[wildernessed]

Access : SR 97 > Morning Home Rd. > FR 7305 to road end at 4500' Guidebooks : 75 Scrambles in Washington Map :GTM No. 178 Leavenworth and 210 Liberty, TOPO custom map Stats One Way : 2.5 miles, 2600' to Wedge, Roundtrip : 5 miles, 4.5 hours I had reconned the forest roads having read the crux of the trip and a big headache was locating the TH via the labyrinth of unmarked and unmapped roads in the area. I two days earlier started from the wrong road from the extreme W through hundreds of burnt and downfallen trees with brush 6-8 feet high which was unrelenting and turned around after making about 3/4 mile progress in over an hour. Back home I saw the errors I made and waypointed the freaking road route. We arrived on the 4500' parking area up FR 7305, temp was around 54 degrees and partial overcast, fall is definitely here, but what comfortable temps to be gaining elevation in. I followed the "75 Scrambles in Washngton" route and waypointed about 5 points on the trail, not knowing what to expect from my previous attempt and this is an unofficial trail. All I can say is that this "unofficial trail" was in the best condition of any trail I have been on this year with great open views mixed with pleasant forest sections with both mountain and desert views and bomber views of Nada, Lower and Upper Snow Lakes and into the Enchantments . The trail is in good condition and quite visible all the way from the parking lot to the ridge at around 6100', hang a right, scramble the once fire ravaged ridge heading NW until it intersects with the Wedge Mountain Ridge and follow the high ground (there is no trail) you will eventually hit the ridge crest and follow that W to a narrowing rocky, craggy section with large boulders which you can finesse over to the 6885' level, you will see a larger rocky knob further W and if you drop down just below the E side of the ridge you can follow several small ledges and climb up an exposed gulley to the top, with a very small blocky summit, my GPS read 6977-6990' , Hannah waited for me back at Wedges summit area. It was cool up there, probably in the high 40s - low 50s, we had lunch and headed back down, uneventful. We did see a monster Elk on the way up (in the truck) 15 points, huge rack, man was this guy tall. So a short and sweet trip not to far from home, left home at 8:30 a.m. and back by 3:00 pm. http://community.webshots.com/album/442164419nICRWC

[plain old dan]

Nice shots into the enchantments! A little more zoom and you might have seen Tazz, Hichen, and Action Betty going up Annapurna. Nice to know they had decent weather today! Thanks for the info on Wedge, I've been eyeballing this one...

[Leafguy]

Sure wish I coulda gone with you guys. But the visit with the mom-in -law was almost as much fun.

[wildernessed]

Believe me I feel your pain Leafguy , my mother in law visited for 10 days . Mania, they must have changed trips, I was suppose to go with them to MRNP, but my wifes schedule changed so I was homebound herding the kids, although I did catch a short break for this close trip, Wedge is impressive and dominant from Rt. 2 and SR 97 junction and the western-most point looks impressive from Leavenworth even though it is much lower, especially from Gustavs open deck. I think Wdges summit is actually greater than advertised or there is a higher area right next to it, at least that is what my satellite altimeter on my GPS and barometric altimeter on my wrist show, but a nice trip. The area is actually closed due to extreme fire hazard, saw one sign on the way out. The plants were so dry that the wind blowing through them made it sound like you were near a loud stream.

[ragman and rodman]

Looks like a very nice trip... I couldn't help but notice how the Dragontail Glacier in picture 31 looks like a very large waterfall...

[wildernessed]

Yeah, I really like the Little Annapurna shots, I find it odd looking at the pics, and I haven't been there yet, that someone could not avoid the glacier and fell sliding down it into the lake below unless the fall occured above the glacier and you then slid over the top of it, or if the glacier was your route. Lots of wiggle room around there it seems. I would just like to recon through there as a dayhike or overnighter then come back through for some more exploring. I also should note that the trail to the ridge if you keep heading W continues along the E side of Wedge - McClellan to where I do not know.

[Jeff R]

Great to see ya nailed it this time! Do ya think this would this be a good snowshoe trip in the winter?

[wildernessed]

H, 75 Scrambles says it is a great late winter / early spring trip, with the trail I think it would be fine and uphill also to the ridge. I think the true summit which is higher than advertised could be difficult if wet from ice /snow, but you could get to the 6885' OK. We followed the ridge, very narrow and blocky over to 6885', but there is another section that is higher to the W you drop down a gully, cross a small ledge, then go up a gully, over the ridge and circle back to a very small block summit, the trail register was there at around 6977-6990. , I figure whatever is highest must be it. the ridge has many small rocky knobs from 5k' -7k' + further W.

[Jeff R]

[wildernessed]

You won't find my name on it