Rock Mountain, Nason Ridge, Merritt Lake

Jul 02, 2009

by DaveG — last modified Jul 05, 2009 04:58 PM

Type of Outing: Overnight

Read More in our Hiking Guide: Hike: Rock Mountain via Rock Lake; Region: Central Cascades -- Stevens Pass - East; Agency: Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest - Wenatchee District; Trails: Rock Mountain (#1587); Avg Rating: 2.50
Read More in our Hiking Guide: Hike: Nason Ridge; Region: Central Cascades -- Stevens Pass - East; Trails: Nason Ridge (#1583); Avg Rating: 3.33
Read More in our Hiking Guide: Hike: Merritt Lake and Lost Lake; Region: Central Cascades -- Stevens Pass - East; Agency: Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest - Wenatchee District; Trails: Merritt Lake (#1588); Avg Rating: 3.70
Be Aware Of: Mud/Rockslide; Washouts; Snow on trail; Bugs

Halfway up Rock Mtn trail with Nason Valley in background

My 20 yr old son and i backpacked up Rock Mtn with plans to cross Nason Ridge to Kahler Glen. We began Thurs pm and hiked up to Rock Mtn and the cirque lake at its base and decided to camp there. Trail was fine until near the top when mosquitos became a bit of a problem and then snow made finding the trail a challenge. But we managed to get to the lake by glissading a bit. That evening we hiked up to Rock Mtn (45 min) and had several snow fields to cross before the south facing trail on the ridge made it easy to summit. Stayed for sundown and had a mountain goat and several marmots for company. Fabulous views!

Left Friday morning and found the trail very difficult due to scree and snow. The south facing ridge out of Rock Mtn was not in good shape with one particularly nasty avalanche/run-off that was about 6' deep with not easy crossing. No kids and only experienced hikers should attempt this. Other side of ridge had lots of snow making the hike even more challenging and difficult to find the trail. Then the mosquitos struck! Despite two applications of DEET, they weren't afraid. We kept moving as fast as possible but then a steep climb slowed us down and it was open season. For as many as we killed I'm sure my blood was used to propagate a million times more! We decided to drop out at the Merritt Lake trail and once we got about half mile down, the trail was drier and the bugs were gone. I figured with all the warm dry weather in June we might be okay. I figured wrong! Bug juice, mosquito netting and much more dry weather will be needed to survive what would otherwise have been a beautiful trip.