Pitcher Mountain

Trip Date: Nov 1, 2014
Total Miles: 4.5 (round trip)
Elevation gain: 2300
Elapsed Time: 8 1/2 hours

This scramble is nearly as unpleasant as I warned everyone it would be. Fortunately for us, the weather was not all that bad. This was my 2nd attempt on the mountain, having had to turn around in October of 2013.

We looked for the old road that leads into the meadow, but for the 2nd year could not find it. Much to my chagrin, I was able to find it on the way out. Look for it at the upper end of the hairpin turn, it is not marked from the road, but once you start up it, it will be obvious. If you do not find it, be prepared for some serious brush-bashing taking at least an hour or 2 to reach the old cabin.

From the cabin, we headed directly up towards the saddle, aiming for timber to avoid the brush when possible. From the saddle, we dropped down a few feet and traversed a bit, and started up what we thought would be an easy slope to the summit. It was very steep and required the use of veggie belays and ice-axes in the dirt. We elected to find a different way down, and descended via the NW ridge until a faint paint was detected above a large cliff, we followed this down and managed to avoid the super-steep slope we found on the way up.

The rest of the way back was more slipping & sliding back down to the meadow. There was much rejoicing when we discovered the old road. Probably saved us an extra hour.