Three Fingered Jack Loop, 20-July-2013

[Get Out Backpacking]

Great route, what a day!

[kepPNW]

Fantastic TR! Sure am glad I could not make it to another awesome trip! I love reading and watching others have a great time while I cry & sniffle my self to sleep

Thanks! You'd have loved it, too, dagnabbit. Gotta get in one of these before the summer's over!

Seriously?? What photo Advertisement front page were you guys on? Bammmm for sure!

Pretty spiffy?

Seriously, I think I had Karl worried there. It was definitely the heat and the dry air that was gettin' to me. My experiment in wearing "desert attire" failed, I think. Once I switch to the lightweight short sleeve shirt I was better off.

Definitely caught a strong second wind there, and ended up leading the charge back into the trailhead, while I shuffle-sagged those last couple miles in the sand wondering why a waypoint that was 0.5 miles away took so freaking long to get to! I was really cussing out the PCT "designers" at that point... Heh...

We missed you guys out there though, mayhem! It would have been awesome if a few other TFFs had come along for the fun.

Ditto that!

Great route, what a day!

Thanks, man! Too true!

[Surridge]

Great trip report! This is a must do this summer. I remember the PCT section from our thru hike, and was really impressed with TFJ. The off trail section looks killer. That lake is amazing!

[kepPNW]

Great trip report! This is a must do this summer. I remember the PCT section from our thru hike, and was really impressed with TFJ. The off trail section looks killer. That lake is amazing!

Thanks! Good memories, for sure. The off-trail was nasty, so get it out of the up front by going counter-clockwise. The payoff at the saddle is huge! Try to hit a day when it's not much over 80°. We baked.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I did a circumnavigation of 3FJ years ago, different variation than this TR. Had to be quite a bit less than 20 miles. I went up Canyon Creek Meadows, to the lovely moraine lake you have pictures of, then followed the path along the moraine up to a saddle. After that was the worst part of the trip, sidehilling on talus/scree for probably between 1/2 mile and a mile till I gained the south ridge of the mountain above the PCT. Just for kicks and giggles I climbed to just short of the summit, then backtracked, dropped down to the PCT and headed north. I think I went off trail again briefly to drop back down to the upper part of Canyon Creek Meadows and regain the trail. I don't remember anything being particularly brushy. This was before the fire. It was a fantastic day!

[kepPNW]

I did a circumnavigation of 3FJ years ago, different variation than this TR. Had to be quite a bit less than 20 miles. I went up Canyon Creek Meadows, to the lovely moraine lake you have pictures of, then followed the path along the moraine up to a saddle. After that was the worst part of the trip, sidehilling on talus/scree for probably between 1/2 mile and a mile till I gained the south ridge of the mountain above the PCT. Just for kicks and giggles I climbed to just short of the summit, then backtracked, dropped down to the PCT and headed north. I think I went off trail again briefly to drop back down to the upper part of Canyon Creek Meadows and regain the trail. I don't remember anything being particularly brushy. This was before the fire. It was a fantastic day!

That's "the short route" around TFJ, for sure! I can perfectly envision it. In fact, we were staring at that talus slope as we climbed the saddle, and pondering the feasibility of crossing it. It looked like sheer hell!

• 
  Talus slope along/below the eastern face of Three Fingered Jack.

And I was aware there's a trail (of sorts) that drops from the PCT on the north side of TFJ back into the meadows. We actually considered going up that, to short-circuit the long loop, but extra miles sounded better than steeper EG that day right after the schwak up the saddle!

Still, I can totally see the fun and adventure that loop would be!

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I did a circumnavigation of 3FJ years ago, different variation than this TR. Had to be quite a bit less than 20 miles. I went up Canyon Creek Meadows, to the lovely moraine lake you have pictures of, then followed the path along the moraine up to a saddle. After that was the worst part of the trip, sidehilling on talus/scree for probably between 1/2 mile and a mile till I gained the south ridge of the mountain above the PCT. Just for kicks and giggles I climbed to just short of the summit, then backtracked, dropped down to the PCT and headed north. I think I went off trail again briefly to drop back down to the upper part of Canyon Creek Meadows and regain the trail. I don't remember anything being particularly brushy. This was before the fire. It was a fantastic day!

That's "the short route" around TFJ, for sure! I can perfectly envision it. In fact, we were staring at that talus slope as we climbed the saddle, and pondering the feasibility of crossing it. It looked like sheer hell!

• 
  Talus slope along/below the eastern face of Three Fingered Jack.

And I was aware there's a trail (of sorts) that drops from the PCT on the north side of TFJ back into the meadows. We actually considered going up that, to short-circuit the long loop, but extra miles sounded better than steeper EG that day right after the schwak up the saddle!

Still, I can totally see the fun and adventure that loop would be!

Yikes. I remember the talus traverse being not much fun, but it looks horrible in that picture. More miles = more fun, right? When I did it the temperature was nowhere near 95, I can't really imagine a long hike in heat like that.

[adamschneider]

More miles = more fun, right?

NO.

(I'm a 'shwacker; I'll do anything to save mileage.)

[olderthanIusedtobe]

NO.

(I'm a 'shwacker; I'll do anything to save mileage.)

I think I was more of a 'schwacker in my younger days. I mostly try to avoid it these days. I've definitely taken some "shortcuts" that didn't save me time or trouble. I've come out of hikes with so many scratches and welts it looked like I got in a fight with a large angry cat...and lost. Slide alder and devils club and salmonberry oh my!

I used to find myself off trail on crappy rock fairly frequently as well. Still happens sometimes, but not as much anymore.

[kepPNW]

Yikes. I remember the talus traverse being not much fun, but it looks horrible in that picture. More miles = more fun, right? When I did it the temperature was nowhere near 95, I can't really imagine a long hike in heat like that.

And the photo hardly does it justice. Quick look at a topo shows that to be nearly 500 vertical feet of scree!

I'll confirm it was a highly "memorable" day! No doubts about that.