McGregor Mountain — Friday, Jun. 30, 2017

Central Cascades > Entiat Mountains/Lake Chelan

We took the National Park Service bus from Stehekin to High Bridge and jumped on the trail around 09:00. Trail was snow free up to the one creek crossing around 5800 ft or so. The creek is running hard from melt off and there is a snow bridge crossing over to the trail. It was probably stable enough, but the melt-off is happening quickly so we opted for the safer route of crossing below the snow bridge where we could - maybe 50 foot decent. The creek was a nice break after a long haul from the TH starting around 1600' and a good portion of the trail exposed to the sun. After breaking, we continued to Heaton Camp at 6700'. The camp itself is snow free, however there is a snowfield gaining around 700 ft before hanging a left into Heaton. Since we carried full packs, we opted to chill the rest of the day and summit the following morning. We were the only ones in camp, which was fantastic! Summit morning we headed up at 06:30 am. The snow was in great shape, soft, no moats to worry about currently. Originally we took the wrong snow gully (the gully on the right facing McGregor), gaining about 1500 ft when we realized there was no way to the summit - too much exposure, not the correct route. Back down we went and looked up at the second gully to the left - steeper and longer. Having been up McGregor several times, we were pretty certain we needed to gain the top of that gully and get onto the ledge to the left. This in fact was the case. The snow gully is about a 50-55 degrees mid way to the top (1000 ft total for the gully of snow). Crampons not required, but do bring your ice axe. Once on the ledge to the left at the top of the snow gully, you should see an orange arrow directing you the correct way. The rest of the trail is snow free (except at the end, where you may need to jump on a short snowfield) and easily followed. The summit is spectacular and well worth any effort it takes to reach it. Additional info: Bobcat tracks near our camp Bear scat on the way up the trail Watch for rattlesnakes Wildflowers in full bloom