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meck Member
Joined: 31 Dec 2010 Posts: 920 | TRs | Pics
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meck
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Mon Jul 14, 2014 10:46 pm
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Mt Skokomish ONP/ONF 12 July 2014 (and then into the 13th)
Left the Staircase TH at 0850. A pleasant, if warm, trip up to Flapjack Lakes. The wild flowers were out in force in the meadows up to Gladys Divide. The intensity of the sun was really obvious here, the lush vegetation really upped the humidity.
beautiful green around the Madeline Creek Bridge such green! mmm but not quite ripe yet
Looking towards the Sawtooth ridge, I marveled that anyone actually climbs those jagged points.
Arrived at Gladys Divide at 1210 and got a good view of Mt Skokomish and the general route. By my understanding the best route from the south side is to head up Mt Gladys, then traverse more or less along the ridge past Mt Henderson, then up Mt. Skokomish. The trick is to stay high, thereby avoiding most of the brushy lower slopes. For some reason I got it through my head that I could stay slightly lower, while still above the pond north of the divide, avoiding the brushiest part of the valley, and still make reasonably good time. This was mistake #2.
Gladys Divide! a little bit closer
I followed what appeared to be the path of least resistance, but due to the rock “fjords” I ended up giving more elevation than I’d wanted too. Ended up crossing a couple of streams/creeks right in the middle of slide alder thickets. This was not fun. By the time I’d made it across to the base of Mt. Skokomish, two hours had passed. I still had to get through two more slide alder patches to get to more open slopes/meadows.
past the first mess of creek crossings in slide alder a brief respite following a slide alder tunnel streamlet looking back down at a brief bit of shade below the stump much closer now!
I reached the base of the upper bowl below the summit by 1615. I’d brought only ~145 oz of water and had already gone through the first 100, so I filled up about 45oz worth from the snow melt here. Wish I’d brought my water filter, but its probably not getting a whole lot cleaner than this for wild water. Felt pretty worn out already.
looking back down the meadow slope yeah for cool water!! the final slope up in the upper summit bowl
Crossed the snow patch and then proceeded up the shale shelves/staircase to the ridgeline. There’s a little exposure on the ridgeline in that you have to stay just below the edge on the west for about 15 feet before you get to a small saddle and a little 7-10 foot scramble over broken shale. The shale scramble is not bad, but none of the footing is solid and you have a cliff on the west side, and a very steep chute on the east, caution is required!
shale scramble, careful its all loose!
Arrived on the summit at ~1645, had a snack, and began taking a lot of pictures. Just about all of the major peaks in the Olys were visible! What a spectacular view!
Mt Gladys and Murdock Lakes Sawtooth Ridge from the summit (actually after I left the summit and was to the south west a bit) 5 labels zoom in on Mt Stone summit block Mt Anderson 3 labels looking north east with Mt Constance, Stone, and the Brothers in view
Left the summit at 1715. I did not particularly want to head back down the way I came up so I scouted around on the south west side of the Mt. Skokomish ridgeline (~1750). Lo and behold there was a broad, somewhat steep, scree slope heading down. My thought at this point was to skirt around the west side of Mt. Henderson, flip over the ridge into the Smith Lake Basin, make my way to the Smith Lake Way Trail, and then follow that on back to Staircase TH. I didn’t perform sufficient recon (mistake #3) and this route ended up taking a lot more time and energy than if I’d just stuck with the high-route back over to Mt. Gladys.
looking back at summit Mt Gladys and Mt Henderson scree slope down, what could be wrong, right?
Going down the scree slope was OK, but not great. Too hard for “scree-skiing” but just soft enough to allow reasonable boot purchase in the surface. Upon further review at the bottom of the slope (~1830), it became obvious that to go the direction I thought I wanted to go I’d need to drop another several hundred feet and then scramble back up…. I opted to try and gain back some of the elevation I’d just given up by climbing back up to the saddle south of Mt Henderson. This is where I truly came to appreciate mistake #1. I’d not been consuming enough water or food as I hiked in, and the lack of energy hit me really hard. Taking rest breaks every couple of minutes I eventually made my way to the ridgeline dividing the west side of Mt Henderson from the Smith Lake basin. It was ~2020. I missed another opportunity to take a high route and head over towards Murdock Lakes and then back over to Mt Gladys.
looking at Mt Hopper and the old fire burn from the west side of Mt Henderson
Dropped down the meadow slope to the small pond above Smith Lake, consulted the map, and began an attempt to traverse laterally around the east and south end of the bowl to the way trail. This didn’t really work out.
2 labels Looking down into the Smith Lake basin at the small pond
I ended up running out of energy and daylight at ~5100’ in a gravel rock patch on the north side of the ridge between Smith Lk and the Black & White Lks. It was a warm night, glad I’d brought my watch cap, winter gloves, goretex outer layer, warming layer and most importantly mosquito head net. Attempted to sleep on a small flattish spot next to a rock. Although I had a flashlight, my stomach felt terrible and the thought of stumbling down ridge to either the divide or B&W Lks sounded dangerous.
getting dark now....decisions decisions...
I must have slept at least a little bit as the six hours passed by faster than I expected. Watching the north eastern sky get brighter, was up by 0450 and moving south and east by 0500, I felt much better. Reached the ridgeline above shortly thereafter and proceeded east, south of Murdock Lks and reached Mt Gladys summit by 0540 just in time to see the sun breach the horizon. The color was spectacular! A great place to have breakfast.
good morning! good morning! looking back down on the NW end of Mt Gladys Hello Sunshine! (summit of Mt Gladys) Glacier Lillies? more beautiful wild flowers
Was back on the Gladys Divide trail by 0610, and back down to the TH by 0925. A good adventure, if somewhat longer than intended.
[EDIT] Here are a few pictures of the approximate route I took. Blue is the route to Mt Skokomish, purple the route back, green is the route I should have taken.
[I've got a bunch of zoomed in photos of the surrounding summits, will post them later]
*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
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ejain Member
Joined: 27 Apr 2009 Posts: 1497 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle, WA |
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ejain
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Mon Jul 14, 2014 11:13 pm
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meck wrote: | Glacier Lillies? |
Avalanche Lilies
You might be somewhere in this picture...
Mt Skokomish, 5:28pm July 12th
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meck Member
Joined: 31 Dec 2010 Posts: 920 | TRs | Pics
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meck
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Mon Jul 14, 2014 11:48 pm
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Hi ejain, yeah I was probably somewhere along the upper portion of the upper snowfield at that time, or possibly just to the left below the ridge making my way to the brushy edge on the left. I take it from your photo's angle you were on Mt Gladys? (or possibly somewhere on the Sawtooth ridge?)
*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
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ejain Member
Joined: 27 Apr 2009 Posts: 1497 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle, WA |
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ejain
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Mon Jul 14, 2014 11:56 pm
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meck wrote: | I take it from your photo's angle you were on Mt Gladys? |
Yes. Usually I'd check peaks for climbers with my binoculars, but it didn't occur to me that someone could possibly be over there :-)
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silence Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 4420 | TRs | Pics
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silence
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Tue Jul 15, 2014 6:54 am
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PHOTOS
FILMS
Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb. – Bob Dylan
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Phil Member
Joined: 02 Jul 2003 Posts: 2025 | TRs | Pics Location: Shoreline, WA |
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Phil
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Tue Jul 15, 2014 7:41 am
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Yikes! What an adventure. I've had that one on my list a few times (though from the Putvin side) but now.... I dunno.
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Malachai Constant Member
Joined: 13 Jan 2002 Posts: 16088 | TRs | Pics Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny |
I knew there was always a reason I did Stone instead, steep choss
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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reststep Member
Joined: 17 Dec 2001 Posts: 4757 | TRs | Pics
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reststep
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Tue Jul 15, 2014 2:19 pm
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Wow! way to go.
Great pictures and beta and thank you for the labels.
That is the first time I have heard of someone climbing Mt. Skokomish from Flapjack Lakes.
If you get back to the car within 24 hours of leaving it, it is still a day hike.
Edit: Oops I see you did not make it back quite withing 24 hours.
"The mountains are calling and I must go." - John Muir
"The mountains are calling and I must go." - John Muir
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IanB Vegetable Belayer
Joined: 21 Jul 2010 Posts: 1061 | TRs | Pics Location: gone whuljin' |
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IanB
Vegetable Belayer
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Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:43 am
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Huge fun!
Thanks for sharing!
"Forget gaining a little knowledge about a lot and strive to learn a lot about a little." - Harvey Manning
"Forget gaining a little knowledge about a lot and strive to learn a lot about a little." - Harvey Manning
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