[ozzy]

It'd been a couple of weeks since being in the high country so a trip was long overdue. The weather looked nice and chill Friday-Saturday so Hans and I decided to give The Cradle a go. I'd seen this peak from numerous vantages so I was excited to finally get up there! On the lookout for a more leisurely trip we decided to make it a bivy lol. It still ended up being a pretty good slog though! We met up in North Bend Thursday night and drove out to the TH arriving around 11pm. Beers were pounded and sleep followed soon after. The plan was to start at 4am...we started in earnest at 830am. It was a bivy after all so we could take our time lol! We hit the well graded trail and made scatter creek pass in about 2hrs(1030am), that was awesome because we both were feeling a bit slow. The trail gains about 3000ft in 3miles so that's nice too. Upon reaching said pass we had our first views of our mountain...wow! The views were badass from up here and all the red rocks around the pass lured us in! It was sweet up there and it reminded us of the Ingalls pk area, a very southwestern vibe. So we decided to find a bivy spot up here first and foremost! While studying the topo Hans found a small unnamed lake just to the east of the pass. We climbed up to higher ground and sure enough we spotted a nice little lake about a 1/4 mile to our east! After another 30mins we reached the lake and found the perfect camp at the north side just below a giant larch! A nice break was had here before we set off for The Cradle. Cheers!

Towards Mt Daniel from scatter creek trail

Tucquala pk

Views from pass, first view of the cradle too

The cool red rock was calling to us

Nice camp spot under larch

The no name lake by camp

From the lake we dropped down south following the outlet which eventually ends at a boulder field about 400ft below. At this point we wandered through nice meadows interspersed with a little bush/forest while aiming for the saddle that separates French and Meadow creeks.(ca 5200') After that we traveled generally south uphill for 1200ft, this was where the both of us started to feel a little crappy lol. Eventually we gained the ridge around 2pm.(6500') The views up here were rather amazing too! Daniel looked awesome as did the whole Stuart range to the south! Also the first proper views of the cradle appeared. We had decided to just ride the south ridge all the way to the summit proper. In hindsight it probably would have been better to just drop down 200ft to the east side of the ridge and traverse the east slopes to the summit that way, I think that's the standard route. Anyhow the ridge was tedious and kinda fun. Alotta gain and loss though. About 200ft below the south pk we left the ridge, climber's right, and climbed a dirty gully upwards. It spit us out 50ft below and we finished off the scramble! The higher reaches of the ridge were mostly class 2-3 and we were tired but stoked to finally have made it! What a cool little climb. A sweet Mounty register is up here, many familiar names...so cool! The south pk was reached at 4pm so we only spent about 30mins up there before we set off for the main objective, the north peak. Many agree that this is the true summit so we had to go over and check it out lol! The traverse to the north pk went pretty quick. There's a giant gendarme that we had to go around on the left, from there we dropped 50ft or so onto the east face. Here we located the downsloping diagonal gully that is the crux of the north pk. The awkward angle of it made it somewhat intimidating. It was all kinda covered in kitty litter and some loose holds here and there. Nonetheless Hans lead us up, all the while a bit skeptical lol. When we topped out in the gully it was a short jaunt to the summit! Success at last! Another badass view up here too! We could see the Bolt creek fire pretty good as well, can't believe that thing is still goin. Luckily, for us, all the smoke was blowing north. And we found another register up here, it must be a first acsent reg. It was in an old glass jar but all the contents inside are withering away. I saw Bill Prater's entry and Jake Robinson too! The north pk was reached at 5pm so we just chilled for 30mins again and drank whiskey of course!

On towards the objective

Beautiful valley

Looking back up to camp

Love me some meadow action

Climbing up to the cradle's south ridge, our camp is in the background

On the ridge with a proper view of said peak

Ridge life

Out east

Traverse the ridge man

Some crappy stuff

Snoqualmie crest

Closer

Stuart back there

Higher

loving this sh##

The south summit block, we scrambled to the left

The north pk from the south pk

East view

reg for the south pk

Roper

The single most famed nwhiker page I've ever seen in a register, even got Jake in there! So cool!

last entry

The gendarme between the two pks

North pk

Scree on the east leading to crux gully

Go get it buddy

Steep

Almost there

Noice

Looking to the south pk with first ascent register

Bill

To the south

Nice light

Daniel and distant views of the fire

Loving the weather

At 530pm we started the trudge back to camp. We decided to take the standard approach on the east, seeing as it was less involved. Soon we were back atop our initial ridge and making our way back down into the valley, French/Meadow creek divide. Just before we hit the valley bottom we had to don headlamps. A nice trickle of water was found in the meadows down low so we watered up and took a nice break under the stars and Milky Way. It always impresses me how many stars are out there, dayum! Eventually we got moving and climbed up 800ft to our camp arriving around 930am. Hell yeah man! We were stoked to finally be able to relax and chill in camp. We set up camp first then drank the rest of the whiskey all the while admiring the spectacle in the sky, cheers!

Down the mountain

Crux gully

Oooweeee

Both the pks from low on the east side

Suns goin down

I woke up just in time to catch a decent sunrise, Hans woke soon after. It's funny how fast time goes by in the mountains. We lounged around by the lake in the morning hours and before we knew it, it was noon already! So we packed up and headed back home making it to the car at 2pm. Sweeeet, another successful endeavor and the both of us were still amped up! It was cool to finally get up to this area and poke around too. I gotta give a shout-out to Gimpilator, thanks dood! His TR from 2016 provided all the beta needed to conquer the north pk, it also gave us extra confidence. The trip seemed liked more of a grinder than stats would indicate. I think mileage was about 13mi, around 7000ft gain, in a leisurely 1.5 days. Thanks Hans for joining again and cheers to all!

Granite Mtn and cradle

Tucquala

Camp again

Last view

Back home

Until next time

[John Morrow]

[Gimpilator]

Badass as usual That north peak scramble feels for-real, right?

[JimK]

Nice report. I'm a little surprised to see the same register 28 years after I visited. You missed my 1994 trip by one page likely. The route below the ridge to the south peak is a lot of crappy scree. The ridge may have been better.

[Justus S.]

Very cool. Looks like a great time. I checked my photo of the old reg sheet was dated Aug 1st, 1954.

[John Morrow]

[Justus S.]

John, I think it was the first entry, but it's been 12yrs so memory could be foggy. It was the only page I took a photo of so that usually means first page.

[pwrobinson]

Thanks for remembering Jake. I always ♥️ finding entries like yours. My best Jake's Dad.