Kind of a last-minute adventure into the Cascades with Krissy, Justin Angle and Bryan Estes. We met in the dark and drove up past Cle Elum to a trailhead to Ingalls Peak, where Justin had mapped out a loop of 20-25. Really pretty drive, and the sun was trying to come out as we arrived. The first 60 minutes or so were a steady grind, then we dropped down a steep descent to the campground and saw some hikers. We chatted it up, looked at the fall larch, and kept moving. Somewhere in the next few miles we lost our way, and the trails didn't match with our map. Too many unmarked ATV trails confused us, as well as one washout that we suspect may have been the turn we should have taken. So we ambled around, down and up one long hill, for an hour or so. We finally turned and decided to bag the loop, saw a bare ridgeline and decided to scale it just for a view and something different. It was steep, I was taxed going up that thing but the view over Ingalls Peak was worth it. We got a little misted on, but not soaked or anything.
Then we ran back, sun coming back out and day hikers heading up. The long descent to the car started working me over, my energy level was lagging by then but I kept up. Had been awhile since I'd gone that far. Ended up being out there for 4.5 hours and climbed over 6,000 feet total, the 20 miles is kind of a guess. brooks cascadia -- 120
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