This is one steep motha... and I had to call on all of my reserves to get up and back down it in one piece. Perhaps I had an off day in the mountains... but since the rest of our group were their old chipper selves, I'm going to take that excuse and run with it.
Park at the third switchback (~2100') on FS-4096 and continue up the road a very short distance to find flagging that signals the beginning of the path that will eventually get you to a small meadow (~4800') where a lot of folks continue south up a sucker gully... however, we followed the advice of several other trip reports and continued east from the small meadow... where we found an obvious ramp (~5000') that got us above a band of cliffs and up to our first view (~5500') of the Bedal summit... where the path turns to boulders and slabs... offering many routes over to Bedal's NE ridge and a simple, follow-your-nose ascent to the summit (6554').
~7 miles roundtrip, gaining 4731 feet of elevation.
We lost the path near 2400 feet on both our ascent and descent. On the way up we wasted time by having to bushwhack around for awhile... eventually finding the path again at ~2700 feet. On the way down we were able to stay on the path for a longer period of time and only had to bushwhack for 100 feet or so before finding the path.
On the way to the summit we took a fairly high route over boulders and slabs to reach Bedal's NE ridge at ~6300 feet... going down we stayed on the NE ridge until ~6100 feet before angling NW and eventually connecting with our up-route at ~5500 feet.
Allow a full day for this trip unless you are young. Six hours to the summit... 30 minutes on top... 4.5 hours back to the car.
Photos, trailhead directions and downloadable GPS track for our trip to Bedal Peak.
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"Teanaway 70" Peaks List... a guide to hiking and scrambling in the Teanaway Area.
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"Teanaway 70" Peaks List... a guide to hiking and scrambling in the Teanaway Area.
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The rest of the group might have been old but definitely not chipper.
The relentless boulder crossings up high took their toll. This might explain, why this hike is more popular with a full snow cover in the spring.
Of course you'd miss the fun final slabs and heather leading to the summit.
Endure, and you're rewarded with spectacular views and a nice flat heather summit to rest your weary bones.
i kind of enjoyed all the boulder hopping up high. sure, it's slower than trail but it makes for a more interesting alpine adventure. what would a cascade climb be without a little boulder hopping.
I just did Bedal again, 9/18/16, and there is a considerable amount of flagging along the way. It is still necessary to be careful in the lower section of forest, but if you are, you should be able to get through this without any bushwhacking. we got through in both directions pretty easily.
a very steep hike with amazing views of Sloan.
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The relentless boulder crossings up high took their toll. This might explain, why this hike is more popular with a full snow cover in the spring.
Of course you'd miss the fun final slabs and heather leading to the summit.
Endure, and you're rewarded with spectacular views and a nice flat heather summit to rest your weary bones.
Great job, great pics! 
