Wolf Creek, Gardner Mountain — Sunday, Jun. 25, 2006

North Cascades > Methow/Sawtooth

If there were a theme for this trip, it would be heat. Or from my partner Katie's perspective, full immersion backpacking (she hasn't done very much). First off, I fell into a creek. At any other time of the trip that would have been refreshing, but we started in the evening and just hiked in a couple miles, and it was almost dark when I became completely soaked up to my chest, so not really the best timing. The creek in question is the one about two miles in, near the only camp spots along the whole route to Gardner Meadows. The creek was running very high and is impossible to cross (at least late in the day) without getting feet wet. I tried to jump for it on the way in, but definetely regretted it. Just take your shoes off and walk through, it's only to the lower calf. Fortunately, the warm weather allowed only my pride to be hurt. The next day we hiked up to the meadows, taking a very extended break to wait out the heat next to the creek just prior to the long open areas leading to Gardner Meadows. Finally, yesterday, we woke up at 4:30 in the morning to get a good view of our survey area by 6:00 We spotted several goats, but they were gone by the time the helicopter came, so we were pretty much useless on this trip. While we were waiting for the helicopter, I got restless and began climbing up Gardner Mountain. I've climbed North Gardner before, but this one was a first. The route is very straightforward and quite easy, except with quite a bit of elevation gain. Just hike up the meadows until they end and then more or less scramble up scree, talus, and some easy rock under the left skyline of the peak to the summit area. The true summit is set back and to the right a little bit. Arriving back at camp, I wasn't too exahsted, so we hiked out yesterday as well, reaching the car at about 8:30. Absolutely no snow (including on the peak). Quite a few downed trees, but nothing too terrible. This is a good hike overall, but is pretty boring up until Gardner Meadows. There's a reason this trail isn't more heavily used. Bugs were present but mostly tolerable.