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First, let me say that we didn‘t intend to hike up this way but boy were we glad we did. A beautiful (it started to rain later) Saturday in August and me and my friend were the only two on this route.
South Halfmoon Creek is a couple miles past the main Th with a log bridge to walk across. Journey up the road to a path that cuts between the trees. We didn‘t quite catch this and went further down before we cut up, but once we were on the summit we saw the opening. There is no trail this way!
We had to do somebushwacking but eventually got through and began climbing up.
Looking back over what we came through. The road is visible in the distance.
There is a bit a scree and lots of talus that is fairly stable. I‘m working up to my first class 4 climb so I always chose the steepest paths.
In every instance, there was an easier route to take. It‘s steep, but still class 2. If we had cut up through the break, we would have climbed directly up to the summit. Since we were further south, we came out on the ridge and a short hike later we were at the summit.
The route we should have taken up.
Once there, we found all the people we expected to. I run marathons and while I‘m not quite up to running UP mountains, I love running down them so we took the main trail down. I ran all the way, passing maybe 40 people or so and hung out at the TH. While I was there, Jaye and Koda (see lost and found) made their way down and now have their pictures posted on this wonderful website. After waiting for my friend for over an hour, I decided to start back up the trail to look for him. Eventually I ascertained that he was not still up the trail and I headed back down. Turns out, he had come down a different way so he could cut over to where the truck was parked. A few minutes later he pulled into the TH and we headed out. Overall, I would highly recommend anyone who wants some solitude and a bit more fun than a trail full of weekend warriors give the west slope a try.
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