[EastKing]

CascadeCohen and I were interested in knocking off a cool hike but we did not want to be caught in the fog and the clouds of western Washington yesterday. We decided to head over to area near Mount Aix to catch a little known summit called Old Scab. Because I only have a small Ford Escort and I need to keep the car in good shape, we decided to take the long way. The other way from the south is supposed to be rough.

Our Route

We started out poorly. The Soda Springs Campground requires a $5 parking fee and the Northwest Forest Pass was not good for the payment. So we had to put in a $20. Luckily the campsite caretaker was able to give us change later that evening. Then we followed our topo map and headed up on a dead end trail so we had to bushwhack up to find the correct trail. Things were not well here early. But soon it all turned around. We got the Soda Springs trail and took it as it alternated between steeper sections and flatter spots up to just east of the base of Old Scab Mountain. From there we got lucky and found a bootpath from the base some of the way the steepest section of the rise up to ridge. We found a couple of cairns on the way up which helped us up to the northeastern ridgeline of Old Scab.

Heading up the steep slope

The summit of Old Scab Mountain

From there we went to pretty open country to final ridge traverse to the summit. The final ridge traverse looked iffy but turned out to more of a talus hop than a hand scramble and exposure was light. We took some time on the summit and enjoyed the excellent views of Aix, Rainier and many others and then just came back down the way we came.

Staring down the ridge

The summit

The summit

CascadeCohen traversing the talus

Summit Cairn and Rainier

More views

Tahoma

Goat Peak (L) and Fife Ridge (R)

Bumping Lake

EastKing

Heading down though it was hard to find the cairns down the mountain so we loosely followed the same route until we ran into that nice bootpath which lead us back to the base of the mountain. From there we just took the trail quickly down to the trailhead (no issues here) and made back so I could collect the change from the caretaker. Fun trip: 10 miles 3700 feet of elevation gain.

Last look at Old Scab

The footbridge

Old Scab Mountain sunset

[Redwic]

Way to pick off an Old Scab.

[iron]

good to see the pose coming back...

[Magellan]

[EastKing]

[Foist]

By the way, does the pose mean anything specific? Or is it just something that looks cool? We were in the Goat Rocks last weekend, and I was looking at my green trails map, and saw that the map to the north was called "Old Scab Mountain." I really got a kick out of that name. Now I know what it looks like! I gotta say, much less gross than the name indicates. Thanks!

[EastKing]

[Redwic]

Perhaps someone can get you one of these, until you return to pre-2012 form?

[EastKing]