[iron]

hotpantz, matt, suzy rowboat, and the good people (don and natala) and i joined forces to take a nice stroll up prairie via the NE ridge. we took the suiattle river road ~10 miles before crossing over the beautiful river on the new, not-so-beautiful bridge to FS25. don thought we'd be able to drive up FS2511 a ways, like he did some 10+ years ago, but after we passed the overgrown turnoff for it twice while on FS2510, that option was quickly altered; FS2511 is substantially overgrown with a large culvert washout less than 1/4 mile in.

spur road washout

we walked the road, which was mostly okay in terms of bushwacking, to just beyond the north fork of all creek. at this point, we headed straight up the hillside through a surprising sword ferned-covered landscape. just huge ferns everywhere! lots of tall and skinny trees too.

tall trees and giant sword ferns

big firs

tall 'n skinny

snow became consistent upon hitting FS2511 again near 2500'. from there until we hit the ridge at 3900', snow was crampon-worthy and not pleasant to kick steps into. once on the ridge, snowshoes were donned. the dark blue skies above welcomed us as the forest canopy thinned a bit and the branches of the trees were plastered down with ice and snow.

caked snow

trees yielding

we more or less traveled on the ridge or just to the climbers left. new powder began around 4300'. pt 4734' offered a great spot for a break in the sun with views in most directions.

lots of blue up above

super skinny

brief opening on the ridge

traversing beneath the ridge

do you have cingular service?

awesomeness

don g

long strides for natala g

snowline

break on pt 4734

goodpeople

trees no more

travel was straightforward and before we knew it, we were on the summit. okay, it wasn't the true summit, but just 10' below (this was my error --- i reached a saddle, looked left, looked right. left looked higher and had a steel rod sticking out of it with what looked like a orange construction vest. had to be the summit, right? well, when i got home and looked at the map, it appears to be the wrong one. the true summit was about 15 seconds away. whoops).

glimpse of blue

in the shadows

near the summit

moving so fast there's smoke behind me

meteor shower

bit of a dropoff to the right and unsure what's underneath (like trees)

YES! peak

summit, albeit false

saddle at the summit --- i think we went up to the false one

suzy rowboat

hotpantz along the summit ridge

matt, shooting

warm hands and all

don g, posing

matt, naming the peaks

natala showing us how to hold poles

a good place to lie down

suzy rowboat

views from atop were stellar offering sights of the buckindy traverse, portions of the ptarmigan traverse, and baker, shuksan, glacier, and the suiattle river valley from an angle i hadn't seen before. very cool. definitely a worthwhile winter destination from this approach if you have stable snow. we did pass by some small, open slopes. if you stay atop the ridge as best you can, these areas can likely be avoided minus the very last spot before the saddle. again, stable snow is a good thing on this northern aspect. we saw a crown of a shallow slab on the slope in the basin east of pt 5028 (i think - matt can verify).

descending from the wind tunnel

caked on

icy

back into the forest

wind-scoured slopes

moseying through tight spaces

hooray for powder!

poser

last bit of sun

curly cue

hotpantz and nature's art

missing tree

it looks like it could speak to us

glistening

5 miles 4800' on the drive home, hotpantz spotted a christmas tree ripe for the cuttin'. she score a beautiful and symmetric pacific silver fir at about 1200', which is an unusually low elevation for this species - at least according to the tree book. nothing like walking about 20 seconds to find your perfect tree.

the silver part of the pacific silver fir

with lights

and a bow and smile

and garland

[Matt]

I'm pretty sure that was the summit. I have several photos of the other summit, which look lower. Also, Topo shows a slightly higher elevation at the southern edge of the summit contour, which is where we were (and is also the location of the benchmark). So that makes summit #498 for me! I'll try to get my pics posted in a couple days. It sure was pretty with the fresh snow. Nice tree you found, especially with it almost dark already. And even nicer decorator.

[beaudaddy]

Super Sweet!!! You guys and gals are awesome!!! I've been wondering about this peak for awhile now. Thanks for taking the time to share your adventure.

[dicey]

Oh Wow!

[Eric]

Nice TR. The route you have drawn on the map goes to the 5586 summit which would be a full 92 feet lower than the true 5678 summit and would have led you right past the former. That large of a difference would have been clear to the naked eye. Also, the distance away is 3/10ths of a mile so much larger than 15 seconds of hiking, even at an Iron pace. The most likely explanation would be that you didn't go to 5586 and just went to 5678. And then what Matt says is correct in that you went to the 5678 summit and found an area on the left (S) that was highest and which had the rod which could be marking the Darrington TP buried under that snow. The area to the right that you disregarded would have just been some other high ground in the 5640+ contour and that sort of ground could have been such a short distance away.

[iron]

[Matt]

Date: 12/4/2010 Destination: Prairie Mtn 5673 (USGS Darrington) Party: Don & Natala Goodman, Suzanne Rowen, iron, hotpantz, Matt Ah, Prairie, where a 4600-foot scramble uphill offers a sweeping vista of . . . . beautiful downtown Darrington:

Darrington from Prairie

However, the views in the opposite direction were adequate:

Glacier & Whitechuck from Prairie

The summit winds were also somewhat dramatic:

Snowblown Prairie Summit

Route Don Goodman's description of the route: Approach from the Suiattle (north side). First, scratch-up vehicles on overgrown logging roads then get them stuck in the snow and then start road walking and then the nice N.N.E. ridge (over pt 4734'). Good viewpoint and a decent forecast (repeat for Nat and I). As it turned out, there was no need to scratch the cars or get them stuck on the logging road… …because there was no chance of driving up the overgrown, washed out road at all. So we hiked the road a bit, and then went straight up the mountainside, which worked surprisingly well. The route we used: Drive the Suiattle River Road to FS Road 25 and cross the river on an exceptionally ugly bridge. A half mile past the river, turn right onto FS 2510, then go another mile to junction with the very overgrown FS 2511 on the right.. Hike road 2511 till about 5 minutes past the first major (washed out) creek crossing. Then just go straight uphill, maybe a bit right, through second growth forest from an old clearcut. Circa 2400 feet we crossed the road again. Circa 2700 we left the old clearcut and entered uncut forest. Circa 4000 we reached the crest of Prairie's NNE ridge and follow it to Point 4734. Continue and continue up the ridge, traversing on its left side to avoid outcrops, right up to the summit.

Up through the Forest Like Mike said, travel in the old clearcut was surprisingly easy. The ground was covered with sword ferns, but underneath was mostly soft duff. From 2000 to 4000 feet, snow was icy under the trees. Above 4000 feet, the trees were coated with fresher snow, and loose powder made trailbreaking very difficult till we reached Point 4734.

Overgrown Road 2511

Trees bowing over a clearing

Hotpantz & Suzanne breaking trail upward

Point 4734 From Point 4734, each of the major surrounding peaks stood out behind a frame of tree-tops. In the clear cold air, even farther peaks like Baker looked like they were right next door.

Diamond snow & view east to Chaval

Whitechuck

Baker

Glacier

Prairie Summit

Upward We dropped about 80 feet, then followed the edges of the woods up toward the summit. Open glades were bounded by stands of smaller trees plastered in snow like fairy tale confections.

A school of fairy children trees

Separate trails kicked by Mike & Hotpantz

Looking back down our tracks & out to Glacier & Whitechuck

Approaching the Summit Nearing the top, the trees were so bright that they made the sky look deep cobalt behind them.

Trees catching a corner of sunlight on the steep side

Crossing a windblown section

A really snowy tree, so bright against the blue sky

Summit area

Windblown Star-Storms of Snowflakes With the summit backlit as we approached, the wind wreathed it in sparkling billows of snowflakes.

Snow Aurora

Closer backlit snow

Snow on the other side of the crest

Prairie Summit 5678 A fortunate stand of trees provided enough wind-shadow to remain for awhile on the narrow summit.

Mike, Hotpantz, & Suzanne

Natala & Don

Matt

The narrow track along the edge of the summnit, looking north toward Baker

Looking south: Whitechuck & wind blowing off Point 5586

Looking west: Summit tea & Darrington

Exiting the Summit On the way out, I walked a bit up onto the northern part of the summit and leaned out to look back at the snow-loaded west side of the summit.

Trees below the west side of the summit

Looking back at the summit

Descent The descent went fast and easy through the cushiony powder higher up, then a bit more slippery but still fast down the hard snow under the trees and the down the fern-covered sticks and duff.

Tracks going down

Trees saluting Whitechuck

Tracks and Glacier

Back into the taller trees

The Fairytale Forests On the edge of Point 4734, fantastical snow creatures danced in the sunlight.

Fantatical Snow Critters

Lower down, they nodded their heads in the soft shadows.

Lower fairytale trees in the soft shadows of twilight

Shadowed trees all nodding to each other

Another Kind of Magic:

Carrie & Mike

Statistics: 5 miles, 4800 gain, 8 hours Matt's PNW peak count: 498

[Scrooge]

Iron, I'd say this was another text-book example of how to write a trip report ........ except it was way more fun than a text-book. For sure, between Iron and Matt, Flow's picture poll question should be answered.

...

Iron, this looks like a candidate for the "Twin Peaks" thread, at least as good as Coyotebelle's "anthills". ..........................................................................

...

Carrie & Mike "Another kind of magic" I guess it'll be a few years, yet, before Josh can find the poetry.

[Boots]

Those snow-sculptures are pretty cool looking. Nice TR and Pics..

[Magellan]

Beautiful pictures of a worthy hike. Call me sick, but I love this picture of what used to be.

[Boots]

This one is worth another look. Those snow sculptures are so inspirational.