[Spotly]

I've been looking forward to this trip since last summer when a several friends and I hiked the Kettle Crest South section. Snow Peak just looked like something that should be more closely admired during the winter. It has a different look than the surrounding mountains - pretty steep but not like a mountain that has "Peak" as part of its name should look - unless you look at it from just the right angle and have alot of imagination. I had snowshoed to the summit of Columbia Mountain earlier this winter and from the top, Snow Peak could be seen partially hidden behind Sherman. It looked great, all covered with snow so I decided then that I would hike to it before the snow season ended. Rob Cloward and I had made plans to go this week if we got laid off from work last week. Kind of a "to hell with it - lets go hiking" sort of thing. We both fully expected to be axed since the work had been very slow lately. Well, the icky day came (February 4th at 3:30 PM) and, unfortunately, Rob was let go along with 22% of our organization. I got lucky. Anyway, we decided to go ahead with the trip. Picked up Rob at 5:30 in Spokane and headed towards Republic to pick up the shelter permit and check on snow conditions. We ran a bit behind because of slick roads so didn't get to the trailhead till 9:15. The sky was clear and the snow was pristine. We threw on the packs and made the climb to the top of the ridge. At a little less than a mile, we veered west from trail 13 onto the Sherman Peak Loop trail. The path was packed from people travelling to Sherman Peak but the trail faded out after another mile as we rounded Sherman. The surface layer was solid but we broke through a few times. There were also several open areas that required special attention. In one large open area of 50% or so, we could see where a lower snow layer had collapsed and a slide had started. Because we goofed off and took several long breaks, it took 3.5 hours to reach the shelter. We got settled in, ate dinner, then went out to get some sunset shots of the surrounding mountains. After the sun went down, we spent some time watching the stars and satellites then called it quits for the day. We got up early Friday so we could catch the sun shining off of nearby Bald Knob. After a quick breakfast of crappy-freeze-dried-eggs-that-I'll-never-get-again, we packed up and headed back to the truck. The wind had picked up considerably and our tracks from the previous day had drifted over. At one point, the wind got so bad that it knocked Rob off his feet as we were crossing a steep slope. He didn't tumble all the way down to Highway 20 though so we just got more careful and pressed on. We made it back to the truck in just under two hours. Surprisingly, all the windows were still in place. GREAT TRIP.

[#19]

Beautiful. Looks very cold. Are they dead looking trees old snags or tamarack without their needles?

[Spotly]

The whole area was burned out back in 1988. The White Mountain fire destroyed about 20,000 acres. We did the14 mile Kettle Crest hike last summer and with a few exceptions, the trail was surrounded by burned trees. It's actually pretty cool to see the new growth coming in.

[Stefan]

I am interested. Where is this hut located, who owns the hut, how much are the permits, who do I make the reservations with, can you drive to the hut in summer?

[Spotly]

You can get a permit by contacting the Republic Ranger District. Thankfully, it can't be driven to. It's located on the Kettle Crest Trail and maintained by the FS. There are four routes that you can take to get to it. During the winter, taking trail 13 south from Sherman Pass is about 4.5 to 5 miles. The shortest and easiest winter route is 4 miles and starts at Sherman Pass on trail 13. Take the Sherman Loop trail at about the one mile mark and round the west side of Sherman. This meets back up with trail 13 after 2 miles but is easier and a bit shorter than going around the east side. During the summer, you can start at the White Mountain trailhead of trail 13 and head north for 10 miles. There's also a shorter 3.7 mile route that can only be done after the snow melts. From Republic follow highway 20 east to Hall Creek Road 99. Travel Hall Creek Road to Snow Peak Road 100. Continue 3.5 miles on road 100. Follow road 100 to trail #10 which will lead to trail 13 about a quarter mile from the the cabin.

[Stefan]

thanks!

[Alan Bauer]

Spotfly--thanks for posting your winter trip here! If you go back to last August you'll see that I hiked heavily in the Kettle Range and enjoyed Snow Peak and the cabin area. Man, was it HOT when I was hiking in last summers above average heat in that region without the shade of trees! Isn't that 1988 fire area wonderful to hike in now? Seeing such masses of lodgepole pine coming in under the tall stands of silver dead snags. The area was beautiful fall larch color last October in areas not burned as well. I'd love to snowshoe in the Kettles---thought of that a lot during my summer roamings. Barnaby Buttes and White Mountain sure were pretty too. Edds Mtn, Bald Mtn. Sigh...looking forward to June this coming spring BTW: I did the hike in to Snow Peak region the other way you mentioned, via trail #10. That hike, while only 3.5-3.7 miles one way to the Kettle Crest, provided me with the most grouse I've ever seen on a single hike as I stopped counting them after #27! Thanks again--hope we continue sharing our trips in NE Washington over the coming year.

[Spotly]

Alan, Actually, I have read your posts about this area and found them informative. I've been to several of the same areas and plan on hiking several others that you mentioned. It's neat to see at least one other person gets over this way. Personally, as much as I enjoy it here, I'm really wanting to get over to the west side to explore some of the loftier areas. I totally agree with you on the burned area. We've enjoyed exploring it for some time. We did the 14 mile South section in September and it was very hot then too. By the time we reached the east side of White Mountain all of our water was drained and as you probably noticed in the pictures, so were we. Did you climb to the summit of Bald Mountain while you were there? With all of the snow last week, it looked very appealling - I'm not very experienced with snow though so we both wussed out before getting too far up the slope. Perhaps I'll do it this summer though. Looking forward to seeing more East-Side trip reports.