hunters I met at the trailhead I carried snowshoes, but they ended up being dead weight - although the ridge was mostly snow covered, there was a trail broken the whole way. The clouds were starting to clear while I wandered along the summit ridge but it was super windy so I didn't wait around. The sun came out and turned everything gold as I was on my way back to the car.
On Sunday, Said and I had planned to hike up to Abernathy peak but I hadn't slept much and was feeling lazy, so we decided to save that for Monday and headed to Copper Glance lake instead. I had secret plans to suggest a side trip to Big Craggy if the weather cleared, but it did not. We only got brief glimpses of Isabella ridge and the mountains above the mostly-frozen lake. Made it back to Winthrop with ample time to try a flight of ciders at Sixknot before watching the Steelers surprising win. 2-4, woohoo!
On Monday we hiked up to Scatter lake and Abernathy under gloriously sunny skies. The trail was basically snow-free until the pond before Scatter lake, just a few patches here and there. The larches were at peak gold and popped against the bright blue sky - no colors were enhanced in the photos below! We followed footprints up the route described in "Summit Routes" to the top of Abernathy. The day was crystal clear so summit views were incredible, from Oval and Star all the way to Shuksan and Jack and everything in between. And it finally felt like fall in the mountains! Wish it hadn't been so fleeting.
As a bonus, I hit WA pass just as Liberty Bell was turning gold in the morning sun on my drive home Tuesday:

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Sky Hiker
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PostFri Oct 18, 2019 5:11 am 
Did you see any deer? How was the area as far as hunters?

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Bosterson
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PostFri Oct 18, 2019 1:14 pm 
Very nice. up.gif
rubywrangler wrote:
eek.gif I climbed the Beckey Route in July (my god the drive to WA Pass is far from Portland...) and that photo makes it look so much more epic than it felt standing on top!

Go! Take a gun! And a dog! Without a leash! Chop down a tree! Start a fire! Piss wherever you want! Build a cairn! A HUGE ONE! BE A REBEL! YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE! (-bootpathguy)
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olderthanIusedtobe
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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostFri Oct 18, 2019 1:38 pm 
Bosterson wrote:
Very nice. up.gif
rubywrangler wrote:
eek.gif I climbed the Beckey Route in July (my god the drive to WA Pass is far from Portland...) and that photo makes it look so much more epic than it felt standing on top!
up.gif Beckey Route is fun. It's also I think less than half of the vertical distance as routes on the east face. You can try Thin Red Line next time you climb it. winksmile.gif I climbed one of those shorter towers on the east side years ago--Minuteman IIRC. First and only little bit of aid climbing I've done. My buddy led and I seconded. Some of his pro got hopelessly wedged in cracks after he fully weighted them. (edited--on further recollection we swapped leads, I got an early pitch w/ a ton of rope drag, but he led the aid pitches)

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rubywrangler
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rubywrangler
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PostFri Oct 18, 2019 2:42 pm 
Sky Hiker wrote:
Did you see any deer? How was the area as far as hunters?
Only saw one harvested deer on a Jeep and a handful of city deer in Winthrop. Lots of hunters along the roads and in town, but only ran into a couple on the trail.

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Malachai Constant
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PostFri Oct 18, 2019 4:55 pm 
Was at lone fir cog spoke with one hunter, he said he went up the ridge across the creek for a couple days and had no luck. His opinion was predator wolves and cats had driven the deer into town. Saw no skat or tracks on trail to Cutthroat Pass or other trails lots of hunters on horse back on Driveway Butte.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Matt
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PostFri Oct 18, 2019 11:40 pm 
Looks like a fine job of finding the larches in a variety of locations.

“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien
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