Eric and I had been planning to bust the rust off of our snowshoes, but as the weekend neared it seemed more prudent to get another day in without starting the season of snow wallowing. We ended up doing a loop on American Ridge where Eric wanted to tick off some little, rarely-visited P400 peaks past Goat Peak:
-Goat Peak 6473' p833
-Peak 6196' p477
-Peak 6320' p480
-Peak 6240' p400
We started off from the Goat Peak trailhead (well maintained), continued on American Ridge hitting the peaks along the way (some blowdowns through the middle section) and then took multiple elk trails down from 6240' to meet the Kettle Creek trail (few blowdowns) around 4750', closing the loop with the Pleasant Valley trail (well maintained). Snowline was 5500', melting on exposed slopes and approximately 4-6" in shaded areas.
 |
| 17.1 miles, 5656' gain |
 |
| Western Larch on the Goat Peak trail |
 |
| More larch |
 |
| Looking north to the Stuart-Enchantment ranges |
 |
| American River valley and Rainier |
 |
| Pano from Goat Peak |
 |
| Eric on Goat Peak |
 |
| Looking southeast toward Bumping Lake, Goat Rocks and Mt. Adams |
 |
| Larch in the American River valley |
 |
| Eric midway along American Ridge |
 |
| Looking at the last little summit of the day, Peak 6240' |
 |
| Eric on 6240' |
 |
| 5'-diameter larch along the Pleasant Valley trail |
That summit register is pretty awesome!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful day! Looks like another adventure to my liking!
ReplyDelete