We started hiking a 6:15am and were on the summit of Old Snowy by 9:15am. The wind was much more intense than predicted. From there we traversed the ridge over to Ives. Not far from the summit of Old Snowy we found a natural arch, quite a rare formation in Washington.
Most of the traverse was class 2 until we came to the top of the McCall Glacier. We could have avoided the moat by crossing over to the west side of the ridge, but it looked like fun. Ultimately we were forced onto the top of the glacier for short crossing. Beyond the glacier, Ives has a faint bootpath in the scree and then near the top we came to a small cliff band. We found a ledge lower down to get through the cliff band. The last 100 vertical feet was on the south face.
McCall Glacier
Ives Above
moat action
the ledge
On the summit of Ives we could make out the masses now arriving on the summit of Old Snowy. I wondered if they could see us. Since it was still early we decided to go over to Hawkeye Point and Goat Lake. We dropped down to the PCT and then traversed off-trail to the outlet of Goat Lake which still has floating ice. The backdrop of the lake is truly gorgeous. My camera battery died at the lake.
looking back at Old Snowy
person on the summit of Old Snowy (view full size)
Hawkeye
Goat Lake
Hiking up to Hawkeye Point made us tired, but I found myself wishing there was more time for a further traverse over to Johnson Peak. We descended the trail along Goat Ridge and then cut a mile off by thrashing through the brush back to the Snowgrass trailhead. 18 miles, 10.5 hours round-trip.
Nice trip. Outstanding photos! Love the panos. Haven't been to Goat Rocks since Boy Scouts in the late '60s. We need to make the drive down there again soon.
Nice job with the photos. Thanks for the trip and the extra push to keep going for the last peak. You were cruzing for only having one good arm climing on the rocks. I think the pictures really do sum up the day.
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