Sloan Peak, Corkscrew Route - Bedal Creek Approach

[indigosage]

Has anyone given the Sloan Peak Corkscrew route a go this year from the Bedal Creek trail? Since road 49 requires an extra 4.5 mile hike I am looking to try the Bedal Creek approach and looking for any info anyone can offer on the approach/route from this side. The only printed info I can find on this approach is in Beckey's guide, and his account doesn't seem to line up with a report I found on CC from a couple of years ago - so I'm thinking things have changed a lot since that book was published.

 

Any information is greatly appreciated.

[ptownclimber]

Not on Bedal creek...but we were up there last weekend - road 49. The road is blocked but passable with a 4wd. We took mountain bikes to cut down the approach to something reasonable. There was a land rover parked at the TH.

 

The stream crossings are reasonable (big log jams to walk over) and the trail is well flagged but slightly overgrown.

[indigosage]

Thanks for the info. What elevation did you run into snow? I am assuming the actually corkscrew part of the route was totally melted out. Is that correct?

[ptownclimber]

Don't know. We camped at about 4,800 feet near some snow. It drizzled all night and the day held more of the same, so we descended without ever venturing about our camp.

[John Frieh]

Update? Any one been up there since?

[John Frieh]

bump

[jverschuyl]

Went up the corkscrew from the traditional Cougar Creek approach on Fri-Sat(8/22-23). The river crossing and creek crossings are indeed easy. The road slump on FS rd 40 at Mile 0.8 is passable only when dry. After rains like we have had the last few days it becomes goo, and it is easy to get stuck. However, it seems to dry out pretty fast too, within 24-48 hours of the rain, and is then driveable to the trailhead. The route is in good shape, with all the necessary snowbridges still in place on the glacier. There is no moat at all on the far side of the glacier and the goat trail (corkscrew) part of the climb is easy to follow. The summit register has no pencil, but the last entry was from 8-15-07.

[Jerm]

Were you the guys in the Tacoma that got stuck?

We did it in a Ranger, slipped a bit on the way in (wet) but it was dry coming out and easy. A come-along and ratchet straps would be good insurance...

[jverschuyl]

Yep we were in the black Toyota pickup. It looked like several people made it through after us. I must have hit the wrong line through the mud hole. I was on the high side and then just slid into the pit. I was kicking myself for not having a come along, we could have been through it in nothing. Did you guys climb Sloan?

[payaso]

Bump,

 

Back to the original question, Bedal Creek approach anyone?

[jared_j]

Used the Bedal Creek approach this past weekend to approach Sloan but was shut down due to weather. Good trail the whole way, easy to follow, maybe 2 hours to the basin below the northern edge of the 'West Face' as described in Beckey.

 

We were back there wanting to get to the south side of the mountain, and planned on cross-country over the three flanks shown on the USGS quad to get to the southeastern edge of the peak.

 

We made it up to the first flank (trail goes all the way to the saddle here) and hung out before turning around due to rain/snow.

 

We saw a good dusting of snow on the trees higher up when the sky briefly cleared on our way up. Shortly after we left, we got hammered by serious rain and hail. My guess is that there's some fresh stuff up there on the rock.

Edited September 3, 2008 by jared_j

[John Frieh]

How far could you drive? Where did you park? Down trees?

[jared_j]

I was able to drive all the way to the trailhead. I've got a low-dragging Corolla that took a few dings to the tailpipe on the way up, and the gravel/dirt/rock road is loosest where it is steepest. It would be way less stressful with a 4WD.

 

Otherwise, no blowdowns, no ruts that presented any problems passing.

 

The road labelling is a little confusing. You want FS 4096, which is the next road you can turn on heading north on Mountain Loop Highway after you pass 4080 (which is the Elliot Creek / Goat Lake access).

[John Frieh]

many thanks