Hike #9 for Hike-a-Thon 2009!

From US 101, FS 22/Donkey Creek Road and FS 2204 are an easy drive to the trailhead, with about eight miles of gravel road. Our group of nine met at the trailhead at 9:00 in iffy weather for the long slog up the Pete's Creek approach to Colonel Bob Peak. We were in good spirits, despite the steep and rocky trail. There was evidence of recent brushing thanks to Backcountry Horsemen, I suspect. The weather just did not cooperate. When we arrived at the summit, all the views northwest to Lake Quinault, west to the Pacific Ocean, and northeast to Mt. Olympus were lost in the clouds. We took a long lunch break hoping for clearing skies, and took turns signing the summit register and reading past entries.

We met just a few dayhikers and four backpacker groups on the trail, mostly on our way down. There are at least six established campsites and filterable water at Moonshine Flats, a few hundred yards from the junction of the Colonel Bob and Fletcher Canyon trails. Please pack out your trash!

The road to the trail head is in excellent condition. A trail crew was brushing and logging out the trail. Trail is in good shape. Good views at the top. I was impressed, this was my first trip up Col. Bob.

Some recent campers left a lot of trash behind and used one of the tarns as a toilet bowl.

Campbell Tree grove campground is a good place to spend the night before heading up but bring water. There was no handle on the pump.

Lots of pictures and more details on my
blog http://mosswalks.blogspot.com

Mount O’Neil AKA Baldy Solo Run

QUINAULT LAKE MAY BE REACHED EITHER FROM HOQUIAM BY STAGE OR FROM TAHOLAH BY CANOE. FROM INGRAMS STORE AT THE SE END OF THE LAKE FOLLOW THE ROAD ALONG THE UPPER QUINAULT RIVER FOR ABOUT 4 MILES, ABOUT 2-1/2 MILES BEYOND THE SAW MILL, THEN TURN UP THE FIRST ROAD TO THE RIGHT AND WHERE IT PASSES THE SPLIT CEDAR LOG AND TURNS TO THE LEFT, THERE YOU KEEP ON STRAIGHT AHEAD AND STRIKE THE RIDGE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND FOLLOW IT. THE RIDGE TO FOLLOW IS THE ONE SLOPING MORE GRADUALLY AND THE ONE HAVING THE ROCKY OUTCROP AT THE TOP CALLED THE LOOKOUT. ON NEARING BALDY THE TRAIL BENDS TO THE RIGHT OF THE RIDGE AND GOES INTO THE SNOW FIELD, FROM THE TOP OF THIS A SHORT BUT STEEP ELK TRAIL LEADS TO THE WOODED SADDLE WHICH DIVIDES THE QUINAULT AND HUMPTULIPS VALLEYS, HERE TURN TO THE RIGHT AND GO UP THE ROCKY SLOPE TO THE STATION, APPROACHING IT FROM THE ESE. WATER AT THE SNOW FIELD 1/3 MILE FROM STATION. ADVISABLE TO TAKE A GUIDE FOR FIRST TRIP.

The quote above in from the USGS benchmark directions from 1913 to the summit of Mount O’Neil, also known as Baldy. I don’t know the history of the name change but the locals still call it Baldy. The directions from 1941 are a bit easier to follow though, so those were the ones I used. The Ewell Creek trail is now the Colonel Bob Trail, currently impassable with all the blow downs. Fortunately, it’s easier to hike in on the Pete’s Creek Trail, which is what I did. Getting to the trailhead late in the afternoon (later than I wanted to thanks to the re-oiling of highway 101) I headed up the Pete’s Creek Trail. I left the trail per the 1941 directions and set up a base camp.

The biting flies and giant horseflies drove me into the tent; some mosquitoes joined them later in the evening to torment me further. The next morning I started down into the valley at 0645 finding the pond mentioned by the USGS report. I staged a bottle of water here for the return, as the butt-pack I was using only has provision to hold one water bottle. I started going west from the pond, looking (unsuccessfully) for anything that looked like a trail, and headed around the western end of the ridge, never finding the “dim trail” mentioned. I did a lot of wondering exactly what a tree blaze would look like after 68 years but I never saw even one on the way over. Climbing up at the end of the ridge (where it turns to the north), I took a few too many chances on some pretty precarious ledges, deciding I was simply going to have to try to find a better, and safer, way back. I’m not too comfortable trusting my life and limb to little fir trees and blueberry bushes. After ascending to the top of the high peak at the end of the ridge, I found an elk trail that led along the spine of the ridge towards the saddle between there and O’Neil. The elk must have been just ahead of me judging from the fresh scat on the trail.

The saddle was tough going as there are a lot of blow downs. I imagine the wind must come through here pretty strong, trees were down all over at the low point. At 0810 I was staring at the rock wall at the base of O’Neil and trying to find a way up. Climbing up from one small bench to the next, I again made good use of the bushes to pull myself up (yeah, I know…). At 0850 I reached the summit and found the summit register. The first entry was dated 30 August 1994 and the last one was 29 April 2004. That means I was (most likely) the first one there in five years. (This is something I’m not sure about, finding a later date in the logbook when I got home and examined the pictures. This may have been an entry error but I cannot be sure.) The logbook contained less than a dozen entries, and many of those were repeats. I found a lot of nails on the summit; either from a lookout or most likely, from the stand made by the surveyors. The summit was hot and my one little water bottle empty so I didn’t spend much time up there. I looked around, found the benchmark and two of the reference marks and wrote my entry in the summit log. There was a thick cloud layer in the Quinault Valley below. I put a new bag around the book and left a better, weatherproof, container in place of the open-ended iron pipe. At 0945 I headed, with some trepidation, back down the mountain the way I came.

Without getting dead or maimed I reached the saddle and crossed the blow down farm, picking up the elk trail traveling south easterly. In this direction, I was easily spotting tree blazes and even a few fluttering pieces of surveyors tape. I followed the marked trail all the way back to the pond, along a much better and safer route than I took going in. I made it back to my base camp at 1050, changed my socks and hefted the big pack to leave. Now, here’s the truly wild part. As I descended towards Moonshine Flats, I passed a gentleman hiking up to the Colonel Bob summit. He asked how the Bob summit looked that morning and I told him that I had gone to O’Neil instead. He was surprised, and we started discussing the remote peak. His hiking partner, who was making his 186th climb to the top of Mount Colonel Bob, soon joined us. It turns out that I was speaking to none other than Rory Barreith and George Bauer, famous Olympic hikers! They had both signed that logbook a few times. They were also the first to summit in the new millennium! They had a lot of knowledge of the whole area and I wish I could have spent more time talking to both of them, but they had someplace to go and I was hot, stinking, and tired, so we parted company. This hike can be done as a day hike if one were so inclined, and it’s entirely likely I will do it again soon.

It’s difficult to image a better day for this hike. We enjoyed sunshine and high temperatures in the mid 70’s. The road to the trailhead is excellent as is the trail. There’s less than 10 yards of the trail still under snow and the few logs across the trail are easily skirted or climbed. The biggest detractor is brush that has grown and narrowed the trail to as few as 18 inches in many places. Overall the conditions are great and the view is better than advertised. The trailhead sign claims 4 miles to Colonel Bob. Someone has carved out a longer distance into the sign. For what it’s worth my GPS was closer to 3.4 each way.

We always try to add information in our trip reports for those who hike with kids. For the right family this is a great opportunity to reach a 360 degree view peak and sign a summit register. The slope of the climb and the loose footing across the avalanche chute and a few other places make this a trail that is more challenging than the distance might suggest. On the steepest climbs it is not unusual to have to step up 18 to 24 inches to get to the next step or rock. We made it up and down without incident with our 5 and 8 year old. Their previous biggest hike was Mt. Pilchuck. These are kids that are on the trail at least twice a month and are very enthusiastic hikers. Even so, it took us more than 9 hours from start to finish. Grandpa joined us on this one and he is always good for motivation and fun so even the 9 hours was enjoyable. This summit is achievable for experienced families, but don’t take it on as a lark while visiting Lake Quinault.