Ngie and I got started at 7:40 am this morning from the Beverley Turnpike/ Bean Creek Basin trailhead. The crossing of Bean creek on the Beverly Turnpike trail was pretty straight forward as the creek has lowered quite a bit from when we were there last, when it was raging. Care still needs to taken as some of the rocks were submerged by maybe a inch.
Beverly Turnpike trail has 10+ blowdowns on it. Most were pretty easy to go over, except for one, where we were wishing we had brought a saw. Trail is snow free to where we turned on Fourth Creek trail. Fourth Creek trail is also snow free all the way to the saddle where the Hardscrabble Creek is and then it was mostly snow from there. First time for me on the Beverly Turnpike trail. This trail around where it intersects the Fourth Creek trail is quite beautiful. Nice alpine forest with quite a few wildflowers blooming, along with fantastic views of Iron, Teanaway(Gene's), and Bill's Peaks, all with snow on them.
When we arrived at the saddle where the Hardscrabble Creek intersects the Fourth Creek trail, we hung a left and headed up toward Bill's Peak. We tried to find a trail, but could not find one. We tried to stay on dirt and rocks to minimize trampling on any vegetation. We ended up going straight up the super steep scree trying to hit good rock to scramble up. It was hit or miss with the good rock. We both put on helmets here in case one of us kicked down a rock.
Once we got up to about 6200 ft we ran into a lot of snow. Ngie went straight up a steep col in the snow to get to the summit and I went more to the right getting on some rock to scramble and finding more of a gentle snow slope to the summit coming in from the NE. We took this way on the way down and even were able to boot ski all the way down to 6000 ft. Beware of changing snow conditions with the snow melt. I post holed once up to my waist!
Summit views from Bill's are fantastic. Awesome 360 degree views, with Mt Stuart front and center. Our original plan was to go over to Volcanic Neck and Devils Head, but with the snow conditions on the Hardscrabble Trail over to Volcanic Neck, we decided to save it for another trip, as it would of made for a super long day.
We finished at 2 pm. We only saw two other hikers all day. The were coming back from backpacking as we were going up Beverly Turnpike trail in the morning. They gave us some beta on Bill's peak the previous day and we were able to pick up their boot prints on occasion. With the rising temps they melt out and don't last long. Fun trip on a beautiful day. 8 miles RT with 3300 ft gain
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