Larch Mtn/Sherrard Point direct Nov-21-2015

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CraigG
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Larch Mtn/Sherrard Point direct Nov-21-2015

Post by CraigG » November 22nd, 2015, 2:08 pm

Greetings All -

Rigby the Hiking Dog and I wanted to find a few "origin points" of Multnomah Creek on our way up to Larch Mountain. A windy but good start to the day with our hiking group:

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We headed up the Larch Mtn trail - only one minor blowdown section. Past the waterfalls (on trail):

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Continuing on-trail, for now:

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Winter Creek:

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..and beyond:

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Rigby getting his game face on to turn offtrail from Multnomah Creek Way (#444) and head offtrail, in the direction of Sherrard Pt:

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We temporarily left the hiking group and headed offtrail (south) from Multnomah Creek Way. The plan was to hit 2 offtrail water sources of Multnomah Creek, then scramble up to Sherrard Point and rejoin our hiking group. It was fairly brushy once we headed offtrail:

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Approaching the first "origin" of Multnomah Creek:

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Our first stop offtrail seemed little more than a swamp/bog, with a lot of surrounding brush:

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The view was a pretty, but somewhat underwhelming. We continued offtrail to the second (and last) possible lake on our offtrail. The brush subsided as we moved past the bog and continued uphill:

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We started crossing patches of snow:

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Ascent photo, on our way to the second possible source for Multnomah Creek:

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Approaching our second stop during the offtrail. Would this second water source make the offtrail worthwhile? The land started to level out:

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Some views of the immediate area, approaching the second water source:

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A little roll in the snow can't hurt!

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Closer to our second (at last) water source for the offtrail. What would it look like?

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The water source - pond - was beautiful. Small, pristine and wonderful.

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Hmmm, there seems to be a small stream just south of pond - right side of photo:

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The brush was very thick here - even with the leaves off the brush. Rigby and struggled to keep the stream in view, heading south. Then we saw it! :D

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A completely iced over lake - about 200 feet in diameter. No game tracks the way we approached thru the thick brush.

Rigby and I struggled through the brush to get to the lake - it was absolutely beautiful with only the gurgling of the stream as a background noise! :D

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We headed over to the right/south side of the lake - there was a small clearing:

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On the south side of the lake, game tracks appeared and we marvelled at the iced over, pristine lake. The local animals must approach the lake from its south side:

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Rigby posing on the south approach to the lake:

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After a brief food/water break, we took in our last view of the lake:

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We continued south offtrail, towards Sherrard Point. Turning south, away from the iced-over lake:

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Our ascent through the forest continued to a large white feature on our left - hard to make out:

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The ascent plan was to take the easiest route up to Sherrard Point, where it would not be too steep. Still, this white feature was intruging - we angled climber's left (away from the original route) and were greeted with this sight:

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A beautiful and untouched snow-covered rockfield. I checked the rock field for moss, under its snow cover. There was moss on the rocks, indicating a (hopefully) stable rock field. Rigby and I carefully headed up the rock field, staying on the climber's right side, in case we needed leave the rock field:

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Moderately steep, but stable and beautiful. The view below, during our ascent:

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Rigby was following my route, at a distance. He was doing fine and then Rigby passed me:

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Views began to appear over my shoulder:

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Nearing the top of the rockfield, following its natural "flow" - what is above here?

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We ascended above the rock field to a small land "knob":

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Then ascended another small rock field:

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View behind us:

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The end/top of the second rock field got slightly steeper, but still doable. Sunlight was seen above - we were within 300 feet distance of Sherrard Pt and the viewpoint area:

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The ascent angle was about 40 degrees, getting pretty steep and slightly loose. We were very close to our goal:
Up we went!

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Very close now to Sherrard viewpoint - the base of its "rock pile" viewpoint area in the upper-middle of the next photo:

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Success! We came out about 30 feet from the concrete stairs leading up to the viewpoint area where our hiking group was waiting!

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As a group, we took in the wonderful views of Larch Mtn/Sherrard Pt! No wind!

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Well done Rigby!

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What a day with a wonderful group of hiking friends! Thank you all!

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A close-up view of the offtrail section:

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Last edited by CraigG on November 23rd, 2015, 4:49 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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CraigG
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Re: Larch Mtn/Sherrard Point direct Nov-21-2015

Post by CraigG » November 22nd, 2015, 7:00 pm

Gpsfly track here: http://gpsfly.org/g/5157

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Sean Thomas
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Re: Larch Mtn/Sherrard Point direct Nov-21-2015

Post by Sean Thomas » November 22nd, 2015, 7:33 pm

Great report and pics CG, I've always been curious about the little bodies of water up there.

And Rigby is a real champ!

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CraigG
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Re: Larch Mtn/Sherrard Point direct Nov-21-2015

Post by CraigG » November 23rd, 2015, 6:58 am

It was good to run into you Bosterson!

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CraigG
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Re: Larch Mtn/Sherrard Point direct Nov-21-2015

Post by CraigG » November 23rd, 2015, 6:59 am

Sean Thomas wrote:Great report and pics CG, I've always been curious about the little bodies of water up there.

And Rigby is a real champ!
Thanks! There seems to be one more origin lake in that area I have not (yet) visited. Next time! :D

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woodswalker
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Re: Larch Mtn/Sherrard Point direct Nov-21-2015

Post by woodswalker » November 23rd, 2015, 7:41 am

Very exciting. I always like seeing water sources.
woodswalker

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Bosterson
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Re: Larch Mtn/Sherrard Point direct Nov-21-2015

Post by Bosterson » November 23rd, 2015, 10:24 am

CraigG wrote:It was good to run into you Bosterson!
You too, Craig. I'm kinda surprised it hasn't happened sooner! :)

After looking at your track, you didn't go quite where I thought based on our conversation at the Lodge. That little frozen lake is neat - I'm guessing it's the black spot in the Google sat view just west of the open talus field north of the summit? The pond I've been to (which I thought was also the one you said you'd gone to) is due north of the summit, right at the north edge of that open talus area.

For reference, the two times I've been up the NE Ridge are here and here. It's the left ridge running up to the summit in Jeremiah's pic below.

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The hard part of the NE ridge is actually getting to it - it's kind of a steep, loose-ish schwack up through talus and trees to the base of a steep section that's a bit sketch. The first time I did it, the sketchy part wasn't too bad; the second, everything was icy/snowy and I had to go farther right and ended up climbing some rocks that probably are not solid normally, but were held together by the ice. No bueno.

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However, Ben discovered that if you traverse around behind the south aspect of that ridge, there's a much much easier approach with low level scrambling that gets you up onto the fun last hundred feet of pure rock to the summit.

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Next time I'm up there I'll have to check out the west side - maybe you can climb up to that rock that sticks out of the summit platform. ;)
#pnw #bestlife #bitingflies #favoriteyellowcap #neverdispleased

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CraigG
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Re: Larch Mtn/Sherrard Point direct Nov-21-2015

Post by CraigG » November 23rd, 2015, 10:35 am

Thanks for the info Nat! I was looking over the east-southeast side ridge from the fence and it seemed a doable scramble. I shall have to look into that, for variety of course! :)

Yes - I believe the black spot within Google Earth is the iced pond we visited.

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BigBear
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Re: Larch Mtn/Sherrard Point direct Nov-21-2015

Post by BigBear » November 23rd, 2015, 12:37 pm

Can't call it "Direct" if the off-trail route is 3 miles longer than the official trail.

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CraigG
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Re: Larch Mtn/Sherrard Point direct Nov-21-2015

Post by CraigG » November 23rd, 2015, 1:36 pm

BigBear wrote:Can't call it "Direct" if the off-trail route is 3 miles longer than the official trail.
Good point - there was quite a bit of stumbling around. ;)

Still, I ended up with about 17 miles, even after editing/cleaning the original track. Didn't seem as if it should have been that much longer. Oh well.

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