Trip Report
Alpine Scramble - Scarface—Grand Park Traverse
A moderate bushwhack to a peak that had a flower filled meadow on the north side of Mt. Rainier
Paul Kallmann
- Sun, Aug 4, 2024
- Alpine Scramble - Scarface—Grand Park Traverse
- Grand Park, Scarface & Mount Fremont
- Scrambling
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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FS 73 is in good shape with scattered potholes.
Trail to Lake Eleanor is in great shape - watch out for mosquitoes along the trail and the lake
Bushwhack had moderate blowdown in places
South ridge of Scarface is an unmaintained trail down to the base at 5,400 feet. Game trails visible to get you back to the Grand Park Trail
We met at the Enumclaw Ranger Station at 6:30 and carpooled up to the Lake Eleanor trailhead. After a brief pre-scramble meet, we packed up our gear and headed up the trail. We reached the lake in less than 25 minutes and had a quick de-layering and snack break. We continued up the trail a little further to the toe of the east ridge of Scarface at the 5,000 foot level.
We then started our bushwhack up the ridge. The bushwhack itself was not too bad. We had to navigate over some blowdown but it was nothing that we couldn't handle. We came across a couple yellow jacket nests and three of us got stung along the way. There were a couple of rock outcroppings that we had to go around but eventually we got to just below point 5862. To obtain that point, we had to between two rock spires which I nicknamed the "Pearly Gates." Once through there, we were able to do an easy class 3 step and then an easy scramble to the peak itself.
After a nice break, we continued down to a saddle at 5,700 feet and then back up 300 feet to a broad meadow that we followed to the summit proper at 6,108 feet. The meadow was filled with wildflowers and we had superb views of Mt. Rainier. We took our lunch there.
We saw a fair amount of bear scat around the meadow but no sign of any bear. From the summit, we turned left and headed down the south ridge. Much to my surprise, there appeared to be an unmaintained trail that took us all the way down to about 5,350 feet where there was another small meadow. We saw more bear scat and even found a watering hole that we were sure the bear would have used for a mud bath, but there no bear around.
We headed east and gained 200 feet back to the Grand Park trail. Though most of the flowers have passed, the views of Mt. Rainier were still amazing. We turned northeast onto the trail and headed back to the trailhead.
Car to car was 6h 45 min, with final stats of 7.25 miles and a total of 2,200 feet of elevation gain. We would have been faster, but we took an extended lunch break because it was such a nice day.
Overall, it was a great day! A fun group of Mountaineers, beautiful views of Mt. Rainier, a flower filled meadow, and perfect weather.