Kachess Ridge Highpoint 5.19.06

The High point of Kachess Ridge is Pt 5525 which ranks in at #61 on the Home Court 100. I scouted the road last week that runs the length of the eastern shore of Lake Kachess so I knew I could drive at least a short ways up road 4824. I was able to drive to 3200ft where I was stopped by snow. I arrived at the ripe hour of 4pm so I was treated with soft snow and beating afternoon sun. The road walk went quite quickly, I was glad I had a map to consult because of the maze of logging roads that criss-cross the area. I dropped pack on the broad saddle just north of my objective. I stayed mostly on the ridge that starts obviously to the south. Most of the ridge is quite benign but there were a few areas that required caution because of the soft snow. I found it easier to scramble some of the rock areas instead of doing a steep traverse through the soft snow. The final push to the summit was easy and open and provides some great views of the area peaks. It was quite stunning to see Lake Kachess over 3000ft below me. I picked my was carefully back to my pack. This area suprised me with some of the sheer rock faces in the area. I was quite impressed with the rock group just to the east of the high point. I think one of the spires has been aptly dubbed ""Little Pecker"". I was impressed with the volume of water in any creek that I passed. I hope this does not translate into landslides and lowland flooding that is plagueing other areas of the state.

Kachess Ridge 5.9.06

I was really feeling poorly so I thought it best to sweat it out. I was hopeful that the I could make it quite a ways up the Kachess Ridge Trail before it became snowbound. The trail starts a bit more steeply than I was expecting. The first 1000ft of climb went quickly on the good trail. The trail above 3400ft is completely under snow making route finding much more difficult. I was able to follow the trail easily until where I am guessing it crosses Silver Creek. The crossing looked nearly impossible with the deep snow and the high water. There are some bigger logs that would make for a dry crossing but they were still snow covered. I followed the faint tread of those who had gone before me. With the low overnight temps the snow was rock hard and a bit tricky. I was a bit concerned about my downclimb because I didn't have an ice ax with me. It isn't that it overly steep it is more the many trees that would have halted a ten foot slide. I pressed on to around 4200ft and called it a day. I backtracked to around 3300ft where I had seen some tread heading more Westerly. I followed this up to around 3600ft which led me to a nice open area that was sunsoaked. I quite contentedly ate my lunch. I was left with some extra time so on the way out I drove the road that parallels Lake Kachess's eastern shore. I took the branch road 4824 until I was halted with a small snow berm that I am quite sure will be gone within a few days. The road was snowless beyond that point as far as I could see.

Dirty Harry's Peak 5.1.06

With an unusual gap between trips I was eager to get out a give my legs a bit of a stretch. I was hoping for something a bit more exotic than the logging road approach to Dirty Harry's summit. I felt a bit disconnected with the current conditions in the mountains so I felt something safe and familiar would be better. I also wanted something shortish is both time and location from home. I parked near the start of the logging road that summits this peak. I was happy that the snow started higher up than I expected and when I hit consolidated snow it was the best climbing snow I have ever seen. It was hard but super grippy making the slog much less tedious. The weather was a bit unstable with long periods of very heavy hail showers. I only stayed for a moment I am always nervous with the steep drop off to the north which I am sure is heavily corniced. I made good time back to the truck and was treated to some sunny weather for my drive home.




Thanks Mom!