[Mesahchie Mark]

5/27/23 Grindstone Mountain (7533 ft el) via Chatter Creek Trail Mesahchie Mark & Huron Start: 9:15 AM End: 6:45 PM partly sunny, mild temps trail in good shape, brushy in areas, one improvised creek crossing by log

Chatter Creek early on

obvious log crossing

less obvious log crossing

patches of snow after 5k el snow fields with rock islands by 6k

Cashmere

Grindstone emerges

cascade action!

followed tracks NW to ridge then dropped down 100-200 ft to contour counterclockwise to summit snow was soft - crampons and ice ax stayed the pack group of 3 skiers preceded us

ascending snow

The masked climber

Big Jim, Big Lou, Frigid

Chiwaukum Range

Getting Close!

Summit by 2:45 PM Great views all around

'Chants

Jim & Lou again

Daniel in there somewhere

Chiwaukum again

Was blustery on top, chilled quickly Slight chance of rain/thunderstorms did not materialize

Heading back

Last pic of the day

Ascent time: 5.5 hrs Descent time: 4 hrs Great day to be in the mountains

[HitTheTrail]

Great trip! Thanks for the snow beta I currently have a love/hate relationship with the Chatter Cr trail, but I have some unfinished business up there, and one item of additional interest that I may decide to attend to. So, who knows, I may climb her frame again in the near future.

[Bootpathguy]

Any pics of Sylvester?

[Mesahchie Mark]

[neek]

Less snow than when I was there July 1 last year.

Sylvester on July 1, 2022

[hbb]

I still can't believe how quickly things are melting out this year. Any ticks?

[huron]

Yes, very fast melting. There was only a slight cover in some areas up high and our entry footprints were down to dirt in some areas on exit. No bugs, bites or bother of any sort. But my wardrobe had a good soak in Permethrin before the trip so it's hard to say if that made a difference or not. First time I've used it.

[Backpacker Joe]

Fsst, Fsst MEOW! Sylvester is a gem.

[Route Loser]

Let me get in on this: I heard there's no fish, no trail, no reason to go to Sylvester Pond.

Nice summit.

[Bootpathguy]

Yup! No reason to go!

[Tom]

Never been there but I'm told there are fish, typical of reproducing (overpopulated) lakes, stunted, not much meat on the bone but plentiful and easy to catch so you won't go hungry.

[HitTheTrail]

[Backpacker Joe]

I didnt fish, but she's a gem for swimming.

Me at Syl's inlet

Sylvester Outlet pano

[asa]

Thanks for the trip report, it was helpful for our trip yesterday (6/4). We were struck by how quickly the snow has receded in just a week. Unfortunately the few photos I took don't capture this very well, but here one's one example:

Sylvester Lake was completely melted out. A quick note on conditions for our trip: crampons were needed to traverse very hard snow on the northwest side of the ridge. We started at 6:30am following a clear cool night, so this wasn't a surprise. On our return, crampons were no longer necessary.