Scout Patrol Peak 4603' The Boomerang Route

   Well as it often goes in my life, things just don't work out the way I planned. I spent considerable amount of time getting my mountain bike back into shape after many years of non use. In addition I spent some extra time trying to reconfigure my car to allow for the bike to travel with me. Despite all this I made my way to the gated road off the North Fork of the Snoqualmie considerably earlier than expected. I was hoping to ride/push the bike to well past Calligan Lake and follow logging roads to just underneath Boomerang Peak. Here I would make the shortish climb to enable me to cross off another Homecourt 100 Peak. After getting everything in order I started off. Just as I passed the open gate I saw a truck heading back towards North Bend. The truck immediately turned around and followed after me. I stopped to hold the dog hoping the truck would continue passed me. Just my luck it was the head of security for Hancock and he wasn't too pleased with me. I had read all the signs and assumed that the road was only banned for motorized traffic but he was very quick to point out the first line was NO TRESPASSING. I have been up this road numerous times and I was always under the impression that was permissible . I tried my best to guilt him into allowing me to continue but it was obvious he wasn't having any of that. I was quite sure he would be back to check that I heeded his warnings so I didn't dare continue. Sure enough he returned just as I was finishing packing up to leave. If I had only been slightly early or a little late I would not have had any issues.


    I gave considerable thought to continuing on to make another attempt of Phelps since I had the time and I was in the neighborhood. I  have been down the North Fork Road so many times this year I just couldn't stomach it again. I decided to head back into town to check on the Middle Fork Closure. I found that it is still closed during the week until September 26th. I decided to head up the Hansen Creek drainage to do Scout Patrol Peak which I had orphaned. The Hansen Creek Road was in good shape and I found myself at the gated end of the road and parked at the new parking lot. I was surprised that it was rather warm since when I left my house it was drizzling.  I headed up the road reaching the first junction where I continued heading NE. I kept on the road to nearly it's end where I left for some small and very loose talus which was very cumbersome to walk on. I angled into the brush finding tedious going as well. I knew I didn't have far to go so I just sucked it up. Just one step from hitting more pleasing travel I fell sliding back into a tree. Thankfully I didn't hit with any force but I did shred two of my fingers leaving a bloody mess. I finished the last few feet off on nice stable talus. The summit wasn't much, with limited views. I had a hasty lunch, I noticed a pretty well worn path leading West so I thought a loop might be fun way to salvage the day. I also noticed that It would be easy to access Bearscout Peak's West Ridge that I had used to summit some time ago. This would bypass the immensely unpleasant approach via the standard Hansen Creek approach. There is a swath of densely packed trees that is quite an ordeal to breach.

   Heading West the trail peters out in a grassy area. I could see  a logging road beneath me so I headed down to it easily. The road is clear and open but other than deer doesn't look traveled at all. I followed the road to it's end where I found a major pile of bleached out logs blocking the way to access the older timber further along the ridge. I carefully picked my way through the rotted logs finding a very defined trail that ran along the watershed boundary line. Where the trail would get brushy there was always some flagging to show the way. Finally the trail drops off the ridge to the logging road to the North. I was surprised that there wasn't any cairn or flagging marking the start of the trail. It would be very tough to find it even if you knew where to look. I followed the road back to the first intersection and then back to the car. Well the day wasn't what I had drawn up, I managed to enjoy myself anyway.

Approx 5 miles 1400' of climb 2;20 Car to car

West Red Mountain (Money Creek) 5447'

I hadn't given much thought about what I wanted to do this week, when I received a message from Rich P about doing West Red 5447'. I hadn't had any interaction with Rich so I was surprised to get a message out of the blue. I was also thankful because I have had a tough time getting any partners lately. I had high hopes for making a big  dent in my Homecourt 100 list since I have been off since mid July. The truth of the matter is that my spending time with my family has won out over my desire to make any headway climbing. Despite all my time off all I could muster was Caroline Peak this summer which thankfully was a great solo trip. With my time off ending soon I was happy to tag along with Rich because  I knew my chances of success were greatly heightened. I was disappointed to see the weather forecast and my spirits were dampened further by the rain I heard on my roof throughout the night. I was pretty sure as I made my way through a rainy Monroe that this trip would not happen. I was already plotting some backup ideas as I made my way to the Sultan Park n Ride.


    I wasn't going to bring up the fact that a steep brush bash in the drizzle didn't sound appealing, and I was surprised that Rich didn't bring it up. Soon we were heading up the Money Creek Road which was in fine shape. We parked amongst the heavy machinery that is in the process of reclaiming the portion of the road past Lake Elizabeth.  It took me forever to get suited up since I had to pull out all my winter gear. I found it interesting that just a couple of days ago I was frying in the sun, and now I was getting dressed in winter gear. Finally we were off in sea of clouds following the reclaimed road covered in straw. Thankfully Rich had been here last week and was able to get us on the fisherman's trail to Crater Lake. With the straw on the road it was tough to see the start of it. The trail is muddy and rooty but it does get you to the lake. It has been brushed recently but unfortunately for me it was brushed by someone that was 5'8". most of the cuts left the remaining branches at my head level. My head found once such burly branch that knocked me backwards. Thankfully I didn't have more of an injury from the branch or the ensuing fall. After clearing the cobwebs we continued on to Crater Lake. We took a short break at the campsite on the Southern shore. The water level was low enough that we could walk the waterline to the campsite on the Northern End. We found a path we wanted heading NW from the campsite. The trail petered out and soon we found ourselves mired in some fresh avalanche debris. Thankfully we could see the waterfall that was our next objective. The reports I had read used the left side of the waterfall but I thought the contours on the right side looked more pleasing. Rich had read another report stating that the right side was no better than the left. We decided to head up the left side. Just before committing I happened to notice a worn boot path heading up the right side. It was distinct enough that I could see it from a couple hundred yards. There is indeed a well worn and well flagged route going up. Unable to believe our good fortune I expected it to stop before reaching the ridge. But luck was shining upon us because we were able to follow it all the way to the ridge. We did pass some sort of survey that neither I or Rich could figure out what they were doing. There is a small area with innumerable amount of numbered nails pounded into trees in no discernible order . The trail after this is much less defined. We found slippery going along the ridge, I hadn't read the reports very closely so I didn't realize that most groups aim for the saddle between West Red and 5331' to the SE. Rich wanted to head for the saddle but I didn't realize that that was the standard route, so instead we stayed on the ridge traversing a few points before reaching the summit ridge West of the summit. The going was fairly easy except for everything being slippery.

   It had taken us nearly 4 hours for the 3+ miles to the summit despite finding the time saver trail. We couldn't see anything so we didn't linger. Rich did a great job navigating back and we rejoined the flagged route with out too much issue. The way out was wet and slippery but the flagging and distinct trail kept us on route without any issues. I was dreading the short portion between the waterfall and the lake because of the avalanche debris, but it isn't really that far and I was very happy to be back to the lake. All in all it was nice to head out with Rich and knock another peak off the Homecourt 100


Approx 6.5 miles 2800' of climb 6:06 car to car