Blackjack Ridge — Sunday, Apr. 19, 2015

Central Cascades > Leavenworth Area

Blissman and I were looking for something to do since we were camping on the Icicle after a Mountaineers scramble field trip and I wasn't feeling up to par. After a slow morning of Ibuprofen and caffeine, I thought of Blackjack Ridge. This is a short, but steep trail and should have been very doable if not for both of us feeling under the weather coupled with very nasty ice on the trail. There are a couple of downed trees in the first mile, but they are easy to get around. This trail is almost always in good shape through open forest with lots of soft forest duff, although with a very steep grade. Up and up it goes, and we were making very respectable time until we hit snow and ice at about 5000' or so. At that point there are places where the entire trail is a sheet of ice which could be avoided only by tightrobe walking the 1/4 inch or so of snow on one side of the trail or the other. Other places we found we could dive through bushes for safe passage. Undaunted, we kept on slipping and sliding until we finally got frustrated and hungry enough to stop for lunch at 2:30. We then decided to call it a day. It was getting late and an Icicle Ale was calling for me from Gustav's! This is one of the times that microspikes would have completely changed the way our trip went, but mine were uselessly residing in my gear room at home! This trip has little to recommend it until you reach the views a 6000', which we didn't. The forest isn't remarkable at all. Still, having done this trip a couple of times in the past, I can say that it's well worth it, and if you've got enough time, the scramble of High Chair is easy and spectacular, but for the time being bring your microspikes!