Peaks 4628 and 4697

Peak 4628 (aka Bootalicious Peak) and Peak 4697

Mountain biking up to the ridge looking down at the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River

Sept 26, 2020, Eric

15 miles, 4,000ft gain

Saturday was supposed to be cold and very rainy state-wide so I did a short character-building trip close to home. I figured out a way to mountain bike up a few thousand feet to tag a few new peaks off I-90. Saturday morning I drove out to the middle fork snoqualmie river and parked at the gate just after the bridge around 9:30am. I’d come here once before with Katie to climb Moolock Mountain, and remembered regretting not bringing a mountain bike.

The route

This time I had a bike, and started biking up the gated logging road. By 2,400ft elevation the road was washed out at a creek crossing and impassable to vehicles. It looked pretty recent, perhaps from last winter. But it was still bikeable. I passed two hikers going up towards south Bessemer, and continued biking all the way to the col west of Moolock Mountain at 4,400ft.

By then the rain started and it wouldn’t let up the rest of the day. I took a break and locked up the bike, then plunged into the forest. My plan was to head west along the ridge hitting some named bumps from peakbagger, then turn around and bike back. The bushwhacking was actually pretty dense on that ridge, likely since it had been logged in the past 10 years. I must say, the most effective way to get

Alpine lakes on the north side of the ridge

thoroughly drenched short of jumping in a lake is to do dense bushwhacking in heavy rain.

I bushwhacked for half an hour and finally reached the top of Bootalicious Peak. There was no view or

register, and I think my friends would call this a dumpster dive peak. I wanted to tag more peaks, so continued down the west ridge. I reached another abandoned logging road, and this was in tough enough shape that following it was much slower than I had hoped. I did a side trip to tag Peak 4697, a short bushwhack up a side hill. By then the rain was

Biking back down after the bushwhack

intensifying and my hands were starting to get numb. I think the temperature was in the upper 30s F, since the rain had briefly started as snow.

On that summit I made the call to just head back to my bike. There were more peaks along the ridge that I had originally intended to tag, but it was a bit unappealing knowing the farther I bushwhacked out the farther I’d have to bushwhack back. It would have been fine if it weren’t pouring rain and close to freezing, but I figured I’d built enough character for the day so retreated.

I bushwhacked back to my bike, then packed up and started down. The descent was extremely cold in the pouring rain, but very fun. My hands would get numb every 10 minutes and I’d have to stop to warm them up, but I eventually made it back to the car just as the sky really let loose. I think that’s about the most intense rain I can remember. Luckily I had a spare change of clothes in the car. I spent some time drying off and warming my numb hands before driving back to Seattle.

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