There are many Red Mtns in Washington and this one is located near the end of the Money Ck Rd west of Skykomish. At 5576' it is #56 on the Home Court 100 list.
This particular Red caught my eye during a recent outing to Mt Phelps.
The hike starts at Lake Elizabeth which is ringed by a trail. We simply headed upslope in a northeasterly direction from the north side of the lake into the forest. Thick huckleberry and vine maple quickly greeted us so we opted to ascend via a creek bed to avoid the brush. A boulder field goes almost all the way to the summit from around 3500' and we jumped on this after a while in the creek.
This split rock proved to be a useful landmark on the way down
Boulders and summit area
We arrived to just below the ridge to the summit and headed right on boulders. Some of these were huge!
Nearing the ridge we headed east to the summit following the rocks
Mt Phelps dominates the view across the valley
When we arrived to some cliff bands at about 5000' we mistakenly thought we could go right, but soon found that it was impassable. We fortunately found a break in the cliffs and scrambled back up on the easy slopes below the summit. There is a dry creekbed that intersects the cliffs that we used on the way down that was much easier or you can opt for the boulders.
Don't be tempted to walk to the right of these cliffs
The top was actually farther north than visible from Lake Elizabeth and we headed up over several false summits and wound our way to the top around thick krumholtz.
The ridge out to Mt Crosby and tarns below
Finally some easy walking higher up
Last bit to summit
The views were a bit obscured by haze but pretty good all the same.
Lennox
Canoe and Bare
Lennox Mtn across the valley
Ridge toward Crosby
Wild Sky peaks
Frozen and Index
The register, a map, was soaked and impossible to read, so I placed a piece of paper in the tube after drying it out.
No register to speak of
Wire and wood bits on the summit
Our plan to hit the other Reds to the west lost wind when we found some shade for a nice summit nap.
The other Reds to the west
On the hike down we decided to descend through the brush and found the going pretty easy with gravity on our side. There was much delay due to the fat berries.
Oh ,! I remember that krumholtz plastered with snow , and some sketchy slabs with less than desirable snow coverage . Cool area not seen by very many including me when I was there
Good work
E
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