PT 13090 – Wild Wanderer

RT Length: 8.49 miles

Elevation Gain: 3489’

As I sat down to type this up, I’m already at the next trailhead. I got out my computer, camera, etc. and set it all up to write a trip report. Just as I was starting, a huge gust of wind blew through the site, creating a whirlwind of dust. All that dust is now inside the topper of my truck, as well as all over my computer, bedsheets, etc. Oh, the joys of living out of your truck! I swept it up as good as I could, but dirt and dust went everywhere! My poor electronics.

Ok, on to the trip report. I parked past Grizzly Reservoir at 10800’ at a nice dispersed campsite to start this hike.

The drive in was easy 4WD, with a lot of creek crossings and potholes to maneuver.

I was up and on the trail at 5:45am. The trail starts at the wests end of the parking area, and almost immediately crosses Lincoln Creek. I put on my stream crossing shoes and was on my way.

Here is an over view of where you’re going. There are game trails to get you to the upper basin, but there are a lot of downed trees to contend with. I just kept heading west, staying right of Truro Creek I could hear in the distance, following game trails as I went

Once I made it up the ridge, I continued west to treeline.

Once I got past the trees, PT 13102 was to the northeast. It was choose your own adventure to make it to the ridge.

Here are some pictures of the easy tundra walk to the ridge

I put on my helmet, turned right, and headed north to the summit. This was class 3, but solid and relatively short.

I summited PT 13102 at 7:30am

PT 13102:

From here on out, this was a ridge hike to West Truro. There were sections of class 2 and 2+, but most of it was class 3 and it was slow going, trying to figure out the best route to take. I believe there are several ways to do this ridge, so you can choose how spicy you make it. I found I stayed on the ridge proper, dropped to the left, and dropped to the right about equal amounts of time. Just be forewarned: once you commit to the route, there are few bailout points.

I headed southwest back down the ridge.

From here on I was following the ridge basically west. Since this is choose your own adventure, I’ll highlight a few pictures, and the route I took.

I was now halfway through the ridge to West Truro. I sat down for a bit of a rest, and looked at the route before me.

This second half of the ridge looked easier than the first, and indeed it was. For this part of the ridge, I stayed mainly to the right. Here are some pictures of this easier part of the ridge

Most of the ascent up West Truro from the saddle was class 2 and stayed on the ridge, until just before the end.

There was a short class 3 chimney to scramble (class 4 is to the right), and then a short scramble to the summit.

I summited West Truro at 9:30am

West Truro:

I could see Truro Peak to the northeast of me

Just for reference, this is how I climbed it (although this is choose your own adventure as well)

I wanted to skirt the south side of West Truro to make my way over to the West Truro/Truro saddle, so I made my way back down that class 3 chimney.

At 13050’ I descended down a game trail that led me to a scree filled gully. I put on my microspikes for this part.

This is where I was headed, so I lost and then gained elevation back to this point.

From here on our I just hugged the side of the mountain, making my way back up to the saddle. This is also choose your own adventure, all class 2

Now at the West Truro/Truro saddle, I had a good view of Truro Peak

I stayed to the left on the tundra, and when the tundra ended the class 3 climbing began, and lasted until I made it to the summit. On the class 3 section I stayed to the right and took the ridge, but it looks like there’s tons of class 3 options here.

Just before the summit I dropped down to the left, then scrambled up. There are game trails here to guide the way.

I summited Truro Peak at 10:45am

Truro Peak:

I turned and headed back to the Truro/West Truro saddle

From the summit I had the brilliant idea to descend via the gully that goes left (south) and skirt the east side of the mountain to make it back to the trailhead. My reasoning was I didn’t want to descend the steep, scree-filled east gully back to Truro Lake, and then rock hop for half a mile before hitting a trail. Solid reasoning, but in implementation, I wouldn’t recommend the route I took. Bushwhacking at the end proved cumbersome, whereas with the north gully, it would have all been above treeline. In any event, this is how I descended. I’d still recommend going right and taking the north gully if you’re ok with a steep, scree filled descent.

I stayed high to avoid the willows, and then dropped down into the trees. I stayed climbers left of Galena Creek (east), and made y way back into the trees, following game trails where I could and getting whacked in the face with willows where I couldn’t.

I could finally see the dirt road, and made my way towards it, crossing Lincoln Creek in the process.

Back on the road, I turned left and followed it north back to my truck

I made it back to my truck at 1pm, making this a 8.49 mile hike/climb with 3489’ of elevation gain in 7 hours, 15 minutes.

On to the next trailhead!

RT Length: 11.08 miles

Elevation Gain: 3174’

Trailhead: Just before South Fork Lake Creek, where 391 and Trail 1466 meet.

I drove in the night before, so I could start early the next morning. The only problem? I wasn’t able to drive all the way to the trailhead. There was a small ice flow that still hadn’t melted, and it’s the middle of June! It wasn’t very big, but so far no one has been able to cross it.

It wasn’t a big deal, but I did have to back up for half a mile before I could find a place to turn around, which happened to be at a nice campsite at 11,000’, so I parked there

I was up and on the trail at 3:30am, hoping to avoid some of the cold, wet, rainy weather that was supposed to arrive today. No such luck: It was raining when I left my truck, so I put on rain pants and a waterproof jacket and started following the road south.

After hiking for .8 miles I made it to the trailhead. Just before reaching the trailhead the road was covered in old avalanche debris.

The trail starts to the left of the gate

As I mentioned earlier, it was raining. I followed a very wet, willow-filled trail all the way into the upper basin. This trail is class 1, but a bit overgrown since it’s early in the hiking season. It was also teeming with water, and bear tracks (although I did not see any bear scat).

When I made it to the upper basin, I knew I wanted to gain the ridge. I also knew, from yesterday’s experience, that I wanted to gain it from the left, and not the right.

Note: There is a game trail here that goes to the ridge, but most of it was covered in snow. I was only able to see it in bits and pieces on my way up and down. This is the route I took to the saddle

The basin was mush. Not only was it raining, it was warm enough for the snow to thaw, so I was walking on 6 inches of water most of the time. Here’s my route to the ridge

As I was gaining the ridge, the sun was rising. It was a beautiful, misty morning

I gained the ridge, and headed over to Prize Benchmark, my first intended peak of the day. As you can see, conditions weren’t ideal:

In fact, that was one of my better photos of the day. The clouds kept coming in and out, obscuring my route.

Eventually, I was in class 4-5 territory, and decided to call it and come back another day when I could see what I was doing. I knew I was headed in the right direction, but the terrain didn’t feel safe. I wanted to take the gully, and it was still full of unstable ice.

I downclimbed, and headed back to PT 13090. Even though it’s not ranked, I summited it, just because I was there

This was an easy ‘summit’

PT 13090:

I turned right, and headed southeast towards Booby Prize

Here’s the overall route I took, avoiding the rock slabs and snow. This was all class 2, with some loose scree/rocks to navigate

The clouds picked up again, obscuring my view, but luckily, this was all class 2

Here are some step by step pictures

I summited Booby Prize at 8:10am

Booby Prize:

Nasty weather was predicted for the day, so I decided to re-trace my steps and head back to the PT 13090/Booby Prize saddle

Back on the saddle, I could see the game trail that led down, but it also went right through a large patch of ice, so I went a little further up the saddle to find a snow-free route.