7/27, Saturday, we were up at 6am. Drove out ~6:30, but both she and I forgot something. Had to run back. Good that the trailhead is not far. North of the town of Barring off Hwy 2. Our main objective is Gunn Peak.
When we arrived, the TH of Barclay Lake was already full.
Backtracked, and looked for the small and short spur to the north.
There was a lady camping there. She has a huge tent.
We passed her site to the end of the spur road, couldn't find a way crossing Barclay Creek without getting wet.
The lady called out to us, and showed us a faint trail before her van.
She said she had seen people coming out of that trail.
We followed. It hit the creek slightly upstream. Here's OK crossing the creek in the photo. 8:14am.
The track is mostly easy to follow, but it's steep.
Here is the worst: half of a goat carcass hanging on a branch (see the red circle), the other half lying below.
Yes, we actually need to go down here (the red verticle line), cross and go up on the opposite side.
Super dusty like powder.
I couldn't believe that we need to go down here, nor did I want to give up hard-earned elevation,
I tried to find an alternative route via the rock cliff, but gave up and went down the sand, hanging on trees.
At the this time, 2 guys came up here as well.
That's about 9:30am.
~20 minutes later, we broke above the tree line. The grade eased only a slight bit, still going up aggressively. Barring looming to the south. Some shrubs and flowers. Paintbrush, rosy spiria, tiger lily.
Gradually, we arrived into a basin with some snow patches and melting creek ~10:30am.
Even saw some shooting stars.
Then, finally, at the rocky basin where you can see OK's objectives of the day.
Water is not a problem, plenty snow patches that I filled my water bottle.
To go to Gunn, follow the track down to a lower basin, and traverse this boulder field.
Right under Gunn proper, turn right into a gully.
This is the only tricky part. Here you see O.K. going down the rock crack, where I came up.
Funny, that I chose her up route when I went down. Because neither of us like the way we scrambled up.
From then on, it's quite straightforward.
You need to cross the ridge to the north and the turn west. See this ridge in the left photo.
Follow the trail all the way to the summit. 12:50.
Yes, there's a "trail" all the way.
Summit view is not bad.
East to Wing and Merchant, west is Gunn Lake below, south is Barring, north is Glacier Peak among many others.
All very rocky. Enough space to spread out. There's a summit registry here.
Going down to the lower basin. On the way I counted all the climbers we encountered including those we met on our way up. Total 14 including us.
Now, cut towards Wing. As we got close, on the the proper mountain, we found the trail.
It was somewhat steep, but nothing special. Here's OK going down.
The last big is interesting. We had to drop down a big rock, walked a short ledge, and go up to the main peak.
We squeezed through a crack. I had to lower my pack.
O.K. simply left her pack below. Here in the photo to the right is O.K. getting into the crack.
Looking back is our route to Gunn.
~3:10pm. No summit registry.
Going down back to the main trail, we decided not to walk along the ridge, but to the south of the ridge.
This slope has quite some flowers.
Saw Rusty Saxifrage, Cascade Desert Parsley, harebell. A lot of daisies, cream-colored paintbrushes.
Once joined the main trail, we headed to Tailgunner.
This is the easiest scramble. Maybe class 1.
On the way, saw a few lovely ponds and flat meadows. Would be nice to camp here. Maybe a little buggy right now.
The summit has equally good view. 4:30pm.
On our way down, saw ~3 people sitting by the ponds, resting.
Going back to the main trail, and retracked all the way back down to the car.
Again, I didn't like the place where the goat died. (~6pm)
Surprised to meet 2 backpackers heading up.
Total about 4600', 7 miles. We drove towards Blanca Lake, also off hwy-2, for tomorrow's climb. On the way, stopped at Troublesome Creek campground's day use area for dinner. Already getting a bit dark. ~8pm. It has a picnic table, overlooking Troublesome Creek. Cleaned up dust and sweat. We walked around the camp, unable to find drinking water tap. So had to filter river water. Continued to Blanca Lake TH. I pitched a tent near the TH, off the parking lot. Didn't bother to put a fly on top, nor stake the tent down. O.K. slept in her car.
