[ragman and rodman]

Trailhead:Drive the Icicle Creek road to the Doctor Creek washout… bike ~5 miles to the trailhead (2900’) for the Jackpine Trail #1597… walk Jackpine for an eighth of a mile and start up the Blackjack Ridge Trail #1565. Don’t be deceived by the gentle switchbacks at the beginning of the Blackjack Ridge Trail… fairly quickly the switchbacks steepen significantly and by the time you get your first view (6100’) of Bootjack Mtn, you will have gained 3200 feet of elevation in only 3 miles. I suppose that my Chiwaukum Mtns Green Trails map might be out of date because it shows the Blackjack Ridge Trail going very near the summit of Bootjack Mtn… yes, a faint bootpath continues along the ridge towards the summit… however, we were looking for a good trail and stayed with it as it dropped into the basin on the east side of Bootjack… and it didn’t take us long to realize that the good trail was heading down towards Dunn Creek… so we left the good trail and scrambled up to the ridge (~6600’) and made the very easy scramble to the Bootjack Mtn summit (6789’). At this point we no longer needed the Green Trails map… from the Bootjack summit we could see the ridge that we would follow most of the way over to Highchair Mtn… leaving the Bootjack/Highchair ridge at its low point (~6400’) and traversing into the basin on the east side of Highchair. From the Highchair basin (~6200’) we scrambled to the ridge (~6900’) on the south side of the summit and worked our way over to the true summit (7016’). For a rather nondescript summit, Highchair Mtn provides very nice views… north to the Chiwaukum Mtns… east to Cashmere, Eightmile and Jack Ridge… south to the Stuart Range, Ingalls, Harding and Fish Eagle… and west to The Cradle, Daniel and Granite. We varied our return by (1)taking a more direct route from the Highchair summit down to Highchair basin and (2)taking the boot path from the Bootjack summit to the Blackjack Ridge Trail. We used the trip reports by JimK and TrailPair for info on this hike… both said the hike was 11 miles roundtrip, gaining 5600 feet of elevation… and I will not argue with their stats… and for good measure, we added 9 to 10 miles of bike riding that added another 500 feet of elevation gain… a very long day… I’m tired!! Map and photos of our hike to Bootjack Mtn and Highchair Mtn. ..

[Type E]

Sure looks familiar! I hope to return to bag Highchair sometime soon. Was the register I left still in place? What does the drop to Cradle Lake look like? E

[ragman and rodman]

There was a summit cairn on Highchair, but I didn't find a register... and didn't even think to look for one on Bootjack. We didn't have time to go over and look down on Cradle Lake.

[GaliWalker]

Very nice report. That must have been a long day.

[Type E]

Thanks Gali for the pics. I have been to Cradle Lake but I don't remember what the terrain was like.

[the Zachster]

Bootjack used to be one of my favorites! But since I'm not a biker, it'll have to wait until the road is fixed... Thanks for the report and pics!

[MtnGoat]

That's a fine trip there. I've done it as a loop from up valley, to Cradle for the night, then back out along the ridge and down the trail you came up. Really nice area. Not much traffic, great views, easy scrambling.

[Sadie's Driver]

Dang, Rog, I want YOUR job! You keep taking all our trips - we merely get sloppy seconds . . . Good stuff, dude! You're really knocking off the summits this summer! s.d.

[Bloated Chipmunk]

[BarbE]