[rkjenner]

I've never posted on nwhikers before but after reading Olymountainman’s 2/17/2013 trip report for Timber Mountain on this site, I was inspired to try it. On 6/17/2020 my hiking buddy Greg and I were able to more-or-less follow his route. The exact location that Olymountainman reported departing the Dry Creek trail to commence his scramble was a little ambiguous. We looked for likely launch points as we hiked along the section of the trail from the waterfall to where the trail turns to follow the Dry Creek drainage upstream. Nothing looked user-friendly at this time of season. We noted dense, waist-high sword ferns and frequent rocky outcrops visible a short way up the slope. Also of note were bugs at lake level. I was glad to have the DEET. As it turned out, they were less annoying at higher elevation and non-existent from 2000' and up. We continued on the Dry Creek trail past the place where the route swings to the right and heads up the Dry Creek drainage. A quarter mile uphill on the old logging road, we came to a large, prominent root ball sitting next to the trail draped with orange flagging. Here the terrain had low-growing Salal and Oregon grape and a more open forest. Starting from here allowed us to gain 200-300' more elevation. Shifting to scramble mode, we headed uphill. Though the slope steepened quickly, we found the going fairly easy. The ground was mostly dry and traction was good. Route-finding too was easy because of the open terrain which was especially nice since it was rather featureless except for an occasional elk track which was worth following when available. Mama grouse are doing daycare duties these days. We ran into a cute cohort on the way up. In the distance, males could be heard drumming their wings. At around 2000', we hit a continuous "rock" band (not high enough to rightfully call them "cliff") which blocked our indiscriminate passage uphill. Without too much trouble we found our way through this band and all the others that followed, usually through a water channel that had carved a chute. I marked the location of the first rock band with a waypoint. After the first rock band, an outline of a ridge appeared and we began to follow it. The steepness lessened somewhat and I no longer needed to refer to my GPS. Occasionally the forest foliage got thick enough to qualify as bushwhacking, but for the most part it was minimal. The ridge remained prominent and eventually led directly to the eastern ridgeline descending from the summit. Here the flavor of the terrain and forest changed abruptly. The slope became quite flat and there were open, almost meadow-like sections that tempted us to think our path to the summit would be a cake-walk. No such luck, of course. The long ridge to the summit is riddled with jagged rock, mind-numbing ups and downs, and spotty but dense vegetation. We lost count of the sub-peaks. Many of these required a side-hill, down-and-up traverse to get around, usually on the south side. We spotted maybe a dozen piles of bear scat along the ridge but saw no bruins all day. No signs of elk could be seen along the ridge. The summit of Timber Mountain remains hidden from view until passing the last sub-peak. It's mostly treeless and draped with attractive meadows much like Lightning Peak. A USGS marker is embedded in one of the flat-topped rocks at the summit. The area is inviting and wide enough to spend time enjoying the views of the surrounding peaks and valleys. We had some overcast that just cloaked the summits of Copper Mountain, Mount Lincoln, and beyond, but we were happy with the aesthetics that nature provided all the same. I can relate to how Olymountainman must have felt at the notion of retracing his steps on the eastern ridge and down the steep slope. He summited in 4.5 hours. It took us closer to 6. As we ate our lunch on Timber Mountain, the meadows of Lightning Peak looked both daunting and irresistibly close. According to topo maps, the difference in elevation is only around 400', but the visual difference seems much greater. Though we couldn't tell from our vantage point, there are three significant down-and-up climbs between the two. We gauged the effort required and with the clock ticking, we chose to return by Lighting Peak. Not having done the traverse before, I was half hoping for a boot path to help streamline the trek. It was not to be. Evidence suggests this area is not visited often. The ridgeline connecting Timber to Lightning was intense, mostly because we were tired, the day was slowly fading, and the route between the two was new and untried. I think it was just before the second sub-peak when we were following a mellow, grassy portion of the ridge, and it abruptly ended in a huge rocky buttress which fell steeply off both sides. It would have been risky climbing straight up without protection. After studying the situation, we downclimbed on the south side of the ridge and rounded the corner of the buttress to find a steep but climbable chute leading to the top. The last climb to the Lightning Peak saddle was straightforward and we were soon making our way down the north-facing chute towards Copper Creek. The top of the chute still has plenty of snow but that was an advantage to us. When we hit talus halfway down, it slowed our progress to the bottom. The remainder of our hike was progressively easier. It was so nice to be on trail again. We had to stop and fill water from Copper Creek the first chance we got since there were no water sources before that and we had consumed all of our two liters. The stats given by my GPS were about 7 miles, 3750’ elevation gain, and an embarrassing 13 hours of total time.

GPS Track

Mount Lincoln in the morning

Trailside waterfall

Working our way up the ridge towards Timber Mountain

USGS Benchmark on Timber Mountain summit

Scrambling towards Lightning Peak

Down-climbing to get around a sub-peak

Look of relief as we near the end of the ridgeline scramble

Snow in the upper part of the north-facing chute off Lightning Peak

Back on the boot path heading to Copper Creek trail

Bridge just above the Copper Creek trailhead. Almost done with a long day