[Zloi]

I did a solo climb of Bedal Peak July 9. I was surprised when I read the summit register to see how many names get added every year, so I guess the routes up must be well known. I did it from the Merry Brook Ck approach. It has various descriptions elsewhere but I would make the following observations. The trail is easy to find (as long as a marking stays in place), at 2100’ off FS 4096 (although my old Green Trails shows 4081). I counted 4 road switchbacks driving way up and 4 driving back, but for some reason most annotators claim 3. OK, I’ll buy that, if you skip one. Anyway, it’s a right-turning curve with some good pull-outs. Once on the trail, get ready for some serious uphill, except for a traverse in the lower part over to what I presume are Merry Brook Creeks (there’s more than one). The woodsy part up goes through some classic Pac NW grandeur, which is to say, a quiet old-growth forest with a high canopy and scattered brush. Here's an example of a Doug fir at a switchback.

The path is mostly easy to follow, with flagging so numerous I felt compelled to remove some of the faded, redundant pieces. It started petering out at around 4800’ which, coincidentally or not, is where snow and a large bouldery basin started. The basin turns into a prominent, broad gully that is not what you want to pursue in spite of the temptation. A line of cliffs to the left provides a backdrop for this basin. The way ahead lies in skirting around them by heading almost due east to where the cliff band drops down. Proceed through the boulder field which begins around 5000’ and in another steep couple hundred vertical feet you’ve completed an end run around the cliffs into snow or heather gullies. Keep following these uphill and voila, the summit and sub-summit shortly come into view. I would call this a worthy outing with great views (if you are blessed with clear weather, as I was), especially of the White Chuck-Sloan ridge and Monte Cristo area, as well as Glacier Peak. Finding the way in a whiteout or with snow from the TH on could be real challenging--maybe a good time to catch up on your knitting, instead. Which brings up the question, someone must have done Bedal in winter, but who and when?

[Justus S.]

Nice! We did it in fairly wintery conditions I think continuous snow started right when the trail crested the ridge. As you stated, it was interesting travel in very thick clouds on the mellow slopes over to the summit. We could barely tell where we were going, no terrain definition. Luckily it cleared a bit just before the final slopes to the summit. I think this is fairly popular in shoulder seasons when most of the trail can be followed to the ridge crest. I'd really like to go back on a clear day and get that great view of Sloan.