[naturealbeing]

The itch to get up to White Chuck Mtn. was to great to ignore, so Wednesday was the chosen day. Unfortunately 7 miles in on FS-24 one of my tires decided to go flat. This took me 3.5 miles of hiking and a ride of 3.5 miles to get back into Darrington for help. The lesson learned here; next time I buy a car make sure the spare has the right bolt pattern.

Fast forward. I reloaded on Friday and used the same route that Mesahchie Mark and Hichen used on their trip on the 18th. The only difference was that I had absolutely beautiful weather.

I don’t know if MM or H had enough clear weather to see below while on their ascent, but I did and I’ll tell you that the travel across the upper slabs and ledges take you to within a few feet of the abyss a number of times. At one such location I decided to bypass it and climb up a gully. On my way up, a rock the size of my fist ricocheted by; that was entertaining. While high up near the ridge I heard some voices and spied two people down on the trail. I quickly down climbed another gully back to the trail and was now 50 yards from the gap. I beat the two other folks to the gap and dropped down and up to the other side and reached the summit 15 minutes before their arrival. I wasn’t in a race; I just didn’t want them below me in the event that I kicked some rocks loose.

The two people were a father (Don) and son (Micheal) team. They had come up from FS-2437 (?) and came up the slabs on the E face of the NW summit of White Chuck Mtn. and came across the saddle onto the W face.

While we were at the summit we were entertained by a kid (young goat) and Crystal. Crystal was on the N side of the gap and the kid was on the S side. I could tell by Crystals whimpering that she wanted to meet that kid, but the kid displayed a sense of caution and wanted nothing to do with her. At times they would just stare at each other while trying to read each other’s intentions.

After a well-deserved food break, along with some good conversations, and many pictures it was time to head back.

On the way out the sun was much lower in the sky and everything had that nice warm orange glow (pre alpenglow).

When I got to bottom of the main gully, I was relieved to leave all that steep exposed rock and potential rock fall behind. Now I could relax and take a leisurely pace back to my car.

Here are some Pics for your viewing enjoyment.

[Jeff R]

Thanks, for the great pictures Frenchy. What a treat to see the "kid", did you document  the sighting into the goat register?

[naturealbeing]

Hichen,

Glad you enjoyed the pics.

Micheal recorded the sighting of the kid into the register.

After being up there and seeing that exposure; it made me thankful that you guys made it up and down without any mishaps. I would not care to be up there when that rock is damp; a slip would be one hell of a human roller coaster ride down.

[schmmd]

We now believe we came from FS-2435.  However, the maps of the area seem to be highly inaccurate with regard to scale, and numerous roads marked on the map no longer exist.  From the parking spot (at the very end of the road) we found a well-defined trail that we left once we saw the first rocky peak.  We skirted below it on the ascent.

Our desent was much easier.  Once we departed from Richard, it was a flat, half-hour hike on a well-defined ridge trail.  I would definitely recommend this route over our ascent's route, as it is much less exposed and better-defined.

[Mesahchie Mark]

Nice job, NB!  It's great to "see" the views that Hichen and I missed.  I will definitely return sometime for the eye candy...

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Cheers,

Mesahchie Mark

[naturealbeing]

schmmd/Micheal,

Glad to hear you guys made it out safely and quick.

BTW, I know Don took quite a few pictures of that kid. I'd sure like to see them if its possible. Maybe you could post some. Thanks in advance.

Mesahchie Mark,

Thanks for the compliment. When you go back up there, you might consider taking off from FS-2435. From all of the reports I've read recently, they all claim a higher starting point and a well defined path. Anyways variety is the spice of LIFE.

Richard,