[Sadie's Driver]

Little bastards found us! We were heavily armed . . . . with DEET and anything else we could slap on - - - still managed to get chewed on . . . must have been all of those flowers out there! Tish and I almost simultaneously came up with the idea of doing Garland, both of us thought of it as more of a Fall hike. But the distance and elevation gain seemed agreeable - and the chance for some decent views made this a real possibility. We just didn't plan on inviting the little bastards along! We got a bit of a late start on this little adventure . . . something about missing boots . . . . Joining the blood donor group: Tish, Darryl, Barry, the "other" Suzanne, Gus, and the Driver. It was almost 11:00 a.m. before we got rolling and it was starting to heat up. (Anything above 70 is heating up for me!) To get to the Basalt Ridge trailhead - head towards Lake Wenatchee, turn east at the fork in the road and go to the Chiwawa Rd. - about 9.5 miles and then turn right on the Chikamin Road (dirt road here) for almost 6 miles. The road is in very good condition. There isn't much parking at the trailhead, but we figured no one else would be crazy enough to be doing this trip on a potentially hot summer day - and there is no water along the way. There was one other car at the trailhead. There is a creek right at the start as you make your way up (and I do mean up) the trail through the trees.

Trailhead

Hmmm - not everyone is paying attention to the photo op!

The first 1.7 miles to the Basalt Ridge junction is pretty much continuous uphill and switchbacks. There's some blow-down along the way, but nothing that can't be crawled over, around, under . . . Fortunately for Gus, there were at least three more little creeklets with water. That probably won't be for much longer. The thimbleberries and huckleberries all look to be in good supply (happy bears). We reached the Basalt Ridge junction and the bastards already were attacking us with their annoying little zzzzzzzzzz. On we marched, (you reach another junction in less than 1/4 mile that will take you down to Rock Creek). We continued up a little bump on the ridge and in about 3/4 of mile, the views start to open up to the west and as you go around to the east side of this bump, you begin to see views to the east. Finally up on the ridge "proper" - you get some lovely views to the east and to the west.

Flower-boy

Our destination - Garland - off in the distance

Snack break - one of the best parts of the trip!

Now, just because we got up on the ridge, it doesn't mean that the "up" ended . . . Heavens no, you keep going. You give up a little gain when you drop to the backside (west side) of a little bump on the ridge and then head back up.

Heading north on the Basalt Ridge trail - lovely flowers on the western slope

Looking north in the vicinity of Phelps

Basalt Ridge Trail

Looking from Basalt Ridge over to the east-west ridge we would take to Garland (the bump to the right)

The good news, there are still patches of snow here and there, so Gus was able to stay cool and hydrated and to get in a few "gus-sades" as he flopped on the snow.

Basalt Ridge with snow patches

You pretty much just stay on the Basalt Ridge heading north until you reach about 7000'.

Heading up more of Basalt Ridge

As you crest this ridge, there is a trail sign having you continue on the Ridge (which would take you to Rampart, Devil's Smokestack and Fifth of July - which Opus, Snowdog and I did a couple of years ago in Larch season). As we reached this ridge junction, two guys were just cresting the ridge coming from the north. We discovered one was an NW Hiker - Midlife Hiker and his friend.

Mid-life Hiker and friend (on their way back from Rampart)

They had done Rampart and were heading down. He recognized Tish and the Driver. Our group's mission, however, lay ahead of us to the east - at least another mile.

Ridge walk from Basalt to Garland

We would lose a couple hundred feet and gain about 700' to reach the summit of Garland.

Looking to Garland from ridge to the west

There isn't much of a boot path - maybe occasionally - so we just picked our way to the top and found the summit!

Benchmark on gop of Garland (we DID find a summit register of sorts)

Lovely! 360 views - although quite a bit of haze. Someone said it was due to fires in Siberia! Didn't help to keep the bugs down! And, of course, being a summit, the ladybugs were plentiful.

Group shot on summit of Garland - Gus hogging the view! Gorgeous day!

Barry, Suzanne R, Tish, Darryl and Gus

Barry, Suzanne R, the Driver, Darryl & Gus

Glacier looming

Northern end of Basalt Ridge with stuff behind

Rampart to the north and west of Garland along Basalt Ridge

We hung out on the summit for about 45 minutes and then headed back. We thought we might be able to do a traverse and avoid having to go back up to the east-west ridge that intersects Basalt - but that didn't work too well due to some cliff and rock bands. So, back up we headed to the ridge . The bugs were still ferocious, but we managed to make it back down without incident. A lovely ridge walk and expansive views. Not as many Larch as there is over near Fifth of July and Larch Lakes - but likely quite decent in the Fall. Total gain: 4800' Miles: 12 Gear: Poles only (although I took spikes since we sure needed them on 7-Fingered Jack last weekend; and Tish brought her ice ax! Everyone else was much more in tune with the conditions! ) Great trip - except for the uninvited little bastards! Oh, and the wonderful One-hour traffic jam between Index and Sultan. We got back to the car a little after 6:00 p.m. - but didn't get back to Seattle until almost 9:30! Ugh. Thanks, all!

[Middle E]

In spite of the thirsty mosquitoes and the scorching (for Seattleites) 70 degree temperatures, this turned out to be a gem of a hike and a fine ridge run. The trail heading southeast from Basalt Ridge (passing below the summit of Garland) is little used and barely visible, and there was no obvious bootpath to the summit. This seems surprising, given the splendid 360 degree views to be had. There was some debris on the summit suggesting this was once a lookout site, and a miniature register was tucked almost invisibly inside a plastic film canister (with one signature from Sept. 2011). Based on previous trip reports this is a colorful hike in larch season, though the larch are not as plentiful as in other nearby locations. All in all a fine trip!

Garland in the distance

Ridge to route to Garland

Garland (center)

Pumice slope

Tish and Suzanne R and Gus

Garland

Rampart and Devils Smokestack

Glacier Pk and others

Suzanne and Tish on Garland

Lupines in bloom

[GaliWalker]