[puzzlr]

Mile High is located at the head of the Taylor River valley above Dream Lake. It's #78 on the Home Court list but more importantly to me it's one of the many peaks that drain into the Middle Fork on at least one side (14 to go now). Gabriel organized a capable (culpable?) group including Yana, Carla and me. My warning description to invitees was "scrambling up through slabby brush, over the top of a meaningless peak, traversing a mile of talus, then fighting rocks and krumholz to the summit of a peak no one can see or has heard about. What could be more fun :-)". That turned out to be pretty accurate. It took us 11 hours RT from the Dorothy Lake trailhead with only the first 1 1/2 miles on trail and only short breaks along the way and on the summit (we wanted to get down in daylight and we did). Much of the route required real effort to stay upright and make forward progress. There was just enough snow high up to help with the long traverse and provide a way around some of the rocky sections on the ridge. Besides the Toto route (lots of brush), Mile High is also climbed from Dream Lake (lots of brush) and from Smith Creek (lots of brush). Not hard to find the common thread there. The benefits of the Toto route is great views at all stages of the the climb -- first of Dorothy Lake and Big Snow, then wide open panoramas of Cascade Mountain across the Smith Creek valley. Pictures tell the rest of the story ...

Mile High route

Very low flow at Lake Dorothy outlet. We could easily rock hop across with dry feet.

Pushing through tall but leafless brush just above the lake

A half an hour above the lake the brush started to thin out

Ascending next to the huge slabs facing Lake Dorothy

Checking our location next to the first big talus field

Big trees and talus

Yana tackles a rock problem

The first set of large rock outcrops on the ridge. On the way down we knew we could pass the lower set on the north.

Instead of continuing up the rock crest we dropped off to the north side to catch snow fields we could see 100' below

Much easier than the rocky ridge above, but still 20 minutes to the top of Toto

Dorothy Lake view

Toto summit

Continuing on the relatively flat ridge beyond Toto summit

Traversing on benches west of Pugsley Pass, north of Mile High

Cascade Mountain panorama

Where to gain the ridge? It doesn't matter too much as the farther, easier one only adds a few minutes.

Traversing below the cliffs

We got on the ridge going up steep duff through this treed break in the cliffs

View down Smith Creek. Malachite in center, Turquoise to it's right. The spire to the left is Malachite North Peak.

Proceeding up the NW ridge

Lower ridge tarn, covered in snow

Gap in the rocks

Broad ridge above upper ridge tarn, still wondering where the hard part is

Oh, here it is. The tangled tree section begins

Diverting left to use snow for a bit

Trees and rocks

Head over heels, which way is up? Yana made it through that little hole, but can i?

You shall not pass

Standing on leafy ground

Yana wisely chooses snow for the final slopes to the summit

Don't slip

Mile High summit

Mile High summit register. First ascent was by a Bulger group on 10/15/1995 (not on this register). It's climbed roughly once every other year.

Mile High summit register. Placed by Fay Pullen in 2007. Later it got wet and a hiker-that-will-not-be-named dried it out but lost the cap, hence the capless PVC tube inside a gatorade bottle. So far it's working well.

Cascade Mountain summit area

Descending Mile High ridge

Mile High

Traversing back across the talus field

Descending snow on Toto ridge above Lake Dorothy

Taking a breather while descending to Lake Dorothy

[Magellan]

Ya'll are crazy! In a good way! Congrats on a tough summit.

[mbravenboer]

That looks like lovely terrain. Great trip!

[RichP]

My favorite kind of peak; obscure, lonesome and brushy. Looking forward to a trip to Cascade Mtn with you, Monty.

[Stefan]

wonderful!!! weather is on your side!

[Jim Dockery]

Funky fun

[Backpacker Joe]

Strong work. Nice job Krazie Klimbers.

[wildernessed]

I know that you know it could be worse.You could be on a trail. You love that stuff your Rea ly in the woods.

[MLHSN]

[ofuros]

Looks like a challenging hike...my kind of adventure.

[iron]

brushtacular!

[Brucester]

The kind of inspiration I look for this time of year. Looks interesting.