Grey Creek and Wyeth's Tiara

[Chip Down]

I've been confused and intimidated by the terrain east of Indian Point. My recent trip to Deadwood Ridge and Deadwood Point helped considerably, but I still felt overwhelmed by a lot of that area, especially because of poor views (low clouds) on previous hikes. I figured it would be smart to follow Grey Creek up as far as possible, so that I'd gain familiarity with a known named reference point. I was also excited to see the glacier, assuming that it was named Grey Creek because of the distinctive silty (but not brown muddy) water. When 400tr crossed Grey Creek, I was distraught to see the water was clear, which means the glacier must be stagnant now. Damn global warming! I should have taken advantage of that opportunity to fill my water bottles, but forgot. Fortunately, I was carrying nearly two liters, so I knew I'd get by.

I questioned my plans to follow Grey Creek when I noticed an enticing mossy talus slope just to the east. I scoped it out, and it looked like it might be productive. To the east was a prominent point that I figured was probably Wyeth's Tiara, which was on my to do list with the following comment: "requires research, looks very difficult, not really practical". Well, what the heck, let's go exploring. At the top of the talus slope the trees and brush were dense enough that I couldn't really see what to do, so I just followed clear spots, drifting east, until I could see cliffs with a clean easy gap. It was like mossy gates, but not the Mossy Gates. It looked promising, but the clouds were dropping and thickening, so it was getting hard to see what was above. Up the gully I went. It was a bit loose in spots, and there were some trees to get over, but generally it was easy and safe. I zig-zagged up, hitting viewpoints on both the east and west ridges.

I had a little trouble finding Wyeth's Tiara. I was under the impression it was part of the east ridge that defined my gully. From the west ridge, looking east, I could see it was actually two ridges over (i.e. one ridge to the east of the eastern ridge of my gully). Hmm. Okay, continued up the gully and cut over to the east ridge at an easy opportunity, where I saw...the big columnar basalt step on Deadwood Ridge! So where the heck is the tiara? Did I miss it? Headed back down, this time staying aggressively on/near ridgecrest, until I saw the tiara to the east. Aha! It's off on a little spur. Or perhaps there's a little spur that goes west and forms one of the mossy gates. Whatever, point is the ridge splits a bit. And you really have to cut over at just the right elevation to move east over to the tiara. It's not really practical to get to where the two ridges converge and then drop down the ridgecrest to the tiara. Instead, you need to traverse eastward a little below the junction, on a narrow sloping slightly-exposed ramp. Just a few feet too high or too low and you'll either miss it, or you'll see the tiara but it won't be accessible. In spite of the difficulties, I was actually surprised that I basically nailed it, with one little setback. If I'd stuck to the eastern ridge instead of zigzagging to the west ridge to explore, I would have stumbled right into the tiara with no trouble at all.

Out on Wyeth's Tiara, the clouds had cleared, and views were great. Weather was perfect, just slightly on the cool side of the comfort zone, with a gentle breeze. I spent two hours there. Seriously. Wonderful spot. Wasn't sure what to do next. Wanted to go see Deadwood Ridge and Point again, to see how it looked without clouds. Considered exploring Deadwwod Ridge below the columnar bassalt step. Considered dropping down and exploring to the east, maybe around the Mossy Gates. Finally decided to head up to Indian Point.

From Wyeth's Tiara, I followed the ridge up, with my original ascent route to the west, until I was back at the point where earlier I realized I had missed the tiara. That only took about 20-30 minutes, no big deal. The ridge is a bit tricky in spots, and I bypassed here and there as I continued up. Hit a nice bare flat spot that was big enough to comfortably throw my pack down and sprawl out. Man, ridge hiking is fun, but it leaves you feeling curiously confined, as if the exposure itself is impinging on you. As I neared the elevation where the gully ends, and my ridge was apparently going to fade along with the ridge at the other (west) side of the gully, a strange surprise occured: The two ridges didn't just fade into the slope as expected, they joined and continued up, as sharp and crisp as before. But first I followed the west ridge down a bit, through a sunny rocky clearing, just because. It was almost tempting to keep exploring all the way down, but I knew where that ridge went, and had even visited parts of it in the morning.

Continuing up the steep narrow mossy ridge, I passed a spring. The creek was easy to get to, but right at the edge it got a bit steep, kind of running through a channel. I knew I'd cross Grey Creek on the way to IP soon, so it wasn't worth the effort. As I continued up the ridge, it lost its easy distinctive configuation and got slightly jumbled, but no big deal, still fun and easy. Never really brushy, and never steep/narrow enough to be a problem.

Very abruptly, my ridge just ended. I don't mean it broadened and faded, I mean it just ceased to be a ridge as all terrain flattened out. Wow. Okay, this is where it got really committing, because I knew there was no getting back. Once I wandered into the indistinct bowl east of Indian Point, I'd never find the top of that ridge again. Or maybe I could, who knows, but I knew I couldn't count on it.

I was now penned in: Indian Point on right, Deadwood Ridge on left, trail network all around. I could go any direction with no chance of getting lost, so I just started up, following clearings as much as possible, and generally veering west. I crossed a dry creekbed and considered using it, but things weren't that brushy, so I just kept going my way. Seemed to take forever. Felt like I should have encountered the creek or trail. Had to keep telling myself this was foolproof, there's no way to get lost up here. I know the terrain well, wasn't just trusting a map. Finally heard voices on the Gorton Creek trail, so headed up that way. Hit the trail just yards east of the Indian Point trail! That seems to happen a lot, as documented in other TRs. I suspect it's because things get a bit too brushy right before the IP trail, so it flushes the bushwhackers out at that point. I probably was hiking paralel to the trail for quite a while, just 40 yards downhill. Headed east to Grey Creek, puzzled I had missed it. Asked a westbound hiker, and he said he didn't see a creek, and was sure he'd remember crossing one, so I surmised it was dry. Then I remembered the dry creekbed I crossed earlier. Hadn't ocurred to me it was Grey. I'd been hoping to hike up the Deadwood Camp trail, but with water running low, I scrapped that plan. By the way, the spring I encountered earlier doesn't feed into Grey; it was on the east side of the ridge. There must be a big spring, or several small ones, east of Indian Point.

Indian Point was pretty quiet. I was there a long time, and saw maybe 4 people. Windy, cloudy (high overcast). It was a pretty routine hike down. Well, except it was dry. I've hiked that trail twice, in the rain both times, and under time pressure, literally running. It was nice to hike it on a warm-but-breezy summer day. At the bottom, I had time for a route that would bypass the boring 400: took the Herman Creek trail down, knowing it had to eventually hit the utility road that I could take back east towards Wyeth. That was a longer steeper hike than I imagined, but it was interesting and scenic, so no regrets.

Overall, fantastic day. Nearly perfect weather, lots of fun offtrail travel on good ridges with plenty of options for exploring, minimal brush, flowers galore on the utility road. The worst part of the day was that dreadful hike down from Indian Point. I hate that trail. Fortunately, it's only about an hour.

Big wildlife:
Huge snake, too timid to allow a photo.
Huge mosquito that wasn't detered by my repellant (good thing I saw her).
Big frog on the ridgecrest.
Biggest tick I've ever seen (found two on my clothing, none on my skin).

[Bosterson]

It was like mossy gates, but not the Mossy Gates.

Aha, so sometimes you do read TRs in advance!

Wyeth Tiara (thank you) is a nice spot. It's easiest to get to from straight below it on the 400 - it's extremely visible and obvious. The "standard" route (per the book) goes up the west gully, but I've ever only gone up the east side and traversed over. The ridgecrest directly above the tiara is pretty fun - the first time, Skeeve and Shop opted to drop west off the tiara entrance shelf over into the western gully and head up, but EP and I went straight up the ridge, which required an elaborate stick move whereby I braced a long stick against a tree with my feet and EP hauled himself up. There's a nice baumdarme (miss you Bob) on the ridge right above that, makes for a fun tiptoe around it.

As I think you surmised, there are two ridges east of the Grey Creek that run run south and join in a "Y". The eastern one is the tiara, but presumably the western one is this? I've meant to get over there but haven't yet, looks neat.

From the bowl at the end of the tiara ridge, it's easy cause the trail is everywhere above you. No reason to worry about turning back, just head up over old blowdown. You're right that it's a similar thing for other ways up there; once the third gully melts into the hillside you just wander uphill till you reach the trail, probably about the same spot you hit if you were trending west. I've never successfully hit the IP spur trail and always pop out on the main trail right next to it (though n=2 and I wasn't actually trying to hit the spur, just heading up).

Anyway, nice work finding the tiara, it's a gem.

[Chip Down]

It's easiest to get to from straight below it on the 400 - it's extremely visible and obvious.

Yeah, it really was. I was surprised at that. Wasn't even sure that was it, but it sure looked enticing. But it's just barely tricky enough and remote enough that I don't think it will ever become the next instagram favorite.

The ridgecrest directly above the tiara is pretty fun.

Indeed. In fact, all the way up it was a fun route. There was never a time when I wondered why the eff I was getting sucked into that.

There's a nice baumdarm...

I googled that, to no avail. Sometimes it's helpful to say a word out loud, to see what it sounds like. Aha! Okay, I get it. A French police officer, right?

...presumably the western one is this? I've meant to get over there but haven't yet, looks neat.

Yep, that was on the ridge that defined the western edge of the gully. I had a choice of accessing it lower, on a slightly sketchy traversing ascent, or I could take a 100% safe route to the crest and then drop down. In an abundance of caution, I opted for the latter. Pics below show the point where I reached the ridgecrest, followed by a slightly different angle on the viewpoint. A little higher up the gully, I diverted again to check out a saddle on that western ridge. Looks like it would be very easy to drop west and gain the next gully over, but it looked crumbly, and I could see some cliffs. I think there's some potential over there. Considering the easy approach, I just might check it out sometime.

nice work finding the tiara, it's a gem

Ha, cute.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Peder]

Indeed a great ridge... I followed Nat and EP's footsteps, though I came up the west side (steep but straightforward) to the Tiara.


Indian Point from the ridge