Past the gate, the road to the left begins a gradual, but occasionally steep, climb up the south ridge. About ¾ mi from the TH, there is an obscure turn to the right (at a large tree stump, arrow) that allows you to continue climbing – staying on the far more obvious road leads to a dead end and then bush whacking to get back to the correct road.
At 3200’, the road turns the corner of the ridge and the view opens wide to include Silver Star in the distance and the peak (Pt 4060) with the Indian pits in the foreground.
I returned via the obvious road but went up by climbing the ridge over the pits, to maximize my views. I also went this way last May, when the slopes where the road is were loaded with unstable snow and traversing them would have been an exceptionally bad idea.
From the top of Pt 4060, I got views of Silver Star, St. Helens, and Rainier.
I worked my way along the ridge to Pt 4086, from where I could see Jefferson on the far horizon,
and Hood directly to the S.
I had microspikes along (didn’t use them), but had passed on snow shoes, figuring that the snow would be fairly compacted after the recent rains and warmer weather. I post holed in a few spots but it wouldn’t have been worth hauling snow shoes up there. The snow isn’t even deep enough (yet) to completely obscure the trail.
Mine were the only tracks coming over from Star 2 toward the summit (there were some old tracks up from Grouse Vista).
From Star 2, I could see Sturgeon Rock in the foreground, Saddle Mountain (under arrow) on the far horizon,
and Adams too.
From Star 2, I could also see across to Silver Star’s true summit, with St. Helens and Rainier in the distance. I initially thought the tiny white object on the summit (under the arrow) was someone’s relic snowman, but as I got closer to the summit, the “snowman” suddenly leaped into the air and flew away! It was a large, almost all white bird – A Great Snowy Owl is my guess, even though this is at the southern edge of their range.
After a snack, I headed back by crossing back over PT 4086 and then dropping down to the old road that traverses below Pt 4060. This was a short hike (7.5 mi RT), with reasonable gain (3000’), but the views are amazing and traversing the treeless, exposed ridges has a real alpine climbing feel to it. I can’t wait to do it again when there’s enough snow to justify using snow shoes!
