Gilbert Peak
Inspired by John Porter's trip report and looking for an out of the way place to spend a couple of days in early spring, I decided to head to the Goat Rocks Wilderness. John graciously provided me with his GPS track from his trip last year. I planned to enter the wilderness from the Conrad Meadows trailhead and camp at Warm Lake, (hopefully) summiting Gilbert Peak at some point during a 2-3 day outing. With a good weather report, I drove out on a Monday morning, arriving at the trailhead around 9:30 AM and finding four parked vehicles. I briefly visited with an older gentleman and his grandson who were going on a day hike in search of an old cavalry route near Cold Lake. The weather was nearly perfect as I set off from the trailhead, even a little on the warm side.
#Hike
Conrad Meadows was beginning to bloom, providing a beautiful foreground to the backdrop of snow-covered foothills. The initially flat terrain alternated between enclosed forest and expansive meadows. Through this section I saw the first of many female elk, this one accompanied by a juvenile. They were quite skittish as I approached and thundered away soon after spotting me.
The trail was littered with many downed trees, making navigation difficult with my large backpack. While ducking under a few, my ice axe caught on the low-lying branches above. Eventually I came to a junction and headed right, which I knew would take me into switchbacks and some elevation gain. With the temperature rising, I was eager to gain altitude. I made good time through the switchbacks, navigating around several flooded and muddy areas. At about 5000 feet, I hit snow, so I switched out of my approach shoes and into crampons and mountaineering boots.
At this point, the snow made the trail hard to follow, so I cut across a basin toward the bottom of a ridge leading up to Warm Lake. There were many small waterfalls and streams to cross, including some with snow bridges that I traveled across quickly, hoping they would support me and my 30 lb. pack.
Reaching the ridge below Warm Lake, I began a steep climb, gaining about 1000 feet in under a mile. After putting in significant effort to gain the ridge, I arrived at a snow-covered basin occupied by Warm Lake. I was prepared to dig out a platform for my tent, but fortunately I found a dry patch that was "almost" level. I quickly set up camp and boiled some snow for drinking water.
Warm Lake sits in a basin backed to the west by the Klickton Divide. I planned to climb the ridge for a traverse to Gilbert Peak, but feeling worn out by the approach hike, I was not in the mood to do this on the first day. I made a hot dinner of macaroni and beef, then hunkered down in the tent for some much-needed sleep. During the first half of the night, strong winds rocked the tent and kept waking me up, but fortunately the guy lines all held and my sleeping bag was warm.
#Climb
I awoke at about 5:30 the next morning to still air and clear, sunny skies. The conditions were perfect for a summit day. I left camp at 6:30 and climbed fairly quickly to the top of Klickton Divide with crampons on firm snow. Gaining the ridge, Mount Adams' north face came into view as I traversed northwest toward Gilbert Peak. My initial climb to the ridge was a little too far to climber's left and I encountered a drop requiring a 15-foot down climb on a snow wall. After considering my options, I ultimately decided to face the wall and front-point down to the bottom. No problem. After this, the route followed the gradually ascending snow-covered ridge, at times requiring a transition to rock on climber's left to avoid significant exposure on the right.
The climbing conditions were absolutely perfect. After a long ridge traverse, I arrived at the southwest face of Gilbert Peak on a fairly steep slope covered with firm snow. Thinking I saw some footprints leading across the snow, I followed them only to realize halfway across the slope that I was following a mountain goat track. I ended up on the northwestern side of the summit block and encountered a sheer rock wall leading up to the top. Thinking to myself, "there's no way I'm climbing that", I wondered if I would find a way up. I backtracked southeast along the snow moat and eventually found an opening in the rock, with ledges leading upward. I deposited my crampons and ice axe in a protected cleft. I paused for a moment as I found it difficult to leave these tools behind, but they would be useless on the rock.
#Summit
After pulling up and onto the summit block, it was an easy scramble to the summit. Locating the register and reading through the entries, I saw that another climber had been there the day before. From the summit, I had a sublime panoramic view of three Cascade volcanos–Adams, St. Helens and Rainier.
After relaxing for 30 minutes on the summit, I down-climbed on sun-softened snow. Descending the ridge to Warm Lake, I began to slide in the loose snow, but successfully self arrested without incident. Back at camp, I packed up my tent and plunge-stepped down the steep ridge to the basin below. Traveling around the southern edge of the basin via Surprise Lake, I continued the long trek back to the trailhead. Just before the lake, I heard a thundering "boom" from up the mountain to my right and witnessed a huge fallen tree careening down the mountain about 100 yards ahead of me. On the way out through Conrad Meadows, I crossed paths with more elk, one posing just long enough for me to take a photo and marking the end of an excellent trip. Aside from my brief encounter with the hikers at the trailhead, I didn't see anyone during my two days in the wilderness.
Starting elevation: 4,003 ft | Elevation gain: 4,531 ft | Distance: 21.4 mi