Distance: 20.9 mi.
Elevation Gain: 11500 ft.
I had previously been up Abernathy Mountain and really enjoyed the hike. I was surprised how fast and easy the trip was and how close the Gardners were from the summit. I also eyed up the connecting ridge and thought it might be possible to run the ridge entirely going over several sub-peaks along the way. I hadn’t seen any trip reports of anyone climbing the Gardners from Scatter Creek, but I wasn’t super excited about the long approach up Wolf Creek and figured it would be worth a shot.
I left Seattle early, managed the 4.5 hour drive, and was on the trail around 10 am. I cruised up to Scatter Lake by noon, traversed around the left side of it and started up the large scree slope to the peak, arriving at 1 pm.
I met a nice guy with his dog Bandit and told him my plans. After a short break I headed off the northwest ridge from the summit. This portion was really loose scrambling, probably the worst of the whole trip (I avoided some on the way back) and it was slow going. I eventually reached the flatter ridge where I bypassed minor obstacles on the west side. I did find the old mine shaft I had heard about along with some other mining relics. This was right on the ridge and not by the small like where it s marked on the maps. This was another way I was interested in trying this route.
I then continued along the ridge over points 7894 and 7921, easy scrambling through here. I was a bit intimidated by the west ridge of pt. 7978 (Wolftit) as it looked much steeper. When I got closer to it however, it ended up being fairly easy 3rd class. I then headed north along the ridge toward pt 8082 (Lamont Mt.).
The ridge kept getting narrower as I went and it was getting steeper on both sides and the rock was not good. I could have possibly continued the rest of the way but I was afraid of committing myself to it and decided to backtrack slightly and go down ad loose scree gully into the basin NE of Wolftit. This was easier travel and I was able to quickly get to the small lake at 6970. I descended slightly from the lake and tried to traverse to the south ridge of pt. 8487, traversing at 6,800.
I was getting quite tired at this point and this ridge was not as easy as I had hoped. I had to fight through a lot of bushes and had to back track a few times but the scrambling wasn’t too tricky. Finally breaking out onto the open upper slopes was a huge relief and I was getting pretty exhausted. I had carried 5 liters of water all this way hoping to bivy on the ridge and I found a really nice place right on top of pt. 8487, where I dropped my stuff to make a quick jaunt over to North Gardner.
It looked so close, but it is still a half mile of scrambling each way. I finally made it to the summit at 6:45 and didn’t linger long before heading back to camp to make dinner and relax.
It was a chilly night but clear and calm, a perfect time to bivy at 8500′. The lights of Winthrop were twinkling below and I actually had strong 4G coverage. I took the opportunity to listen to the Sounders game happening in San Jose that some friends happened to be at. Sending texts back and forth to California while listening to a live sports broadcast was a new backcountry experience but a welcome one perched high above anyone else and having only seen 1 person all day.
I slept like a rock and awoke with the sun, packed up, and headed toward Gardner at 7:15. I was a little worried about finding the best route between the peaks based on some other reports saying it was tricky but I just stayed near the crest and the route seemed pretty obvious the whole way. There were loose sections but nothing harder than 3rd class with some traversing on ledges south of the ridge. I made it to the summit at 8 and enjoyed the view before heading 3200′ straight down endless screen slopes to Gardner Meadows.
I found many good camps here and took a good break to fill up on water and have some breakfast finally since I had exhausted the 5 liters I had carried the previous day. I was stocked up and ready to go at 10 and headed up the Wolf Creek trail back toward the upper basin above Abernathy Lake. The well worn trail quickly disappeared into brush and a maze of downed trees. It was slow and tiring making it back up above treeline around 7000′, but travel was quite a lot easier from that point forward.
I retraced my steps back to the ridge and south toward Abernathy. I decided to make a mostly flat traverse around the mountain at 7800′ rather than reascening to the summit. The rocks were equally loose an terrible but traversing was a bit easier than going up or down. It was a relief to be back on the south ridge of Abernathy. I made a straight line down to the lake and this time traversed around the east side of it. Another short break here at 1 pm before hiking the easy trail back to the car. Back at the car at 2:45, it was nice to be able to take my time getting back to Seattle and not having to drive in the dark. My favorite solo adventure of 2015!
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Recommended brew: Ruud Awakening Double IPA
Gear Used:
- Bivy
- Glacier glasses
- GPS
- Helmet
- Overnight pack
- Sleeping pad
- Summer sleeping bag
- Stove
- Trail runners
- Trekking poles
- Water drops
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