McNeil Point Explorations 7/21/14

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wnshall
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McNeil Point Explorations 7/21/14

Post by wnshall » July 22nd, 2014, 10:37 pm

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I had been planning to hike up beyond McNeil Point this week, with an eye on scoping out a route from McNeil to Barrett Spur. Serendipitously, adamschneider recently filed a TR detailing a similar recon mission. Inspired by his TR, I set out Monday.

First a heads up about getting to the trailhead. FS 1828 is closed for road work this week (7/21-7/25) between the bridge over the Sandy river and the junction with 118. That means you have to use the directions in the field guide that take you over Lolo pass, instead of the slightly shorter, alternate directions (which are also the ones Sullivan gives in his book.) I'd never been that way, but it works just fine.

There were a surprising number of cars at the trailhead -- I guess McNeil Pt is never a solitary hike during summer. The meadows on the side of Bald Mtn. are past peak, but still beautiful. There are no extravagant displays of any one thing, but the trail is lined with a great diversity of flowers. For some reason, it gave me a great sense of homecoming.

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tiger lily

The waterfalls flowing off Yocum ridge were raging.

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After reaching the shelter and taking a break, I headed up the ridge above the shelter, which I guess is called Cathedral ridge, but I like to call the Dragon's Back:

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One of the ice caves on Sandy glacier was plainly visible.
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Unlike adamschneider, who followed a route to Barrett Spur from the McNeil Point trail up the Muddy river drainage, I was interested in finding a route from up on the Dragon's Back. Every time I go up there I look over to Barrett Spur and think it's so close; there must be a way to get over there that doesn't involve hiking all the way back down.

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View towards Barrett Spur from the Dragon's Back

From adamschneider's report, it seemed like if I could get into the valley on the south side of the ridge jutting out to the east from Barrett Spur, I could follow his report up to the spur. However, the Glisan glacier and "Glad" ridge stood between me. I was conscious of the tricks the mountain air can play on you: the way distant things look so close and how you can easily misjudge the sizes of things. From on top of the Dragon's Back, it looked like a fairly simple proposition: drop down on the Glisan snow field, climb up the side of Glad ridge. But that was a lot of drop and elevation to regain, and the sides of Glad ridge looked awfully loose and tumbly.

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Another view down Glisan snow field towards Glad ridge.

I cast my eye further up the mountain: would it be possible to contour around the head of the valley? After some consideration, I decided that I'd leave it for a braver explorer than I. (I'm sure retired jerry has passed this way.) The valley walls are very steep, the rock very crumbly, and it was getting a bit late in the day to set off on an unknown journey.

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This is a view from Glad ridge looking up at the head of the valley, across which you'd have to hike.

In the end, I dropped down the snow field, then cut diagonally up to the top of the Glad ridge. From the top of this ridge I got an up close view of the Ladd Glacier outflow and the flank of the next unnamed ridge. I did not want to go down there. Those side walls look really loose, and clearly there's been a lot of rock fall.

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Looking up the valley,

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and down the valley.

In hindsight, I realize the route in adamschneider's TR continued up Glad ridge, then crossed over the snowfield at the head of the valley over towards Barrettt Spur, in the first picture above. Next time I'll give it a try. Instead, I followed Glad ridge down into Cairn Basin.

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Looking down to Cairn Basin.

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Looking down at the meadow at Cairn Basin.

I wonder about the future safety of the campsites in CB. Most of them are under large trees that burned in the Dollar fire, which are now snags just waiting to come down. It can't be considered a very safe situation. Would you camp underneath them? Do you suppose the FS will/can do anything about it?

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I noticed the yellow colored rock up on the face of Mt. Hood, presumably discolored due to sulfur vents. Don't fool yourself into thinking the mountain is dead.
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Avalanche Lillies and Western pasqueflowers and a little Lupin is about the only thing blooming up there right now.

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I've always loved the humble waterfall along the timberline trail just past the ponds.
It now has a Goddess keeping watch.

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I was hoping for some late evening light on the mountain as I hiked out, but the sun was mostly obscured by clouds. As I drove out, the setting sun snuck below the clouds and lit up Hood.

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Lenticular cloud over Hood.

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Sandy Glacier lit up by sunset.

A beautiful day on the mountain.

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adamschneider
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Re: McNeil Point Explorations 7/21/14

Post by adamschneider » July 22nd, 2014, 11:19 pm

wnshall wrote:In hindsight, I realize the route in adamschneider's TR continued up Glad ridge, then crossed over the snowfield at the head of the valley over towards Barrettt Spur, in the first picture above.
Nope... I was only on the crest of Gladd Ridge for a couple hundred yards, and you were higher up on it than I ever was. My route would be visible in your "down the valley" photo (pictured below). I can tell exactly where it was because that very green blob just beyond the snowfield is the unexpected willow garden I mentioned in my TR.

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You were right not to try to go up the south side of the higher portions of that unnamed ridge; it's very crumbly and would have been no fun at all. The only way to get on most of those ridges is from the ends.

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retired jerry
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Re: McNeil Point Explorations 7/21/14

Post by retired jerry » July 23rd, 2014, 7:00 am

I've been on Gladd ridge and haven't figured a way to get off it - steep, loose on both sides for sure

AS is one step ahead of me getting off Gladd ridge towards Barret Spur. If there's snow on the slope it could be easy.

I have dropped off Dragnon back ridge onto Glissan snowfield. And there's sort of a path going down the ridge to that saddle

Wandering around up there is a good adventure, hopefully we won't lead anyone astray and read about their rescue on the news :D

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woodswalker
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Re: McNeil Point Explorations 7/21/14

Post by woodswalker » July 23rd, 2014, 7:08 am

Great pictures. I also love the waterfall and it's nice there is a guardian now. Great rock statuette!
Woodswalker

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adamschneider
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Re: McNeil Point Explorations 7/21/14

Post by adamschneider » July 23rd, 2014, 7:59 am

retired jerry wrote:I've been on Gladd ridge and haven't figured a way to get off it - steep, loose on both sides for sure
Have you followed Gladd Ridge all the way to its highest exposed bits and then traversed across the snow on the bottom half of Ladd Glacier (green dots on map below)? That seems like it'd be doable.

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retired jerry
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Re: McNeil Point Explorations 7/21/14

Post by retired jerry » July 23rd, 2014, 8:23 am

Other trip reports have described that - going up to highest point and then crossing over

When I was last there, it didn't seem doable, but next time I'll have to try it

Sometimes, I'll turn around at some difficult point just because I've done a nice hike up to there. Don't want to become a statistic.

olderthanIusedtobe
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Re: McNeil Point Explorations 7/21/14

Post by olderthanIusedtobe » July 23rd, 2014, 12:35 pm

Beautiful pictures! I like the name Dragon's Back for the ridge above McNeil Pt. I got as far as the prominent bump on the ridge in the lower right corner of your first pic back in June.

wnshall
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Re: McNeil Point Explorations 7/21/14

Post by wnshall » July 23rd, 2014, 1:18 pm

adamschneider wrote:
wnshall wrote:In hindsight, I realize the route in adamschneider's TR continued up Glad ridge, then crossed over the snowfield at the head of the valley over towards Barrettt Spur, in the first picture above.
Nope... I was only on the crest of Gladd Ridge for a couple hundred yards, and you were higher up on it than I ever was. My route would be visible in your "down the valley" photo (pictured below). I can tell exactly where it was because that very green blob just beyond the snowfield is the unexpected willow garden I mentioned in my TR.
Ahh, that makes a lot of sense now. It was hard to put all the pieces together up on the mtn. I'm pretty impressed you crossed over through that valley and made it up the opposite side. It looked really steep to me, although maybe I'm thinking of lower down when the creek really gets going.

Your question to retired Jerry is exactly the one I was contemplating from on top of Glad ridge. It's bracing to hear him say it was too steep for him to complete.

Next time up I think I'll give your route a try; I love that area below Barrett Spur.

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adamschneider
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Re: McNeil Point Explorations 7/21/14

Post by adamschneider » July 23rd, 2014, 1:58 pm

wnshall wrote:I'm pretty impressed you crossed over through that valley and made it up the opposite side.
The only hairy part was getting down off of Gladd Ridge. But I found a spot where I only had to descend about 15 or 20 feet of really loose stuff before getting down onto the snow. Here's one more look at my route, looking west from The-Ridge-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named:

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retired jerry
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Re: McNeil Point Explorations 7/21/14

Post by retired jerry » July 23rd, 2014, 2:05 pm

That would be easier when there's more snow. There's a good run-out where the slope gets less steep. If you slid out of control it wouldn't matter.

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