Big Craggy and West Craggy

Big Craggy and West Craggy

Katie on Big Craggy with West Craggy in the background

October 11, 2015

Eric and Katie

It looked like Sunday might be dry east of the crest, so Katie and I left Seattle Saturday afternoon and drove through pouring rain across Washington Pass. We made it to a pulloff up Eightmile Creek road and slept in the car that night.

In the morning we left the car at 7am and started hiking up the trail to the Craggies. It started out like an old road, then we passed an abandoned mine and the road grade narrowed into a trail. Snow started just above the mine, likely having fallen the previous night.

Once the trail leveled out we cut into the woods and bushwhacked into the basing southof Big Craggy. The larch trees were pretty in the fresh snow. At the head of the basin we scrambled up to the saddle between West Craggy and Big Craggy, then followed a climber trail through the scree up to the Big Craggy summit.

Larches in the basin below the craggies

From there we descended back to the saddle, and scrambled across third class terrain to a big gully south of West Craggy. We scrambled up the gully, then crossed a talus field to reach the summit. The views were amazing of wilderness in all directions. Fresh snow blanketed all the mountains, and we guessed they would remain snow covered until spring.

We retraced our route  back to the saddle, then hiked back to the car. We got back before dark, with enough time to eat burgers in Winthrop before heading back to Seattle.

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