I left home in Redmond at 6 on Wednesday morning and after the long drive out to Winthrop, Michael and I began hiking up Wolf Creek at 11:30. It was a sunny day with summer heat.
swollen North Fork Wolf Creek
Luckily there is a bridge
paintbrush
We set a relaxed pace during our 10 mile hike in, all we needed to do was make camp that day so no rush. Which was good, because I was tired and felt like taking it slow. Only a couple very small patches of snow along the way, and numerous blowdown but none that was difficult to navigate over. As we neared Gardner Meadows we heard a deep grunting noise that we figured was a bear, but never saw it.
approaching Gardner Meadows
Michael arriving in Gardner Meadows
We pulled into the first campsite and decided to set up. We had the place all to ourselves. It was about 4pm. We had all evening to relax and wander around.
camp
Gardner Meadows has some nice campsites
looking towards Gardner
That evening we got a fire started (a rare luxury on climbing trips) and made some dinner. Around 8:30, Heather arrived to join us the next day. We sat around the fire chatting until about 10:30, then crashed. It got chillier than I thought it would that night which I thought would bode well for us and firm things up for our morning ascent.
We were up by 5:30 and hiking up the grassy slopes above the meadows by 6. The weather looked great, but we had to move quickly as thunderstorms were forecasted for the afternoon. After some discussion the night before, we decided to go for North Gardner first.
morning alpenglow on Abernathy
starting out
We easily navigated ourselves northwest of camp to the big bowl basin below Pt 8487. At the base of the bowl, we put on crampons and ascended firm snow straight up below the highest point. Eventually we transitioned to very loose scree and took that up to 8487 where we got a first look at our objectives.
the bowl
view of Abernathy across the valley
Heather leading the way
steep
scree
ridge to 8487
North Gardner
pretty awesome morning in the North Cascades
We took a food break and dropped some unneeded gear, then we set out for the ridge run to North Gardner. What a fun ridge! Not really difficult anywhere but we encountered a little bit of exposed class 3. A piece of cake really. We sat on the summit of North Gardner at 9am, 3 hours from camp.
ridge to North Gardner
scrambily section
Micheal and Heather with pt 8487
more scrambling
getting close
Heather just below the summit
Micheal arriving at summit
North Gardner register entry
Bonanza and Glacier
Gardner
view east
view west
lightning strike on register tube
We did not sit on the summit for long, as we had another peak to climb and it looked like the weather could be slowly changing. The traverse back to Pt 8487 was simple. We grabbed our gear and began descending back into the bowl.
traverse back
gear cache
Micheal and North Gardner
not yet dude!
We opted to drop down to ~7600 ft and traverse below the cliff bands, rather than traverse high on the ridge as it is supposed to be tricky and problematic with snow. Our route went great.
we traversed the scree above the snow
traverse
looking back
As soon as we rounded a corner, it looked like we could go up, so we did. We kicked steps up snow for a couple hundred feet, then climbed up a rocky rib that was fairly solid.
looking up our route to Gardner
Micheal beginning ascent of Gardner
terrain on Gardner
nearing the summit with increasing clouds
summit
lady bugs
We made the summit around noon. By this time, it was pretty obvious that the forecasted thunderstorms were beginning to take shape. We could see rain showers to the north and east.
East Gardner
North Gardner
looking south
rain over the Pasayten
summit shot
register entry
We did not hang out long. The descent to camp was the fastest in recent memory due to being able to "skri" thousands of feet down.
Heather skriing Gardner
almost back to camp
We all got back to camp and packed up for the hike out. Heather took off before Micheal and I and probably hiked out in half the time. As Micheal and I left the meadows we heard the roll of distant thunder but despite of this never got rained on during our hike out. The last couple of miles to the car resembled some death marches I have done in the past. The drive home was long but very much worth it. Great trip!
I haven't really looked closely at doing this, but that ridge traverse to North Gardner looks really cool! Looks like a great view of row upon row of peaks. Thanks to all for sharing your pics.
Sorry I'm so late! I'm still working on the video. I went to a friend's wedding yesterday. The Gardners did drain me but they were easier than I expected and my knee didn't give me much problem. Very pleasant in that meadow and surrounding views. The approach in and out just sucked though. I'll try to put something on SP as well.
Here's some of my pics
Full creek
first glimpse of Gardner Meadows
Gardening
cozy camp
Chillin' at sunset
fire circle
Alpenglow
stripey
hidden waterfalls
crack addict
North Gardner
Drinking from the streams
Gardening gloves on Gardner
Anish and Fletcher chilling on Gardner
Thunderstorms chase us out of the meadows
vertebrae and sacral bones
Garden near Wolf Creek
Thanks again Fletcher for taking me out there and Anish for joining us at the meadows. it was a good time.
I stayed in the same site this weekend. I was sitting on that bench, right where the water bottle is, when a doe that had been hanging around camp persistently approached the fire ring (no fire going). She liked one of the rocks, she licked it for about 5 minutes. Also literally ate some of the charcoal. I couldn't figure that out. She was no more than 2 feet away from me. She was tiny, might not have been waist high on me if I stood up.
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