[raising3hikers]

Cool Pk 7738' Mirror Mtn 7942' After seeing a trail report by Hit The Trail a couple weeks ago, I decided to go for these 2 rarely climbed peaks in the Entiat area. I started hiking the well maintained Entiat River trail at 8am on Saturday. The 6 or so miles went well to the unsigned but cairned marked Snowbrushy Cr trail. The trail was as good as it could be until about a mile from Milham Pass. Then the blowdowns start, at least the trees aren't too big but travel was slowed down a bit. I took a snack break at the pass before descending down towards Emerald Park. Just a few snow patches and this side of the pass was in pretty good shape since it wasn't in the burn area. Once reaching the other end of the meadows, I looked but didn't find the old trail that is labeled on the map. So, I went uphill with minimal brush up to the pass above the Mirror Lake basin. I would find that trail on the way back down. At the ridge, I headed towards Cool Pk, staying mostly on the climbers right of the ridge. There's a downsloping kind of ledge much of the way to the false summit without much exposure. A couple class 3 moves and to the false summit and then easy down to the summit saddle. Easy enough to get the summit to some great views. I found the register and was happy to see a first ascent paper from the Roper party. It looked like I was the 6th ascent of this peak.

Mirror Mtn

1st ascent paper

Bearcat and Emerald Pks above Emerald Park

It took a little over 6 hrs to get this summit from the TH, so I new I had time left in the day to go get Mirror Mtn as well. I dropped down to the saddle and did a downward traverse to the upper basin in Tumble Cr. Half way down, I found the old trail and followed it the rest of the way down. I loaded up on water before heading back up the other side of the basin. I was half thinking that I'd do a summit bivy if things looked good up on Mirror Mtn. Easy enough travel up some snowy slopes and talus up to the Pinnacle/Mirror saddle. The views of Pinnacle were especially nice from this angle.

cool basin below Pinnacle Pk

Cool Pk

I reached the summit and found another register with another possible 1st ascent paper in it. The views were good but I didn't see anything worth doing a summit bivy for since the peaks to the West were in the clouds and the rocks wern't too flat.

original register paper

the other visitors of this peak

Pinnacle Pks

Bearcat to Saska

I headed back down to the basin and found a nice flat spot to set camp. I had a few hours of daylight left but opted to rest and eat dinner instead of getting back over the pass to Emerald Park. I went to bed early after the big day happy to get those Pks. I woke early, packed up, and was hiking by 445am. I followed the trail all the way back up to the pass and found the trail down to Emerald Park. It was also fairly easy to follow most of the way. Only a couple blowdowns would cause some confusion. The trail is there, just not where the map says it is. I trudged up to Milham pass to have mostly downhill left on my trip. Shortly after, I ran in to Hit The Trail and Steve as they were navigating the last remaining of blowdown before the good part of the Snowbrushy trail. It was nice to see and chat with a couple of other NWhikers. It sounds like they had a pretty nice trip, too. I made it back to the TH before 10am, glad to beat the afternoon heat. 32.75 miles (19 on day 1) 11400' elevation gain (8900' day 1) 2 days

[Fletcher]

Really cool stuff! I really like that area. Bearcat looks awesome from that perspective!

[Gimpilator]

Thanks for the report. Looks lovely back there. Always fun to see those FA registers.

[iron]

i really like that shot of mirror mtn. great name for it.

[HitTheTrail]

This trip was a feat in itself, but finding that summit history gives new meaning to the term 'added value'. Again, it was good meeting you on the trail. BTW, growing up in the upper Entiat I was told by several people there is a route across the top from Milham Pass that will allow you to drop directly into Mirror Lake without having to lose and re-gain all that evevation dropping into Emerald Park. I mentioned that to Steve when we were on Milham and he took a short hike over that way. He didn't like what he saw. So, I don't know. I am sure a few have done it.

[ozzy]

Nice trip Eric. I never heard of these, probably because I haven't done hardly anything out that way lol. The FA registers sure were a nice bonus too, crazy that they are climbed so seldom! Sweeeet TR, cheers!