Offtrail up 3rd gulley to Indian Point - Feb-23-2014

[CraigG]

I had never been up to Indian Point before, and wanted to make a loop of it. Tracking down Bosterson's exploits from last year http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... 10&t=14611 got me thinking. Rick Johnson and I headed a group up what Bosterson dubbed the "third gulley", just east of Indian Point.
We started at Herman Creek TH, headed on #400 east to the area below Indian Point:

We didn't take this rock field but continued east. Therefore, I must have missed the "first" and "second" gullies. I still want to find the beginning of the Shooting Gallery for future reference.
Anyways, we headed up from #400 right here, after passing the rock field:

Reports showed the snow line at 2600ft elevation. I was concerned about ice at the top of the gulley, and of course getting hit with falling rock. Most everybody wore climbing helmets. Our ascent as we approached the gulley:


Ah, here we go - heading up the lower section of the gulley:

The view over our shoulder - Wind Mtn and Dog Mtn looking over at us:

More up:

I went over and checked out the ridge climber's right of the gulley. I scrambled up onto it and took photos of the team ascending the gulley:


Looking west from the ridge:

The ridge east of the gulley was too steep to scramble up, so I left the ridge and re-entered the gulley. The ascent got steeper, with patches of snow:

Rather steep nearing the top of the gulley with 1 foot deep patches of snow (no ice):

Looking down while holding onto a tree:

At the top of the gulley, after climbing thru some fallen trees - made it!

We head off to find the Gorton Creek #408 trail - a couple of inches of slippery snow on the ground:

Ah, found it - just where Bosterson said it would be!

We took the icy/slippery trek down to Indian Point. Not too bad if you had microspikes on - Andee heading up:

The group glad that the wet, sloppy gulley scrambling is over with:

I've come this far, so I figured to scramble on top of Indian Point:


Looking down from the top of the point - note to self - don't trip!

One last rock star pose for Chatchay:

We headed down #408 back to our cars. All safe. Mission accomplished.

Estimated distance: 11 miles
Max elevation: 2703 ft

[Bosterson]

Nice work, Craig. Third Gully is a bit of fun, probably a little easier with the snow, since it gives you something to step into up at the top! The last section before the downed trees area is the hardest when it's dry, because it's just bare dirt and there isn't much purchase.

I went back there with Eric last summer - there's a little bit of scrambling up the west side of the gully, but it gets chossy and dangerous pretty fast, just like everything up there.

You can reach Third Gully by going up the main talus field (the one you passed) and then trending east before you get to the top. Otherwise, if you want to find the Shooting Gallery, you follow the talus straight up to a headwall, then head up and right (west) and you reach another headwall and the bottom, west-facing opening into the SG. That one is pretty class 4 R though - I've contemplated going up there again, and I'm not sure I want to...

[CraigG]

Thanks - We had a group of 11 folks ascending the gulley, so we spread out far and wide. All experienced scramblers, although no amount of experience could have helped us if a pile of rocks gave way. We had a couple of short body slides, sending piles of rocks down - nothing serious though. Everybody safe.

I really wanted to climb up that ridge on the east side of the third gulley, but the ridge was too steep in sections to ascend. I did climb up onto the east ridge for a brief moment to snap some photos, but had to leave the ridge for the gulley.

EP deserved to chest beat for sure! The snow made it easier at the top because it was the glue that head things together and provided good foot holds.

Thanks for the pointers - I can see how the talus field connects to the gullies and where the Shooting Gallery must be. I am not sure I want to do it either.