[Gimpilator]

Heather and I went to check out Mount Saul and see if we could figure out the route. There's not a lot of information out there and it seems like the peak is seldom done.

12 foot wide trunk

Heather waiting for my slowness

Airplane Lake trail

We took the west bank White River trail north to the junction with the Indian Creek trail and then followed that west until we came to a small grassy junction where a boot path ascends next to a creek drainage. This is the Airplane Lake path. It's brushy and there are a lot of downed logs at the start, but after the first tenth of a mile it gets much better.

offtrail

offtrail

offtrail

Before we reached the lake, we turned uphill at the first large talus patch. A previous trip report led me to believe that the ridge north of the lake would be the best access to the peak. We bushwhacked up some steep terrain for 500 vertical feet and then traversed over to the start of the ridge. We saw numerous game trails and bear sign in this section.

Luahna

Clark

Tenpeak

Saul

We had to pass over Point 5873 and there was a tad of scrambling to get down from there. Then there was some more minor scrambling at the base of the ridge. We crossed some snow patches near the summit and there was water flowing there.

On Point 5873

Airplane Lake below

upper ridge

snow patch

summit

We scrambled up to the summit which was infested with flying ants and then on the west side of the block we found the register from 1984. The views of Dakobed Ridge were unparalleled. I took a moment to gaze over the route which traverses from Indian Head Peak and I decided that I was glad I hadn't come that way.

1984 register

Indian Head

Heather near the summit

ridge to Indian Head

summit block west side

summit

David, Jonathan, Whittier

panorama

For the descent, Heather suggested that we try a more direct line dropping to the lake from the first saddle. This proved to be more brushy and we had to weave around several cliff bands before we could get to the lake.

Airplane Lake

Airplane Lake

White River

Neither route was what I would call pleasant, but not really difficult either. There is a third option which was visible from the lake. It would ascend huge talus slopes on the east face. If you're considering this peak, take a look at the route map. Our routes are in red and the theoretical route is in blue.

route map

[Backpacker Joe]

Nice trip. Where is the trailhead and how long is the approach before you start climbing up to the lake?

[Gimpilator]

The trailhead is at the end of White River road which starts near Lake Wenatchee. If I had to guess I'd say the Airplane Lake junction is 5 or 6 miles from the parking lot, and then it's another 4000 feet to the summit. I would suggest doing it as a two day rather than in a single push.

[raising3hikers]

i'm glad you noticed the big 12' wide cedar, the low elevation forest is part of the trip to the top

[Gimpilator]

Yeah, I'm very fond of the White River valley. There's some big trees on the east side of the river too.

[Chico]

[MangyMarmot]

Cool trip. Nice photos. I've admired Saul from afar on a few trips.

[DIYSteve]

Cool place, fun to see Heather doing scrambles. The angler's trail to the lake was well marked -- too well marked -- when we did the Saul-Indian Head traverse in 2006. BTW, my offer to provide beta re the traverse via PM remains open. It's a very cool route -- can't figure why the traverse is so seldom done. Probably too late to do it now cuz you'll need water from a snow patch in Amber Creek cirque for camp.

[Anish]

What a lot of work!! Thanks for coming up with the idea. I loved the challenge and the route finding.