Alpine Scramble - Baldy, East Baldy, Peak B, Tyler Peak

Trip Report

Stats

• July 19: 7 miles, 4934’ gain, 2,398’ loss
• July 20: 4.7 miles, 1414’ gain, 3930’ loss

I’ve wanted to explore the ridgeline between Tyler and Gray Wolf Peak for a long time. The gorgeous scenery combined with big elevation gains made me think that this might make an ideal overnight scramble as opposed to a big, single day push. I posted the trip on the Mountaineers website, got some willing participants and the best assistant leader one could ask for (Nina Crampton!) and went about researching the potential route. 

It was clear that the biggest issue was going to be water. Maps indicated that there was a small tarn in a valley between Baldy and Gray Wolf, and luckily, I found a WTA trip report of a traverse coming from the opposite direction that someone had camped and found water there. A previous Dave Morgan trip report indicated that there was running water on the Tyler Peak trail as well. 

I shared the plan with our group but also made it clear that the water sources weren’t a given and that we’d need to work together to find water and a good place to camp that night. 

Saturday

Our group of six women departed the Tyler Peak trailhead at around 9:30 AM and began an unrelenting ascent up the Tyler Peak trail. The trail was in great shape and very steep. The lower portion had multiple footpaths; one that essentially went straight up and another that took short switchbacks. We alternated between the two. We crossed a running stream at about 4800’, where we all filled up ~2 liters of water each, knowing that we wouldn’t be able to access more water until camp. 

We eventually broke out of the trees and were treated to flower-filled meadows and views in all directions. There was a nice breeze that kept us cool. The Tyler Peak trail ends just underneath Peak B. We continued on a bootpath toward Tyler Peak, taking turns leading. We summited Tyler before 1 PM and had a nice long lunch break. This was the third scramble trip for one of the students, so we celebrated her meeting her scramble requirements for graduation!

After our lunch break, we scouted out the traverse up and over Peak B. Even though Peak B wasn’t part of our original plan, it ended up being my favorite from a technical perspective. The rock was really grippy and solid for the Olympics, and we were able to practice finding tiny features on the rock to increase friction as we descended it. 

From Peak B, we headed toward East Baldy then Mount Baldy on an easy-to-follow bootpath. We started to look down into the valleys to scout out possible water sources, seeing none. 

 

After Baldy, the trail ends and there is a steep and loose scree/rocky slope that we descended to the southwest. We spread out and put on helmets to try to avoid rockfall hazards. Everybody did great, and before we knew it, we were ascending yet again, up to an unnamed peak at 6526’.

Up to that point, we were starting to get nervous. From the summit of Baldy we could see great views all the way to Mount Olympus, but the tarn we had seen on the map was still hidden. We couldn’t even see streams. However, once we were up and over the small unnamed peak, a beautiful blue tarn came into view below us. We made a traversing descent toward it, trying to avoid stepping on wildflowers and brush. It was just as steep as the descent from Baldy. It was also over 600’ of descent, which we’d need to retrace to gain the ridge the next day.

The tarn was gorgeous. A few participants skirted to the right side of the lake in an attempt to find suitable campsites as well as running water (the tarn was pretty but also had lots of critters in it with no obvious creek feeding it). The participants returned stating that they’d found a good camping area. They said they heard running water but the access was completely overgrown and difficult to access. While they all enjoyed the lake views, I went slightly downhill from the lake (N-NE) and found an area where the stream was accessible and running quickly. A much better option than the still, critter-filled tarn water!

 

We enjoyed a leisurely evening with plenty of time to set up tents, eat dinner, fill water, and share stories of past trips. The cohesiveness of this group was one of the best I’ve seen; my personal favorite part of the trip was just sitting back and listening to everyone share their stories, tips, tricks, and perspectives on life. 

Before bed we discussed our plan for the next day. The original trip plan included an ascent of Gray Wolf on Sunday, however with the descent to the lake, that would mean a lot of elevation gain for day 2. Most of the participants had come from Seattle and would have to deal with long ferry waits. It was also the Sequim Lavender Festival, so we expected the wait times to be even longer. Nobody expressed an overwhelming desire to do Gray Wolf or return to our cars early, so we decided that we’d leave the decision to the next day.

We planned to depart camp by 8 AM on Sunday, and everyone was ready to go 10 minutes early! We still hadn’t decided if we’d do Gray Wolf and gave it until we hit the ridge to decide. The ascent from camp quickly warmed us up, and when we hit the ridge there was still a lot of indecision. I prefer to make decisions as a group, but in this case after listening to everyone’s thoughts for a bit I spoke up and said we’d just go back to the cars. Gray Wolf would have added 2 hours to our trip and the desire to get home at a reasonable hour outweighed the desire to tag our 5th peak of the weekend. Gray Wolf will be there another day.

We re-ascended Baldy, then East Baldy, and took the Baldy trail back to our car. This treated us to views of a new meadow. We thought it was perfect bear habitat, but unfortunately didn’t see any. We did see a couple grouse and a lot of small mammals. 

 

The Baldy trail seemed to be even more unrelenting than the Tyler Peak trail! We were thankful to get back to our cars and relatively flat ground well before noon.

We saw a total of three people while on trail. 

This trip had it all: a wonderful group of people, fantastic views, four summits (six if you count the fact that we climbed Baldy and East Baldy twice), practice with navigation and decision making for all, lakeside camping, and zero crowds. Could it have been done in one day without the extra 600’ descent and ascent to and from the tarn? Of course! But it is such a gorgeous area that, for me, it was worth stretching it out over two days and taking a more leisurely pace that allows for gawking at the views in all directions and exploring.

Map