Gpx: https://caltopo.com/m/5885G

C2c. 5k gain over 10.5mi in 9h15m on a chill pace. Started at 2am, summit at 7:30am, descended at 8am, and back to car at noon.

Driving: Twisp river road in great condition. Last few miles are gravel road with no major potholes. All vehicles passable. 

Trailhead: Scatter creek trailhead. Has a register box, toilet and a small campsite. Be aware of mice (peppermint scent is supposed to keep them away). Poplar Flat campground a few miles before is an option too. 

Patchy (and somewhat avoidable) snow started at 5700ft. At 6000ft, instead of fording the scatter creek, we left trail, turned left/west and went up the pretty open forest. Some postholey snow. Be careful around the drainage and tree well. Oh and off snow until consistent snow from scatter lake, which was partially melted. Took out ax, crampons and helmet at the lake before the slope steepened. Perfectly crunchy crampons condition snow at 6am, which was made even easier with a well established boot path. Sun has softened the snow a lot by the time we started descending (8am) - some postholing followed by perfect plunge stepping condition. 

Water sources: a stream at around 5700ft, scatter creek when running parallel to the trail or you cross it, and scatter lake at 7000ft. 

Gear: helmet, ice ax, crampons, gaitors, sun protection, poles. 

Tried doing another summit bid today solo, but there was still way too much snow for me to manage. I made it about 1.5 miles further and 550’ higher, but was postholing every step on the way up and down (many times up to my thigh), so I called it (it was super strenuous work).

I observed storm snow and weak interfaces, as well as wet loose surface conditions in areas. Yup, it’s that time of year again (time to worry about avalanche conditions up high).

Even if I had snowshoes, I doubt I would have gone beyond the lake due to avalanche risk.

Temps were 21 degrees when I left the car at 6:50 and 47 degrees when I got back to the car at 14:30.

Floatation (skis, snowshoes), and avalanche awareness highly advised if going beyond 6.5k’.

I didn’t summit, but I had a great time exploring the Chelan Sawtooths this weekend. Today’s views provided me an awesome perspective of where I’ve been this past season (Hoodoo, Oval, Star, Courtney), and where I hope to go next year (Reynolds). Abernathy will be something to do next year (like Trapper’s was this year). Catching the blue hour and sunrise this morning and having slightly warmer conditions and attire helped tremendously as well.

The drive back gave me an awesome perspective of North Gardner, Robinson, and the Craggies driving west from Winthrop: the mountains look stunning with fresh coats of snow against the brown grass, evergreens, and gray rock.

Oh, and speaking of driving.. I didn’t do the advised 50mph down Twisp River Road. I had a close encounter with a pair of white tailed deer early Saturday morning (I almost hit one going around a blind corner doing 35-40mph), and saw 2 other deer and a raccoon out in the middle of the road. Between the wildlife and the pedestrians (bikers, walkers), going the posted speed limit is dangerous.

Ngie and I did not get up to Abernathy Peak, as we ran into deep snow that slowed our progress, as we were post holing with every step. We turned around at 6375 ft.

I spent the night in my car Friday night at the trailhead after doing another hike(Sawtooth View) in the Twisp area during the day on Friday. I was the only car there Friday night and it appeared that all the campgrounds along the Twisp River Road were empty also. Ngie pulled in just before 7 am, from driving in from the westside.(long drive).

It was quite cold(mid 20's) when we started at 7:20 am. There was no snow at trailhead, just frozen ground. Trail was kind of overgrown in places as it switchbacks up thru an old burn. We caught some excellent sunrise colors on the surrounding peaks, and on the way back we got to see more of the snow capped peaks. Just beautiful.

We started to run into snow on the trail around 5400 ft and it progressively got deeper. At around 5800 ft or so we were postholing on every step. At just past 6000 ft there is a small stream to cross that was a little difficult with the deep snow, as we could not see where the trail crossed the creek, and were unsure if we were walking on solid ground. We did not want to fall thru into the creek.

We pressed on to at least make it to Scatter Lake, but realized even with our effort, we still had 600 vertical ft to go, to just get to the lake. Abernathy Peak was only 1900 vertical feet to go, but in these conditions, it was not going to happen on this day. We expected snow, as we bought crampons and ice axes, but we did not think we were going to need snowshoes so early in the season.

First time for me up in this area, and it is just beautiful. Can hardly wait to get back in there. 8.2 miles with 3284 ft gain to where we turned around

Good news: (1) Highway 20 is open again; along Early Winters Creek, expect slow downs, restrictions, and fire fighters. (2) the Delancy fire appears out.  (3) the Cedar Creek fire is over 50% contained while the Cub Creek 2 fire is 65% contained (black line around current fire boundary indicates contained; red not).  The Mazama Store is open again.

Ok news: the recent weather has clearly helped although the cloudy days had stronger winds.

Bad news: (1) still a long way to a real rain or snow.  Only then will the fires be out for sure. (2) the right weather (heat, humidity, and wind) conditions could cause significant problems in the next two months. (3) There are still many opportunities for old fires to start up and new fires to begin (the newest fire is the Twentyfive mile fire on Lake Chelan). (4) Some 550,000 acres have burned so far and most of the those acres are on the eastside of the Cascades.  (5) There had been almost a month of bad to terrible air quality in many areas on the eastside.  (6) There have been many Level 3 evacuations called some without any or minimal warning (e.g., the Twentyfive Mile, Muckamuck, and Walker Lake/Spur fires.

Associated with these fires and these extraordinary drought conditions, there have been lots of forest closures (DNR lands are still closed).

There many agency web sites that provide very detailed and up-to-date information.  Inciweb is just one example.

Those of us on the westside of the Cascades have had our share of dry weather, heat, smoke, and some small fires; however, those on the eastside have endured much more.  Whether we attribute some of this or all this to climate change, the impacts are not uniformly distributed and felt (whether one lives in an air conditioned house or not, whether one is on the eastside or westside of the Cascades, for example).

Burnt landscapes seem to be an inescapable reality in contemporary hiking. For better or for worse massive wildfires have become an increasingly normal part of our world’s method of self-healing. After a century of misguided management of our forests we must accept the repercussions and consequences of our actions. Scatter Lake itself was very narrowly missed by the extreme fires of 2018 in the Twisp River drainage.

Ascending from The Valley bottom there is the strange mix of death, life being reborn, and the few corners that somehow escaped the fiery inferno. Despite the destruction mankind has returned; downed trees are cut, trail is rerouted, even homemade signage has popped-up to replace the burned over Forest Service signs.

Getting to Scatter Lake is not particularly hard technically, though some may find its steepness and rocky nature arduous.  Much of the trail is thick with Narrowleaf Willowherb and other first generation plants intermixed with the soot blacken trunks.

A lot of hard work has gone into restoring this trail, perhaps by the Backcountry Horsemen Association. The tread is loose and Ricky in a few place but generally very good. Nearing the lake the last vestiges of Fire fall behind being replaced by the golden yellow larches.  

Scatter Lake is a big alpine lake with a faint fisherman’s trail circumnavigating it’s shoreline. Huge talus slopes sweep upward to a daunting ridge line. Abernathy Peak at 84@@‘ just barely makes the cut as one of Washington’s top 100 peaks.

Enjoy your stay, visit a quaint peninsula, try your luck with the sometimes-fickle trout, or simply soak in the life giving nectar of the alpine.