Road to the trailhead had a few potholes but didn't pose any challenges.
We set off Fri night (June 28) with goal of climbing Clark and Luahna first thing Saturday morning. Hiking alongside the river for the first 4 miles was quick, but had relentless mosquitos.
We then turned uphill at the sign, though having GPS to ensure you don't miss the turn could be helpful. Mosquitos quickly disappeared. The hike to boulder basin was quite lovely. Only two sections posed problems - 1) the creek crossing at 4080ft. It's currently very swollen. We switched to tevas since there was no way to hop across dry in our trail runners 2) the trail washout at 4200ft, which was brief but required some boulder hopping and focus to refind the trail on the far side.
We camped at a nice level spot by the toilet sign at 5000ft. Toilet is in good condition by the way...
Saturday morning, we woke and headed toward clark. We followed a nice climbers trail and hit snowline at 5800ft, but snow was soft and we didn't need traction. Easy travel until we neared the col/notch where it got a bit steeper and we had to kick some steps and used an ice axe for safety.
Descending the col was the hardest part of the day since there was steep snow remaining. We carefully downclimbed w/ crampons and ice axes. There's then a short patch of dirt before you step onto continuous snow all the way up to Clark. Climb to Clark was uneventful and not noteworthy.
We were limited on time, so decided to pass on Luahna. Painful to have to return for another 26mi weekend when it was only 1mi further. Oh well.. the Entiats are always a treat to visit.
Comments