Alpine Scramble - Guye Peak/North Route

After hearing rumors of packed parking at Alpental, I was getting somewhat worried that my 9am meeting time was going to be a problem, but I found myself arriving at an essentially empty A7 parking lot - the only one that's currently available to the general public. Meanwhile, the main lot where you're not supposed to park was packed full, probably with people going to the Snow Lake.

Started walking 9:30am or so. About an hour to the fork at the halfway point where you turn left to go to Snoqualmie Mountain, and right to Guye, and another hour to the summit, with a couple 5-10 minute breaks along the way.

Some views along the way:

Students topping out:

Group photos at the summit:

Since we had a group of 10, and space at the summit was limited with scary dropoffs all around, we opted to eat and rest at a large flat area a hundred or so feet below that was also conveniently somewhat sheltered from the highway noise.

Feeling lazy, we were quite content doing nothing, and unmotivated to get up and descend. An hour or maybe a bit longer passed by as we discussed through hikes, sleeping bags, and how to break into T4 scrambles. Eventually, though, it was time to move, and so we reluctantly did.

A little over 1.5 hours, plus a short break or two, to get back down to the lot. The trail was steep, but my aching knees somehow were not offended by its steepness nearly as much as they tend to be on some other comparably steep trails. Going down this trail, in fact, felt quite comfortable and effortless, all things considered.

Not very much scrambling opportunity on this one, but overall, a pretty decent conditioning trip where you get to sleep in, do some exercise, get back home for an early dinner, and still have the rest of the day left. Can't complain!