We started this outing at the French Cabin Creek Trailhead, elevation 4150'. Our objectives for this first leg of this trip were Thorp Mountain's South Peak (Point 5841') (aka Hard Knox) and the High Point on Kachess Ridge, Point 5525'. We'd also throw in Point 5400'+ for kicks which lies due east of Point 5525'.
We started out at 0800 with a few inches of snow blanketing the trail. We made our way up a bit and then leveled out into French Cabin Basin at roughly 4400'. We continued up the trail to the saddle between Kachess Ridge and Thorp Mountain at 4950' where we encountered FS Road 4824 coming up from Kachess Lake which we avoided driving because we were sure it was gated back down at 2600'. Anyhow, we continued north up the trail to a flat area just west of Point 5766' and then down and up a final 250' to the summit of Point 5841'. Commanding views in all directions with the cloud layer just 400 feet below us. Most noteworthy were those of Chimney Rock, Bears Breast and Summit Chief.
After several minutes we scurried back to the 4950 foot pass where a most unfortunate sight greeted us, yep you guessed it, a truck and a couple of mountain bikers were hanging out when we arrived! The gate at the bottom had been open and they snickered when we told them where we had parked. Anyhow, we headed off to the south in search of our next objective, Kachess Ridge. We headed up along the ridge crest following a trail for part of the way where three inches of snow covered the steep heather and scrub and made for painfully tedious travel at times. Along the way we had great views over to Point 5400'+ a surprisingly (for the area) spire-like rock formation jutting a few hundred feet up from the ridge just south of our position. After several more minutes of ridge walking, we located the summit cairn for and register for Point 5525' left by Fay Pullen a few weeks prior. We descended the same way we had come in, but more views of that darned Point 5400'+ required that we hoof it over there and climb to the top. We came to its base along the ridge where we went up about 20' of slick, class 4 rock before jumping out onto gentler terrain. The final 100' or so was up a bunch of loose class 3 rock. In the process of climbing this thing, Mike felt the best name for the peak was "Little Pecker Peak" and a fine name indeed although I'm not certain it will stick. We even found a register that included the names of a couple parties that had been to the top earlier in the year. We dropped off the mountain and managed to avoid having to downclimb the short class 4 section by working some easier rock just downslope. Back on our ridge we made it back to the pass and were back at the truck at 1230.
Without hesitation we piled into my truck and motored back down the snowy road and then west along I-90 to Exit 62 in search of Point 5140' also known as Ugly Duckling Peak. We proceeded as if heading to the Rachel Lake trailhead with a few inches of snow covering the road, but made a right onto FS Road 4948 at roughly 2400'. We took this road up to 3450' where we took a left on FS Road 120. We were able to take this road up to its end at 4810' (the snow depth remained just a few inches regardless of elevation). This is a prime time spot to park the car as it's only a few hundred feet below the top of the mountain. We headed straight up the hill until cresting the ridge at 4950' (or so) and then walked SE along the top of the ridge until coming to the base of Ugly Duckling. The peak is not as easily climbed as we thought from the quad, but nevertheless it goes via a short 20' section of class 3-4 rock and then 60' of walk up on its SE side. We left a register and summit cairn after enjoying some awesome views just above the cloud tops. In 30 years there will probably be but just a few more names penciled in as few people in their right mind would desire to climb such a hill.
We left a register and summit cairn after enjoying some awesome views just above the cloud tops. In 30 years there will probably be but just a few more names penciled in as few people in their right mind would desire to climb such a hill.
Randy, I was just up on Ugly Duckling this past weekend (11 JUN 2022), and unfortunately didn't locate a register or cairn, 20 years later. Admittedly, I guess I didn't look too hard, as I figured this peak probably doesn't have enough traffic to warrant one.
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