[Fletcher]

Dave and I had a hot date with Madame Pasayten earlier this week. We got moving toward Billy Goat Pass a little after 8am on Sunday looking forward to a proper flogging. We cruised up to the pass and hooked a right up the abandoned trail toward Burch Mtn. There was no running water between the car and the pass. From Burch Mtn, we made our way over to Little Fool Hen, then over SE Fool Hen and eventually main Fool Hen. There were numerous lingering snow patches along the way that kept us marginally hydrated on this hot day.

grabbing some water on the Fool Hen Traverse

After Fool Hen, we dropped the east ridge and then down toward Lake 7119 where we got our first water of the trip. I chugged and chugged after feeling really dehydrated after the long dry traverse. I also filled up on 4 liters of water for the next dry stretch of the trip. It was now late afternoon as we made our way around the buggy lake and up to the summit of Foxy Peak. It was cool to see a few buddies in the register.

the least surprising development on the trip, Dave broke a pole

Foxy register

After Foxy, we slogged up to the top of Diamond Point and then on to Bauble Butte for an excellent summit bivy. Our first day was around 14 miles with nearly 8k in gain. It was an exceptionally warm night and the mosquitos were absolutely terrible all night long. I was really happy that I brought my tent and did not envy Dave who was bivying.

Diamond Point and Bauble Butte

Dave coming down from Diamond Point

bivy views toward Cathedral and Remmel

We were up at first light on Monday morning. The mosquitos were still feasting on us so we got moving almost immediately.

sunrise from Bauble Bivy

Silver Star

We dropped down to the Diamond/Larch Creek divide, sometimes seeing signs of old trail but mostly it was just sh##ty travel through Diamond Creek burn until we hit the well maintained Larch Creek Trail at 6400 ft. It was a relief to hit the trail and know that we likely had it all the way out to Peeve Pass.

trail!

trailside flowers below Larch Pass

We made it to Larch Pass by midmorning, dropped our overnight gear, and continued on toward McCall Gulch. Cool place! At the pass above McCall Gulch, Dave wanted to go get Corral Point. I decided to take a break while he did that. It was fitting that this pass is above Timber Wolf Creek, as we saw some massive wolf tracks up there!

McCall Gulch

wolf?

wolf?

Sheep

The trail toward Peeve Pass is in great shape as it passes through few beautiful basins with good running water. The stoke was high as we cruised toward Sheep! I had been wanting to visit this area for years and it was awesome to finally be out there.

some deer cooling off on another hot day

Sheep getting closer

As we approached Peeve Pass, I began to experience some mildly irritating chaffing symptoms in my groin region. This happens to be occasionally in the mountains so I didnt think much of it. As we began to make our way up the south slopes of Sheep though.. the chaffing became much worse. Madame Pasayten had it in for me and the suffering was just beginning.

somen nice hiking up the southern slopes of Sheep

Sheep summit

By the time we made the summit, I was suffering the most painful chaffing I have ever had. It was really slowing me down so I appreciated Dave's patience. We took a long break up there, enjoying the broad summit and views. Sheep was my 185th WA Top 200 peak.

Sheep views

Sheep views

On the way down from Sheep, I continued to suffer from the chaffing and tried a few methods to alleviate the pain with no success. Eventually I figured out that hiking in just my long johns allowed for better airflow and freeness, allowing me to set a better pace. The other upside of this was that I was providing Dave some nice eye candy for the rest of the day  /S

Paintbrush on Sheep

Flowers and Sand Ridge

Dave was able to convince me to traverse Sand Ridge back to McCall Gulch because of the nice windy conditions up there. What a cool place.

Happy Chappy Memorial

From the summit of Sand Ridge, Dave cruised back down to McCall Gulch and up toward Corral Peak. We agreed that Id take a longer break up there, then take the trail back to Larch Pass where we would meet. It was a hot slog back to the pass but the scenery was very enjoyable.

McCall Gulch and Two Point Mountain

We met back up at the pass, then promptly headed out for the short climb up to the summit of Two Point. More nice evening Pasayten views.

Two Point summit

Sheep, Sand Ridge, and McCall Gulch from Two Point

We decided to camp at Larch Pass that night. We also saw our only other person of the trip, Cary, from Winthrop who was out on her first night of a big trip where shed eventually make her way out to the Cathedral area. It was fun to have another hiker join us for dinner way out there. This was a much colder night than the night before, that gave us a huge reprieve from the bugs.

After a good nights sleep, we were up and moving back down the Larch Creek Trail just after 5am. We took the trail down to 6400 ft, then left it and worked our way up through burned terrain toward the north basin of Skeptical Butte.

good morning Dave

From this basin, we climbed up to the summit of Skeptical Butte via the NE ridge. It was a gorgeous morning up there. We topped out at exactly 7am, less than two hours from Larch Pass. The cooler temps were a huge relief to my chaffing.

choss for breakfast

Skeptical Butte summitshot

views

views

views

After a nice long break on the summit, we made our way down the south ridge, over a minor bump, and then all the way down to 6400 ft. We then dropped steep, crappy burned out terrain to the Larch Creek Trail, arriving on trail around 9am.

descent off of Skeptical

We then slogged out recently cleared trail over Three Fools Pass and Billy Goat Pass back to the car at exactly noon. Burgers and beers were being enjoyed in Winthrop by 1pm. Great trip!

Pasayten Feet

Three Pinnacles

~47 miles
~lots of gain
~2.5 days
~187/200

[RichP]

Cool trip, guys. Dave is looking more and more like Rip Van Winkle. 

Time to carry some of that anti-chafing butt'r. I've had issues myself this year.

[kitya]

Deers photo is so cool! Thank you!

[raising3hikers]

Nice long trip in the pasayten, guys. You're getting close to the t200 but I see that Dave has been knocking them out on other trips, too!  Hopefully Dave's eyes heal from the view he had to have in your hiking clothing

[badknees]

Nice trip report & photos, thanks. It was great to see from your pictures that not all the Larch Pass Sheep Sand Ridge etc area was burned to a crisp by the Diamond Creek fire in 2017. Fire maps of this area posted by NIFC during the fire made it appear as if the fire had burned up everything all the way to the border & beyond.

Your informative report makes me think it would be worth another visit to this area.

[Stefan]

dang.  that is some mileage with elevation gain.  that is really really impressive!

[LukeHelgeson]

Awesome Trip! McCall Gulch to Sheep Mountain is incredibly beautiful.