[ragman and rodman]

We did this trip as a 3 day/2 night backpack... doing the 4 summits on the second day of the trip as a day hike from our campsite at Stafford Meadow. Starting from the Stafford Creek Trailhead (~3050') we carried our backpacks 5.4 miles to Stafford Meadow and set up our campsite at ~5660 feet... very close to running water and a good vantage point to start our big adventure on the next day. On the second day we loaded up the day packs and left our campsite at 8:30am... continued on Stafford Creek Trail #1359 a mile or so up to Navaho Pass (~6040')... where we headed east on the County Line Trail #1226.1 to where it junctions with an obvious path that led us up to the summit (7223') of Navaho Peak. After a short stay on the Navaho summit we continued down Navaho's SE ridge to where it junctions with the County Line Trail at 6560 feet... then took the County Line Trail down to a junction (~6040') with the Falls Creek Trail and Negro Creek Trail... where we left the trail and followed a good path up to the west summit (7303') of Three Brothers. Lunch on the west summit fueled us for the side-hilling that we found necessary to get around the south side of the middle summit... as we had to give up 500 feet of elevation to find a passage that we were comfortable with... then we worked our way over to a col (~6800') that separates the middle and east summits... where we found clear sailing along the ridge to the east summit (7169'). We left the east summit and hiked back to the col that separates it from the middle summit... where we found a slightly higher line that put us 200 feet of elevation below the middle summit on what looked like very easy Class 2 terrain leading up to the summit area... and knowing that we would never be here again, we went for it... reaching the middle summit (7232') in 15 minutes. Leaving the middle summit we were also able to find a higher line that got us around the south side of the summit at ~7000 feet... putting us 300 vertical feet below the west summit where we could have connected with the good path that originally took us up to the west summit... however, instead of returning to the west summit before heading down again, we opted to make a downward traverse and side-hill our way back to the County Line Trail... leaving 500 feet of elevation gain back up to Navaho's SE ridge... where we stayed on the County Line Trail as it traversed along the south side of Navaho Peak back to the junction with the path that leads up to the Navaho summit... where we left the trail and went cross-country down to our campsite in Stafford Meadow. A long day in the mountains... 9.3 miles roundtrip, gaining 4590 feet of elevation... with the 3 day total being 20 miles roundtrip, gaining 7420 feet of elevation. The only beta I could find on the Middle Peak of Three Brothers was a GPS track from peakbagger.com... and the track showed the party trying and failing to reach the summit from the SW side... and as we went around the Middle Peak on our way over to the East Peak we could see that the SW side of Middle Peak was very gnarly looking... however, as we returned from the East Peak, we could see much friendlier terrain on the NE side of Middle Peak... and the rest is history. Photos, Trailhead directions and downloadable GPS track of our trip to Navaho Peak and Three Brothers. A correction to this TR: All references to the middle summit of Three Brothers being 7232 feet are incorrect. 7232 is simply what I would call a sub-summit of the higher west peak (7303'). Point 7169 (aka the old lookout site) is the true middle summit. This is often referred to as the east summit... however, it is not the east summit. The real east summit is Point 6427 which is at least a mile NE of the old lookout site. See comments below by Tim Hagan and cartman for more info. ..

[John Morrow]

Fun! Gotta get to the east peak someday, thanks for the route info

[Tim Hagan]

Maybe I'm confused, but .... Peak 7303 is indeed the west summit of Three Brothers. I climbed your "middle" summit in 2003 and according to the map it is 7160 feet, not 7232. However, I think the true middle summit of Three Brothers is Peak 7169, your "east" summit and site of the former lookout. The map shows another peak (6427 feet) to the northeast, also labeled "Three Brothers", which appears to be the true east summit.

[gb]

I went up the middle summit also a couple of years ago. It was somewhat scrambly, scrubby, and convoluted to avoid the larger cliffs. When I got to that summit I could see that I would need to drop 200-300' to get to the east summit and didn't really feel it would be worth the effort, although the final approach to the East summit is along a nice and easy ridge. I think the East summit was typically done from the road that drops towards Negro Creek and an apparently old trail up the SE slope. At one time, with better access that was likely quite easy.

[ragman and rodman]

Tim... I agree with your comment as to the real middle and east summits. I fell into the trap of other reporters referring to Point 7169 as the east summit. Per my GPS, what I was calling the middle summit is 63 feet higher than the old lookout site... 7232 versus 7169.

[cartman]

Looking up Three Brothers in Lists of John confirms Tim's statement.

[Tim Hagan]

[ragman and rodman]