Mac Potholes 8.16.10

I had hoped to get an early start to both avoid the heat and also enable a summit of Mac Peak. I had to be back early due to family plans. I wasn't able to get out the door as fast as I might have liked putting the day's goal in jeporady. I was happy to turn on the much improved Tonga Ridge Road making for some quick driving. I was becoming very sleepy and I had to pull over and take a power nap. I still am not sure how long I slept but I did feel much better. I parked at the Deception Creek cutoff and packed up. I descended quickly to the crossing of Fisher Creek. There are some nice campsites that are located at the Fisher/Deception confluence. The trail winds for a short ways before it crosses Deception Creek. Then it meanders through some wonderful old growth making for a most pleasant walk. Soon I reached the junction with the spur that connects with the PCT above. After reaching the junction with the PCT I merely stepped over the trail and continued East. The going is open and I shortly reached a boulder filled area that I followed for a short ways before crossing and climbing the subtle ridge above. The short steep section was rewarded with easy going. I saw a small pothole below me so I dropped to it to give the thirsty dogs some water. The

No Revolution 8.11.10

Last week I needed something close so that I could devote what little time I had to hiking instead of driving. I hadn't used the trail from the Middle Fork Road that connects to the Granite Lakes Road before the road crosses Granite Creek. I was able to easily find the trail and I was glad it was in good shape and easy to follow. I crossed the creek and started the mindless road walk to the ridge line. About a mile I stopped for a short break and could never regain any ambition to continue. I started back and then turned around and started up again. This didn't last long, I was just plain worn out and couldn't push myself to go any further. Making my way back down I entertained thoughts of a virus or some other ailment that was sapping my energy. Throughout this week I felt better and yesterday I kept in low key. This summer work schedule seems to be taking more of a toll on me then what I suspected. I had plans for this evening so I was out the door at 0700 and quickly made my way to my jump off point. I wanted to do the same hike to see if there was any improvement to my stamina. I was able to push up the steep areas and quickly joined the GLR. I suspect this shaves nearly 30 minutes of the standard approach and even more for the descent. I was able to keep the elevation ticking away. I reached an overgrown area that was soaked with recent rains and promptly got quite wet. The fact that I was now in the clouds didn't help things as it was very wet for August. Instead of staying on the mainline I took the spur that traverses to my objective of Revolution Peak. I reached the end of the road and added some waterproof layers and made my way up the soaking slopes. I made the ridgeline quickly and that is when things slowed down. The ridgeline was slow going with gnarled trees and slippery duff slopes all with no visibility. I reached what seemed like the highest point around and I was dismayed that I was short the needed elevation to be Revolution. I was starting to feel sketchy being solo with the uber slippery slopes. I found a way to traverse just below the ridge and started making up some ground. I reached an area that I would have to traverse some wet mossy down sloping slabs. I gave some debate but decided since more than likely I will need to reclimb it anyway when I make my way to Russian Butte I didn't think the last few feet were worth the added risk. On the way down I attempted a downward traverse using veggie belays to keep my footing intact. I thankfully reached the end of the road for the long trudge back.


While I can't say that I felt 100% I do feel much closer to normal.... whatever that is.





Approx 12 miles 4400' of climb 6 hours car to car

Hard Knox 7.28.10

Some years back I had made my way up the Kachess Dam Road towards the ridgeline before the road was washed out and I was forced to walk to the ridgeline. On that day the objective was Hard Knox. I ran over my allotted time and climbed the peak just to the West. At the time I was quite sure that this point was higher than Hard Knox because the topo maps show the elevation to be higher. The sight lines weren't great looking East but visually it seemed higher. For some time I thought the makers of the Home Court 100 had made an error. I read a report some time later suggesting that I was wrong. Since this is often the case I thought some day I would investigate. Since I had a long hard work week and was feeling the effects I thought an easy day would be best. What better than to knock off a couple peaks when I could drive most of the way there. Thankfully the washout that had stymied me years ago had been fixed and I was able to continue on until the road's end at 5200'. I really did feel like cheating but I wasn't going to let that slow me down. I followed the trail over Hard Cheese 5766' and then dropped steeply to the saddle and reclimbed easily to Hard Knox 5841'. Visually I still thought the peak to the West looked taller so I continued on and climbed that as well. I took a GPS reading and indeed it did read higher but than as if became locked in the reading dropped and settled on 5835' a mere 6 ft short. I then returned to Hard Knox and my GPS showed the same elevation as the topo map at 5841'. Looking back to the West I think the trees that are on the West Peak give it an illusion that it is much taller. I christened the West Peak as Not Knox which I felt a fitting name. As I lazed on the summit and taking the great vantage point I noticed a boggy area below that still held some snow and I could see a logging road a bit further. I had remembered that there was a creek below from my previous trip so i thought I would mix it up for the descent. I easily dropped to the basin below and followed the dry stream bed until it hit the logging road and then walked the road back to the car. I saved about 150' of climb via this route and it was nice to complete the loop.






Approx 4 miles 1500' of climb 3 hours car to car

Harding 7.20.10

I was looking for something with some mileage and some elevation gain and Harding certainly fits the bill. ONELUV1 signed on again and we managed an early start. We made the Scatter Creek Trailhead a little before eight and the temps were perfect. What wasn't so good was the hordes of mosquitos that made us quicken our pace. The unrelenting onslaught forced us to slather on the Deet which did help. Soon the grade lessened and we reached the junction with the County Line Trail. Here we headed North and crossed a couple of creeks before reaching the boggy meadows beneath Fish Eagle Pass. I was careful to make a mental note of where we entered the meadows because on two previous trips I had overshot the creek crossing making for some interesting route finding. The meadows seemed easier to navigate than in past trips and soon we reached some heavy avalanche debris that also seemed easier than I remembered. Soon the climbing returned as we made our way to Fish Eagle Pass. Here we dropped pack and had a short break. The views are worth the effort.




From the pass we easily found a great boot path that does a descending traverse to the large rock slide beneath the pass between Harding and Fish Eagle Peak. We skirted the boulder field at the bottom of it which I believe is much easier than trying to traverse it. The route is obvious to the pass and is only mildly annoying with some small scrub trees and loose footing. We made the pass and again dropped pack. I scouted around to see if we could drop to the North and I did find a route down to some snow fields below. We decided not to use this viable route on our return. We followed the ridgeline mostly on the South Side and we easily reached the summit. We had a long lunch and enjoyed the summit which felt like the central seat in the area.


We signed the summit register which only had 13 entries since it was placed in 2002. It seems interesting that such a good boot path is in place despite the loneliness of Harding. We made good time back to the pass and did some boot skiing in the soft sand of the upper gulley. I was thankful that there wasn't enough snow to impede route finding but enough to provide more than adequate water for both of us and the dogs. The balance of the descent went well and I regained the bootpath at the bottom of the rockslide. ONELUV1 traversed the rockslide and we met up for the 700' of climb back to Fish Eagle Pass. I know we were both not looking forward to the climb but we managed to plug our way up to the pass. At the pass we had another short break and while we were lounging I noticed a good trail that I haven't seen on any maps. I don't know if it is an extension of the Van Epps Trail but it leads to the Solomon Creek drainage. If this trail could be accessed by the Jeep Road that leads to Gallagher Head Lake it may provide the shortest route to Harding. After our break all that was left was the descent to the car. We stayed on route and I thankfully found the creek crossing without overshooting it again. The bugs returned with a vengeance and the remainder of the trip was spent trying to descend as fast as I could while continually swatting at every open area of skin.


Approx 13 miles 5500' of climb 9:10 car to car