[Gimpilator]

Heather, Fletcher, and Greg joined me for a trip to Mount Steel and Mount Hopper. The idea was to escape the heat, well sort of. It was a few degrees cooler in the Olympics with a high of only 85.

one of many strange leaves on the trail

one of many strange leaves on the trail

Madeliene Creek bridge

near Camp Pleasant

We hiked 12 miles from the Staircase ranger station to camp near First Divide. Along the way we encountered many strange leaves on the trail with screamer faces. When I saw photos of these leaves in another trip report I thought the author was responsible, but apparently these leaves are a common occurrence here. We discussed what might be responsible and decided it was likely feeding insects.

first view of Steel

the meadow

our route

We decided to hike up Steel the first evening and Hopper the following morning. We followed a boot path west from the last switchback before First Divide. This path took us up a bit and then down 300 feet into an open basin with some standing water. From there we could see the east face of Steel with several brushy sections, two main waterfalls, cliff bands and a number of snow patches. It appeared to be a bit of a puzzle as for the route.

brushy section with small trees

upper snow patch

open slopes

saddle

sub-summit

summit

We crossed the basin and followed the path of least resistance just left of the southernmost waterfall. We ascended steep grass and bushwhacked a bit through small trees until we could follow the snow patches to the upper slopes. Then we skirted left of a cliff band to reach the steep upper open slope. From there we ascended directly to the saddle between the two main peaks and then followed the ridge to the summit. There were actually two points on the main summit separated by about 200 yards and the northern most was slightly higher. Heather and I scrambled up the southern one just to make sure.

Skokomish

Olympus

West Peak

stoked!

Fay Pullen register

Stone

Olaf

Our group of 4 spent an hour on the summit taking in the views. West Peak and Anderson were especially impressive but Olympus was also visible as well as The Brothers, Mystery and Deception, Stone, Skokomish, Cruiser, Duckabush, Chimney, Bicentennial, Watterson, White, La Crosse, Elk Lick, and many more.

steep snow below upper cliff band

We descended to camp and the mosquitoes were bad.

big meadow

looking back at Steel

steep section

The following morning we got up and hiked along the Hopper Way trail to just below a large open meadow. The trail petered out so we cut straight up to the south ridge. and followed that to the summit. More nice views, but worse bugs than the previous day. We didn't linger on the summit because it was a long hot walk back to the car.

the summit

Stone

Heather on the summit

West Peak and Anderson

Steel

Skokomish

group summit shot

Moon Marmot

flower patch

[Fletcher]

Awesome couple days in the Olympics! The route up Steel was a lot of fun although I regretted not lugging all my gear up and bivying on the summit. I'll post some photos tomorrow.

[Ski]

in a dress, no less. awesome! go Heather! is that fancy bridge in the first shot within ONP?

[silence]

Sweet ... we've eyed Steel many times as we've passed by there and even thought about it again recently ... but probably not going to happen now. Anyhow nice to see you guys get up there! There was a TR a couple of years ago from a NWhiker who bivied on the summit. The insect is named Bruce ... but I heard he's switched to Grand Valley this year. Either those are left over from last season or he made a trip up there before the move.

[meck]

Nice Gimpilator! Spectacular views as always! I've been wanting to get up both those for a couple of years now, thank you for posting your route info too! Ski: the bridge is the replacement for the old Rapids Loops trail bridge (about a mile in).

[Fletcher]

The new suspension bridge over the Skok

lotsa big trees in the valley

first mountain views of Mt Skokomish

nearing where we camped near First Divide

Mt Steel from camp

route discussion from the meadow

brushy section with Hopper behind

steep!!! Home Sweet Home is the meadow visible in the top left of the photo

on the ridge

Greg signs the register with the Anderson Massif

Anderson Glacier

Duckabush River

I napped while Greg built his snowman

Olaf with Cruiser and Lincoln

evening light on Skokomish

off the Hopper Way Trail, trying to find the south ridge

morning light on Skokomish

Steel

steep meadows

Olympus

fire on Washington

summit party

marmot sighting on the descent

luckily there were a lot of opportunities for head dunks on the long and hot hike out to the Staircase trailhead

[silence]

[raising3hikers]

that's a great looking area and a good idea for a future trip. nice pics thanks for sharing

[Barefoot Jake]

Looks like a lovely way to spend the day in Olympic.

[Fletcher]

[Phil]

Very nice, thanks for the report

[Magellan]

Way to get off the beaten path. I love Heather hiking in that dress.

[silence]

Thx Fletche .. sounds bad, but also looks like it didn't take out all the beautiful meadows where the elk hang out. Glad you got out of the way of that log! It also sounds like you didn't get all the way to the end of the way trail? From there the hike up the ridge doesn't start out as steep. BTW .. thought you might like to see Steel earlier in the year ... this was shot on Jul 4, 2010 when it was solid snow from 3 Bear .. but also a nice time to climb.

at dawn

[reststep]

Thanks for the report and pictures to one of my favorite areas. I really liked Hopper for the great views and not being able to see any clear cuts.

[silence]

A friend just posted a photo of the Mt Hopper fire (with Steele in the background) ... bummer ..