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Fletcher Member
Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Posts: 1870 | TRs | Pics Location: kirkland |
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Fletcher
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Sat Oct 03, 2020 9:32 pm
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I have thought for awhile that Bearcat Ridge might go nicely from Bear Creek Basin but had never seen or heard of anyone going that way. When Milda posted about her route last week, I knew I had to do it for one of this year's few larch trips. Luckily Selena and Kyle agreed to come with me and after the long drive to the trailhead, we were hiking around 9am on Friday. The skies were very hazy but the air did not seem hazardous to breathe.
fall colors on the first few miles
Eight miles of delightful trail brought us to the junction with the Pyramid Mountain Trail and into the high country. The larches were looking near peak, as I suspected. We hiked one more mile toward Saska Pass, found a nice trickle to fill up on water, and turned uphill. We were aiming for the 7700 foot saddle between Emerald and Cardinal. Getting there was trivial.
entering the larch Selena with Saska and Emerald route up to the saddle hazy
From the saddle, we traversed some hard scree and dirt skier's left to gain the mellow rib that bisects the two upper forks of Bear Creek. As stated in Milda's report, this rib is super enjoyable walking, and we ended up following it down until about 7000 ft. From there we descended some slabby terrain with a few moderately difficult scramble steps to down climb and filled up on water to bring to our planned bivy at the Emerald-Bearcat saddle.
first look at Bearcat Bearcat with saddle bivy a short down climb
Just west of the Emerald-Bearcat saddle is a flat and larchy knob overlooking Emerald Park. This is a spectacular camp spot. We all laid out in our bivy's most of the evening, just enjoying being out on such a calm and pleasant evening for October. I slept comfortably all night with my sleeping bag on top of my bivy sack. Rockfall coming off of the north face of Emerald woke us all up multiple times. We woke with the sun and set out for the summit of Bearcat Ridge.
sunrise Bearcat from near camp camp on the larchy knob Emerald Peak
The route up to the summit of Bearcat from here is surprisingly easy. Milda's beta is much more detailed, but we basically just followed class 2 (with a few short 3rd class steps) up towards the towers of Bearcat Ridge. You must initially stay 100 feet or so below the ridge crest to avoid a steep drop off.
Pinnacle Mountain the route to Bearcat PeeWee on route a short shrubby section the moon looking back down to camp looking up towards the summit this ledge leads to easy access of the summit block coming up the ledge
We kept following ledges mostly just south of the ridge crest until it was clear that we were near the summit. From there, the summit was a short and easy class 3 scramble. The skies had cleared a bit from the day before and the views were decent!
final scramble Bearcat Ridge summit Cardinal, Emerald and Saska Mirror Mountain and Pk 7738 with Bonanza, Martin and the Devore Creek peaks Clark, Buck, Glacier, Pinnacle, Fernow, Copper hazy Sawtooths Bearcat Ridge summitshot the new Bearcat register that Selena brought up
We hung out for a bit, then made our way back to camp. It took less than an hour.
a tower on Bearcat an impressive face on Bearcat Emerald-Bearcat saddle looking back
We then, more or less, retraced our steps back up to the Cardinal-Emerald saddle on pleasant terrain. Such a beautiful walk in awesome fall weather.
a very large pine tree larches and Cardinal Peak descending back into Bear Creek Basin looking back at Bearcat one larch holding onto summer one last look back
The last 9.5 miles from the saddle back to the car went quick. We all got back to the trailhead by 3:40.
back into the NF Entiat colorful
~24 miles
~6300 ft of gain
~155/200
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Gimpilator infinity/21M
Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 1684 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, WA |
It's great to see those larches and a new register.
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Bluebird suffering optional
Joined: 22 Jan 2014 Posts: 199 | TRs | Pics Location: United States |
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Bluebird
suffering optional
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Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:42 am
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This trip was both scenic and therapeutic. I suspect this will be the first of many summits with a register dedicated to Jake- if you plan to visit a summit that may not have a register or that needs a fresh one, please do the same <3
larches come into view traversing towards the bivy site looking from the bivy towards the summit cool rock tower waiting for a FA evening views of Emerald chasm reminiscent of Cathedral. Lots of cliffs and towers on the ridge fletcher on a tower sleepytime summit scramble at top kyle on the summit
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neek Member
Joined: 12 Sep 2011 Posts: 2337 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle, WA |
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neek
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Sun Oct 04, 2020 8:06 am
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Bluebird wrote: | This trip was both scenic and therapeutic. I suspect this will be the first of many summits with a register dedicated to Jake- if you plan to visit a summit that may not have a register or that needs a fresh one, please do the same <3 |
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belowfellow Transplant
Joined: 22 Feb 2009 Posts: 261 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
Looks like a great trip and too bad our paths didn't cross. I left a note for you in the Choral register, which will likely look pretty odd to the next visitor.
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Tautvydaite Milda Tautvydas
Joined: 25 Sep 2020 Posts: 8 | TRs | Pics
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It's good to read that you enjoyed the climb, and that you had a successful summit.
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ozzy The hard way
Joined: 30 Jul 2015 Posts: 476 | TRs | Pics Location: University place, wa |
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ozzy
The hard way
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Fri Oct 09, 2020 5:08 pm
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What a trip!! Yall timed that one perfectly! Thanks for the awesome beta/pics this one is definitely on my list now! Love the register, cheers Jake! Thanks for the TR!
“I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames”-Mr Mojo Risin
“I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames”-Mr Mojo Risin
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MangyMarmot Member
Joined: 06 Apr 2012 Posts: 474 | TRs | Pics
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Nice trip. Looks like you timed the fall colors perfectly.
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