Oval Peak Car to Car the Back Way

Oval Peak 8,795ft

September 30, 2018, 4:15am – 9:15pm

Eric Gilbertson

50 miles (42 miles hiking, 8 miles mountain biking), 11,000ft gain

I’ve been working on tightening my completion time window for the Bulgers, and just finished climbing Abernathy and the Gardners on Saturday evening. It was raining when I reached my rental car at the trailhead at 6:30pm, and I quickly loaded up my wet gear and got driving.

I needed to climb Oval Peak to shave another 4 months off my completion time (from 1 year 7 months to 1 year 3 months), but unfortunately the standard approach to Oval Peak from the east was closed due to fires. (I’d previously climbed Oval in February 2017 for what is likely a second winter ascent )However, the trails on the west side of Oval Peak in the Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness had just opened on Sept 29 and provided a backdoor access opportunity. The closure boundary had also been reduced so Oval Peak and the surrounding vicinity to the west were back open. It would be much longer trip the back way, though. I planned to start at the Crater Creek trailhead, and it would be about 40 miles round trip, which I planned to do in a day. I had a secret weapon, though – a mountain bike. The trail from the Crater Creek trailhead to Boiling Lake is a popular mountain biking trail and I figured I could bike at least 15 of the 40 miles to speed up the trip.

I got internet service in Winthrop and took care of a bit of work I’d forgotten to do for one of my classes, then continued south to Twisp. After topping off the gas tank and picking up some more food at the Chevron I drove down to Gold Creek Road and then up towards the Crater Creek trailhead.

I’ve had some pretty bad luck with this particular trailhead this summer. On August 31 I’d planned to climb some

peaks from this trailhead, and all online resources said it was open. However, when I drove up the Gold Creek road and road closure barricade was blocking the road. It had just been closed that day due to fires, so I had to change plans.

On September 15 I wanted to climb some peaks (Martin, Switchback, Bigelow) near the same trailhead, and the Okanogan forest website stated the access road was closed for road work. I accessed the peaks via a much longer approach on the Summer Blossam, only to find mountain bikers up there who had driven to the Crater Creek trailhead and it was somehow open.

This time, online resources said the road was open, but I encountered a new barricade. Apparently the road work had been delayed from Sept 15, and had just started. I quickly formulated a backup plan to start from the Foggy Dew trailhead. It looked like it would make the trip about 10 miles longer, and I wasn’t sure if the trail would be mountain bikeable, but I figured I’d already invested so much in the trip by renting a car and driving out there that I might as well give it a try.

I drove down to the Foggy Dew trailhead and saw a dozen other cars, half of which had mountain bike racks on the back. It indeed looked like a popular biking trail, which was great news. I scarfed down some food and went to sleep in the car around 9pm.

I got up at 3:45am the next morning and was biking up the trail by 4:15am. For the next few hours I alternated between pushing my bike up the trail and riding it, with most of my time spent pushing it. I encountered fresh snow on the bushes around 7,000ft, and just after sunrise I reached Cooney Lake at 7,200ft. The larches were at peak color and were covered in a dusting of snow, making the scenery amazingly colorful. There were several tents around the lake, and I decided to leave my bike there. My route would ascend a steep trail up and over Angel’s Staircase, and I knew there was more good mountain biking terrain on the other side of the pass. However, I figured it would slow me down pushing the bike up to the pass (and back up and over on the return), and I could make up that time by trail running on the good section of trail.

I climbed up Angel’s Staircase, passing two other hikers, then started descending the west side. I then hiked up towards Boiling Lake, and turned west on the summit trail to the wilderness boundary. The trail past the wilderness boundary had formerly been closed for fires, but is now open.

For the next few hours I jogged on the downhills and tried to hike quickly on the uphills. I encountered about an inch or two of snow on the trails above 7,000ft, especially near Star Lake. I reached Fish Creek Pass around noon, and then bushwhacked through the woods to a small tarn on the east side of Oval Peak, avoiding the closed trails. Technically I was completely outside the closure zone the entire trip. From there I ascended to Buttermilk Ridge, and climbed the south ridge to the summit of Oval Peak. Somehow I covered the last 1,200 vertical feet in only 30 minutes, which was much faster than I’d expected given the slippery boulders. I reached the summit at 2pm, just as it started to snow.

I now just had 25 miles back to the car. After about 10 minutes I turned around and retraced my route. This time I tried to jog as much of the trail as possible to make up lost time. I reached the base of Angel’s Staircase by sunset, and hiked through a foggy whiteout to reach my bike at 8pm.

The next 8 miles to the car were amazing. The trail was smooth enough that I could sit in the seat and coast most of the time, only occasionally navigating through rock gardens. Visibility was pretty bad in the fog at night, and I did flip over once, but didn’t get injured.

I made it to the car by 9:15pm, and was soon driving back to Seattle. I made it back and dropped off the rental car by 2:30am, which gave me a few hours of sleep before I needed to be on campus at 6:30am.

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