Alpine Scramble - Mount Pilchuck/East Ridge

The group met at the Verlot Ranger Station then split into two, one group going east to west, the other west to east. From Verlot we selected a few lucky cars to drive everyone to their respective trailheads. The road to the Pinnacle Lake trailhead is pretty rough so we picked the two most capable looking cars to head to that end. I was in the Pinnacle Lake group, heading east to west.

The beginning of the trail to Pinnacle Lake had some very fresh WTA work and was in great condition. Things got increasingly muddy as we approached Pinnacle Lake and I was glad to be in boots. It rained a bit as we made our way around the lake to Iodine Gulch which made the rocks we clambered over a little less grippy than they would have been. For me at least this prompted some thoughts about sliding off the rocks into the lake and what a cold way that would be to start the trip.

There are pictures of a very nice yellow spray paint sign for Iodine Gulch, but that's at the west end. Starting from the east you'll receive no such reassurances. You just have to believe in yourself and follow the creek up. The gulch itself is moderately steep but there's lots of vegetation and not a lot of loose rock or anything to worry about.

At the top of Iodine Gulch we headed west to the Bathtub Lakes. The path for the rest of the trip is marked with yellow spray paint blazes, and given how many different ways you could go and end up cliffed out or doing something extremely exciting it's worth keeping track of these and finding your way back if you lose them. The markers have a pretty strong west to east bias, so at times the easiest way to see if you're on the right path is to turn around and look for all the markers that were invisible to you while you headed west.

The Bathtub Lakes area is bonkers gorgeous, especially with the fall colors coming in, and we spent a fair amount of time relaxing and enjoying the area. It was here that we met up with the westward half of our group for a few pictures and a "summit" treat (Thank's Andy!). After our treat it was time to head steeply upward again.

Once on the ridge between the Bathtub Lakes and Pilchuck there's a fair amount of rock scrambling to be done. The rocks here are very grippy, lending a sort of "wow I'm good at this" feel to the endeavour. There are a couple of exposed spots, and a few short spots that were a little bit tricky to get up, but they don't come at the same time. There's also a short couple of slabs that made me really glad to have grippy soles on my footwear. Overall the group seemed pretty happy with the medium level of spice on offer. The path marked by the blazes follows quite close to the north side of the ridge and our group did end up off the route to the south for a bit. When we realized we were off we were able to head north over rocks and through a couple of unaccommodating trees to get back on route. Keep an eye out for those blazes!

At the west end of the ridge we had a good view of the gully we'd be climbing for our final ascent to the Mount Pilchuck peak. From the ridge the gully appears ridiculously, maybe impossibly, steep. After descending from the ridge to the base of the gully it turns out to be merely impressively steep. The trip up is fairly easy with only a few short sections of loose rock to contend with. When we reached the top we found ourselves among a large number of Pilchuck hikers. One asked "Wait, is that a trail down there?" to which the answer is "No, not really".

We got to spend a nice, triumphant few minutes with the rest of our group in the Mount Pilchuck lookout. I spent most of it fighting the urge to tell the hikers around me that our trip was different than the trail they just came up and no, I don't wear a helmet to go for a walk. After a rest we headed down the very relaxing Pilchuck trail to our cars, which had been left waiting for us by the other half of the group. One of our group had brought some shoes to change into on the way down, and I was pretty envious of their footwear.

It took us 9.5 hours car (someone else's) to car (mine). This was a very fun trip and the key exchange plan made it simple and avoided any shuttling or back tracking. I do think I got a lucky break going east-to-west. The east-to-west way was probably easier than the west-to-east, since the steep bits seem like they would be much tougher going down. The group was lots of fun and all worked well, with the leaders providing a great relaxed and supportive atmosphere.