Good Parking At Trailhead

We finally got to Activate Old Pass Hill, after snowshoeing by it a number of times before.  Old Pass Hill is a 4 point SOTA Summit of 4,885 feet elevation.  In winter, the route is mostly avalanche free, and so is a semi popoluar snowshoe trip.  A nice spring day, right before a change in weather, yielded a mostly sunny early morning, with increasing wind and clouds later in the mid day.  The temperature at departure from the TH was 37 degrees, and the snow was firm enough to hike on without snowshoes.  On the return trip, it had warmed up enough to require snowshoes, and we were gald we had carried them in.  The trip is approximately 8.15 miles RT, with about 1,500 feet elevation gain, including many ups and downs along the ridge beween Swauk Creek & Scotty Creek in the Wenatchee Mountains, west of Blewett Pass.  We only saw 2 other people the entire day.

(0.6 miles, 500 feet)

This is a short climb that is located immediately adjacent to I-15 south of Great Falls.  It was first climbed by Merriweather Lewis on July 16, 1805.  Lewis described it as follows:

(1.3 miles, 970 ft)

(3.6 miles, +1,650 ft, -510 ft)

On a family vacation to the Lake Tahoe Basin in Nevada and California, I was fortunate enough to Activate 4 peaks in 3 days.  This is a description of the Mount Watson Activation, number 2 in the series.  On this Activation I had the pleasure of meeting up with a "local" Activator from Reno, Nevada, K1LB - "Woody" Brown, so that we could do a joint Activation of Watson.

Peak 4620 (near Blue Box Pass) is a backcountry snowshoe activation that can be done in the winter if you don't mind using a GPS and are comfortable with off-trail navigation.

A first activation of Eureka Peak on snowshoes turned out to be quite a workout. The basic climb description is about 2.5 miles one way and 1200 feet of gain, but the real work is off the trail with the last half mile being particularly steep. Since there is no trail to the top this would be difficult to do without snow cover.

Maury Island was recently added to the SOTA database so I was super excited to do this activation with my wife, even though it was only a one pointer.  The island is accessible from Vashon Island, which is a ferry boat ride from West Seattle or Tacoma.  One could easily get on the ferry boat with their bicycle and bike to this summit.

2.8 miles, +1,200, -830 ft from Edith-Baldy saddle

4.8 miles, +2,600, -830 ft from TH

(2 miles, +1,400 ft)

Edith & Baldy are the two most prominent summits in the Big Belt Mountains west of Townsend.  There are some backcountry lakes north of the summits that are nice camping/fishing destinations.  The two summits can be done as a double, but Baldy is probably easier from Duck Creek Pass to the north.  The ridge between the two includes some boulder fields that, while not too difficult, make the traverse somewhat slow.

Take Hwy-12 West from Townsend for 14.8 miles