I repeat two peaks and visit a new one in the Grassy Mountains.
- July 24, 2016
- Team: Art and Tom
- Peaks:
- Frog Mountain, 8180'
- Peak 8071, 8071'
- Grassy Twin Peak, 8156
- RT: 7.8 miles, 2586' gain, 5:50 car-to-car
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
Tom and Laurie were coming up this way for their anniversary, so I offered to join up for a hike. Art and I met them at Hard Creek campground, and after some socializing we were on our way up the trail to what my Dad calls Grassy Twin (the map calls them the Grass Mountain Lakes). This area burned last summer. However, I had beta that said the fire had skipped around a lot. |
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Indeed, a lot of it was still quite green. Yay! |
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I had been here before, so was acting as guide, despite the showing of disrespect I was receiving. This is looking back at the Grassy Twin lakes from near the saddle that eventually leads to Coffee Cup Lake. The peak on the right is Grassy Twin. |
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We went around Grassy Twin's west side, following the ridge out south. There is a faint trail- even a trail sign. But the fire had been on he ridge, so the trail is t times hard to find and follow. Here's Frog Lake. |
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The highpoint of the Grassy Mountains is a big, flat summit. I call this Frog Mountain. |
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When I was here before, I had spotted a faint trail continuing south. We used it to get closer to Peak 8071. |
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And then just headed up the slopes. |
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From this vantage point, you could really see how the fire progressed through this area, eventually burning its was all the way to, and across, the Salmon River. But we were enjoying the weather and summit too much to dwell on that. |
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Summit view of the Seven Devils. |
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Granite Mountain. |
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Since we had already climbed Frog Mountain, we decided to just return on the ridge until we got to the west side of Grassy Twin. Then out the ridge to the east. This required a little finessing. |
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But it wasn't long before we were on top. |
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The summit seems to be right on top of the Grassy Twin lakes. |
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We descended down the east ridge of Grassy Twin. Art was concerned by the amount of rock, but he was relying on my memory of not having issues. Unh... what memory? But it wasn't too bad. We did have to cross some yucky burn areas, where the soil is all poofer and soft. But when Sam got to the lake and fully immersed himself, it was all forgiven. We cruised back to the campground where Julie and Laurie were waiting, and celebrated the Lopez's anniversary in style, if you can call hanging out with a bunch of smelly climbers 'style'. |
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Map |
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