Entrance to a gully on the south side of the summit block
We only had time for a one-day outing this weekend so settled on a
scamble of Hibox Peak. We left the busy Rachel Lake trailhead at 9:05
AM and followed the trail for a little over 2 miles to its junction
with a bootpath that headed northeast. The bootpath was generally very
established, but we still managed to get off of it. We hiked up steep
dirt slopes in the forest and eventually ran into a rock cliff - the
one that the established bootpath avoids by heading more easterly.
We headed east through some dense brush and found some mossy
slabs that led up through the cliff. We went up the slabs and at the
top of the cliff found the bootpath again. We followed the path as it
ascended through heather and grass. We then managed to
get off the bootpath again in the talus and ended up at the entrance of
a gully on
the south side of the summit block. Steve wasn't especially interested
in exploring the gully and suggested that we hike further east to our
intended route, the southwest ridge, but I wanted to
take a closer look at the gully. We had plenty of daylight and a
beautiful weather day, so Steve assented to taking a closer look at the
gully. We scrambled some loose class-2-3 rock to about 100' below the
summit and there encountered a rock wall with some exposed class 3-4
down lower (we couldn't see what the climbing was like up higher). At
this point Steve had had enough "exploration" so we very
carefully descended, trying not to kick down too much rock. The descent
went very slowly since Steve was still getting used to scrambling on
his repaired leg (and I've always been slow descending even class
2
rock). We got back on the talus slope and quickly found the bootpath to
the southwest ridge. The short scramble up the ridge was on good rock
and fun. We reached the summit at 2:30 pm. We signed the summit
register and took some pictures, and then decended to a nice flat spot
on the lower ridge for a late lunch. On the descent, we managed to stay
on the bootpath all the way to the Rachel Lake trail (definitely faster
than our way up), and arrived at the car at 6:20 pm.
Entrance to a gully on the south side of the summit block
Elain on the summit
Steve descending the ridge
Chickamin Peak
Lemah Mountain and Chimney Rock
Three Queens
Hibox Peak