[Stefan]

Huffaker (2320'P) Since I had to be back home by 2:00p.m. on Saturday, I needed to do something quick and so enlisted the efforts of Jeremy G. Huffaker was the main goal becuase it is one of the 144 peaks in this state with over 2000' of prominence. We approached Huffaker from the east on road 2505 taking notes from Paul K., and Fay P on their ascents. There was quite a bit of recently cut trees and lots of blowdown on the road from the windstorm a couple of weeks ago. At around 2600 feet we came across a major tree in the road, but still no significant snow, so I said, "Let's turn around and try the road from the south." So we went back down road 2505, and it turns out there is a gate very low on FS 25 to drive the road to the top of Huffaker--we were foiled. So we drove back up road 2505, and managed to drive around the tree with some effort and then drove until we hit too much snow. We walked the road up, past a FS boundary sign where the road turns to alder, left the road and went through pleasant second growth to a road that goes to the top (the same road that is gated at road 25) and put on snowshoes at this point. From here is was several hundred meters to the top and some views of Mt. St. Helens. Kraus Ridge (480'P) We then went up road 2506 to a gate just after the Kraus Ridge Trail. We took the remaining easy road to the end on bicycles where somebody has recently thinned out younger trees. You can drive to the end between April to November. We walked easily to the ridge and had a lovely stroll to the summit. Along the ridgeline is fantastic old growth with bushwacking on a grade of "1". This amazed me because this old growth was so close to Morton! The actual summit has been logged....but the ridgeline is nice. Peak 1800 (440'P) Parked at permanent gated road 030 off of road 2504. Took bikes to near the end and walked cross country up to the summit. Once again, we hit some nice old growth Douglas Fir along the ridgeline of this peak. Interesting to note--we came across a hoof with most of the leg and fur intact--somebody had a recent meal. We laid a small cairn of sticks on the highest point. We were done by 11:45 a.m. and I was able to get home by 2:00 p.m......