Forum Index > Trip Reports > Mt. Gibbs 8142' via Louis Lake (Sawtooth Wilderness)
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wildernessed
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wildernessed
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PostThu Aug 15, 2013 2:15 pm 
Location : W. of Twisp Access : SR 97A > Twisp River Rd. > South Creek TH just beyond South Creek CG Maps : GTM - Stehekin, USGS - Gilbert, TOPO Stats : 17 mi, 5600' r/t
Mt Gibbs - Ba 8142'
Mt Gibbs - Ba 8142'
Steve and I did Rennie Peak a few years ago and Mt. Gibbs stuck up prominently from the West bold and beautiful. I have always wanted to summit it since. Here are a few picks I took from Rennie.
Mt. Gibbs from Rennie Peak.
Mt. Gibbs from Rennie Peak.
Mt. Gibbs from Rennie Peak. After seeing this angle I knew I had to get up there.
Mt. Gibbs from Rennie Peak. After seeing this angle I knew I had to get up there.
So, the short of it is that there was a weather window Tues - Wed. we could hit so we needed something overnight and quick. We had not been up in the Sawtooths yet this year so we decided to implement the Mt. Gibbs option. In and around the East Slopes there has been smoke and some very hot weather, we were hoping to elude the smoke by going up the Twisp River Valley. We had generally clear skies, cooler temps, and a forest canopy on the South Creek trail (very good shape) which made for good hiking, the Louis Lake trail was also in good shape, but more rocks, roots, over grown, and undulating. We hit Louis Lake and saw no one and headed around the East side of the lake on a sketchy fishermen's trail through and on talus and boulders. This trip would be all about boulders and boulder hopping. At the end of the lake we stayed to the left of the waterfall / upper tarn outlet flow and kept boulder hopping to the tarn. The only visible camping sites were on the up basin side and when we got there the terrain was still in various stages of water saturation. We looked around, but decided this was the best we were going to get. On the upside bugs were scant. We started at 2-3 pm so we would get to our site with minimal time left.
Steve processing...
Steve processing...
Abernathy in the background of Louis Lake.
Abernathy in the background of Louis Lake.
Not much tent space. Very marshy ground.
Not much tent space. Very marshy ground.
The next a.m. we were up early had coffee and watched a colorful dawn but were outta there up boulders, boulders, and more boulders following the contour of the basin around to just below Mt. Gibbs summit ridge. A long the way we could smell and taste the smoke in the air and as we gained perspective coming out of Boulder Alley and the deep basin we saw smoke everywhere in all directions obscuring many of our views shakehead.gif, but we had some. We scrambled the initial summit ridge of Gibbs class 1-3 to the top which is the false summit, but still above 8k' then I followed the slim West ridge, which you can straddle in places, and have to do a very exposed down climb on to the true summit.
Coffee
Coffee
Time to be moving !
Time to be moving !
Below Mt. Gibbs
Below Mt. Gibbs
w on summit.
w on summit.
Narrow step to the right down to a very narrow ledge which avoids broken ridge with unstable blocks. After crossing ledge regain slightly higher ridge again to summit.
Narrow step to the right down to a very narrow ledge which avoids broken ridge with unstable blocks. After crossing ledge regain slightly higher ridge again to summit.
From what appears to be the summit from below a broken ridge narrow enough to straddle in places extends West to the true summit.
From what appears to be the summit from below a broken ridge narrow enough to straddle in places extends West to the true summit.
I snapped some pics, then headed back to the main summit, we had a break, I think it was only 0830 hr. then headed back. The boulder slog was tiring, but we were back at camp, packed up, headed (over more boulders) down to Louis Lake where we took a break, broke out the fishing poles and had our way playing catch and release with some rainbow trout for a little while. Steve said they were about the same size as last year 8-12".
Camels Hump
Camels Hump
Motherlode
Motherlode
Silver Star (note smoke in air)
Silver Star (note smoke in air)
Crescent Mountain with Motherlode and South Butte.
Crescent Mountain with Motherlode and South Butte.
?
?
Tupshin
Tupshin
Upper Basin.
Upper Basin.
Tupshin - Bonanza
Tupshin - Bonanza
McGregor (L) - McAlester - Bowan (R)
McGregor (L) - McAlester - Bowan (R)
?
?
Bugger Lake nearly 3000' below.
Bugger Lake nearly 3000' below.
Steve on the lower summit ridge.
Steve on the lower summit ridge.
W  descending.
W descending.
Big Kangaroo
Big Kangaroo
Rennie from upper basin.
Rennie from upper basin.
More Boulders...
More Boulders...
Boulder Alley
Boulder Alley
tents next to tarn.
tents next to tarn.
Gibbs in the distance as seen from our camp.
Gibbs in the distance as seen from our camp.
At Louis Lake looking up at Louis Peak.
At Louis Lake looking up at Louis Peak.
After awhile resting it was across the final boulder stretch and the trail with a zombie like trek back all though a break for my last GU and some electrolyte rehydration at South Creek helped some. Awesome trip as usual up.gif I told Steve I feel like were two kids out in the woods on some adventure.
Crescent - South Butte - Motherlode
Crescent - South Butte - Motherlode
Looking West towards South Pass
Looking West towards South Pass
McAlister and Gibb's summit
McAlister and Gibb's summit
Motherlode
Motherlode
Upper Twisp River Peaks Super Pano
Upper Twisp River Peaks Super Pano
Upper Basin with Rennie in foreground and Reynolds in background.
Upper Basin with Rennie in foreground and Reynolds in background.

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gb
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PostThu Aug 15, 2013 2:37 pm 
Of your unnamed peaks, ? (note smoke in the air) = Silver Star ? unsure but glacier in back left is the hint ? = Tupshin Upper basin no label = Tupshin foreground left, Bananas right rear no label = McGregor in the back and Bowan on the right ? unsure name it = Big Kangaroo (one of the better rock climbs in the area)

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cefire
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PostThu Aug 15, 2013 2:42 pm 
Awesome pictures! up.gif

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wildernessed
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PostThu Aug 15, 2013 6:40 pm 
up.gif gb thanks for the peak identifying. I should have had my phone with the peakfinder app or another map.

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b00
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PostThu Aug 15, 2013 7:05 pm 
wildernessed wrote:
Big Kangaroo
Big Kangaroo
gb wrote:
name it = Big Kangaroo (one of the better rock climbs in the area)
is that the tomahawk on the right?

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HitTheTrail
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PostThu Aug 15, 2013 7:16 pm 
Do you guys seek out those obscure peaks just to make the rest of us look bad? Good effort and pay-off for a little 24 hour overnighter. up.gif Sorry the smoke ruined your views but it did make some of the photos look surreal.

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gb
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PostThu Aug 15, 2013 7:31 pm 
I'm thinking the 4th picture with the glaciated peak in the left background is likely Goode - or Memaloose ridge anyway. If so, the glacier on Goode is just beyond a rib in the picture. The peak that shows the glacier on the left of the picture is Buckner and Goode would be there at about the right distance from Buckner. There was diffuse smoke in the air near Mt. Baker Tuesday morning, too. By afternoon the wind blew the smoke to the NE. By the way 8142 has long been on my ski list...

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wildernessed
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PostSat Aug 17, 2013 2:39 pm 
HitTheTrail wrote:
Do you guys seek out those obscure peaks just to make the rest of us look bad? Good effort and pay-off for a little 24 hour overnighter. up.gif Sorry the smoke ruined your views but it did make some of the photos look surreal.
We do look for the path less traveled ( actual or current ) when we can but this one was right on Sawtooth Ridge so it had a special standing.

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HitTheTrail
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PostSat Aug 17, 2013 6:27 pm 
wildernessed wrote:
We do look for the path less traveled ( actual or current ) when we can but this one was right on Sawtooth Ridge so it had a special standing.
Yeah right! I just did a search on Gibbs and it looks like you, Tom_S and Steph are the only ones to do a TR on it. And they say the summit is seven feet higher than the one you and El Steveo were on. Looks like you guys did the wrong summit after all. Ha ha, gotta go back and set foot on the real one.

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Treehugger5
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PostSat Aug 17, 2013 6:30 pm 
Absolutely gorgeous. Help a girl out--I can't quite make out the numbers on the larger map: Was trailhead elevation around 3300'? And gain was 5600'?

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puzzlr
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PostSun Aug 18, 2013 10:51 am 
I can see why you wanted to climb it -- a good looking mountain. Congrats on getting up to a rarely visited high point.

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wildernessed
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PostSun Aug 18, 2013 2:17 pm 
I think the TH elevation is 3100. The peak is cited at different elevations on different maps. Trust me i was on the true summit. Straddling the ridge with 3k' drop on each side is something you won't forget or do for a low spot. Looking at the peak from the East your seeing the sum of it's parts. The actual peak wasn't as pleasing to the eye when you were on it.

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HitTheTrail
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PostSun Aug 18, 2013 3:15 pm 
Ok, OK I take back everything derogatory I said. Funny how many different ways there are to bump a truly unique hike that nobody is paying attention to.

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