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Trip Report    

Alpine Scramble - Paddy-Go-Easy South Peak

This was a very enjoyable scramble of Paddy-G0-Easy North, with a quick side trip to the overlook of Sprite Lake.

  • Road rough but passable
  • The Cle Elum River road is in better shape than usual; not too much washboard and few potholes.  There's still a fair amount of water flowing in Scatter Creek, but we all were able to drive through it OK.

    The trail is logged out up to the wilderness boundary; there are a number of trees down beyond that point, with 5 or 6 being awkward to get over, under, or around.  Beyond the pass we crossed a few snow fields, but they were not steep and we never needed the ice axes we had brought.

    Bugs were occasionally annoying, but there was a decent breeze much of the time that kept them mostly under control.

The trip started with the hike to Paddy-Go-Easy Pass.  It was a warm day, but trees and terrain provided some shade much of the way (the trail is a lot more exposed to the sun in the afternoon).  After a good rest at the pass, we headed for Paddy-Go-North.  There is an obvious ramp leading to a NE spur on the peak; we continued around the peak to the only place with significant exposure, which was the crux of the scramble.  Here there is a very solid flake providing great hand holds; continuing around to the right leads to an easy slope the rest of the way.  Views at the top were great.

After returning to the pass, we took the path toward Paddy-Go-South.  By the time we got to where the path descends toward Sprite Lake, enthusiasm for doing another peak was wilting in the heat, so we turned around there.

Between the pass and the lake, there were nice displays of alpine springbeauty, also known as fell-fields Claytonia (Claytonia megarhiza).Alpine Springbeauty (Medium).JPG