Great climb on a clear sky Tuesday! Started around 9 AM and finished close to 5 PM with an hour at the summit and a slow and steady pace for the most part.
Parking is a simple pull out on the side of the road, nothing fancy. If it weren't for AllTrails (using a custom map I should add, as it doesn't have an actual map to follow along with), we would have gotten lost much, much more. The beginning of the climbers trail is difficult to find and requires some bushwacking for the first quarter of a mile or so. Cairns will aid you across the majority of the 3 or so boulder fields before the ridge but having some sort of GPS I feel is a must; we relied on it heavily on the way up. The elevation picks up heavily right before the ridge and after that, say goodbye to shade and hello to some excellent class 3 scrambling (for a little bit that is)!
The first third of the ridge scramble to the summit is fantastic solid rock making for really fun moves with limited exposure given you make wise decisions. Enjoy that first bit while you can because things only go downhill from there. ESPECIALLY in the final leg of the climb after you've taken the lefthand turn into the gully that leads straight to the summit (take a look here for a great visual representation for the path: https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=901117). Tons of loose rock and chossy garbage that will betray your foot. We sent down meteors down the gully; it was truly a miracle that we were the only party for the entire day. I would highly recommend doing this climb on a unbusy day to avoid getting sent to the afterlife early. Either that, or be cautious and bring a helmet. Even if going up wasn't too bad, nothing prepare you for going back down the same garbage.
Fortunately, the views are so worth it. If anything stands out for this peak, it's not only the sheer volume of peaks available to see but also the geographic variation. The Kangaroo Ridge's orangish rock transports you to a sunnier state (albeit I haven't been around to East Washington much admittedly) while the rocky and glaciated Cascades merge seamlessly into view. It's a incredibly unique perspective paired with Highway 20 (sounds like it would ruin the nature-esque vibe but trust me, seeing a motorcycle gang fly by like a bunch of little ants from above is super cool!) and what's even more, people don't talk about the lake along the way! Not sure what it's named, but it's relatively shallow (probably still swimmable??) and warm but still refreshing. Very pleasant surprise given that nobody else had written about it that I had seen.
Overall, ridiculously good views but be prepared to pay the price down that gully on the way back down. Saw this advertised as a beginner's scramble and I would hesitate to say the same. Never the less, happy climbing!
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