[TR] Dakobed Traverse- 7/14/2004

[JasonG]

Climb: Dakobed Traverse-

 

Date of Climb: 7/14/2004

 

Trip Report:

We originally planned on heading to the Colonial/Snowfield group, but somehow changed plans at the last minute to something a little bit more obscure. Maybe we wanted more bushwacking, road walking, heat, bugs than Colonial would have offered, or maybe we were just looking for more of a remote adventure, either way we got it.

 

The trip started with my wife, myself and two friends from Mount Vernon meeting a friend Steve at the Lake Wenatchee RS. It was here that we discovered that our plan B would involve an extra 3 miles of road walking due to the White River Rd being washed out at the Tall Timbers Ranch (note from wife- call RS beforehand!!). That made our first day around 14 miles and 4000+ feet of gain in 90 degree heat to gain Boulder Pass. I had to make it much more fun for myself by forgetting my camera in the trailhead (discovered when I reached the normal TH), adding 6 more miles of fun in the day for me!

 

So I spent the rest of the day trying to catch the group, alternately passing out from the heat and being woken by bugs draining my precious bodily fluids. I finally got to Boulder Pass around 6:30 pm dehydrated and finding the rest of the group in similar condtion. I could tell I had close to a mutiny on my hands. It'll all be better tomorrow I promised. . .

 

And it was, for the most part. We got going by 6:30am and were roping up for the Walrus Glacier by 8am. At this point Steve wasn't feeling well and decided to bail on the rest of the trip. This started to tip the scales against any of us going any farther, but I managed to convince people that it would get better/cooler/less bugs/more downhill/etc. and we carried on to the summit of Clark without Steve. Quite a nice view!

 

We orginally had plans to summit other peaks down the line that day (Luahna and Challangin) and then camp at col 7750. Screw that! We had enough just traversing over to the col, nothing scary or hard, but a long distance to cover sidehilling (you cross the Walrus, Richardson, Pilz, and Butterfly Glaciers) after our sufferfest the day before. The good news was the camps at the col are downright amazing. Great, flat tent sites with 360 degree views and running water nearby.

 

That evening we gorged and rested from the two long days behind us and looked forward to a more mellow day (at least that's what I told them, but I wasn't too sure. I was a little bit worried about the descent to Thunder Basin- it looked steep!). I went scouting after dinner and thought I scoped an OK line down into Thunder Basin and realized that we would probably have to skip Tenpeak in favor of Neyah point. We needed something easy with a good view and Neyah was much more in line with our energy level (only 400' above camp and less than a mile away). We'd have to lose a bunch of elevation and traverse a ways to get over to Tenpeak, tough to sell to the rest of the crew (including myself at this point). I wasn't too disappointed though, and headed to bed looking forward to a fun, easy summit.

 

The next day dawned clear and didn't disappoint. We were on top of Neyah point within an hour of leaving camp (including time to summit a gendarme we thought was Neyah point- D'OH). Much time was spent napping, snapping photographs of the east side of Glacier Peak (very cool), and remarking how glad we were to be there instead of traversing below to get to Tenpeak. After 2-3 hours we headed back to camp and packed up, uneager to begin the descent into the unkown.

 

Too soon we were ready to leave and began descending easy snow to reach a "poorly defined rib" described by Beckey. Things got very steep from this point, but every time we thought we needed to get out the rope, we would find a goat path skirting the cliff bands. It's exposure demanded constant attention, but the worst was over after about a 1000' of drop. Another 1200' of dropping around cliff bands found us in one of the most beautiful basins I have camped in. No evidence of camp sites, bear and deer tracks everywhere, flat meadows for acres and acres, and a large creek to swim in. There was even tons of avalanche supplied wood for a roaring fire (on the sand bar, so we didn't leave a lasting mark). Truly an idyllic spot, and the bugs weren't even bad!

 

We slept in, and reluctantly packed up to leave around 9am the next day (day 4). We had 10+ miles to cover (~3 miles without a maintained trail) and were a little worried about how the schwack might go. We weren't disappointed, as we surely found the "dense brush" described by Beckey at the immediate exit from Thunder Basin. It went by pretty quickly and we were able to follow a trail cleared by some hunters mostly the rest of the way back to the White River trail. This was a godsend, as some dense slide alder sections would have downright sucked without the tunnel cleared by the hunters. It hasn't been maintained in proably over a decade so it won't be long before it is gone completely.

 

The 7 mile hike out the White River trail was uneventful except for the ford of Thunder Creek (brige out and the creek high). We even managed to get a trail crew worker to give us a ride down the three miles of road to Tall Timbers (you can go around the washout through the camp but it is private property and they won't let the general public through). A quick dip in the river and dinner the Index Cafe finished off a fine adventure!

 

Overall we were surprised at the lack of evidence of human passage after we left Boulder Pass. I don't think this area sees many visitors and is very beautiful for those looking for some solitude.

 

Gear Notes:

37m rope, light axe

 

Approach Notes:

everything including some stream fording

[dkemp]

Very nice I've looked at the maps many times and wondered about that descent into Thunder Basin - looks bad on the map and I'm glad to hear it goes!

 

Way to go!

Dox

[Stefan]

...we were able to follow a trail cleared by some hunters mostly the rest of the way back to the White River trail. This was a godsend, as some dense slide alder sections would have downright sucked without the tunnel cleared by the hunters. It hasn't been maintained in proably over a decade so it won't be long before it is gone completely.

 

I am curious about this hunter's trail along Thunder Creek. Is this hunter's trail on the east or west side of the creek? What elevation did you come across it? About how far is this trail from the creek? Any info is appreciated. Thanks!

[klenke]

Stefan: the hunter's trail (sheepherder's trail) is the yellow line (more or less) in Hoffman's map (his TR might also help):

If you intend to go up that way from White River Trail then you'll want to know that finding the sheepherder's trail will be extremely difficult. There is no sign for it and it does not end at the WRT. Because of the barren underforest at the junction location, discerning trail (tread) from normal dirt is darn near impossible. We came down from Luahna this way, having gone up the Y Basin Route mentioned on this page also visible in the map above as the basin SSE of Clark's summit.

 

Hoffman's yellow line in the upper basin is about right. If coming down from above, you want to descend right (east) of his yellow line as much as possible to avoid brush that trends west into the creek valley. BW5! You come down to the Thunder Creek crossing where the creek courses through a flat area (c. 3,700 ft). The crossing was flagged. On the other side, turn left and follow above the creek for maybe a hundred yards keeping a keen eye out for a forming trail. Once you find it, it's actually quite good all the way down to the WRT. The trail (climber's path) "ended" about where a bunch of windfall got in the way about 100 feet from the WRT.

 

When we reached the WRT I turned around to ascertain the terrain for purposes of later identification. There was nothing really to go on other than A) the ground was open and flat in the area and B) there was a large sawed 3-ft diameter log (gap removed to allow WRT to continue through) crossing the trail about where we came upon it.

 

If you felt like risking getting caught, you could definitely bike the trail all the way to the 6.5-mile point where the trail goes up Thunder Creek. This is because last year trail crews brushed out the trail from the Boulder Creek junction to the next forested area just before Thunder Creek. We were able to bike about 5 miles to the creek running out of the Y Basin (basin where creek has tributaries forming a Y).

[Stefan]

thanks Klenke! I realize now I should ask you first every time. Forget Roper!