[Matt]

Date: 5/31/08
Destination:  Devils Peak 5456 and Devils Thumb 5172 (USGS Silverton)
Party:  Matt, mtnmike, Randy, Beave.  Plus three other groups also at Devils.

Note:  Randy & Craig already posted a trip report for the Devils Peak segment of this trip, with lots of photos.  I’m posting a separate report in order to include the routes for both peaks combined.

This trip included:

• Closed and overgrown roads – Deer Creek & Coal Creek
  
• Very good snow for travel into and above a high basin – Devils Lake.
  
• Traffic jam for climbers – Devils Peak
  
• Interesting scrambling – Devils Thumb
  
• Good summit views – all around the Mountain Loop Highway area, and especially the Three Fingers Range
  
• Missed opportunity for a swim – miniature icebergs calving into Devils Lake
  

Bad weather forced Mike and I to cancel our Diobsud outing for the third week in a row.  But Randy & Craig were going to Devils Peak, so we joined up with them.  Devils Peak & Thumb are two of the last few peaks Mike hasn’t climbed on the Silverton quad.

Deer Creek Gate to Devils Lake

At the Deer Creek parking lot (1575 feet), there was a red truck that Mike believed belonged to inveterate peak-bagger Mitch Blanton.  While we were there, another group arrived, also heading for Devils.

We departed at 7:50am.  The gate was unlocked, but the road was unusable because of numerous downed trees.  We hiked the Deer Creek Road for a mile to the abandoned road along Coal Creek (1948 feet), then the Coal Creek road for 1.5 miles till it met the Devils Lake branch of the creek (2650 feet).  The road along Coal Creek was variably brushy, with a decent boot path on early parts, but more brush later.  Circa 2500 feet, it turned to solid snow cover, for easier travel.


We turned uphill and followed the left side of the creek up to the beginning of the Devils Lake basin circa 3700 feet.  The snow was in great condition and the previous party had already kicked steps, so it was easy travel.  At the basin, we had a good view of both our destinations in the distance ahead.


Devils Lake to Devils Peak

From the basin, we just angled up the snow to reach Devils Peak, which was the furthest point on the left-hand ridge.  With the sun out, it we were baking in the snow bowl on the way up.  The snow took us right up to the notch at the left-hand side of the summit block.


From there it’s a short class 4.5 climb up to the ledge, traverse left on the ledge, then go up through some trees and walk back right to the wide summit area.  I decided to check it out, found lots of good holds, and scrambled up to the top, 5456 feet, arriving about 12pm.  However, my efforts were worthless to the rest of the group, since I neglected to grab a rope first and trail it behind me.  Mike also scrambled up; Randy and Craig roped the climb up to the ledge.


We enjoyed wide views of the Mountain Loop peaks, especially the Three Fingers area.  I tried to ignore Liberty teasing me.


Summit Panoramas:


We descended by returning to the ledge, and then rappelling to the base of the face.  The ledge turned out to be a prime social gathering place.  You could also call it a traffic jam.  On the way up, we had met Mitch and Steve getting ready to rappel down.  Later, when we descended, we had to wait while the other group from the parking lot crossed the ledge.  Then before we rappelled, we had to wait for the group of two from the parking lot to pass by.  While we were rappelling, another party of three came up the snow below.


Devils Peak to Devils Thumb

By the time we finished the rappels, it was 2pm so Mike and I needed to move along to get to Devils Thumb.  First we needed to run the ridge down to col between the peaks and back up to the base of the Thumb.  The snow again made for easy travel on what otherwise would have probably been impassably steep rock slabs.  We trotted down the crest, then descended on the lefthand (northwest) side to bypass a rock outcrop, came up a little bit to the 4400-foot col, and then ascended on the righthand (southeast) side of the crest to reach the wide snow gully a few hundred feet higher.  From there we ascended snow, went left of the light-colored rock outcrop, and exited via the leftmost narrow gully to the crest.  You couldn’t do this if there was much less snow.  The exit gully was close to breaking apart at a schrund.


With rock scrambling ahead, we dropped our packs.  The last couple hundred feet was 3rd-4th class rock scrambling.  It looked thin in few places, but judicious route-finding revealed just enough flakes and outcrops to keep secure along the way.  It's a pleasure to travel with someone like Mike who's thoroughly competent at handling mountaineering challenges, whether steep snow, steep rock, or route-finding.

On the summit, we enjoyed another half hour break, while banks of clouds turned darker and more threatening, but left us mostly clear.


Summit Views:


Devils Thumb to Mountain Loop Highway

We left the summit at 4pm and retraced our route to the wide snow gully.


We angled toward the head of the basin and then trotted down slopes to Devils Lake.


I angled around the east side of Devils Lake, so I could admire the melt patterns of the snow calving into the lake.  If we had more time and I could have found a path down to the water, it would have been an invigorating setting for a first swim for the year.


From there it was just a long jog back down the snow and down the roads to our car, arriving at 7pm.

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"Matt, you are truly full of it.  But you take great --- pics, in spite of that."  Scrooge

[wildernessed]

Nice pics and scenery as usual !

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I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent_Gandhi

[Hulksmash]

 

[paultkuhn]

Nice TR Matt. I tried Devils years ago in winter. The continual spindrift made our interest wane. Good to see what it actually looks like.

[Andy Schmidt]

I love the Lake pics with the snow breaking up.  If you toyed with the perspective you could pass it off as glaciers breaking off Antartica.