I had read several TR's about
Huffman Peak & Siouxon Peak and vowed to get up there some day. But ..... SO MUCH WORK! to climb all the way out of Siouxon Creek. Well, recently, in association with another project, have been spending a lot of time pouring over maps, particularly satellite images, and discovered that there is a much easier way to get onto the ridge!
So, JustPeachy
, drive up to Chelatchie, then drive east on the Canyon Creek road for about 6 3/4 miles to a gravel road that forks left. It is the second left possible after crossing the bridge. It is unsigned, but there is a big yellow gate hanging there. There are a number of side roads, but just stay "straight ahead" on the major road. At about 1 3/4 miles at a big junction, it becomes the S1000 Rd. At 4 miles cross the bridge over the wild Siouxon Creek. In 1/2 mile you will crest the ridge, and turn right on the unsigned road (S2000) forking right. This is a steep road in places, but the gravel is good, with almost no chuck-holes to worry about. There are several openings to gaze at Sugar Loaf, Mt Mitchell and Mt Saint Helens, but loved this spot looking west at Tumtum Mtn.
Finally at about 5 miles, the road crosses the ridge and used to stop. A logging road was built that continues around the basin. Drive just under 1/2 mile to a rise and wide spot. Park.
So, Friday, I convinced the bosses to cut my chain a little early, and headed north. Got to the spot about 5:30, and poked around until I found the faint trail that links to the 129 N Fork Siouxon Trail. Came back to the truck and turned on KINK's "Friday Freeway Blues" and scarfed down half an egg salad sandwich and few other goodies (to keep it balanced). Then I settled down to watch the sunset. Shortly after, climbed into the sack. Slept really good and awoke to this view.
For breakfast, ate the other half of the egg salad sandwich and a big sweet roll (to keep it balanced!) and by 6:00 was on the trail. After about 1/2 mile the trail goes along side this amazing wall, that I named "The Great Wall of Siouxon" It is about 250 feet long. I was in awe at how straight and vertical.
The first objective was 4020 (next summit west of
Huffman, someone here coined it "SW
Huffman Peak"). Left the trail at rock cairn and went up the open ridge.
The summit is open, but trees block most of the views.
Then, dropped down the NE ridge to pickup the 126
Huffman Peak Trail. After about 100 yards, left the trail and headed up the SW ridge of
Huffman. Not nearly as clean as the previous ridge, but not bad. A few good views along the way. Finally the summit block came into view.
A fairly easy traverse around the right side led to an easy slope and bright penstemons everywhere.
A quick scramble up the summit block and 360 degree views. I started naming summits, and at about 30 got confused and stopped counting. But the big ones were out for sure --- Mt Saint Helens, Mt Rainier, Dark Divide, Goat Rocks, Mt Adams, Mt Hood, Mt Jefferson, Silver Star. But, one of my favorites was little West Point that I wrote about last year. Beyond are the Tatoosh Hills, Little Baldy, and to the right, Silver Star.
From there it was down the east ridge to pick up the 126 trail again. Along this ridge, this trail is as clean as any I have ever been on. Just a delight to walk. There were lilies along the trail, looking so perky! That was fun, because last weekend, out east of Lookout Mtn on Howe Ridge, they were looking really wet, sad and droopy.
After a couple of miles, came to the Siouxon Pk spur trail. More views! This shot is looking NE with Mt Rainier, the Dark Divide, and Goat Rocks barely visible over the Swift Reservoir, then Mt Adams.
Had to get a shot looking straight down the south face (150 ft?)
So far it had been a really fun trip. That was about to change. My last objective was 3660, a little bump of a summit to the NW. The maps show a trail going part way there, and my GPS map set shows trail all the way to the summit. My fears turned out to be true, this trail has not been maintened in probably 20 years, and much of it is completely lost. So, all I could do was follow the general route through the brush and jack straw piled logs and thickets and and ..... I spent over 1/3 of my total time on the 3 1/2 miles for this summit.
First there was the down slope to the ridge,
Then there was a section of "open ridge",
then in the low point of the route in the saddle, there were thickets (sorry the focus isn't better, maybe my muscles were quivering that much!)
Finally, the last 500 feet to the summit sort of opened up. And the views: NADA. So spent about 2 minutes on the summit block and turned around and ploughed back up to the trail. (Note: there has to be an easier route to this summit .... maybe swim across Swift Reservoir and traverse over Mt Mitchell?
)
The walk back along the 126 trail was a delight, except that about 1/2 way, my legs felt like maybe they were going to cramp up. So dug into the pack and got an electrolyte tab. Supposed to dissolve in water, but didn't really have enough left to do that, so would take a tiny bite, crunch it up, then take a sip of water. Over about 20 minutes, finally got it all down, and the legs felt better.
The last leg was on the 129 N Fork Siouxon Trail, which I had only done a short piece of in the morning. It is in really sad shape. Lots of logs over the trail, some about 4 feet in dia. The tread is very rough in places and in other places is hardly detectable. Am going to contact DLNR to find out if any maintenance is planned.
So final numbers, 4,164 feet of elevation gain, 15 1/2 miles. That's the most I've done in quite a few years. So, the total now is 112 completed, 119 to go!
