Bentrim Hill 8.25.09

I have never viewed life as a race and as such I am not in a big hurry to finish the Back Court 100. I do however like to take the time to savor a meaningful summit. Bentrim Hill is nothing special and if wasn't such long ways to reach in Winter I would have saved it for some wintery day. I had hoped to stay West of the crest but when I awoke to a drizzly marine layer I knew a change was in order.




I had read R&R's great trip report but I didn't do a good job of transcribing the directions on to my used envelope. I parked where I thought I should but to be sure I took a reading with my GPS and was too far from my intended target. Unable to make much sense of the maze of roads on my map I was most confused. I decided to keep driving in the direction I needed to go and hope for the best. I soon came into some recognizable territory and in fact I ended up at the trailhead I had planned on using before reading R&R's report. I parked and didn't even bother in changing into my regular footwear on clothing. I put some liquid in my daypack and hit the Old Ellensburgh Trail. The trail is in good shape and is heavily used by horsemen so the going is quite dusty. I soon crested beneath Mount Lillian and began the descent to the Howard Creek Trail. As dry as it has been there is running water everywhere, which is a product of the many springs that dot the area. After reaching the intersection with the Grouse Springs Trail I resumed climbing. Soon I was in a nice meadowy area beneath the summit where I left the trail and made my way easily to Bentrim's summit. The views were nice to the West and East but there isn't much to see to the South and North is blocked by trees. There is an immense summit cairn where I wasn't able to find a register. For the descent I chose to drop in a much more direct line to my trail below. I tried to head in Southern direction to make sure I didn't over run my trail. There were numerous game trail that looked like they were manmade. I again reached a meadowy area and I felt like I was North of my trail I started to worry that I had come down too far offline. Thankfully the trail finally emerged right on a spot where I had seen some recent flagging. I thought it odd since it was the only flagging I had seen and coming out in that exact spot game me reason to chuckle. I soon recrossed Howard Creek and began climbing my way back up to the car. I am curious why there is so much deadfall just above Haney Meadows. There are no avalanche slopes to provide that level of destruction. I can only surmise that there was some huge wind event or that the forest was purposely thinned.



Approx 7 miles 2000ft of climb 3 hours car to car

Paddy Go North 8.18.09

All week my intent was to head to Chetwoot Lake and bag a couple area peaks. This Summer has been sporadic on the hiking front and I needed a long day to help catch up. As things go for me I had morning oblibgations I couldn't get out of. Disappointed on not having the time for the monster day I had planned I lost all motivation. I struggled to find a back up plan that would utilize the remaining time I had. The goal was to summit Sherpani Peak or as I would rather call it "coffin top" . On the way out I wanted to go over Paddy Go North crossing two peaks off my list and saving a little dignity for the day. I made good time to the PGEP trail and was dismayed that it was about 20 degrees hotter than what I was expecting. To make matters worse I left my sunscreen in my fishing vest. Since I don't have any hair to block the sun's rays this can be concerning to me. Since I had a hat all wasn't lost. I wanted to avoid my ears getting crispy as they sometimes do, so I improvised and soaked my t-shirt in the creek and put it over my hat to add some extra protection. Form doesn't always follow function so I was glad I didn't cross paths with anyone on this day. There was enough wind to keep me from overheating from the Mid 90 degree temps. The Beagle who is black was taking the brunt of the heat and I was forced to stop at nearly every shady spot along the way to keep him out of the red zone. I had a ton of fluids with me but most weren't ideal for the dogs. I forced them to drink heavily at the first two creek crossing. I decided instead of leaving the trail at 5800' as I had planned to continue on to the pass and head South to Sprite Lake to give the dogs some cool water to drink. The dogs both lounged in the water to beat the heat. I actually stayed nearly 30 minutes which for me is unusual. I didn't have to be back early so I wasn't in a rush. I decided that PGN was still in the cards. It is apparent that I wasn't going to summit via the East as PGN has an impressive East face. On the way up I had spied a route from the South that I thought would go. I went up the gully that is the fault line between the two distinct types of rocks that dominate the area. I had one small section that involved some gymnastics but reaching the ridge was easier than expected. I headed North tending to the West side to a nice ledge that took me around some larger outcroppings. One on the West side the grade lessened as I traversed to find a manageable way to the summit. I dropped pack and zigzagged my way up. I would say that the route was less than class 3 but certainly more than class 2 scrambling. I wasn't able to find any summit register which was somewhat of a surprise. I carefully downclimbed my way back to the pack and was able to make good time back to the trail.






Approx 9 miles 3500' of climb 6 hours car to car

Tonga Ridge 8.4.09

****WARNING NO USEFUL INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS REPORT**




I had hoped to make a try for Shroud Mt. but with the wife nursing a unpleasant cold I thought it best to get the kids started and let another summer day slip away. After the wife showed signs of recovering my need to get out over rode my sense of duty. With the later start I knew Shroud was out so I thought something shorter was in order. I thought the Highpoint of Tonga Ridge would be perfect. The highpoint is just over the end of the Tonga Ridge road and SE of the more popular Mt Sawer. I have never read any reports for this peak so I thought I would go blindly. The plan was to use the logging clearly marked just East of Sawyer Creek and put me in close proximity of the summit. After coming to a logging road in pristine shape I made my way up. It wasn't the road I intended but it was in such good shape I thought it best to investigate. I was able to ride it quite high on the ridge and park. After walking a short ways I stumbled on a car parked which I thought may have been abandoned. The things inside looked fresh so I kept moving in the direction of my intended target. I broke out the GPS because the terrain was confusing to me. I was less than two miles out and less than 1000' below the summit but I was sure that there must be a better way. I walked back to the car to find my logging road. I was unable to find this road and ended up making my way all the to the end of the road and turned around. After wasting so much time I just did some exploring on the way out. After looking at my maps closer when I returned home I am just as confused.