Seeking beta on Big Beaver crossing into Access Ck.

[Billy]

Jonathon-

Do you have any beta on the Access Creek Approach from your trip last year? Any info would be great.

Thanks

[BURP]

I was crossing a big beaver last night and got stuck in it. Not so bad really kinda warm and moist except the smell was not so good.

 

Whatever you do, be careful around those big beavers, they can carry a lot of diseases.

[Jonathan]

Hello, Billy,

 

In Sept. '01 we walked maybe 30 min. past Luna Camp until we encountered some sandier, more gravelly soil. Departed the trail here stage left and slogged through the brush to the creek, more or less in a straight line. A might boggy at times. Ambled downstream a bit and encountered a small knee-deep, not terribly swift wade onto a rocky island. From there two level logs sped us across the considerably more rowdy main channel. IMHO very fortuitous find.

 

Now, could I locate this exact spot again? Perhaps. Would those logs be there? Hard tellin' not knowin'!

 

Unfortunately we lost much time to struggling up Access Ck.--we were too far from the stream--and weather--tent bound for a day--to climb Luna and Fury East. We did achieve the col between Fury East and Luna, but too late in the day for Luna. We had underestimated the time required. The col however constitutes a spectacular destination in its own right.

 

Good luck!

 

Jonathan

[Jonathan]

Hello,

 

Has anyone out there recently crossed the Big Beaver to get into the Access Creek drainage?

 

Was in there last year in Sept., and it went well enough w/ a wade and a log, but that was a poor snow year.

 

Thanks,

 

Jonathan

[Billy]

Thanks Jonathon-

What would be the recomended "least struggley way" to get up Access Creek? Near the creek? Any insights? Also, how long did it take you to get up to Luna Col?

Thanks!

[Picketeer]

Hi:

 

See Access Creek Approach on Page 3. I posted a link to a trip report. The link shows the two log crossings we made. I recall that crossing upstream of Access Creek (aside from having a 'good' log to cross on) looked better because the Big Beaver was wider and shallower than below Access Creek (where we crossed going in on a broken log). It is somewhat tricky (not to mention brushy in the true Picket sense) to know where to exit the Big Beaver trail and descend to

the Big Beaver and start the search for the confluence of Access Creek and the Big Beaver. Definitely, take a route up through timber onthe North side of Access Creek. Do not ascend the south side of Access Creek unless you wish to experience an epic bushwack.

 

[ 07-31-2002, 11:45 AM: Message edited by: Picketeer ]

[Cpt.Caveman]

Wynona's Big Brown Beaver!

[jhamaker]

There is a small log-jam just downstream of the Access Cr/Big Beaver confluence.

 

We were able to minimize class 3 bushwacking to only one hour - still lots of brush 1 and 2 however you go.

 

The flying blood-suckers were eating us alive, so we ate them back. Yum, yum, blackened black-fly steak, horse-fly haunch, mosquito minion.

 

The couloirs up Access Cr headwall are mostley full of snow.

 

The bivy sites are getting beat up, be gentle.

[Jonathan]

Hello,

 

Thanks to all who posted.

 

I agree with Picketeer and jhamaker about the "least struggley way" to travel in the Access Creek drainage. As I recall from the ’01 trip, stay on the north side of the creek and, as Nelson/Potterfield say, within earshot of the creek. Above the timbered campsite at around 3700’, head rightish, unitizing forest and some clever bear trails through the slide alder avalanche swaths. Of course we discovered these handy travel tips on the descent.

 

By the way, weather last weekend compelled my buddy Norm and I to forsake the Picketts and head east into the drier Pasayten, where we enjoyed athletic scrambles of Lake and Monument Peaks. Scheduling issues may not allow an extended trip into the Picketts this year.

 

Jonathan