Great day out, hitting two peaks on the Homecourt 100 list, plus two others nearby. All told:
- Hard Cheese (not a peak; more of a high-point on your cheddar)
- Hard Knox (HC100 objective with a simple scramble)
- Not Knox (short but loose scramble)
- Thorp Mountain (HC100 objective with a fire lookout)
Getting to the trailhead is fairly straightforward. French Cabin Road is a smooth groomer, suitable for any vehicle. Things get much more rough when turning onto road 4308-132. If you're in a low-clearance vehicle, you might consider parking on French Cabin Road and walking the short distance to the trailhead.
Climb French Cabin Creek Trail to Kachess Ridge Trail (~4850 ft elevation) and turn north. The trail continues to climb at a steady rate (maybe 800ft / mile) to the vicinity of Hard Cheese, around 2 miles from the FCCT trailhead where we parked our car. Hard Cheese is an unremarkable bluff with great views that sits maybe 50 yards to the east of the trail. We imagined most of the views because of low-laying clouds.
Continuing north on the Kachess Ridge Trail, we detour West off the trail to scamper up Hard Knox (a modestly steep hillside with stable footing) and Not Knox (a somewhat steeper hillside with looser rock, followed by a short scamble on not-great rock). Neither are particularly challenging. Hard Knox is just a walk. Not Knox requires your hands for the last 10-12 feet.
Back to the Ridge Trail, we continue North along the ridge to the Thorp Mountain Trail, as we soak in the increasingly marvelous views. We arriving at the Thorp Mountain lookout ~3.5 hours after leading the trailhead. Not a fast outing, but a fun one. we eat lunch in glorious solitude, while the clouds lift and give us our first good look at Three Queens, Daniel, [most of] Stuart, and other tall rocks. We leave when rain threatens and make a quick track back to the car. This is a sensational area to explore.
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