[ragman and rodman]

rodman and I drove over to Leavenworth… turned onto the Icicle Creek road and drove ~8.5 miles... then turned left onto FS7601 and drove ~3 miles to the Eightmile Lake trailhead (3320'). Mosquitoes chased us up the trail… over the log crossing of Pioneer Creek… past Little Eightmile Lake… and finally disappeared as we reached Eightmile Lake (4641’) after hiking 3.3 miles from the trailhead. We continued around the north side of the lake on a very good fisherman’s path… passed through a recent burn (it wasn’t there in May of 2009) near the west end of the lake… made a final creek crossing at the end of the lake before heading cross-country… staying close to Eightmile Creek for a half-mile before reaching a huge avalanche swatch (4800’) after hiking for a total of ~4.5 miles. We continued to the west end of the avalanche swatch… turned NW and headed uphill in tall timber that was loaded with down trees… however, this was a better idea than dealing with nasty slide alder that filled the swatch. Occasionally we found some rock outcroppings that provided some relief from the down trees and slide alder, but the going was slow until we found continuous snow around 5800 feet… where we let the terrain funnel us into a small basin at 6400 feet. From the basin we headed north… up the easiest looking gully… passed a waterfall on our left… and after gaining 600 feet of elevation we trended NW… reaching Eightmile’s SW ridge (7600’) near the low point between Point 7793 and the summit. Thinking the day’s work was pretty much done proved to be wishful thinking. It took us 40 minutes to gain the next 200 feet of elevation on Class 3 rock before the terrain finally eased for the last 200 feet of elevation to the summit (7996’). In hindsight we should have stayed on snow until reaching 7800 feet, avoiding the Class 3 rock entirely… and that’s what we did on our return. Views from this summit are both amazing and broad… with the in-your-face Stuart Range dominating. From the summit we used our ice axe and plunge-stepped back down to the 6400 foot basin in 35 minutes… where the decision was made to take a more direct route down to the avalanche swatch… choosing to stay in snow until ~5700 feet and then bashing our way through 700 feet of slide alder… where we were finally able to exhale, knowing that we would live to see another day… and while the slide alder was a very unpleasant experience, at least it was pointed downhill. The 4.5 mile hike from the swatch back to the car was uneventful as we barely avoided the need for using our head lamps. 13.5 miles roundtrip… gaining 4850 feet of elevation. rodman and I stand in awe of the nwhikers who have reported doing this trip in the 9 to 10 hour range… and at the next gathering of the Eightmile Club the first round of drinks are on us. To put this in perspective, while you were back at your car having refreshments, we were pumping water at 5700 feet… getting ready to enter slide alder hell and facing a 4 hour hike back to our car. While we don’t like to use the word “never” when it involves hiking, rodman and I are in agreement that we will never visit this summit again… and having done Hi-Jack Peak in 2009, I don’t have any plans of ever going beyond Eightmile Lake again. GPS route and photos of our trip to Eightmile Mountain. ..

[dave allyn]

I believe the route you guys are taking makes a lot more sense with more snow cover. I hiked eightmile last year via Little Caroline Lake and found it much more pleasant than the descent via approximately the route you took.

[Mike Collins]

[BarbE]

[wildernessed]

Good times, I loved Eightmile Mtn, we hit it just right, a clear trail, and snow where we needed it, though the full sun was intense on the snow in the basin. I remember asking Steve about the route and he said, "We just walked right up after the lake", looking at the slide alder I said, "Steve, when did you do this trip ?, He said, "The late 60's"" . Here was our not to bad of a route.

Eightmile Route 08

[wildernessed]

Ha !, your map is too funny. We had a lot more snow than you guys. The views are great. I do remember Beave laying on the snow face down trying to cool off once on the way up the basin.

[Magellan]

Did you find an ice axe in the alder? Nice trip.

[tigermn]

[ragman and rodman]

[Snowdog]