Langille Ridge and McCoy Peak, July 12th, 2018
Posted: July 13th, 2018, 6:12 pm
14.1 miles of hiking, both on and off trail
4.8 miles of mountain biking
5,763’ EG
10 hours, 3 minutes
Number of other hikers: 0
Number of mountain goats: 2
Temperature: 54 to 82 degrees,
Bugs: A few, but no big deal
After reading Sean’s excellent TR’s of his Dark Divide adventures from a few years ago I put both McCoy
Peak and Langille Ridge on my ever lengthening short list.
One of Sean’s TRs:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=19412&hilit
Kelly Wagner had a lot to do with getting into the area but somehow I never quite got up Langille Ridge or McCoy Peak until yesterday, July 12th.
Weather promised to be clear though very hot so I arose at the ridiculous time of 3:30 and was on the road a few minutes after 4 am. As I made the turn off of I-5 onto SR 12 the sky continued to brighten and finally I could see rays of sunlight streaming past the summit of Mt. Rainier. It was a cool 54 to 58 degrees as I headed east through Morton and finally turned right at Randle heading to the TR off forest road 28.
Mt. Adams in the distance over the morning mist:
Watching the sky slowly brighten and finally seeing the sunrise is something I haven’t done in years. Note to self: do more of this!
The road is still washed out at the junction of FR 28 and 2809 and anticipating that, I brought my mountain bike to shorten the long hike. 2809 is a good road but unused for several years, it has mostly reverted to just a single track through the annuals:
There were only two or three logs across the route I couldn’t just jump my bike over so the first 2.4 miles went fairly fast, gaining 575 feet. I stashed the bike off the road, covered it in ferns just in case, and headed up the trail in the now brightening forest.
The first mile is a somewhat rutted section of switchbacks and the next 2 ¼ miles a long steadily climbing traverse to a beautifully scenic saddle with stunning views. There are only a couple of good views through the forest in this traversing section but they are very good viewpoints:
From there, it was a photographer’s heaven!
Once at the saddle, I headed north to see if I could get to the top of Langille Peak. There is no trail and some of the ridge is a horrible bushwhack but the scenic rewards are well worth the trouble. Spotting a mountain goat I decided to get a little closer but he wasn’t having any of it, leaving his perch and heading away across some pretty steep terrain. I thought, well, maybe if he can do it, I can, as I saw him traverse a very steep rock wall and get to within a few feet of the summit. Wrong! That goat crossed a section of sloping rock with about a hundred feet of exposure and I decided I didn’t really want to summit Langille Peak after all.
Here is the crux move that goat made. Not for me, at least not on this trip:
I headed back the way I came and decided that McCoy Peak would be the ultimate goal for the day.
A very nice trail took me another 1 2/3 mile to a very hard-to-spot trail junction and then another ¾ mile up to the summit of McCoy. This last bit has a couple hundred feet where the trail just plain disappears but I was able to fine it again without much trouble and the rest of the way was a breeze. McCoy’s top is a long ridgeline with a barely eroded out dike running along the top giving unobstructed view in all directions. I could see Jefferson, Hood, Adams, Rainier and St. Helens plus the Mt. Margaret area, the Goat Rocks and everything in between. A wonderful area and I hope to get back up there again.
A few more pics:
Another goat as I headed towards McCoy:
Looking back along my route:
The long summit ridge of McCoy Peak:
The map:
dn
4.8 miles of mountain biking
5,763’ EG
10 hours, 3 minutes
Number of other hikers: 0
Number of mountain goats: 2
Temperature: 54 to 82 degrees,
Bugs: A few, but no big deal
After reading Sean’s excellent TR’s of his Dark Divide adventures from a few years ago I put both McCoy
Peak and Langille Ridge on my ever lengthening short list.
One of Sean’s TRs:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=19412&hilit
Kelly Wagner had a lot to do with getting into the area but somehow I never quite got up Langille Ridge or McCoy Peak until yesterday, July 12th.
Weather promised to be clear though very hot so I arose at the ridiculous time of 3:30 and was on the road a few minutes after 4 am. As I made the turn off of I-5 onto SR 12 the sky continued to brighten and finally I could see rays of sunlight streaming past the summit of Mt. Rainier. It was a cool 54 to 58 degrees as I headed east through Morton and finally turned right at Randle heading to the TR off forest road 28.
Mt. Adams in the distance over the morning mist:
Watching the sky slowly brighten and finally seeing the sunrise is something I haven’t done in years. Note to self: do more of this!
The road is still washed out at the junction of FR 28 and 2809 and anticipating that, I brought my mountain bike to shorten the long hike. 2809 is a good road but unused for several years, it has mostly reverted to just a single track through the annuals:
There were only two or three logs across the route I couldn’t just jump my bike over so the first 2.4 miles went fairly fast, gaining 575 feet. I stashed the bike off the road, covered it in ferns just in case, and headed up the trail in the now brightening forest.
The first mile is a somewhat rutted section of switchbacks and the next 2 ¼ miles a long steadily climbing traverse to a beautifully scenic saddle with stunning views. There are only a couple of good views through the forest in this traversing section but they are very good viewpoints:
From there, it was a photographer’s heaven!
Once at the saddle, I headed north to see if I could get to the top of Langille Peak. There is no trail and some of the ridge is a horrible bushwhack but the scenic rewards are well worth the trouble. Spotting a mountain goat I decided to get a little closer but he wasn’t having any of it, leaving his perch and heading away across some pretty steep terrain. I thought, well, maybe if he can do it, I can, as I saw him traverse a very steep rock wall and get to within a few feet of the summit. Wrong! That goat crossed a section of sloping rock with about a hundred feet of exposure and I decided I didn’t really want to summit Langille Peak after all.
Here is the crux move that goat made. Not for me, at least not on this trip:
I headed back the way I came and decided that McCoy Peak would be the ultimate goal for the day.
A very nice trail took me another 1 2/3 mile to a very hard-to-spot trail junction and then another ¾ mile up to the summit of McCoy. This last bit has a couple hundred feet where the trail just plain disappears but I was able to fine it again without much trouble and the rest of the way was a breeze. McCoy’s top is a long ridgeline with a barely eroded out dike running along the top giving unobstructed view in all directions. I could see Jefferson, Hood, Adams, Rainier and St. Helens plus the Mt. Margaret area, the Goat Rocks and everything in between. A wonderful area and I hope to get back up there again.
A few more pics:
Another goat as I headed towards McCoy:
Looking back along my route:
The long summit ridge of McCoy Peak:
The map:
dn