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Andy D. Member
Joined: 19 Apr 2004 Posts: 209 | TRs | Pics Location: Bow, WA |
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Andy D.
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Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:57 pm
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Justus and I linked up again for a great 4-day trip over Labor Day weekend. We decided to go east to the Chelan Sawtooths to avoid the poor weather forecast, and it turned out to be a good plan. We couldn't have asked for better weather!
Here was our itinerary:
- Friday, Aug 29: Hike into Crater Lake, climb Raven Ridge & Hoodoo Peak, camp at Crater Lake
- Saturday, Aug 30: Climb Séance Peak, Beefhide Butte, Mt. Bigelow, hike out
- Sunday, Aug 31: Climb Abernathy Peak (day trip)
- Monday, Sept 1: Climb Reynolds Peak (day trip)
Friday 8/29
Made the long drive over, hiked up to Crater Lake & set up camp. It was very windy. We scrambled up the south slope of Raven Ridge from the lake, then continued on the ridge to the west peak (Libby).
Crater Lake Crater Lake basin Justus on Raven Ridge Raven Ridge pano Libby Lake straight down summit from Libby Hoodoo from Libby Beefhide Butte & Séance Pk Bigelow from Libby
We then decided to try the ridge from Libby to Hoodoo. It was a little tricky at the start with a short overhanging move that we decided not to try with the huge drop on one side and the ferocious wind trying to blow us off. We found a way around and made our way up Hoodoo, just as it was starting to sprinkle a little bit.
Justus trying the overhang Justus & Hoodoo
We made our way back to Libby and down the basin to camp.
Saturday 8/30
Went over the ridge west of Crater Lake, descended into East Buttermilk Creek valley and over to Séance Peak.
spires on Bigelow Hoodoo & Libby Séance Pk summit pano 1 summit pano 2 Surprise Lake & Finney Peak
From Séance we tried to follow the ridge to Beefhide Butte, but it didn't look easy, so we dropped down and up to a col SE of the peak. This worked well and we followed the ridge easily to the summit.
cave on Beefhide Butte summit pano Bernice Lake & Star Peak Justus & the bottle large meadow ridge over to Hoodoo Pass & Mt Bigelow
We followed the ridge over to Hoodoo Pass & up Mt. Bigelow. Then we found a gully down to the east and traversed the ridge NE back to Crater Lake. We packed up camp and headed out.
Boiling Lake & Cheops Pk Upper Eagle Lake east face of Bigelow Justus
=summit pano
summit shot gully gully we descended Bigelow east face Crater Lake & Raven Ridge route
Sunday 8/31
We had originally planned to join Matt's group for Clark & Luahna today, but we had decided since the weather to the west wasn't looking good and we had great weather here, that we would change plans and hit Abernathy & Reynolds. We drove up to Twisp for breakfast, then up Twisp River Rd to Scatter Creek trail for Abernathy Peak. A short ways up the trail we encountered two small bear cubs which promptly scrambled up a tree and watched us.
We reached Scatter Lake and made the scramble up to the summit and met a few other folks doing the same. After lounging on the summit for a few hours enjoying the views, we headed back.
Scatter Lake & Abernathy Abernathy Lake & burn zone SEWS, NEWS, Liberty Bell, etc summit pano snowing where we were yesterday North Gardner thumbs up Silver Star Reynolds & Louise Lake
Monday 9/1
We joined wildernessed, Steve, & kyled for an assault on Reynolds Peak. See wildernessed's report here.
We had some grub in Winthrop with the rest of the tourist crowd, then made the 4 hour drive back. Thanks Justus (and the gang on Reynolds) for another great trip! I will have to head back to this area again sometime soon!
Stats (approximate): 21,000’ gain, 43 miles. Driving: 440 miles
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MLHSN What goes here?????
Joined: 09 Sep 2007 Posts: 1068 | TRs | Pics Location: Wenatchee |
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MLHSN
What goes here?????
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Thu Sep 04, 2008 3:05 pm
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thanks guys One thing I like about peakbagger's are the great photos they provide of the lakes I've been eyeballing. I'm especially enjoying the ones of Bernice and Abernathy.
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wildernessed viewbagger
Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 9275 | TRs | Pics Location: Wenatchee |
Living in the Anthropocene
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Tom_Sjolseth Born Yesterday
Joined: 30 May 2007 Posts: 2652 | TRs | Pics Location: Right here. |
Nice trip, fellers, that looks like a great way to spend 4 days.
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Justus S. Member
Joined: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 1298 | TRs | Pics Location: WA |
Crdbond, nice summary tr. Those are some great pics, and thanks for a great hiking weekend. I was working on a report but just hadn’t had time to post it up yet. Here it is.
August 29-Sept 1
Destination: Chelan Sawtooth Wilderness
Summary: Teamed up with Cdrbond007 and spent four days hiking on the east side north of Lake Chelan. Weather was very good. The first day we hiked up to Crater Lake and climbed Ravens Ridge and Hoodoo. We spent the night at Crater. Day two we hike over and did Séance, Beefhide Butte, and Bigelow. Day three we enjoyed a good breakfast in Twisp then did a day hike up Abernathy. We saw two bear cubs on the way. Abernathy had what I think were the best views of all the peaks we did. Day four we teamed up with Wildernessed and gang and climbed up Reynolds. Had a great time.
Day one:
Well before I delve into the first day perhaps a little background. This was a pretty spur of the moment trip. Sure I had planned in advance to take a few days off work to tack on a few days to the three-day weekend. The constantly changing weather forecast reeked havoc with any plans I tried to make. Finally, the only thing that seemed prudent was to head as far east as possible and pray for the best. And so it was the Chelan Sawtooth area was chosen and 007 was in for the ride.
We began the trip with the long drive over. We parked at the trailhead for Crater Creek and assembled gear. The hike up went smoothly and we arrived at the lake in a few hours. The lake was not exactly pretty compared to many of the other lakes in the area. It was actually a bit swampy looking. We found a nice campsite on the south shore. After setting up camp we set out for Ravens Ridge. We took a direct route up from the lake. We reached the summit of Corax much quicker than expected. We took in the views and took off for Libby.
Crater Lake and Corax Swampy Crater Lakes on Corax Bigelow from Corax Libby Lake and Hoodoo Libby from Corax South Fork Lakes Seance, Star, Courtney, Buttermilk Bigelow from Libby Corax from Libby Libby Hoodoo from Libby
After reaching Libby we set our sights on Hoodoo. The weather looked like it might be changing for the worst and the wind was picking up so we hurried. The ridge over to Hoodoo looked a bit dicey and we hoped it would go without having to drop to far off. Not far from the summit of Libby after a third class scramble across a short narrow section of ridge is the crux of the traverse. There is a sling around a horn above a step. I took a few tries at climbing up the step but wasn’t able to maneuver up. We then dropped about thirty feet to the west and climbed up a little gully to get around the step( maybe some fourth moves). From there on we were able to make our way along the west side without too much difficult. We had a few snow pellets fall on us while on the summit of Hoodoo. The traverse back seemed much easier than the way over. We were buffeted by some pretty good gusts of wind at times. We opted to drop off the step on the way back.
Scrambling down on the way to Hoodoo Approaching Hoodoo Rainbow from Hoodoo on Hoodoo Storm and Star Heading back Scrambling the ridge on the way back Wind blowing across Libby Lake Stormy Star
Notes: Peaks ~6hrs round trip from lake. Corax (8572) is supposed to be the true summit though marked lower than Libby (8580) look here
Day 2:
That night it got down to just about freezing. We were up fairly early the next morning and set out for Séance (Peak 8030). Our route went up to the saddle between Bigelow and Libby then dropping and traversing over toward the Buttermilk trail. Encounter some brush just before reaching the trail. Hiked the trail for maybe a few hundred feet then jumped off and began traversing toward the high pt just to the southwest of the summit. We traversed around the point and reached the ridge just above the saddle, dropped to the saddle, and headed up to the summit.
Bigelow's northern face and spires Seance Hoodoo Beefhide's ridge with Seance
From the summit of Seance we took a good look at the ridge to the summit of Beefhide. It looked steep just before the summit. We headed over traversing again around the side on the northern side of the ridge top. As we got a closer look at the upper section of the ridge we where still not sure it would go so we opted for a sure bet and dropped several hundred feet to the valley and headed up a loose slope east of the peak. After we reached the ridge we dropped packs and made the quick jaunt over to the summit. Enjoyed the little tribute reg to Norm.
on Beefhide Bigelow from Beefhide Star and Oval
We then set out for Bigelow but not before making the trip up to Pt 8010 cause it looked equal in height, just had to be sure. It was then on to the summit of Bigelow. One can’t help like the rugged ridges of Bigelow and view down to Upper Eagle Lake. The plan was to drop off Bigelow to the east and work our way back to Crater Lake avoiding a long way back. Luckily, just to the south of the summit was a small gully that took us to an 8ft step. We dropped off the step and made a scrambly traverse in the direction of the lake. Crested the ridge and dropped back to the lake. We packed up camp and hiked out. Nice thing about this trailhead is there are a few little campsite complete with picnic table. We spent the night here.
Hoodoo and Ravens Ridge Boiling Lake and Cheops Martin etc Martin etc heading up to Bigelow on Bigelow Looking toward Martin Star to Oval Upper Eagle Ravens Ridge from Bigelow Old Maid from Bigelow Cliffs Bigelow from east ridge Crater Lakes from Bigelow's east ridge
Notes: Trip time camp to camp 9.75hrs
Day 3:
We had considered joining Matt’s trip to Clark and Luahna but just didn’t feel the weather would be nice enough over there. The plan was now to make a daytrip up Abernathy and another daytrip to Reynolds. We drove to Twisp and had a fine breakfast at the café in town. Boy it was most excellent and much needed after a few days of hiking food.
After a little confusion as to how to get on the Scatter creek trail (old maps) we were on our way. We set a quick pace up the trail to Scatter Lake but stopped to take some pics of some bear cubs up a tree. We didn’t see mom.
Cubs
Turns out we passed Trailpair but weren’t sure if it was them. Here is their TR. Scatter Lake was nice. It was chilly out with the wind and all though. Took a look at the map to make sure we went for the right summit. Saw some people coming off 8160+(red) and heading for the true summit. The slopes up to Abernathy look steep but are not as bad once you are there. They are annoyingly loose thou. Andy saw a mtn goat on the way up. Arrived at the summit and enjoyed this amazing view point for several hours. Nice place. I saw the mtn goat on the way out. Some horse people came up to spend the night and cut out the only blowdown on the trail, yeah! We headed over to Reynolds Trhd.
Reynolds from trail Silverstar and peaks Stormy toward Oval on Abernathy Kangaroo Ridge Reynolds from summit Gardner Meadows Twisp pass area Gilbert Gardners heading down to the lake Abernathy center
Day 4:
As things would have it we awoke a bit later than we wanted and had just hiked up the trail a few hundred feet when I hear a car drive up. Run back down and see that it was Wildenessed, Steve and Kyled, Sweet. It was really cool to get to meet up with them. Hiked up the trail and looked for the correct place to cross the creek for the approach up the creek basin route. I had my doubts about the purposed route as it mentions brush and slide alder. Andy and I opted to hike up a bit further and cross at a different spot. Spotted some flagging on the way and as we hiked up the south fork. We came across the other guys and yelled over to them on the other side of the creek. They were on the east side, probably on route. We were on the west. We took the east side on the way down, guess it is a bit better. A back and forth game across the creel is played especially further up as one tries to find the easier route. Anyway, we didn’t see each other until in the open basin up valley. The route is supposed to go up a nice grassy looking gully. We were a bit high and didn’t want to drop. A more direct route was chosen. Boy, it is on long way up from the valley floor some three thousand feet of gain in just over a mile. The last bit there is some loose scree. Our route had us gain the summit ridge from the east side then join the normal route which comes from the south. Summit was chilly. We stayed on top for about an hour for the views.
Strange bug looking up to the summit Valley approaching the summit Guys approaching more views Gardners Looking toward Silver Star Kyled scrambling up Wild scrambling up to the top Valley below to the south McAlester and peaks Tupshin etc On top Coming off Reynolds Reynolds Reynolds from below
Notes: Trip time 9.75hrs Wildernessed’s TR here
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wildernessed viewbagger
Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 9275 | TRs | Pics Location: Wenatchee |
Nice pics Justus, glad to get together again. That's a tougher trip than you might expect.
Living in the Anthropocene
Living in the Anthropocene
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Andy D. Member
Joined: 19 Apr 2004 Posts: 209 | TRs | Pics Location: Bow, WA |
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Andy D.
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Fri Sep 05, 2008 10:48 am
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Great pictures and write-up Justus.
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Backpacker Joe Blind Hiker
Joined: 16 Dec 2001 Posts: 23956 | TRs | Pics Location: Cle Elum |
Really great report guys. Youre strong, Ill give you that. Nice pics too. Im going to get up in that area again this fall.
"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."
— Abraham Lincoln
"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."
— Abraham Lincoln
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Dayhike Mike Bad MFKer
Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 10958 | TRs | Pics Location: Going to Tukwila |
Wow! Really nice work guys...
Great pics and TR. Thanks for posting!
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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Magellan Brutally Handsome
Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 13116 | TRs | Pics Location: Inexorable descent |
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Magellan
Brutally Handsome
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Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:57 pm
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Strong work gentlemen. Thanks for the show!
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fettster Member
Joined: 29 Apr 2007 Posts: 182 | TRs | Pics Location: Hillsboro, OR |
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fettster
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Fri Sep 05, 2008 10:49 pm
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Good work. Mama Bear every make her presence known? Cute buggers there.
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Justus S. Member
Joined: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 1298 | TRs | Pics Location: WA |
Fettster, never saw mama bear. It might not have been as cool to watch them with mom there.
Hope some of you can get over there and enjoy the area and not just see it through our pics. It'll be larch season in a month!
wildernessed wrote: | Nice pics Justus, glad to get together again. |
Likewise, I think this is a record, joining you on two trips in one year.
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wildernessed viewbagger
Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 9275 | TRs | Pics Location: Wenatchee |
Living in the Anthropocene
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Justus S. Member
Joined: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 1298 | TRs | Pics Location: WA |
I don't know of this gully route you speak of. We just headed up from Crater Lake, no difficulties approaching from this side. Check out the map posted. We did not encounter any snow, but I'm sure there will be some soon.
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