[TR] 7 days in Agnes Creek- 6/28/2006

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Climb: 7 days in Agnes Creek-

 

Date of Climb: 6/28/2006

 

Trip Report:

And then there were 259 Top 100 peaks between us....

 

I met 77 year-old Roy McMurtrey at a gathering last October, and after speaking with him a bit I knew he was a guy I'd like to climb with sometime. So I made it a point to do so.

 

That idea came to life three weeks ago as we linked up (along with my Dad) on a climb of Little Tahoma on Mt. Rainier. Roy was tough, determined, and fun to be around. The climb went perfectly, and I enjoyed Roy's company as much as I thought I would.

 

This past week he and I joined forces again for a 6 day trip into Agnes Creek. Roy needed to climb Sinister, and his good friend, 71 year-old Don Duncan, needed to climb Dark to inch closer to their mutual goals of climbing Washington's 100 highest peaks. I too am in hot pursuit and needed both summits.

 

Roy and Don couldn’t leave until Friday, so I went into Agnes Creek a day earlier because I had Thursday off and the long-range forecast looked phenomenal.

 

Day 1

 

Sinister Peak might possibly be the most remote peak on the 'Bulger' list. It is a pain to get to from any angle, but nevertheless, top 100 or not, it's a worthy objective. After a 3.5 hour drive to Field's Point, followed by a 3 hour boat ride to Stehekin on the Lady II, followed by an hour layover, followed by a stop at every tourist destination and trailhead along the way to High Bridge, I was finally staring at the Agnes Creek trailhead and 100 degree temperatures. Saddled up with an 85 pound, 7-day pack, I proceeded to mozy on up the trail accompanied by my newly-found, toothless companion who was on day 8 of a 4 month journey from Canada to Mexico on the PCT.

 

A little history about Mr. Gums (no offense to any of you toothless guys out there)…. This guy had new gear head to shin. All the latest mountaineering stuff … OR Gaiters, Montbell Primaloft sweater 2 sizes too large, Arc’Teryx BORA backpack, Julbo Alti-Arc X8 shades, a high-tech digital camera and a hand-held computer that may as well have been a rubix cube (later on at camp he asked me if I knew how to use the computer). I was a bit puzzled by his choice of K-Mart brand hiking boots, considering all his other gear was top notch. When I wondered this aloud, he informed me that they kept him from getting blisters. I humored him.

 

Mr. Gums proceeded to take off with blazing speed up Agnes Creek with a purported 30 pound pack and ants in his pants. He informed me that he intended to get to Swamp Creek, 8.6 miles up the trail, that evening. I told him that’s where I was headed that night too and that I’d see him in camp.

 

After about a mile or so I pass Gums after he stopped to put on some bug juice. Seeing as how there wasn’t a single bug in sight, I silently questioned the move (the time was 4:20). I didn’t see Mr. Gums again until about an hour after I got to camp, so I’m guessing he was reapplying every so often to stave off the swarms.

 

We sat around the campfire and Gums wowed me with stories of his times working at MSR, about his own makeshift guiding company, and about the life and times of a PCT through-hiker. I was entertained, to say the least. Apparently Mr. Wobgon (as he calls himself) started his own ‘company’ guiding folks into the Sierras. I wasn’t convinced.

 

I asked him how he does his marketing. He informed me that he has his own website … wobgonadventures.com. I made sure he spelled it for me so I could check it out when I got home. I always thought there was an ‘e’ in Wobegon, but he insisted there wasn’t. To all you folks out there shopping for a guide for the Sierras, here’s your opportunity, although it appears the servers are down right now, because I’m getting a ‘no page by this name exists’ error. When I asked Mr. Wobgon who his clientele was, he replied, “people who never done that stuff before.” Very eloquent, is Mr. Wobgon.

 

After the evening entertainment, I decided to call it a night. I kept my bear-defense mechanism handy that night, and an ear out for camp-robbers.

 

Day 2

 

I awoke the next morning and Mr. Wobgon was nowhere in sight. After a quick inventory of all my gear, I was delighted to find out that everything was still there.

 

From camp, I needed to head up almost another mile to where I could find a log to cross South Fork Agnes Creek. From the trail, I schwacked up to camp above Blue Lake following Goldman’s route description with some variations that seemed more suitable to me. Goldman’s route description is pretty accurate, and I only encountered about 250-300 vertical feet of medium-dense brush (BW3), with a couple of moves of BW5 thrown in for good measure. The potential for an epic bushwhacking experience is there for the taking if you’re not paying close attention on the approach to the log crossing.

 

After reaching camp, I had plenty of time to lounge around and get completely scorched by the unbelievably hot sun being reflected off all the surrounding snow. I spent the rest of the day trying to keep cool, and even considered taking a quick dip in 6364’ Blue Lake – until I found out it was still 95% frozen.

 

Day 3

 

The plan was to link up with Roy and Don on Evening 3 at camp, and we would then leave to climb Sinister the following day.

 

I considered heading over to climb Dome Peak, but in light of the 100 degree temps and after punching through several moats on the way to camp on Day 2, I decided to forgo it. I had heard stories of how the Chickamin Glacier had become so broken up over the years and how it was a ‘dangerous’ glacier (I later found out on the summit of Sinister that is in IMMACULATE shape). I considered doing Goldman’s suggested route, but that involved dropping down to 4700’ (twice) making it a potential for a 7,000’ day. After the strenuous approach, and being partnerless until the following day, I decided to make Day 3 a "rest" day and so I proceeded to climb to every minor point within sight and check out the super views. After returning to camp, I noticed millions of ENORMOUS flying ants crawling all over the snow. They too seemed to be affected by the heat and it appeared they were trying to cool off.

 

Day 4

 

I awoke at 4:45AM to a rather annoying bird making an indescribable sound that I have never heard before. It was at this time that I was a little concerned for Roy and Don. I figured the 4500’ climb to camp with big packs may have taken its toll on the “old” guys. My loud, yellow Bibler was perched conspicously along the route so they had no choice but to see it if they were headed my way as planned. I figured there was a chance they camped lower down in the adjacent basin, or its adjacent basin. After my best attempts to mimick the strange bird seemingly drove him to insanity, he flew off and I dozed back to sleep.

 

Startled awake about 30 minutes after falling asleep again, I was relieved to hear Roy’s signature rebel yell (also an indescribable sound). I quickly began to prepare a summit pack and cook my freeze-dried bacon and eggs. One of Mountain House’s finest, to be sure.

 

After reaching my camp, Roy and Don seemed spry. Just as I suspected, they informed me that they had camped at 5600’ in the adjacent basin after a strenuous approach. I heard mention of a terrible bushwhack, but they seemed no worse for the wear. After a quick rest, we all took off toward Sinister, dropping 400’ into a frozen, beautiful Blue Lake Basin.

 

We arrived at the base of Sinister’s South Face, and there was some question as to which was the proper gully. I had read Goldman’s description and she pretty much hit it on the head, so I’ll spare you the details. I led up to it and Don, who had climbed Sinister before, didn’t remember this to be the right gully. I was convinced though, and Roy’s GPS and a quick look over the bottomless drop to the West helped to confirm my suspicion.

 

Since Don had already climbed Sinister, he volunteered to hang back and take photos while Roy and I climbed to the summit. The bergschrund was fairly nasty, and looked like it could collapse at any moment. Unconcerned, Roy shrugged off my suggestion of a possible belay over the ‘schrund. After checking it out to make sure there was enough underneath to hold us, I led up and into the loose, class 3-4 gully which held a very small amount of snow that is entirely avoidable.

 

After trundling a couple of loose rocks down the gulley, we reached the summit arete, 300’ above the glacier below. Roy had dropped his ice axe in the gulley, but it stopped just before it went over the edge of the abyss. He thought about descending to retrieve it right there, seeing as how there was steep snow above the gulley leading to the summit, but I told him he could use one of my pickets. He liked that option better and so we climbed on. The snow leading to the summit was a bit steeper than I expected, but we were both comfortable on steep snow so decided to forgo the rope (good thing I brought it all the way up here, because we never used it). A 55 degree slope led up to the base of the rocky ledge leading to the summit. The ledge is narrow, exposed, and strewn with loose rocks, but mainly class 2-3. We carefully ascended until there was no more mountain left to climb. The big treat for me was the view to Dome and the summit register which was placed in May, 1939 by Mountaineers Anderson, Kelley, and Crooks (whoever they may be). The big treat for Roy was #94 in pursuit of Washington’s Bulger list, and conquering one of the toughest mountains on the list (in terms of the all-around experience, not in terms of technicality).

 

After spending some time on the summit and snapping photos, we headed back to a waiting Don Duncan and then headed back to camp. On the way back to camp we saw paw prints in the snow around Blue Lake. They looked to me to be Bobcat prints. They definitely belonged to a cat.

 

Since Roy and Don had camped in an area that I hadn't even crossed on my way in, I decided to meet them back in Swamp Creek Camp the following evening, me taking my route back to camp, them taking theirs.

 

That night I camped on the ridge between the Icy Creek and Spruce Creek drainages. The views I got that evening were stunning. The temperature that night never dropped below 60 degrees at ~7000’. Apparently a good recipe for mosquitos.

 

Day 5

 

After a strange night of fighting off mosquitos that never went away with darkness, I got up early the next morning and headed back down to camp, not being able to stand any more skeeter bites to the face (I didn’t pitch my tent because it was so hot). I got to camp in relatively quick fashion, but encountered slightly more brush on the way down after making a small judgement error. I won’t go into details publicly.

 

Roy had to get back to Seattle to attend to obligations, so he packed up, said his goodbyes, and headed down to spend the night at West Fork Agnes Camp before continuing the 6 mile voyage back out to the TH the following morning. We were really going to miss Roy … he made our trip so much fun.

 

Don and I spent the day BS’ing and getting to know each other since we had never met prior to Day 4. I learned he was just as good of guy as Roy.

 

We fell asleep early to prepare for the 6000’ day ahead of us on Dark Peak. We decided to forgo the suggested camp at 5000’ in the basin below the headwaters of Swamp Creek in lieu of carrying big overnight packs while schwacking through slide alder.

 

Day 6

 

We awoke at 4AM and were on the “trail” by 4:45. Departure times never usually go as planned, but this one was on the money. We proceeded to play a game of find the “trail” on the way to bushwhack. The schwacking here was BW3 at most, but it was the length of the schwack that disturbed us. Usually while schwacking, one can find a nice row of timber to aim for, but this was not the case in Swamp Creek. Every square inch of hillside was covered in devil’s clubs, thorns of all varieties, and the Cascade climber’s delight .. slide alder. Don (still in shorts) even found some rogue nettles in the mix. Certainly we had encountered the schwackers paradise – a place that dreams are made of.

 

After about a ¾ mile long stretch of slide alder, we found the creek crossing without much trouble (thanks to Don). After crossing the creek using one of three huge logs, we began schwack #2, which paled in comparison to schwack #1, but still kept us entertained. We soon reach the beautiful lower basin at the head of Swamp Creek. This place is truly magical. I have heard people refer to Dark Peak as a choss pile, but it’s really not. In my opinion it is one of the finest places in the range.

 

While resting and taking photos at the lower basin, we counted 22 waterfalls within immediate sight. The main waterfall had an enormous volume, even greater than that of much touted Rainbow Falls just up the valley from Stehekin.

 

We found the hidden slot up to the upper basin after a little poking around, and found it to be steep, but easy-going. 500’ later we were in the upper basin, enjoying views of Dark Glacier and more waterfalls.

 

Realizing there was no more schwacking, we headed for the summit. The views, again, were stunning. We saw a giant shear line on Bonanza that had recently released. Eric Johnson and partner (sorry partner, I forgot your name) climbed Dark on 6/26, and their footprints were still visible, but melted out. The summit register had 2 short pages of entries and was placed in 1999.

 

Someone was apparently climbing around the North Side of Bonanza, as we saw some fairly fresh tracks heading up the snow.

 

Day 7

 

I decided to head out to Stehekin for beer and beer, while Don stayed back and nursed some blisters. We agreed to meet up in Stehekin the following day.

 

I sat around Stehekin, enjoying beer, meeting the locals, and savoring the memories of a perfect trip with 2 perfect gentlemen. They may be old, but they are as tough as they make them. There was no quit in either Roy or Don at any time on this trip no matter how tired they were. I hope I’m that tough in my 70s. I just hope I’m out climbing in my 70s and enjoying life as Roy and Don are.

 

 

In October I met a potential climbing partner. Now I have two great friends.

 

 

Gear Notes:

Dottie work gloves for the brush (thanks Don G for the tip), and ibuprofen for the pain

 

Approach Notes:

blisters

 

::PHOTOS::

 

Glacier Peak from the approach

 

Roy climbing in the gulley on Sinister

 

Roy climbing the summit arete on Sinister

 

Roy descending steep snow back to the col

 

Dome Peak from the summit of Sinister

 

Sunset over Old Guard Peak

 

Swamp Creek Headwall from just below the lower basin

 

Another view of Swamp Creek Headwall

 

Dark Glacier and Dark Peak's summit

 

Bonanza - notice the shear line at left

 

Summit views from Dark Peak

[Off_White]

Great story and wonderful photos, thanks! Looks like a splendid adventure.

 

How about a little annotation on the pictures?

[layton]

SPECTACULAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

thanks so much for that trip report. I love those photos too.

I'm with Off White, can you add a title to those pictures....PLEASE?

[layton]

nevermind, he wrote a description in the photos in the gallery

[Tom_Sjolseth]

::MORE PHOTOS::

 

Looking down on Sinister's sharply defined E. Ridge

 

Yours truly on the summit of Sinister Peak

 

Sunset

 

Sunset - Old Guard and Sentinel at center

 

Don Duncan on Dark Peak's summit ridge

[Keith_Henson]

Congratulations. What an accomplishment!

 

"...the summit register which was placed in May, 1939 by Mountaineers Anderson, Kelley, and Crooks (whoever they may be)."

That would be Lloyd Anderson. He founded a company called REI. He, along with Jim Crooks and Clint Kelley, did the first ascent of Sinister. Anderson and Crooks did the first ascent of Forbidden Peak and took the young Fred (and Helmy) Beckey under their wings. committed

[MCash]

Nice TR and awesome photos!!!

[Keith_Henson]

 

 

"Nice TR and awesome photos!!!"

 

The photos are even made more remarkable in their rarity from that vantage. What a great view of Bonanza Peak.

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Hey thanks for all the compliments on the photos! I usually can't even get my camera to focus.

 

Keith, thanks for the history on Lloyd Anderson. I was not aware that he founded REI. It's pretty cool to see these registers not disappear. For me, reading a historic register is a huge part of the overall experience.

[zoroastr]

Great story, jaw-dropping snaps, fabulous trip report--perfect adventure for armchair alpinists like me...

 

THANX!

[still_climbin]

Great trip! Thanks for the great photos.

[tvashtarkatena]

Thanks for the great report.

 

Could you offer some specific advice on your approach from Agnes Ck to Blue Lake? A friend and I are planning a west to east traverse through the region for sometime early next summer, and we'd like to leave the pruning shears at home if possible.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Pat

[Skeezix]

Can someone resize this TR so it's easier to read?