Beverly Turnpike, Fourth Creek — Monday, May. 28, 2018

This was the approach to a climb of Argonaut Peak from the Beverly Creek trailhead. The plan was to bivy at the trailhead to get an early start, but as it turned out we arrived at 7pm, early enough to get a head start on the next day. The Beverly trail required an initial creek crossing, easy enough if you don't mind wet feet. The trail is in great shape up to the Fourth Creek exit where there is occasional snow. The Fourth Creek trail was pretty good to the intersection with Hardscrabble trail, where it is mostly snow. We camped there for the night, then headed down towards Ingalls Creek at 6:30 am. The higher part of the trail is often covered by snow or running water, with frequent blow downs. We relied on gps maps to stay with the trail. As you near Ingalls Creek the trail dries out, although there are frequent blowdowns to negotiate. Reaching Ingalls Creek the stream was fast and deep, out of the question to ford on foot. We found some logs upstream and used them to cross. I am reasonably experienced at this and found the crossing to be very dicey. Returning at 8 that evening the stream was noticeably higher, my knees got wet scootching along the lower log.

The climb of Argonaut made for a very stout day. We never found a trail off Ingalls, the walk up through the woods was steep and difficult, followed by about a thousand feet of 50 degree snowfield, lots of crampon and ice axe practice. At the top we took off our heavy boots and did the rock climbing barefoot. Coming down was labor intensive, by the time we returned to the trailhead at 11 pm we were spent. Beautiful summit, whoever goes up next should take a pencil, as there is none in the summit register. I left a bloody thumbprint in the register, it seemed appropriate🙂