Gilbert Peak, Warm Lake, Surprise Lake & South Fork Tieton River — Sunday, Jun. 27, 2021

Overnight trip to Gilbert Peak from the Conrad Meadows Trailhead.

Getting to the trailhead

There is a bit to unpack here. First, contrary to the information on the hike finder map, the trailhead for all the referenced hikes is the Conrad Meadows Trailhead. Shortly after, the South Fork Tieton Road is blocked by a gate. It appears that it used to be possible to continue for another 2 miles and start the hikes there, as evidenced by an old information board along the way, but it's no longer the case.

Second, to get to the trailhead I'd strongly recommend to drive on the South Fork Tieton road from its beginning at Rimrock Lake to the trailhead. My GPS sent me through a shorter way that featured a subpar forest road and a few scared, free roaming cows.

Third, this trailhead is very popular among equestrians. We saw at least 5 horse trailers and many horses in the meadows (and two groups of horse riders on the trail).

Surprise Lake

Follow the South Fork Tieton Road until it is blocked. There you will find a sign which indicates the beginning of the trail. The trail goes through various meadows and light forests. Very scenic, but unfortunately not much shade. Eventually once crosses Conrad Creek, which runs quite deep with significant current, over a partially damaged bridge: It is tilted and some boards are loose, but it felt safe.

After following the river a bit longer, we took a left at the fork. That's about when the trail starts gaining about 1000 ft of elevation. Luckily, there was more shade in this part. Just before reaching Surprise Lake there were some small snow patches, nothing problematic. Surprise Lake is completely unfrozen and really nice - except for the mosquitos which were a pain.

Note that there are several creek crossings over logs all the way to the lake. None of the creeks have dangerous water flow, but the logs are often wet and unstable.

Warm Lake

After one passes Surprise Lake, snow takes over the trail. Every once in a while the trail is visible, but one really needs a map and or GPS. One passes various meadows and there is often water running under the snow. On a good note, we did not encounter any hazardous water flow, but that might change in the future depending on how rapidly the snow melts, so be careful.

Finding the trail that brings you close to the ridge ("Klickitat Divide") was hard, and we mostly went off-route to make our way. Eventually we found the trail in a large area where the snow was mostly melted out. We had to navigate little snow (and no steep snow), but this might be different depending on the route taken. Once one attains the area below the ridge, turn sharp to the left and walk on a pretty level area, almost entirely on snow. Every once in a while we saw the trail peak up under the snow. It's not until one reaches Warm Lake that the snow subsides. About a fifth of Warm Lake is unfrozen and the surrounding area is entirely unfrozen.

Gilbert Peak

From Warm Lake, go straight up the ridge. It's steepish snow, around 30 degrees, but currently the runout is as benign as it gets if you pick a route which goes straight up and bypasses some places where the snow melted and rocks are showing. Worst case, you will slide back down to where the snow levels. We used ice axes, but it was more like a good to have.

Once on the ridge - and this is different that what is in the description of the Gilbert Peak page - one can get up to Gilbert Peak without touching any snow. We walked maybe 30 feet over flat snow patches, and that could have been avoided. For the most part, there is a climbers trail and we have found it very straightforward to follow the ridge (once again, different than the experience described in the Gilbert Peak page). None of the route is exposed, so if you do find a spot with exposure, you are off-route.

The summit block has two short class 3 sections. One at the end of the climbers trail, and another to reach the peak. No significant exposure on the path we took until the last 10 ft or so to reach the summit. This stretch is a walk-up on small rocks, very easy, but exposed. There is a summit register at the top.

The views from the top were great and were dominated by Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and Mount Saint Helens.