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| Southwest Ridge   | 
| Page Type: Route Location: Washington, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 48.13030°N / 121.67°W Route Type: Scramble, Bushwhack Time Required: One to two days Difficulty: Class 2-3
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| Page By: Andy Dewey Created/Edited: Feb 6, 2005 / Mar 12, 2005 Object ID: 163852 Hits: 385 Loading... Page Score: 0% - 0 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Approach
Follow SR-92 east to Granite Falls, turn onto the Mountain Loop Hwy and continue east for about 6-7 miles and turn left (north) on Tupso Pass Rd (FS Rd #41). You have two choices from here:
Option 1. When the pavement ends, turn right onto Rd 4110 and follow for 1.3 miles and turn right onto FS Road #4111 and follow this as far as you can (the road is washed out at about 7.8 miles and you will have to hike or bike the rest). Just before the old Canyon Lake Trail, the road will fork. Take the left fork and continue on the old road until it crosses into the Canyon Creek valley.
Option 2. When the pavement ends, continue up the hill to the left. Follow this road for about 6 miles, you will go around a sharp hairpin turn to the left over a creek where the road will noticeably dip down. Soon after you will see a road fork to the right. Park here or keep driving if you are brave! This is Road #4130, which later branches into 4130 (downhill branch) and 4131 (uphill branch). Note: you can ride your bike up Rd 4131, but it is difficult to get across the large road washout with it, and shortly after the washout the trees and brush will become too thick to ride much further. Either road will work, pick your poison. The bushwhacking will be rough either way.
Route Description
Once you are in the valley of the South Fork Canyon Creek and West/Southwest of Liberty Mtn, descend the steep and heavily forested hillside E/NE about 800 vertical feet, until you reach the creek. It can be difficult finding a log crossing, you may have to get wet! Ascend through open old growth towards the southwest ridge. As you ascend the hillside will become progressively steeper and the devils club and other nasty vegetation will become very thick making travel very slow. Continue upwards along the ridge through thick stands of small trees and steep open rock until you break from the trees and ascend a very steep green hillside. Soon the summit block will become visible, scramble up it to the top. There is a very large cliff on the E/NE side so be cautious.
Essential Gear
Probably would not need a rope, although may be useful to rappel off summit block. Word of advice: don't pack too heavily because you will be bushwhacking through dense head-high devils club on a steep hill. Leather or ski gloves may be nice to grab devils club with. Pack a bivy sack or some sort of rudimentary shelter because it is very difficult to do this hike in a single day (I would not plan on it). Probably will not need snowshoes, crampons, ice axe, etc in summer when there is little if any snow up there.
Miscellaneous Info
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Mountain Loop Highway
