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puzzlr Mid Fork Rocks
Joined: 13 Feb 2007 Posts: 7216 | TRs | Pics Location: Stuck in the middle |
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puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks
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Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:40 am
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This trip happened because I grumbled in a post when I saw a Treen trip I wished I was in on. Don spotted that comment and also wanted to do Treen, so after a few PMs we were set for that and an attempt on East Garfield to boot.
Mon, July 14: Treen Peak
Don and I headed up the Green Ridge trail about 8am and arrived at the 4662' tarn 2 1/2 hours later. The trail is good, but fades away in one section where the ridge broadens, but it's not really possible to go the wrong way - just keep going up. We'd be staying near the tarn so we dropped our overnight gear and continued on to Treen. Unfortunately, that meant an 800' drop to Upper Garfield Lake, which we made up for right away by climbing to Charlie Brown Lake and then to the snow bench at the base of a snow field that crawls up the W side of Treen. I made a small mistake by turning right too soon after Upper Garfield Lake and came out 200' above Charlie Brown and we had to lose some of that too.
4662' tarn on Green Ridge. Treen Peak in background. Close up of the upper portion of Treen Peak. Route exited large snow field midway up and angled up and right to the skyline. Upper Garfield Mtn Lake from slope leading up to Treen. East Garfield in background.
Scouting from afar we could see that cliffs surrounded the snow tongue leading up Treen but couldn't tell where the best exit was - there seemed to be big blocky cliffs right at the top. But once there, it was easy to spot several places allowing an exit to the right onto heather slopes leading to the easy skyline ridge and then the summit. I had expected a little more challenge, but was very psyched to be on Treen because it's been on my list for years -- ever since I craned my neck up at it during a hike to Nordrum Lake. The biggest problem with this route is the huge amount of counter elevation, and in the heat of the afternoon it was a slow slog back up to the tarn-camp. Don had it even worse because he took a detour to Lower Garfield Lake (lakebagger! "gotta touch the water") and had even more uphill back to camp.
Top of snow tongue. Because of blocky rocks above we exited to the right (not visible) Looking down snow tongue from our exit point. Charlie Brown lake is below. Thick krumholtz on Treen's summit ridge Don Identifying peaks on Treen summit
Most of the area around the 4662' tarn was still under snow, but we found a comfortable spot for two bags near a dramatic rock tower. It looked hard to climb, but we went over to take a look and with a few quick moves (and some loose rock) we were on top. Don built a cairn on top to prove it, which is the opposite fate of the superfluous cairns we came across on the Green Ridge trail.
camp tower cairn Camp on Green Ridge near 4662' tarn
2 1/2 hours from MFK to 4662' tarn, 3400' gain
3 hours from tarn to Treen summit including break, 800' down + 1700' gain
Tue, July 15: East Garfield Mountain
After a warm night we set out for East Garfield taking hints from Mike Collin's and Randy's WTA TRs. We dropped down 400' on snow to skip the first three ridge bumps and got on the East Garfield ridge at what Carl Dreisbach calls "East Pass". The name is odd, since it's not a "pass" to anything but a steep dropoff down to the MFK river.
East Garfield from camp, 6:30 am East Pass, where we gained the ridge
The ridge from there was 80 minutes of scrabbling up steep mats of hemlock needles, fighting through stiff krumholz, some 'interesting' rock scrambling, and even a little bit of easy ridge walking!
Fighting thick vegetation on East Garfield's ridge. Nearing the final ridge. From here we unexpectedly had to drop down 100'. Scrambling up blocks on E Garfield ridge
The final rocks before the summit are dramatic, with an airy 20' traverse and some exposed moves over/around big blocks.
Near E Garfield summit Narrow ridge walk. Don thinks he's at the top, but nooooo!. Finally, the true East Garfield summit
It's an exciting summit with chasms on every side. Just try to find the East Garfield summit on this contour map!
The peak itself is split in two so the other half of East Garfield hovers to the E across a 300' foot notch. To the SW is a sheer 3500' drop to the Middle Fork River.
Panorama W from East Garfield
The main Garfield spire juts into the sky seemingly close by, but a long ways away as the climber moves (hint: not how a crow flies).
Garfield Mtn from East Garfield
We were impressed yet again with the presence of Fay Pullen's name in the register, a solo climb in May, 2007. The few other names are all familiar to nwhiker regulars.
Summit register with rare entries, mostly familiar nwhikers.net names
It took nearly as long to retrace the ridge as it did coming up. It was too late to do Floating Rock given how tired I was -- Don wanted to leave the nwhikers TSR there, and was certain he'd get chewed out if he left it on either Treen or E Garfield. But it looks like he went back and did it Thursday -- Nice work Don!
The Green Ridge trail is great coming up -- it gets into the heart of this country quickly. But going out is another story. You thought going down Mailbox was long? Oy Vey!
Looking down to Upper Garfield Lake (barely visibe) during our traverse to avoid two high spots on E Garfield's ridge. The endless Green Ridge trail More Green Ridge trail Back at the car, 7 hours after leaving camp.
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mntsun Wunderer
Joined: 08 Jul 2007 Posts: 206 | TRs | Pics Location: Squaresville |
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mntsun
Wunderer
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Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:07 am
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Great work!
Does this mean all the Treen trips for the year are over?
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wildernessed viewbagger
Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 9275 | TRs | Pics Location: Wenatchee |
Nice TR - Pics !
Living in the Anthropocene
Living in the Anthropocene
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yukon222 Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2007 Posts: 1893 | TRs | Pics
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yukon222
Member
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Fri Jul 18, 2008 9:02 am
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Very fun looking trip! And the East Peak of Garfield too! We had looked over at that briefly during our dayhike. Definitely airy. Thanks for the pictures of Don on the rock. Gives a great perspective.
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Schmidt Alti-Dude 4th class poster
Joined: 06 Jul 2007 Posts: 1361 | TRs | Pics Location: Looking for Adventure 201! |
Nice trip report, I'm glad to see you made it.
puzzlr wrote: | The name is odd, since it's not a "pass" to anything but a steep dropoff down to the MFK river. |
No kidding! Back when we didn't know any better, Babe and I once tried to climb to the pass from the Middle Fork side trying to find a route to the lakes. We had no equipment and had to give up about 2/3 of the way there.
Anything stated by me in no way reflects the attitudes or opinions of my wife
Anything stated by me in no way reflects the attitudes or opinions of my wife
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Randy Cube Rat
Joined: 18 Dec 2001 Posts: 2910 | TRs | Pics Location: Near the Siamangs |
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Randy
Cube Rat
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Fri Jul 18, 2008 4:00 pm
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Puzzlr, those are some nice pictures. They bring back some good memories of the area, thanks for the register shot.
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