Garland Peak — Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017

Central Cascades > Entiat Mountains/Lake Chelan

Left Lynwood around 5 am and made it 2 miles before the trailhead by 8am. There's a tree down 2 mikes before the trailhead so we had to park at a turnout and hike the extra bit. If you are bold enough to bring your own chainsaw you could easily remove the tree. The trail is in pretty good condition and easily to follow. The first 1/3 of the hike is in the trees and covers a large chunk of the elevation gain. 1.7 miles from the trailhead you've covered almost 2000 ft in vertical and you'll reach a fork, go right. Less than a quarter mile past that fork you'll reach another one, also stay right(which is prettt much following the trail sraight. From here you'll go up a moderately steep incline to a ridge and mostly break the treeline from here in out. Once you reach the start of this ridge it's a long and steady incline traverse. You'll pass a few a beautiful alpine meadows with lots of wild flowers. About 3 miles from the peak you go up a long open saddle thats completely exposed. Once you get to the top of the saddle, stay right for garland peak. Reached the summit ridge around 12:40 We didn't go all the way to the summit since we didn't budget time for the extra 4 miles round trip from the tree blocking the road. And still had a solid mile from the peak. The views are just as good at the top of the saddle along the summit ridge and there is a small peak we had lunch at. Views were good but would've been better if the smoke wasn't blocking everything. Make sure you budget plenty of time for this if you're doing it in a day.! Overall pretty great hike hope to come back soon with overnight gear.