Bull's Tooth (6840') Doughgod (6172')Lemool (6284') — Friday, Aug. 15, 2008

Albert Hale Sylvester is better known to hikers as the name A.H. Sylvester found in the lower left corner on dozens of USGS Washington maps. His friends called him ""Hal."" He was born in Woodside, CA as the youngest of three boys on May 25, 1871. He graduated from the Univ of Calif with a degree in civil engineering and started working for the USGS as a field assistant to surveying parties. In his own words, ""I was proud of my new appointment as Assistant Topographer at $900 a year."" His enthusiasm lead him to be appointed Supervisor of Wenatchee National Forest, a position he occupied from 1908 to 1931. He knew the Cascades intimately and named close to 3,000 geographic features, most of them in Washington. Fred W. Cleator was a fellow worker at the National Forest Service. In his autobiography he describes Sylvester's naming practice; ""He blended wit and sentiment with science and history in his nomenclature."" This lengthy preface is warranted because the names of the highpoints I climbed are varied depending on what source is used. Jeff Howbert has given names to many highpoints on a popular list called the Back Court Peaks. On this list he bestows the name ""Doughgob"" to Pt. 6172 which separates the drainages of Doughgod and Brule Creeks. It is possible he thought the creek named Doughgod by Sylvester was actually a typographical error. Robert Hitchman had a lifelong passion of Pacific Northwest history. Thousands of names were compiled by him on index cards. The repository of all his information he called ""The Crow's Nest"" in his house. He died unexpectedly in 1979. The Washington State Historical Society gathered his notes and posthumously published a book in 1985 entitled Place Names of Washington. Hitchman writes concerning the name Doughgod Creek. ""It was named in 1918 or 1919 by A H Sylvester for the camp bread which was cooked in frying pans by prospectors, sheepherders, and foresters."" Three separate dictionaries of western slang I researched corroborate his use of the word. I believe the current Chiwaukum quad is accurate with the name ""Doughgod Creek."" The highpoint of 6172 is referred to as Doughgod in my writeup. We met at 0400 at the Monroe smokestack to allow us to avoid the brunt of the projected 90+ degrees during our upclimb. We turned off US 2 onto the Mill Creek Road which accesses some of the ski slopes on the backside of Stevens Pass. A high clearance car is recommended for this road. About 800 ft after crossing a concrete bridge an unmarked trail will appear on the left. This is a cutoff trail that accesses the PCT. We continued on the PCT until meeting up with the Icicle Creek Trail above Lake Josephine. We took the Icicle Creek Trail until it met the Chain Lakes Trail which we took to those lakes at the foot of Bull's Tooth. But another problem...Which highpoint is Bull's Tooth? The name Bull's Tooth was given by Sylvester to identify a point which appeared to him as ""...a great fang on the jawbone of Icicle Ridge."" This peak is different and lower than the highpoint called ""Bull's Tooth"" on the Back Court list. From the lake we traversed through the forest toward the 6840 ft highpoint. It would have been easier just to hike to the end of the lake and follow gravity's path to the top. We climbed both the benchmark peak and the peak which has the summit register. If you are confused then welcome to the crowd. The day was getting hotter by the minute. The heat only intensified the activity of the flying ants who occupied the summit capstone. I tagged it and retreated to plot the course toward our next objective, Doughgod. We made a course through a pass that connected with Doelle Lakes. The slopes up Doughgod were easy to travel on. What was difficult was determining the true summit. We climbed both as they appear to have the same elevation. Neither had a register though but an orphaned pencil was found laying on the rocks. Lemool is the unofficial name to the highpoint 6284 which overlooks Chain Lakes. This peak is seldomly climbed and it was a surprise to find Dick ""Kangaroo"" Kegel's name in the register. He had summited earlier on in the day. Having already climbed the Bulger list and the Homecourt list he is on the final furlong of the Back Court list. This area was a favorite area of Sylvester. In his retirement he wanted to share this with some friends. They traveled up the N Fork of Chiwaukum Creek, went over Deadhorse Pass, and then down the Wildhorse Creek drainage. When leading the pack train along a steep section of trail that separates the drainages of Lake Mary from Spanish Camp Creek tragedy befell him. The holter rope of the pack horse he was leading caught under the tail of his mount. His horse threw him onto the rocks. He was carried by stretcher over miles of trail and transfered to a Wenatchee hospital. In less than a week he died though. An unsuccssful effort was made to rename Snowgrass Mountain after him. The Wenatchee Forest does recognize Lake Sylvester to honor him. The closest neighbor to Lake Sylvester is Lake Alice, named by him years earlier as a tribute to his wife. In his earlier writings he states; ""I used to think I knew the Cascades better than most people but I am not so cocky now about it though none can love them better."" We are all enriched by his legacy. Distance travelled; 19 miles Elevation gain; 7700 ft Car-to-car; 12hrs 45 min