To summarize the first part of this trip: . Having spent the last few weeks over in central WA I hadn't noticed how high the snow line is now! We drove up the road and parked in a clearing near a waterfall, thinking this was as far as we could go. After walking further up the road we saw another area that could fit a few cars right by the "trailhead". Along the way there is a boulder that fell in the road, making a tight squeeze for vehicles.
The first part was very rough and tedious passing through the clearcut. There was no snow at all and we were constantly getting our big packs with axes and snowshoes snagged on the little trees. Higher up we encountered some large blowdowns and things went horribly awry. I went left to get around the tree and ended up on a spur boot-path that took us out into a nest of downed branches and little trees before dead ending. We fought our way uphill here, getting scratched up and irritated, before finally regaining the trail. By now a group of Mountaineers had passed us and were long gone using the correct route.
A little higher we hit spotty snow and had to carefully pick our way through to avoid post holing. We made it to a nice view at the top of the clearcut and broke for lunch. Here we put on snowshoes and entered the large trees below the false summit. They weren't really needed for flotation, but the snow was fairly icy in here. After some monotonous traversing we popped out in a notch between the summits with nice views down to Index. The rest of the way was on good, if wet, snow. The rolling terrain was very pretty and views were decent.
Just before the final bit to the summit we were rewarded with a fantastic view of Index and the connecting ridge. I can see why people want to get up there - way beyond my comfort level I think. We could see many peaks off in the distance and Baker was glowing. After a short time at the summit the clouds finally descended and it rained a bit. We started our slow descent and after a long descent made it back to the car, everyone tired and very dirty from the bushwack.
Great TR. You show true humiliation by admitting the mistakes. I don't like being off route, and get passed by other people. The only thing better is standing there with your partner, a map, and arguing about where you are now and where you are going to.
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. Having spent the last few weeks over in central WA I hadn't noticed how high the snow line is now! We drove up the road and parked in a clearing near a waterfall, thinking this was as far as we could go. After walking further up the road we saw another area that could fit a few cars right by the "trailhead". Along the way there is a boulder that fell in the road, making a tight squeeze for vehicles.
The first part was very rough and tedious passing through the clearcut. There was no snow at all and we were constantly getting our big packs with axes and snowshoes snagged on the little trees. Higher up we encountered some large blowdowns and things went horribly awry. I went left to get around the tree and ended up on a spur boot-path that took us out into a nest of downed branches and little trees before dead ending. 
We fought our way uphill here, getting scratched up and irritated, before finally regaining the trail. By now a group of Mountaineers had passed us and were long gone using the correct route.
A little higher we hit spotty snow and had to carefully pick our way through to avoid post holing. We made it to a nice view at the top of the clearcut and broke for lunch. Here we put on snowshoes and entered the large trees below the false summit. They weren't really needed for flotation, but the snow was fairly icy in here. After some monotonous traversing we popped out in a notch between the summits with nice views down to Index. The rest of the way was on good, if wet, snow. The rolling terrain was very pretty and views were decent.
Just before the final bit to the summit we were rewarded with a fantastic view of Index and the connecting ridge. I can see why people want to get up there - way beyond my comfort level I think. We could see many peaks off in the distance and Baker was glowing. After a short time at the summit the clouds finally descended and it rained a bit. We started our slow descent and after a long descent made it back to the car, everyone tired and very dirty from the bushwack.
The only thing better is standing there with your partner, a map, and arguing about where you are now and where you are going to. 