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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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Sun Aug 01, 2010 4:31 pm
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Short version: Ignore the story below, and find your way to the biggest gully just north of the eastern side of the lake. A raft would be your best approach from the trail that arrives at the south side of the lake.
Hurricane Peak
Apparently the word is out that the Tenas Creek road has been reopened. The seven vehicles (5 overnight) at the trailhead were about twice as many as my two previous visits combined. Needless to say, more arrived after EastKing and I started hiking.
A huge 'Thank You!' to Bryan, George, and all the other people that fixed the first portion. It was pretty brutal, but is now wide open, with just a couple of muddy sections.
The trail is beautiful. The first half has been cleared of downed trees, greatly speeding ascent. This 'boot path' is in better shape than many trails. The open meadows after the woods were ok, with not many flowers. Good path is followed all the way to the dry outlet on the south side of the lake.
Home Waterfall pano EK seal of approval Upper Tenas Creek valley Outlet of Boulder
Armed with multiple directions to various approaches, I knew we could not miss. As we circled the lake counterclockwise a cliffy section forced us up an easy gully. We exited on the left as soon as possible, arriving directly at the outlet of Pear Lake. Two more tents up there brought the days total to 7.
We looked at a very wet gully just down from the outlet of Pear. Eventually we headed uplake, and turned up the first (wet) gully we saw. We were in an upper basin full of snow, granite, and heather. We angled right up the first gully we saw, only to arrive at an even higher basin. We now angled left over the same type of terrain, battling crumholz to top the ridge. As predicted, the east side of the ridge was quite gentle.
Typical hiking My favorite Future gully of descent, talus traverse around lake
We headed north walking shelves, and ratting a couple of moats. I was happy to have left the axe and spikes at home. The spire just south of Hurricane proper has an amazing south face. We worked our way to almost due east of the peak, and started a simple scramble. It was no harder than other hiking we did that day.
Topping out two things became apparent. Treeline is going up, and the cloud level was coming down. We started enjoying everything from diffused sunshine to fog. The register showed only one party signing in since the washout in 2006. Just a minute later we heard thunder boom to the east, so we headed down.
Moody Glacier Peak Lake Kawkawak Lake Toketie Pear Lake below Boulder Peak Boulder Lake Thrilled Bacon, tomato, pepper, corn, no cheese pizza? WTH? Lousy brownies 5 points of contact Mmmmm, go down now? Thunderous pano
At the col just east of the spire we spied the standard ascent/descent route. It looked easy, and down we went. It started green, but become rockier and looser as we went. A party should stick close together to avoid raining rocks on one another.
Green to silver Looking up foggy gully Eastking - Helmet? Hell yeah! Shirt? Hell no!
As we dropped we headed north to finish the counterclockwise navigation of the lake. A few trees, gullies, and more loose rock were enjoyed. The sun came out in full force just in time for a swim! This was when my camera battery died.
The final navigation around the lake was almost completely loose. After enjoying the solid talus of the south and east shores, this was irritating. It would be easy to get hurt here. While waiting at the outlet I had to ask some fisherman to put out their fire before they left.
Another talus descent, a stumble through the meadow, and a quick walk down the trail got us out. I counted 14 cars at the trailhead, and some from the morning were missing.
8+ miles R/T, 3600' gain, 8.5 hours car to car
The low slung passenger car did not like the 6 or 7 big culvert dips on the upper section of road. Thanks to my mad driving skillz, the Mazdarati did not bottom out.
If one were to take the most direct route, not wander around aimlessly, and remember to pick up the camera before leaving the rest stop, this round trip can be done in ~7 hours. I recommend reading Mike Collins report to get the most out of this area. If I ever go back I would likely do what he did.
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Backpacker Joe Blind Hiker
Joined: 16 Dec 2001 Posts: 23956 | TRs | Pics Location: Cle Elum |
HEY, check it out. A trip report where we dont have to see the Kingster naked! Ya gotta like that.
"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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Hulksmash Cleaning up.
Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 7113 | TRs | Pics Location: Arlington |
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Hulksmash
Cleaning up.
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Sun Aug 01, 2010 4:42 pm
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"Bears couldn't care less about us....we smell bad and don't taste too good. Bugs on the other hand see us as vending machines." - WetDog
Albuterol! it's the 11th essential
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mgd Member
Joined: 27 May 2003 Posts: 3143 | TRs | Pics Location: Full Moon Saloon |
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mgd
Member
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Sun Aug 01, 2010 4:46 pm
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Tom Admin
Joined: 15 Dec 2001 Posts: 17860 | TRs | Pics
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Tom
Admin
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Sun Aug 01, 2010 4:50 pm
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Hmmm, are you saying you recommend your exit route over your entry route? Been up there a couple times and only gone in via Pear as it seems a little more sane.
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Backpacker Joe Blind Hiker
Joined: 16 Dec 2001 Posts: 23956 | TRs | Pics Location: Cle Elum |
"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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Backpacker Joe Blind Hiker
Joined: 16 Dec 2001 Posts: 23956 | TRs | Pics Location: Cle Elum |
Tom wrote: | Hmmm, are you saying you recommend your exit route over your entry route? Been up there a couple times and only gone in via Pear as it seems a little more sane. |
X2 on that one.
"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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mgd Member
Joined: 27 May 2003 Posts: 3143 | TRs | Pics Location: Full Moon Saloon |
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mgd
Member
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Sun Aug 01, 2010 4:55 pm
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The exit route for that pizza may be difficult.
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forest gnome Forest nut...
Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Posts: 3520 | TRs | Pics Location: north cascades!! |
great, hope more trash won't be left up there now that 6,000 +more people know about that area....
oops nevermind, 14 frigging cars at the trailhead? too late...
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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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Sun Aug 01, 2010 6:23 pm
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Backpacker Joe wrote: | HEY, check it out. A trip report where we dont have to see the Kingster naked! Ya gotta like that. |
You have not seen Greg's pictures yet.
Tom wrote: | Hmmm, are you saying you recommend your exit route over your entry route? Been up there a couple times and only gone in via Pear as it seems a little more sane. |
What I would like to do is raft across the lake. Since I don't have a raft I would probably do the same entry route, traversing at 5200' from below the Pear outlet, and then doing a rising traverse up the fat gully. Going up is easier than going down. It's loose for the bottom 400', but pretty solid above that. Packed full of snow it might even be fun. The whole mountain is never more than class 2+.
forest gnome wrote: | great, hope more trash won't be left up there now that 6,000 +more people know about that area....
oops nevermind, 14 frigging cars at the trailhead? too late... |
I did not check the campsites. I did find a couple of pieces of garbage near the outlet. This lake is beautiful, and it is a short distance from a road. There is not much that can be done except to ask people to respect the land, and put out their fires before leaving.
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EastKing Surfing and Hiking
Joined: 28 Mar 2007 Posts: 2082 | TRs | Pics Location: 77 miles from Seattle! |
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EastKing
Surfing and Hiking
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Sun Aug 01, 2010 6:50 pm
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Awesome trip!!!! Thanks you Magellan for inviting me to this awesome peak. Here are the pictures...
Magellan takes a dip DIving away The Lake The Gap Boulder Lake The Marmot It is running away THe gully Often imitated, never duplicate Cool EastKing Views Views Views Views View Views The last scramble Frozen Lake VIews from near scramble More views More views Pear Lake Hurricane Peak Waterfall to no creek? Waterfall Waterfall Hurricane Peak shows itself
YouTube | SummitPost
Saw the depths of despair. Now I am salvaging what time I have left on Earth.
YouTube | SummitPost
Saw the depths of despair. Now I am salvaging what time I have left on Earth.
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Zukismom Member
Joined: 19 Jul 2010 Posts: 122 | TRs | Pics
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Zukismom
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Sun Aug 01, 2010 7:21 pm
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Those "brownies" look like ground up shale mixed with dead moss! Please tell me they did not taste quite like that! HA!
(That Pizza didn't look too good either!) Time for a backpacking cooking class maybe?
j/k
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EastKing Surfing and Hiking
Joined: 28 Mar 2007 Posts: 2082 | TRs | Pics Location: 77 miles from Seattle! |
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EastKing
Surfing and Hiking
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Sun Aug 01, 2010 9:37 pm
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The brownies were very tasty. I don't know about the pizza though.
Here is my trip report on SummitPost:
Hurricane Peak Trip Report
Quote: | Been up there a couple times and only gone in via Pear as it seems a little more sane. |
I suspect if you go all the way to the gap by Boulder Benchmark that is the case. If not, the gully is only Class 2 with angles of maybe 45 degrees and actually is not to bad to go up or down. If you fall you will just land on your butt. That being said I would bring a helmet. The one pound extra in weight will help you tremendously in case of rockfall. Here is a picture of it..
THe gully
YouTube | SummitPost
Saw the depths of despair. Now I am salvaging what time I have left on Earth.
YouTube | SummitPost
Saw the depths of despair. Now I am salvaging what time I have left on Earth.
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Tom Admin
Joined: 15 Dec 2001 Posts: 17860 | TRs | Pics
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Tom
Admin
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Sun Aug 01, 2010 10:05 pm
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Magellan wrote: | I would probably do the same entry route, traversing at 5200' from below the Pear outlet, and then doing a rising traverse up the fat gully. Going up is easier than going down. It's loose for the bottom 400', but pretty solid above that. Packed full of snow it might even be fun. The whole mountain is never more than class 2+.
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Would that be a Beckey class 2? Looking at your pano from the outlet I'm not sure I'd recommend going that way.
The way I've done it is to bear SE from the outlet of Pear Lake to gain the ridge (see label). YMMV.
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NikonHiker Member
Joined: 14 Aug 2007 Posts: 628 | TRs | Pics Location: Colorado Springs, CO |
I was up there on Friday giving the area a once over and people weren't exaggerating about the garbage. One might mistake it for a dump given that in the talus below the outflow of Boulder Lake I found a pair of sneakers. Where I turned up-hill towards Boulder Mountain I found an abandoned tent body. In the boulders along Boulder Lake I found a tank top shirt. Near the north end of Pear Lake I found an empty salmon egg jar, a plastic food container, some flip flops, some zip ties and even a plate in on the bottom of Pear Lake itself!
Plus on the way down I came across a rather large group of overnighters with two dogs and nary a leash on hand. They did that thing I love which was when their critter charged me snarling and barking the one guy shouted, 'It won't bite you! It won't bite you!'
However for all my complaining it's still a great trip!
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