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. Four other vehicles were at the trailhead. 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. As I set off from the trailhead, the weather was nearly perfect, if a little on the warm side.
Hike
Conrad Meadows was beginning to bloom, providing a beautiful foreground to a backdrop of snow-covered foothills. The initially flat terrain alternated between forest and expansive meadows. Within the first two miles, I saw the first of many female elk, this one accompanied by a juvenile. They were quite skittish and thundered away soon after spotting me.
Flower-adorned Conrad Meadows
The trail was littered with many downed trees, making navigation difficult with my large backpack. While ducking under a few, my ice axe held me up, catching on the 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 mountaineering boots with crampons.
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.
Hello, Gilbert
Reaching the ridge below Warm Lake, I began a steep climb, gaining about 1000 feet in under a mile. After putting in significant work to gain the ridge, I arrived at 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 set up camp and boiled some snow for drinking water.
Frozen Warm Lake and the Klickton Divide
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 buffeted the tent and kept me from sleeping deeply, but fortunately the guy lines all held and my sleeping bag was warm.
Home sweet home
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 and I traversed northwest toward Gilbert Peak. My initial route to the ridge was a little too far to the south and I encountered a dropoff requiring a 15-foot down climb on a snow wall. I thought about my options for a bit, but ultimately decided to face the wall and front-point down to the bottom. After this, the route along the ridge ascended gradualy on snow, at times requiring transitioning to rock on the western side to avoid significant drops on the right. Keeping my crampons on through these sections, I was able to climb through without much difficulty.
Ridge walking
Adams looking good
Cratered Mt. St. Helens
Destination in view
The climbing conditions were absolutely perfect. After a long ridge traverse, I arrived at the southwest face of Gilbert Peak and a fairly steep slope covered with firm snow. Thinking I saw some footprints leading across the snow, I followed them, only to realize halfway 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 summit. 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. It was mentally difficult to leave these tools behind, but they would be useless on the rock.
Stunning approach to Gilbert Peak
Summit Scramble
After pulling up and onto the summit block, it was an easy scramble to the summit. Locating the register, 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.
Ravishing Rainier
Perched on the peak
After about 30 minutes relaxing on the summit, I began the climb down through sun-softened snow. Descending the ridge to Warm Lake, I began to slide in the loose snow, but was able to self arrest after a short distance. 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 tree trunk careening down the mountain about 100 yards ahead of me. On the way out through Conrad Meadows, I encountered more elk, one posing just long enough for me to take a photo, 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.
Elk encounter
Starting elevation: 4,003 ft | Elevation gain: 4,531 ft | Distance: 21.4 mi
