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awilsondc Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2016 Posts: 1324 | TRs | Pics
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Ross hit me up through Peakbagger wanting to bag some peaks in the Teanaway. Turns out he's a photographer and was wanting to do a sunrise hike and climb some mountains. Sweet!!! We went through many options for the day and decided on Earl Peak for sunrise, then on to Bean, then open ended depending on conditions (we were expecting poor weather). We met up at the Iron Peak trailhead at 2:30am to set up a car shuttle, and drove back to the Beverly Turnpike Trailhead and were on the trail at 3:19.
We were a little concerned about the Bean Creek crossing which is often problematic this time of year, but when we got there there were several logs that had been placed across the creek which made crossing it easy with waterproof boots (others had trouble so your mileage may vary). After the crossing there were several downed trees on the trail, but all fairly easily bypassed. It was pretty smooth sailing until the turn off for Earl Peak. Snow was pretty consistent from here on and there were no tracks to follow, meaning we'd have to navigate by GPS. The snow was punchy and slow going and we had several stops to either navigate or fiddle with gear and it soon became clear to me we weren't going to reach the summit by sunrise. I was a little bummed, poor planning by me, but as we got to about 800 ft below the summit the colors in the sky were really coming out. Like, really really coming out. It was probably the best sunrise I've had in the mountains since last October. It was really incredible. We (or at least I) ran all over like a wild animal taking photos and stoked to be in the mountains with the sky on fire. Damn, I love this stuff, it never gets old! The show didn't last long. I was expecting nearly 100% high clouds, but a clearing to the east allowed the sun to burn the clouds above us for a good 30 minutes before the show was over. With the sunrise over, it was time to bag some peaks!
I live for these moments Bean and Stuart at Sunrise Ross ascending Earl with sky ablaze Insane colors - Judi's and Mary's to the right Sun kissed but moody Last of the light
We stopped briefly at Earl's for some photos and a snack. There is a register with tons of signatures and filling up fast. It seems this peak is becoming incredibly popular. Soon, we departed for Bean Peak. The snow on the way down was pretty solid. We got our ice axes out but left the crampons in the pack. We could barely break through the crust with our heels on descent. The ridge seemed to take forever to cross but we eventually neared the base of Bean peak just as the snow flurries began. The scramble up Bean was just as fun as I remember it (third time up for me) and pretty soon we found ourselves on the summit! The snow was coming down at a mild to moderate rate and the views were pretty well socked in, at least towards Stuart and the Enchantments. Here we discussed our options. Ross really wanted Volcanic Neck and Devil's Head, but I was concerned about the Volcanic Neck scramble route being north facing and filled with snow so I lobbied against that. We had originally planned on dropping down into the basin and tagging Bills, Teanaway, and Iron and exiting to my car at the Iron Peak trailhead but at the rate we were moving and the worsening weather that option didn't sound too good. Eventually we decided to head on to Mary's and Judi's and exit the way we came, a repeat of my first trip to the Teanaway four years ago. Soon we were off to Mary's!
Where I wanted to be for sunrise - Earl Peak summit Enchantments Navaho and Three Brothers Teanaway Tree Earl - Bean ridge Ross with Earl behind Nearing the summit of Bean
I remember the scramble from Bean to Mary's being a super fun class 3 scramble, but the ridge was well covered with snow so we decided to bypass the first part of the ridge by dropping down a couple hundred feet before re-gaining the ridge. Again, the snow was super punchy with an initially supportive crust that would often but not always break through to softer snow below. I hate conditions like this where each step is unpredictable. It was slow going once again. Once back on the ridge it was rock then snow, rock then snow all the way to Mary's. Soon we were at the top with similar socked in views and mild precipitation. We took shelter from the wind behind some rocks and had lunch before heading to Judi's.
Ross in one of the bigger snow flurries of the day Traversing to Mary's Millennium Falcon Rock Mary's from the traverse Mary's panorama Ross arriving at Mary's Bean from Mary's
The trip from Mary's to Judi's is fairly quick. Judi's isn't much of a peak... Last time on Judi's I descended directly south off the summit. It led to horrible steep hard packed dirt and eventually a creek bed gully which wasn't a lot of fun. With that in mind, we descended due east from Judi's towards the head waters of Bean Creek which was delightful plunge stepping the whole way down. It was so fun to casually plunge step while gazing out at Earl and Bean, watching them rise higher and higher as we got lower and lower. Eventually we met up with the Bean Creek trail and made our way back to the trailhead without incident. About 10 minutes from the car we finally ran into the first people we'd seen all day, a group of four starting out. We were a little surprised to see 13 (I think) cars at the trailhead when we got back! Like I said, this looks to be becoming a super popular area. Anyway, it was a great day in the mountains and good to hike with Ross!!!
Ross nearing Judi's Ross admiring the mountains Forked Tree Stumpy Beverly Creek North Fork Teanaway River
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Cyclopath Faster than light
Joined: 20 Mar 2012 Posts: 7732 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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Cyclopath
Faster than light
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Wed May 20, 2020 6:01 am
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Gorgeous sunrise and what a plane to enjoy it in!
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geyer Member
Joined: 23 May 2017 Posts: 463 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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geyer
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Wed May 20, 2020 7:42 am
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awilsondc wrote: | Last of the light |
That is an awesome shot!! Way to get after it nice and early Aaron
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kitya Fortune Cookie
Joined: 15 Mar 2010 Posts: 842 | TRs | Pics Location: Duvall, WA |
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kitya
Fortune Cookie
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Wed May 20, 2020 9:58 am
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I can never get up this early. Looks good
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silence Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 4420 | TRs | Pics
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silence
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Wed May 20, 2020 11:58 am
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Nice trip! Awesome sunrise!
PHOTOS
FILMS
Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb. – Bob Dylan
PHOTOS
FILMS
Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb. – Bob Dylan
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zimmertr TJ Zimmerman
Joined: 24 Jun 2018 Posts: 1224 | TRs | Pics Location: Issaquah |
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zimmertr
TJ Zimmerman
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Wed May 20, 2020 1:35 pm
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I sure do love this place. I bet the log book is filling up from repeat visits! My name is in there several times at least
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Alden Ryno Member
Joined: 04 Jun 2019 Posts: 150 | TRs | Pics Location: Issaquah, WA |
Holy moly! What a sunrise. Beautiful shots, as always.
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ozzy The hard way
Joined: 30 Jul 2015 Posts: 476 | TRs | Pics Location: University place, wa |
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ozzy
The hard way
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Thu May 21, 2020 10:11 am
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sick sunrise hike man! Love that area, bean creek basin is so cool this time of year!! Great pics and cheers dood!!
“I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames”-Mr Mojo Risin
“I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames”-Mr Mojo Risin
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RossJames Member
Joined: 27 Apr 2020 Posts: 39 | TRs | Pics Location: Kennewick, WA |
Hello! My first post here!
Aaron is a pretty cool guy. I enjoyed hiking this with him and hope to get out with him again. Can be hard to find friends for early starts. Aaron basically kicked steps in front of me the whole way. I had all intentions of taking turns in the lead, but at some point into the Earl ascent I had some sharp pains below the knee and slowed my pace a little.
Did some IG story videos throughout the morning here they are all put together:
Haven't yet got through my photos, eventually I'll put up a blog post on my website and link it here.
I should probably read through more of the trip reports here to learn how to write useful ones. I usually follow up a hike with more of a journal, which is a little more personal with things to improve and things that went well, but here goes:
Quote: | I got two hours and 24 minutes of sleep in the suv, woke up at 2:16 AM, brushed my teeth with my travel brush and water and got my pack ready. Aaron slept in his vehicle and around 2:30am he hopped in my car and we drove down to the Bean Creek Trail. This way we would have the option of hiking through to Aaron’s car or could decide to come back to my car. Although we ended up cutting the original plan shorter and hiking back to my car I still think that it was a good choice to give us the option of either out.
The biggest thing that went wrong today was some pain I had not experienced before just under my right knee on the inner side. It felt like it was coming from the bone or a ligament or something. The pain would come and go. I noticed after getting up on the first peek and resting for a bit it felt better for a while. The same thing happened for the next two peaks. About halfway between each peak climb I would start to feel the sharp pain when bending the knee.
Once again the Danner boots are not perfect. They are a little more than slightly uncomfortable when walking on flat ground, get more uncomfortable when on an upward slope, and when wearing crampons they get pretty uncomfortable. I feel pain in my feet and toes with every step and I think my feet are going to hurt for the next few days or weeks, but somehow when I take the boots off at the end of the day my feet aren’t as bad as I thought they would be.
I did almost lose the Ice axe. we were maybe a mile and a half or 2 miles in and had just stopped to adjust and assess our ascent route when I took off my pack and turned around to see the ice axe had fallen off 10 or 12 feet back.
This was the first time I signed an official peak registry. That was pretty cool. But the most memorable part was definitely sunrise and the colors behind Mount Stuart along with the clouds that lingered at the top. We should have been at least a half an hour earlier. An hour earlier would’ve been good. We weren’t at the peak when sunset happened and didn’t have a 360 view. If I could only change one thing on a redo of today it would be to start earlier and get on the trail quicker.
It was nice meeting Aaron. I think I like him. I definitely like his hair. He was pretty super nice to lead the whole way and kick in foot holdings when we were climbing in the snow. Aaron is a chiropractor and he’s been climbing mountains for 15 years. He’s also into photography so we share the passion for getting to the viewpoints by sunrise. |
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nordique Member
Joined: 04 May 2008 Posts: 1086 | TRs | Pics
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nordique
Member
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Thu May 21, 2020 11:01 am
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Superb report and photos! Thanks!
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rubywrangler Member
Joined: 04 Aug 2015 Posts: 511 | TRs | Pics
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RossJames wrote: | I definitely like his hair |
Let's see it, Aaron
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awilsondc Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2016 Posts: 1324 | TRs | Pics
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rubywrangler Member
Joined: 04 Aug 2015 Posts: 511 | TRs | Pics
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Haha very nice. I thought maybe we were in for some kind of quarantine home haircut fiasco!
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Nancyann Member
Joined: 28 Jul 2013 Posts: 2318 | TRs | Pics Location: Sultan Basin |
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Nancyann
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Thu May 21, 2020 9:33 pm
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Nice tresses Aaron! Oh, and fabulous pictures too! I also really enjoyed the video by Ross. What a memorable day you guys had!
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RossJames Member
Joined: 27 Apr 2020 Posts: 39 | TRs | Pics Location: Kennewick, WA |
I think that describes my haircut right now haha
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