Can anyone help me with GPS waypoints for a route to Jobs Sister or Freel Peak from the "trail head" at the end of FS Road 051? I'm not really confident in my cross country route finding skills and could use the help. Thanks in advance!

You can always use acme mapper to get the coordinates you want. There are other programs out there that will give you the coordinates too.

http://mapper.acme.com/

GPS tracks from the "official" Armstrong Pass TRT trailhead to Freel/Jobs Sister via the main trail




The snowfield between Freel and JS might still require an Ax/Crampons but I haven't looked at in in a few days.

And here's a route from further back FR51 past Horse Meadow.
Up the unofficial trail to Jobs, straight back down from the Freel Saddle. May have been an easier route for that descent, but I was angling back to my car rather than down to Horse Meadow. I'm not sure what the Willow Creek Crossing is like this time of year.

Fedak and Kathy W

Thank you both very kindly for the information. I drove to the end of FS 051 early on Saturday morning and while exploring for the route, noticed a good bit of snow on what, from the road, looked like the saddle between Freel and Jobs Sister. I was having some GPS problems, (user related); was not prepared to climb in snow/ice and basically ended up wimping out a solo trek in an area with which I was not familiar. I have become way too reliant on my GPS and need to go back to good old fashioned map reading and compass skills. In any event, your info will help greatly.

If you were already back there you should have just headed up the TRT- no navigation skills required.

Thanks much Fedak. I drove to the very end of FS Road 051, the circle, as suggested by another SP'er but did not see the TRT after following what seemed to be a use trail off the circle. I was not familiar with the profile of Freel and made the mistake of not using my Topo map to become oriented, rather I focused on the terrain in front of me and my GPS screen which was the wrong thing to do. Then again having ADD can be tough to compensate for at times. As I said, I am not confident (or proficient) in my cross country route finding skills because quite honestly I haven't done that much of it, so after a bit I just gave up. As I hike without a human partner, relying on my skills as a "retired" volunteer firefighter and EMT to keep me out of trouble and with my SPOT for help if things go bad, I err on the side of caution. Looking at the coordinates that I found on the mapper. acme.com site and comparing those to my GPS track from the weekend, I think I know where I went wrong. I'll give it another shot when the snow is completely gone. If you have any other suggestions or guidance please share. THANKS!