Tucquala Peak, Paddy Go South 6.23.08

Of late I haven't been able to cross off any peaks on my master list, so for today I wanted to make up for some lost time. I had hoped to continue on to Paddy Go North as well but as it is for me most times I hadn't enough time. I was able to make it across Scatter Creek with only 100 gallons of water over the hood. In retrospect I think parking on the other side would have been prudent. Since I had passed many deer on the way in I was careful to keep the dogs in the car until I was nearly ready to go. I should have waited until I was fully ready because I lost the Beagle in short order. I wasn't overly concerned because he was heading in my intended direction. I made my way up North Scatter Trail which was in fine shape. It became apparent the my Beagle didn't intend on coming with me. I was thankful to have Scatter Creek and Tucquala Lake as natural boundaries keeping him from heading West or South. I intended on doing a loop and to come out at Paddy Go Easy Trailhead forcing me to walk the road back. I thought this would be good if he headed North. I put the Beagle out of my mind and concentrated on the climb at hand. Soon the views of The Scatter Peak group, Fisheagle Peak and the two summits of Hawkins came into focus.


The climb mellowed for a while as I traversed around 5800' ft entering a nice basin between Tucquala and West Tucquala.
I chose the direct route to the summit because it was on steep snow. I put on crampons just to be safe and soon I topped out on Tucquala Peak 6821' #44 BC/100. I was surprised to see only two entries on the Summit register left by John Roper in 2004. The views were splendid and I snapped quite a few pictures.


Now it was time to turn my attention to Paddy go South. Initially the only route that looked promising to downclimb was a ramp to the SE which would have made my approach much longer. I opted instead to downclimb the West Ridge which went easily
couldn't find an easy way down at the saddle so I climbed West and was able to find easier slopes which were steep but the snow was good.
Once I was on easier ground I took some pictures looking back I was quiet pleased that I had made an easy descent on something that looked worse than it was.


I had to drop to around 5800' to go around some rock outcroppings and then I had to climb to the small saddle just east of Paddy go South at 6200'. The balance of the climb was only 300' but was steep and had an annoying bulge running the length of the ridge making it hard to find a way around.


After some persistence I was able to traverse to the South and found a steep route to the easier slopes of the summit area. I signed the summit register 6566' #57 BC/100 which had around 20 entries most of which were people who I am familiar with.
I stayed more on rock for the descent and made it back to my pack without any issues. I traversed above Sprite Lake and easily found Paddy go Easy trail.


 I passed on doing Paddy go North and just frewheeled the descent because I couldn't follow the trail under all the snow. At 5500' the snow stopped and I found myself right on the trail. I couldn't have done it any better! I stopped and had a little lunch on a nice grassy area where I could see where the car was parked far below me.

he trail was in decent shape so I made good time back to the road. The road walk went fairly quick. I was treated with a sighting of a bird that I hadn't seen before.
When I reached the car there was no Beagle. I saw a Grandfather and his Grandson so I asked them if they had seen the Beagle. They had just seen him and as we talked the Beagle came down the road looking whooped. Overall it was another fantastic day.




Approx 4600' of climb 10 miles 7:30 car to car