Trip Report
Alpine Scramble - Alki Crest
Pleasant sunny cold day, several inches of new dry snow. Found a good route from the Saddle East of August down to Tolmie Creek. Lots of Devils club and other prickly vegetation, manageable due to the time of year.
Dave Schultz
- Sat, Nov 30, 2019
- Alpine Scramble - Alki Crest
- Alki Crest
- Scrambling
- Successful
- Road suitable for all vehicles
-
Compact snow and ice on the road to the Mowich TH above 2800ft. 3" of dry snow at TH, no base. New trail work on the Boundary trail headed up to Alki Crest from the Carbon. Nice job with stairs after creek crossing 1 mi in from the Carbon. Big Tree down at 3600' on this trail, good work around, well flagged a bit of easy scrambling involved.
Total time 7hrs 40 min. ~3300 ft gain ~5100 descent
Dropped a vehicle at the Carbon Entrance, Left the Mowich TH. at 7:40am, 20’ F. Sunny, calm. Several inches of very dry snow.great conditions for animal tracks, lots of deer, bobcat, cougar, squirrel, rabbit, bird tracks. Left the trail at 4400 worked our way up to the saddle East of August Peak. Spent 2 ½ hours finding our way down to Tolmie Creek. Terrain very manageable. Worked around a few minor cliff bands. Lots of patches of Devils club that thankfully was not in leaf. Many downed large trees below 4000 ft to work around,over or under. Large overturned root structure
Ran into old flagged trail at 3400’ ⅓ mile from the Creek. No sign of old trail above flagging. Crossed creek on logs. 
Trail up to Alki crest easy enough to follow, trail overgrown with Salal, and Oregon grape. Several downed trees, minor obstacles, nothing compared to what we found on the South side of the creek. Quick return down boundary trail from Alki Crest to the Carbon. Used Microspikes from crest to Creek crossing 1 mile from Carbon TH arrived at 3:30. Car shuttle completed by sunset.