belayerslayer Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Trip: Curtis Gilbert - Klickton Ridge Date: 8/23/2008 Trip Report: Having explored this area with my father since I was a kid, the Goat Rocks have long captured my imagination. The summit horn of Curtis Gilbert seemed like a remote fortress set amid a mythical valley. Being one of those "feasible" scrambles for both dad and dog, it didn't take much pushing to get both willing to come along. An added bonus was the presence of my sister, fresh back from her summer long adventures through South America. To tick Gilbert Peak would require a few extra days, since a night camping just outside of Conrad Meadows was mandatory. Hiking in to Warm Lake. Conrad Meadows, so I've been told, is the largest sub-alpine meadow in the Cascades. [/img] 4 miles to the fork in the trail. Left, another 2 miles, takes you to Suprise Lake [/img] [/img] From Suprise, to get to Warm Lake one must follow the main trail about 2/3 a mile beyond upper Suprise camp and then hang a left on a boot path. We came across several indistinct "boot paths" and I chose one at random. This led us to a small basin with gulleys and short rock cliffs to our left. A small notch at the other side of the valley brought us to the top of the ridge [/img] From the ridge, you trend slightly south west for less than 1/4 a mile among stubby trees and to Warm Lake. The weather was nasty with powerful gusts of wind. We took shelter in a grove of short trees next to the lakeshore and set up camp. Took a while for the weather to calm down enough for us to take in the desolate, volcanic-and-glacier scarred landscape [/img] Warm Lake [/img] Weather finally died out and it turned clear and cold. During the night up there, I got out to pee and my dad followed. I noticed he was shivering somewhat violently. He told me he didn't think he had slept yet. His skin was really cool to the touch. I couldn't help but smile when I thought of him telling me the day before he would be fine with the blanket off his bed at home. Yeah right, dad! In an effort to help him out, I took the dog sleeping at my end of the tent and curled him up in my dad's coverings. The two hugged each other tightly the rest of the night. I guessed 3 hours to the summit from camp and amazingly, I was correct. From the lake, the route in blue shows what our guidebook suggested to gain the Klickton Divide. I evaluated the slopes and chose a route more to the right. Cut across snow, ascend the steep and loose scree to the broad ledge and traverse over to the top of the ridge. Shaved off about 30 minutes [/img] [/img] Once on the divide, a faint boot(goat?) path leads you pretty much to the base of the summit block. Beautiful, high alpine hiking. The summit block on the back (west) side is class 2/3 and pretty short. There was ice in places and everything seemed pretty solid, even for being rotten volcanic stone [/img] Blitzer, showing us the way up to the summit. The goats of Curtis Gilbert dared not show themselves to us for fear of being surpassed by our ten-and-a-half year old lab [/img] Fun, straightforward, easy scrambling took us to the top [/img] [/img] [/img] Good times up there! Great views of Adams, Rainier, the other Goat Rocks and St. Helens [/img] 3 hrs. from Warm Lake to summit, 2.5 back down. Great group, great trip, always fun to get into the mountains with my dog. Each time he gets a little slower, a little tougher on him, but this was a big achievement for him! A well-deserved swim back at basecamp [/img] Gear Notes: camera, dog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fettster Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Interesting, my impression has been that Curtis Gilbert would not be scalable by a dog. Nice work! No helmet for the pooch though huh? In those latter shots are those fresh patches of snow and ice or remnants still from last winter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottgg Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 good stuff bro! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belayerslayer Posted August 26, 2008 Author Share Posted August 26, 2008 In those latter shots are those fresh patches of snow and ice or remnants still from last winter? Probably a mixture of both. With our mild summer, I've seen a trend of old snows still hangin out in places among the cascades that is atypical this late in season. Wasn't sure what to expect with the dog but he managed fine, other than sore feet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy J Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 Great report, nice to have a family outing for sure. I don't have any route finding excuses now. Thanks for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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