Three Fingers 9/28/08

Tim and I had wanted to do Three Fingers for quite some time. Three fingers is best done later in the hiking season (August-October), as snow and ice make the route very difficult. Anyway, this weekend seemed to be the best time to do it, especially since the weather forecast was for sunny skies. We drove to the trailhead Saturday night and got there around 8pm. It was too late to find a nice camp spot, so we slept in the car.




We woke up and were on the trail at 6am. Yes, very early but we knew that the day was going to be very long. The route was estimated at 16 miles total. We started with our headlamps and stowed them as it got lighter. Above is a pic of me at the trailhead and the other our first glimpse of Three fingers from the trail.

At 2.5 miles we reached Saddle Lake.

After another 2.5 miles, we reached Goat Flats. Here, we noticed it would be a great place to backpack and camp as there were quite a few campsites. Cool views and nice that there is also a toilet nearby. :P

Heading to Tin Can Gap.

When we arrived at Tin Can Gap, the trail was hard to follow since snow was present. It looked like we could go below (very sketchy with one wrong step could get seriously injured) or in a moat (between the ice and rock). We chose the latter. Above is a pic of Tim in the moat.

There was one last bit of snow we had to cross before the lookout. Here we took out our ice axes, it wasn't required at this point since the snow snow was softer, but it was still good to have. Above is a pic of Tim on the snow.

You know you're at the lookout once you get to the ladders. To get to the lookout, you need to climb the three ladders shown above. I was ok going up the first two, but the third one was the one that kinda got to me. It was kinda freaky going from the second ladder to the third in that I had to kinda jump from a ledge to another ledge. Once I got the the third ladder it was ok going up it, but to get from the ladder to the lookout is a sloping rock with steep drop-offs on the sides. I guess there normally is a fixed rope here, but the Everett Mountaineers took it with them as this was probably the last best weekend to climb to the lookout. Anyway, as Tim tells me, I scampered quickly to the lookout. :)

At the lookout, the views were amazing! At the top one can see Mt. Rainier, the Stuart Range, the Pickets, Glacier Peak, Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan, and the rest of North Cascades. Above is the side of the Lookout and if you look below, is the third ladder (the one I had most trouble with). The other pic is inside the lookout. Inside is a fire finder, summit register, books, a bed, and other supplies. I really think it's amazing that this lookout is up here.

Me and Tim on the summit.

Me at the door of the lookout.

Tim heading down.

On the way up we took the moat. However on the way down, we forgot about the moat and ended up following the trail down to the tricky part. This was the scariest part of the whole trip. The snow crossing was pretty much ice, very hard, and one wrong step one would have been seriously injured. I went across as steady as I could, but I felt very uncomfortable and not very safe. I was so glad when I crossed over. Above is a pic of Tim crossing. He was smarter and used the dagger technique.

Here's a pic of me going up a small gully with the help of a fixed line.

Back at goat flats, we still had 5 miles to go. We took a little break, the legs were getting tired, but we pushed on. We made it back to the car at 5:30pm. So a total of eleven and a half hours round trip for 16 miles. It was one long day but well worth it. :)