[~*CutebutChossy69*~]

~*Argonaut szn shakeout S route*~ 2.5 weeks post op I figured it was time to give the new sinuses and septum a spin. I wasn't allowed "strenuous activity" including bending over or lifting anything more than 20lbs, or letting my HR get too elevated for the first 2 weeks. On Thursday I asked my doc if it was cool if I climbed a mountain this weekend and his response was something to the effect of, "yea probably, as long as you feel up for it you should be fine!" I had my eyes on Argonaut bc it had a little bit of everything- dead fall maze bushwhacking, steep snow, creek crossings, and scrambling! OK really tho- I had my eyes on it bc its one of the few Bulgers I have left that was easily doable (proximity to home, & stats). We decided on an overnight since it had been awhile since either of us had carried an overnight pack and we had the 5th annual cbc69 & bbqwingz trip coming up. D1: 6/24/22 After work on Friday we dropped the bbs off at a friend's house, and drove to the Beverly Turnpike TH or as it is more commonly known nowadays, the Bean Creek TH. We hiked the approach into the Ingalls creek camp right below the south route on Argonaut. It was still hot when we started hiking around 5:30p.

saw this lil buddy just off the trail

spreading phlox

We made our way up the trail to what we are deeming (but actually uncertain if it's the name) the Fourth Creek Pass, wow-ed at Argonaut, Colchuck, and Dtail and then made our way down into the valley.

at the pass

wow-ing was happening

We lost and refound the trail under snow and snow melt. Parts of the trail were a full on creek!

creek trail

tall mountain shooting stars

some kind of arnica?

There were snow patches intermittently covering the trail for about ~600' elevation. We crossed the 4th of July creek in the 2 spots as shown on the trail map. We got our feet wet on the crossings. When we finally made it to Ingalls creek we decided to just ford it instead of go left a few hundo feet for the log. We could see camp, and I preferred fording over but scooting across a log like a dog with impacted anal glands. The creek crossing was a few inches above the knee on me (I'm 5'4 for reference), the current was p strong in the middle so I can see why ppl opt for the log. Facing up stream and making small crab steps, using my pole for balance, worked fine for me though.

Alden fording Ingalls creek

When we got to camp we rejoiced that my new sinuses made it thus far! I just had the scabbing and residual yuck vaccuummed out the day before this trip so they were feeling clear and open. Breathing is great now thanks Dr. Dawson! For dinner I made tortilla soup bc I realized the tortilla I brought for tacos had gone very stale, and Alden had some chicken and rice. We were happy to be out together again! We open air bivyied without sacks, a testament to the perfect weather weekend we were having for the first time in a long time. D2: 6/25/22 In the morning we awoke around 4:45a and saw three climbers making their way down the trail presumably to Argonaut. We moseyed in the morning and made our way out at 6a. The short bit of trail you're on before turning up the slopes for Argo is sprinkled with dead fall, and is foreshadowing for what you're about to experience when you head upwards lol. My working theory is that the heavy snowfall this year did a number on the trees and knocked more of them down than usual, Alden remarked that he didn't remember having this much dead fall last time he went up Argonaut. We turned up about 100 ft after leaving the trail junction like the beta says but didn't see much of a boot path anywhere. Just lots of dead fall lol (I'd say the dead fall was worst until about 5k ft and then eased up a bit).

"I don't remember there being this much deadfall"-Alden lol

Eventually we hit the boot path and eventually we lost it and eventually we fell under the spell of the sweet siren call of slide alder and battled our way through some bits before rechecking the map. We battled our way back out of the slide alder and back into the scrubby trees. Eventually we did get back on the climbers trail and used it to traverse over to the first gully you ascend on Argonaut. There was a raging stream under the snow finger that ran most the length of the lower gully (broken up a few times for full on cascading water over rocks action). It was a warm day and we didn't want to ascend snow with that much water underfoot. So we crossed over to the climbers right of the gully and ascended using dirt and rock just off to the side of the snow. This worked well, and eventually we were forced onto the snow higher up but the snow seemed more stable here.

Making our way to the lower gully

We donned the pons and got out axes to ascend the upper part of the snow gully. It steepened as we ascended. The snow took crampons well albeit it was on the softer side, but not quite soft enough just yet to ascend with trail runners only (it was before noon still). There were a few interesting thin and smooshy sections with holes and rocks under foot, but we eyed the best path and made it fine going up.

Have you ever seen a match more perfect than La Sportiva Jackals & BD Contact Crampons??? Me neither

Goin up the snow in the upper part of the gully, Alden trails behind not bc I'm faster, but bc he forgot his phone down lower and had to go back for it

Tahoma and I

Tahoma gets it's own shot ofc

At the top around ~8k ish ft we found a way to transfer to rock on climbers right of the snow, one could probs go up to 8200' on steep snow but we both love scrambling and thought it looked easier.

where we crossed the lower gully to ascend dirt/rock on climber's R

In our happy places- scramblin' n ramblin'

We scrambled to just below the 4th class move the beta talks about and we ran into a party of 3 rappelling the move. We scrambled up to the move, Alden did the move, I eyed it, went out a step on the ledge and didn't like the idea of shimmying my body in the off width to get up. So Alden threw me a small piece of rope and belayed me the few moves over to the rap station. The hands and feet are all there, it's just a little heady. We left the rope at the rap station and continued scrambling up to the summit. The very final few moves to gain the summit were swarmed with ladybugs and they flew onto my hands as I made my way up.

Alden at the crux 4th class move

The summit views were incredible!!! Tahoma, Dakobed, Kwelshan, Sherpa, Stu, Colchuck, Dragontail and beyond wow perfect bluebird day. It was on the summit tho we realized that we both didn't pack enough food lmao woops. This meant our idea of tagging Mary and maybe Volcanic Neck on our way out were squashed. That's okay Alden has already climbed those and I can just go do them some other time.

gorgeous summit views

obligatory summit selfie

Happy Pride!

We retraced our steps down from the summit, rapped the short 4th class section (we used a 40m rope, a 30m would work) and then scrambled back down the rock the same way we came up. Should you prefer, there are are two more meager rap stations on the scramble section. I say meager because they're around v smol trees. We eyed the snow at the transition back into the gully and the snow looked very soft now, as if it would take trail runners sans pons just fine. It did! It was soft enough to face out plunge bucket steps all the way down even tho it was p steep up higher (it was after 12p now). As we made our way down we saw a duo coming up and we all said hi as we passed by. We took extra care at the soft even slushier hole bits this time and made it down uneventfully to the lower gully.

soft snoooww let's goooo

We opted to go down just to the skiers right of the gully down dirt and small scrubby shrubs. We eventually hit the trail and were on our way back down into the dead fall bullshxt. It was hot and the dead fall was annoying.

downy yellow violets

wolf lichen <3

the climber's "trail" is under here somewhere

lupine! At least we had beautiful flowers to entertain us

western goldenrod? unsure

We were very happy when we hit the Ingalls creek trail bc we had forgotten about the dead fall on the trail lmaooooo. We got back to camp and lounged around waiting for the heat to die down a bit before heading back to the 4th creek pass. We put all of our measly food together in a pile and it was so little that one could subitize the amount of bars/food left. We laughed and decided that yes we were gonna camp at the pass and not climb anything extra :tear: Once it wasnt so hot we headed back out, I opted to ford Ingalls again and Alden opted to scoot the log. The crossing was a little stronger and higher this time, it got my crotch wet it was so high. Once Alden and I met back up we were on our way up the trail. The wildflowers were beautiful! The 2 crossings of 4th creek were a little higher, but I forded both and they were only up to my mid shin at highest. On the lower crossing Alden opted for a log situation that ended up being "not that great" as he described it. Something about having to go across on his belly and getting his taint stabbed that made my wet feet ford very much worth it.

walking thru this was way better than a taint stabbing im p sure

western pasque, these will look really cool later szn

As we approached the pass the glacier lillies were out everywhere! We decided to go up the ridge towards Mary's a little bit to get a sweet bivy spot with a better view. We made dinner by melting snow from a lingering patch, and snuggled while taking in the views of Argonaut, Colchuck, and Dragontail. We thought about going all the way back to the cars but we would've just slept at the trailhead and these views seemed like a much better idea. The stars were beautiful!

glacier lillies

yard sale at camp

camp views

yo dawg I heard you like TRs so I put this pic of you writing a TR in a TR

D3: 6/26/22

good morning to this cute lil buddy and this cute lil buddy only

Sunset and sunrise were a lil windy as to be expected at a pass. But all in all this camp was much better than sleeping at the car. I slept in til 7a and then we eventually made our way down the trail around 8a. We enjoyed the cool morning breeze and wildflowers down the trail. The creek crossing 1/2 mile from the TH was doable with some rock hopping and minor foot moisture. In the goretex trail runners my feet didn't get wet at all :P We made it back to the cars around 9a and made our way towards cle elum for food. The GF avo toast and mango spinach smoothie at Stella's really hit the spot. Then we parted ways and Alden drove to the Tri Cities and I went back to Issy.

the damn ants found my saline spray

Alden tryin to keep his feet dry

some kind of orchid? couldn't figure this one out, maybe you know?

yum

Alden graciously agreed to do this repeat with me <3 my watch said ~20 miles & 7700' gain 73/100

[Thedrunkbaguette]

So good to see you back and feeling well. The hair looks SO COOL in the alpine too

[Gimpilator]

I like your intro paragraph. I was once told by a doctor after a radial- head fracture, "don't go to work, and don't hike". I took half his advice.

[Sculpin]

[ngie]

Yeehaw! You rocked it rikki!

[zimmertr]