[cartman]

This is what we came for

A few weeks ago Nick (neek) and I were looking to do a 3-day trip somewhere, so we decided to take the North Fork Entiat River Trail and the side trail to Fern Lake and see how many of the peaks to the west we could run up. I had been in this general area twice before; by happenstance two weeks apart in early autumn 2004, an overnight to do Choral from Fern Lake, and then a 4-day trip to climb Cardinal, Pinnacle, Saska, and Emerald. Day 1: North Fork Entiat River Trail to camp at Fern Lake The Entiat River Road is paved and in excellent condition to the turnoff for the North Fork. The last four miles to our trailhead was a bit bumpy here and there, but in pretty decent shape. The trail starts off in burned terrain, and the first quarter mile or so have several blowdowns, all easily negotiated. After that, the trail is in great condition with no blowdowns the other 5.5 miles to the junction with Fern Lake. Three good running water sources until just before the junction with the Pugh Ridge Trail, then none until one shortly before the crossing of the North Fork. The junctions here are all very well signed, and the signs appear new.

Turnoff for Fern Lake

The status of the Fern Lake Trail is not as good as the way in. Numerous blowdowns lay across the trail for the first 500' vertical, all appearing old. None are particularly difficult to get over or around, but there are 20-30 of them. The one with the notch cut in it for a foothold is the last one, and the rest of the 1000'+ to the lake is clear. Skies had clouded up a bit as we gained elevation.

Clouds over North Fork Entiat River Valley

The trail enters easy rock and slabs, where I managed to lose it going up. Not a problem, I just walked the slabs until I ran into it again. There are cairns here; as we would find on the way down when we were able to stay on the trail all the way, the trail swings close to the creek gully to climber's left as it rises, though never crosses the creek. About 500' below the lake we encountered the first larches.

First larches

Light wasn't particularly good for photography, so I took only a few this day. The trail goes right to the flat open camp at Fern Lake, where there is room for 2-3 tents. All of the fish in the lake appear to have been killed, however. Possibly an algal bloom, or perhaps this is one of the lakes the FS nuked with rotenone to protect some endangered minnow or something. The night was cold but very calm, no wind at all. Day 2: A whole mess o' peaks We took our time waking up and getting going this day, with a bit of photography to take advantage of the clear skies, sun, and calm waters on Fern Lake.

Morning reflection on Fern Lake

Anthem Peak reflection

Pinnacle and larches above camp

Our first goal was Anthem Peak, the 7936' mtn just above Fern Lake. From there, the plan was to cross over into the upper valley of Anthem Creek and essentially do what Stefan did to get to Choral and Gopher. Then we'd do our own thing getting back to camp, since there are other peaks worthy of climbing if one has time and isn't a stickler about the 400' prominence "rule". Walking around the south end of Fern Lake, we immediately entered a nice larch grove.

Around the lake

The East Rib of Anthem is a very pleasant and easy scramble. Green grass and heather, white granite, and plenty of larches made for a fun and straightforward route.

Golden larches

White granite and golden trees

The larches were a mix of golden and green-gold. I estimated we were anywhere from 4 days to a week early, but there was still good color here.

Larches, not quite yet golden

Looking back

The terrain up high gets more rocky with a good look at the subpeak to the left,

Subpeak of Anthem

and enters a low angle and easy field of talus and boulders to the summit of Anthem,

Anthem's summit slope

Nick topping out on Anthem

Nick on the summit of Anthem

our first viewpoint for the day.

Cardinal

Saska and Emerald

Gopher with Pinnacle behind

Choral

Maude, Seven Fingered Jack, Fernow, Copper

Clark, Luahna and the Dakobed Traverse

Garland and Devils Smokestack

Duncan Hill

Like all the peaks here, Anthem is well situated for fine views of even larger peaks to east and west, including many of the hundred highest. After a nice break we proceeded to walk down the summit slope, then worked our way down and right to the large talus field below Anthem's South Ridge.

Downclimbing Anthem's SE slope

Traverse this

More larches down lower,

Larches below!

and 300' of not too loose rock to the top of the ridge and more views.

On Anthem's South Ridge

Duncan Hill and larches

Next was the most unpleasant terrain of the trip. To descend the west side of Anthem, one must first drop a hundred feet or so on more talus, then traverse right and down a little to avoid a dropoff. There are two ways to do this: what Nick did, to go below the slabs blocking the way to easier terrain, but with exposure, or what Stefan and I did, which was to cross the slabs.

Unavoidable slab traverse

This was momentarily problematic. I crossed high and found myself with a short step down on thin footholds with no handholds. Spent several minutes trying to solve this dilemma with no luck. Just as I was resigning myself to backing off to take a look at Nick's route, I stepped down all of two feet, got another look at the thin footholds--which was now a couple of steps across instead of steps down--and said to myself "I can do that" and proceeded to fairly comfortably and easily make the moves to the little dirt gully on the far side of the slabs. From there it was a few hundred feet of down and right on more junk rock to begin the traverse across Anthem's west flank towards the slopes leading up to Choral Pass.

Upper Anthem Creek Valley

Though it was a nice day, the lighting was challenging as clouds from the east were continually moving past the sun. To keep with the "song" theme (Anthem and Choral), I had decided that the two P300+ peaks on the east side of the valley needed names, so settled on Paean Peak for 7730 and Melody Mountain for 7909. Melody would turn out to be the last and most scenic of the peaks we'd do today.

Melody Mtn

Dropping a bit on still rocky but easy ground, we marveled at how pretty this valley was.

Moving on

Larches abound here, and though the lighting wasn't great still it was quite pleasant.

There be many larches here

Seeing a rock face ahead, we dropped down to its base,

Nick walking down

then went up and around on the right on an easy green slope to crest the face.

Now going up

Sunlit larches

View to the west:

Rampart

At the top of the face, we walked through many more larches as we made our way in the general direction of Choral Pass,

Larches on the way to Choral Pass

Larch ridge

Looking up to Choral Pass

traversing another slope on its west flank and dropping to a meadow brook.

Mossy stream

Walking along the stream

This is the only source of water in this basin. Now gaining ground in even more larches,

More larches

Larchy woods

Larches on Melody Mtn

we made our way higher on more scenic and easy terrain toward the pass.

Choral Peak

Basin below Choral

Choral Pass

The last couple of hundred feet are on an easy pumice and dirt slope,

Choral Pass

with the light still being finicky,

Shadowplay

Looking down valley

Anthem from Choral Pass

finally brightening to the first good warm sun as we took a break at Choral Pass.

Choral Pass

Choral

I was tempted to repeat Choral Peak, but since we still had a lot of ground to cover and Nick is fast, I decided to extend my break a few minutes and continue on toward Gopher while Nick climbed Choral. I'll let Nick mention what he found in the Choral Peak register. Dropping off the pass, the slope all the way down to Choral Lake is a chossfest, though one can work parts of it on little grass and dirt ribs.

Choral Lake and peaks

Choral Lake

The lake itself is actually no more than an oversized tarn, with sand to walk across where the water has receded in this dry summer. What the lake lacks in aesthetic appeal the surrounding ridges more than make up for with the larches dotting the slopes.

Larches above Choral Lake

Larch ridge

More larches above the lake

Crossing easily to the far side of the lake toward Gopher,

Gopher

I entered trees and dropped about 100' down a very verdant brook.

Stream gully below Choral Lake

As Choral Lake has no visible outlet, either the outlet begins underground from the lake, or the source is a separate aquifer. Probably the latter. Very lush and colorful here. Making certain to drop no more than 100', I traversed a couple of small ribs,

Traverse

then down a 50' green ramp around the rocky buttress to yet another talus slope.

More rocks to cross

Not quite as larchy as the other side of Choral Pass but still a good one here and there.

Big one

Traversing between 7000' and 7100', straight across to the tree in the middle of the talus, then a gentle rising traverse to the far side, it was then easy green slopes and forest where Nick caught up to me to the saddle between Gopher and Paean. We'd had a good look at Gopher from several places, and knew that pretty much any route from the South Ridge to the West Ridge would go on easy terrain. As the South Ridge was the most direct, we scrambled more or less straight up it on mostly rocky ground, class 2 all the way.

South Ridge of Gopher

On Gopher

Gopher's summit slope

The final summit slope lays back to the high point of our trip on Gopher, 8001'.

Nick on Gopher summit

The lighting had improved on our way from Choral Lake, and made some of the big boys stand out dramatically.

Maude to Copper

Bonanza

Shadows played on the summits to north and south, adding ambience to the scenery.

Pinnacle

Sunny Saska, Shady Emerald

Cardinal

And the view to our next goals to the south:

Melody, Anthem, Duncan Hill

Gopher is a bare rocky summit, and we found no register here. I was looking forward to the next peaks on the trip. As there was little if any information about them--ignored as they are for lacking a paltry few dozen feet of prominence--we were going to get to figure them out real time. Wasn't really anticipating any problems, as we'd had good looks at them on the way over and the other peaks in the area had not been difficult. We chose to pass on the South Ridge for our descent and instead run down the great pumice slope separating the South and West Ridges.

Down the pumice

The lighting continued to improve,

Choral and larches

Choral Pk and sunlit larches

Larches all lit up

The other side

as we made our way down then across to the saddle.

Nick walking down the pumice slope

Paean Peak, from the saddle with Gopher

Gopher from the saddle

Nick went on ahead while I took a short break before joining him at the summit of Paean Peak, 7730'. Terrain was a mix of krummholz and rock, all class 2.

Nick is excited to be here

Shadows from nearby peaks were beginning to encroach on the more distant ones as the afternoon eased into evening.

Shadows falling on Saska and Emerald

Cardinal

Pyramid

We had a good look at our final objective for the day,

Next!

but first needed to return to Choral Pass.

Choral Pass

The sun was really lighting up the larches on the slope below as we returned to the saddle with Gopher.

Larches below!

Back to the saddle again

Dispensing with the forest and the talus field traverses,

Larches ahead, Choral behind

we went up the same route back to Choral Lake,

The rock ramp

where I found fresh mountain lion tracks in the sand by the lake.

Cat tracks at Choral Lake

Up the junk to the pass,

All choss to Choral Pass

we then traversed high through many larches on super easy and very enjoyable terrain toward Melody Mtn.

Dual summits

Now the sunlight was lighting up the whole mountain with late afternoon rays. There was much fine scenery and terrain before, but traversing to Melody was the highlight of the trip.

This is what we came for

Passing by the first and lower summit,

Down into the basin

Dark and Light

Approaching the light

we exited the shade to warmth and luminous light.

Into the sun

Best peak of the trip

As we walked toward the higher point, an interesting and open basin came into view.

Approaching the larch plain

Lighted larches

Larch plain

This little basin reminded me strongly of basins I had seen on the Carne High Route a bit to the west three years before in larch season. As we rounded the first point,

Harmonious Melody

we then went up more easy rocky slopes with larches to the summit of Melody Mountain, 7909'.

Up we go

A look to the right

Nick on Melody summit in evening light

A toast to a fine day

The lowering sun cast its rays on the western slopes, providing some of the best lighting and scenery of the day.

Lit up to the left

Brilliant to the right

Glowing below

Lighted larches on Anthem

As the glow began on the larger peaks we took a few more photos,

Shadows on Gopher

Evening light on Pyramid

Nick on summit of Melody

before beginning the descent of the opposite ridge to the saddle above Fern Lake.

Fern Lake from the summit

The south ridge of this peak is not difficult, though the first third is choked with krummholz; enough so that I dropped off the ridge and down the west slope a hundred feet or so. Nick stuck with the ridge and said it got better soon after I left it. So I got an extra 200' of vertical to pad my stats to reach the saddle above the lake as the sun was going down.

Sunset over the Dakobeds

The 400' descent on choss to the lake was a bit messy but not hard, with dirt frequently available to plunge step, less so near the bottom which was more rocky. We did it in the near dark and had no problem with it. There was a nice trail going around the lake back to camp, mostly following very close to the lake shore. This night too was very calm with no wind, and this time the stars were all out. Day 3: Exit We woke up to another beautiful day, even more cloudless than the day before.

Morning at Fern Lake

Morning light on the descent slope

Lake larches

We shook out my single wall tent and Nick's bivy as best we could--camping close to a lake with no breeze and cool temps made my Tarptent Rainbow about as wet inside as it's ever been--and prepared to leave camp, wishing there was just one more summit to do in this brilliant sunshine. Instead we contented ourselves with some more larch photography,

Leaving camp

Looking up

Larches and crag

as we walked down the trail, this time following the cairns as the trail descended next to the creek on the right. After we hit the junction Nick turned on the afterburners to the car, while I moseyed along enjoying the warmth and sun. Upon entering the burn,

Straight ahead

I amused myself by pushing the cotton seeds off of the very tall fireweed that grows for a mile or more along here. It was wonderful watching the seeds float away in the breeze, glowing like fairy dust in the early autumn light. Farther down the trail I was taking a short break before the final stretch when some familiar faces appeared heading up to Fern Lake. It was Milda, Dave S. and Crispin on their way to do...Choral and Gopher! I'd randomly run into Dave and Crispin high on the snow slopes of Hozomeen four years earlier, and it was fun to chat with them and pummel them with route beta. The Choral register had shown very little activity there for several years after our climb in 2004, and not that much for the previous decade. Yet in the space of a month, Stefan and I had independently decided to come here--I'd tried to entice Mike C. to come here a week or so before Stefan went up--Milda's group was right on our heels, and I saw on Facebook that at least two other groups also came into the same basin below Choral shortly after. This area saw more action in a month than it's probably seen in the past five years. At the trailhead I had the lone wildlife sighting of the way out,

Greeting party

capping a great trip into the Entiats. This was a very rewarding outing. The trails were in good shape for the most part, the weather was very nice, and though the majority of the larches weren't quite prime yet the photography was still good, and especially fine late on our big day. The terrain with the exception of the descent from Anthem is easy, the routefinding uncomplicated, and there's plenty of room to roam and take lots of larch pictures. If you want to spend more time in the basin below Choral, there's a water source for camping, and that can be reached either by our route over Anthem (not recommended), by going up our descent route to Fern Lake, or by Stefan's route via the main Entiat River Trail and the Anthem Creek Trail, which has been logged out this summer. This area also happens to be in an oasis that was essentially spared by the Wolverine Fire two years ago, the only burn evident being in the first several miles from the trailhead. Nick is a great partner, and I really appreciate his patience and excellent company, even though I know he can move 4x faster than I can. Really appreciate him doing the driving and picking me up too. Nick's been a great partner on every trip we've done together, and this was his first time into this sort of rambling, larch-filled east of the crest terrain. Hopefully I've got you hooked, as there are many, many more areas with this sort of beauty where you can wander through basins, up peaks and along ridges for days in the Pasaytens, Sawtooths and Entiats. And many of them have larches... 22 miles, 8300' gain Eric J. Johnson

[Brushbuffalo]

[neek]

Aw those little larches look so green Thanks for a great trip, no way would I have thought of it on my own. Also for the detailed trip report. A few additional pics:

Grouse silhouette

Eric on Anthem (Spangled Banner Peak)

Just past the slabs

Guessing there was a bit more soil here at one point

Getting ready to descend to Choral Lake. Saska behind Gopher and "Paean"

Eric approaching Gopher's summit

Fern Lake

Early morning reflection

Reflection

Larch reflection

Looking N from Fern Lake camp

Looking N from Fern Lake camp

Here are the last two pages of the Choral register, although I saw in another thread there may be some non-sequential entries. I was amazed to find Eric's 2004 party just on the previous page.

[RichP]

Melody is a nice name for 7909.

[HitTheTrail]

Gotta love those Entiats'! Such a varied terrain. I have often wondered how many people would "discover" the North Fork area if there were not a handful of T100's up there.