Distance: 9.6 mi.
Elevation Gain: 5100 ft.
Having only one car between us, my options for getting out on Saturday were limited. I made a weak attempt to find a partner with a car but then decided I could just drive Vanessa to work do a hike and then pick here up from work after her 12 hour shift. I had been wanted to get back to the Hamma Hamma river to climb Mt. Skokomish after a previous trip to Mt. Stone.
I dropped Vanessa off at 8:30 and continued driving south around the sound to Hoodsport and the Hamma Hamma River. The road is in great shape and I was hiking up the Putvin Trail at 10:45.
The trail is in pretty good shape for a crazy steep somewhat unofficial trail. I made quick time up through the steep scrambly bits to the small lakes at 4600′. This is about where things started to get muddy and snow began. I managed to find good areas to rock hop or jump over the creek and stay dry. I switched to my mountaineering boots that I had been carrying at this point. This is also the point where I realized I had forgotten my sunglasses. Luckily I had brought my OR hat with the neck shield which I was able to arrange over my face to prevent too much sun exposure.
I made it to the Lake of the Angels shortly thereafter, about 2 hours after starting. I made my way around the north and west sides of the lake to ascend the climber’s rightmost gully that heads up to 5800′ pass just to the East of Mt. Skokomish. I accidentally got myself stuck on a rock ridge at one point and had to backtrack, but found easy travel the rest of the way to the pass.
From the pass I could see some old tracks traversing to the SW toward the summit slopes. I followed some lower ones across easy snow and scree slopes but eventually realized I needed to ascend to avoid some cliffy areas. some easy scrambling and snow travel eventually got me to the snow slopes below the east face of the summit. I follow the old tracks to where the snow ended at the north ridge of the peak.
Scrambling up this ridge proved to be on really terrible rock, as advertised, but it got quite steep and I had to do some really strategic traversing, before finally making my way to the summit at about 2:30. Clouds were swirling in and out but occasional views of local peaks were available.
I had some food before making my way back down. I descended down the SE ridge as it wasn’t quite as steep, though equally terrible rock. I had to traverse across some snow to get back to where I had left my ice axe but from there I made a quick glissade down before retracing my steps back to the pass.
From the pass I took a slightly more direct route down the large main bowl to the south of Lake of the Angels. Quick plunge stepping got me to the lake. I continued down to the end of the snow where i changed back into my trail runners and the down to the trailhead by about 5:00 pm.
I drove back to Olympia and grabbed some dinner and beer at the Well 80 Brewhouse before picking up Vanessa from work and heading home. A great day out in the Olympics!
(Download the free Gaia GPS app on your phone to view tracks and then get a Gaia GPS membership if you want offline access. Discount below!)
Recommended brew: Well 80 Artesian Brewing Tipsy McStagger 2x Rye IPA
Gear Used:
- Aluminum crampons (unused)
- Aluminum ice axe
- GPS
- Helmet
- Mountaineering boots
- Trail runners
- Trekking poles
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