Last year I scouted the ridge running south connecting Shellrock mountain to the plateau above for a possible exploration. The trip report for that hike is
here. In a message posted to the Shellrock report, mandrake provided some 'beta' on the ridge:
"From the cairn on Shellrock's
summit, head down the ridge and continue on up. It's steep in couple
spots, but relatively easy thrashing until you get much higher
up. Several short stretches of thick 'schwacking around the
rockfields high up on the Wyeth ridge; I'd recommend staying in
the rockfields as much as you can. In one spot the crest of the
ridge is extremely thrashy but one can avoid it by staying low &
climber's left in the open talus. Terrific 180-degree views and a
rocky ridge high up just before the ridge reaches the top of the
forested plateau."
I had some unfinished business with the
#412 Lindsey Ridge hike I did about 1.5 months ago - investigate the upper portions of the route in snow free conditions. Being close together, I combined these 2 in a loop with a bonus destination of Green Pt. Mtn.
I parked at the Shellrock Mountain guardrail trailhead and did the freeway over to start the #412. Lindsey ridge is a very steep, physically challenging climb out of the gorge (3900') but no major bushwhacking required. This is true even for the upper part that is now snow free. With the snow gone, I experienced the reason for the short trail Splintercat observed in a message posted to my #412 report concerning a trail fragment on his 1938 MHNF map:
"Adding to the mystery: this trail [i.e. the #412 - ed. pablo] is not on my 1938 topo map, though
the Wyeth trail is shown -- though a spur of the Lindsey Ridge trail,
heading north from the Wyeth trail on almost exactly the GPS path
you've shown to about the point where you met the the Lindsey Ridge
trail is shown.
"
Here's a fragment of the map Tom is referring to - follow Wyeth trail up to the plateau and go north on the short segment to wind up at the '3900' label:
Turns out the end point of this short trail segment branching off Wyeth is a knob with a meadow providing expansive views, somewhat limited by trees now but still impressive and highly recommended for anyone doing Wyeth trail. 70 years ago this spot was likely bald and I did see a couple of rotted sawed stumps of small trees - just the kind of stuff that would get in the way of someone's view.
Here's a shot of the meadow with Defiance in the background. On this day the meadow covered with blooming glacier lilies.
Even with trees partially blocking the view, there is still a lot to see.
Like Hood:
Defiance:
Up river:
Also visible are Silver Star Mtn and St Helens. A really beautiful spot and easy to get to as the understory is fairly free of brush. I saw no evidence of a trail.
From the knob I headed for Green Pt. Mtn. but it became clear I was going to not make it before my 2:00PM turn around time so I went as far as the ridge above North Lake, snapped a few pictures of the snow bound lake and headed back to descend on Shellrock. There is still a lot of snow on the plateau but I was able, early on, to follow the trail to Green Pt Mtn - nice to contact the terra firma of a real trail.
Here's North Lake as of Sunday June 8:
On my return I ran across the trail marker on the plateau for Wyeth Trail and right there in the sun cup of the tree next to the sign was an umbrella, figure that one out. Let's see, 10 essentials, bivy, sleeping bag, ice ax, crampons, snowshoes, and oh yeah almost forgot - the umbrella!
I returned to the viewpoint knob and started the descent on the ridge connecting to Shellrock Mtn. Mindful of mandrake's description passed through some brush to meet a rocky ridge with absolutely stunning views - just the kind of place with just the kind of rocks where one might run into vision quest pits and, yes indeed, at least 4 on the spine of rocks forming the ridge line. Here is a panorama of the view from this spot - the pits are in the foreground. Really an extraordinary place.
I pushed on down the hill running into plenty of serious brush and loose talus slopes so when I got tired of one I went into the other. Parts were nice, much like the path on the #412. Some exposure but easily avoided. Views all over the place. There was, for me anyway, some interesting route finding required particularly in making the turn off the major ridge to the short connecting ridge to Shellrock Mtn. (see the map below). I made the turn and headed for home. Once on the south side of Shellrock I looked back on the ridge I'd just traveled, on the horizon far left is Lindsey Ridge going up hill to the knob, then right to the talus slope just down the ridge a bit where the vision quest pits are located. Follow that line on the horizon to make the turn about halfway down on to the ridge connecting to Shellrock.
I passed the rock cairn on the summit of Shellrock and headed down the hill to meet with the faint trail. There are some views on the trail off Shellrock.
Starvation Ridge trail head (near) and Mitchell Pt. (far).
The talus slope is the last leg. I wanted to see if there is a route from this part to the falls marked on the USGS topo map, but I was too tired for any more bushwhacking - looks like easy to get to from this part of the trail.
And the wagon road:
Great day, thanks to mandrake for the fine beta, without it I'd never have attempted to hike down that ridge to Shellrock - would have been real tough to climb out had I gotten blocked anywhere along the way. I was very tired by the time I got to my ride.
10.5 hours, 12 miles, 4800' cumulative.
