Trip Date: July 4-6, 2008

The Cradle & Paddy-Go Climbing Trip

Paddy-Go-Easy Pass
Paddy-Go-South Peak (6566′)
French–Meadow Saddle
The Cradle: south peak (7467′)
Paddy-Go-North Peak (6573′)

Trip Report Summary

Region: Central Washington Cascades

Sub-Regions: Cle Elum Mountains & Upper Icicle Mountains

Area: Alpine Lakes Wilderness

Starting & Ending Point: French Creek Trailhead on Cle Elum River Road #4330 (Elev. 3400 feet)

Way Points: Paddy-Go-Easy Creek & Paddy-Go-Easy Pass & Paddy-Go-Easy Bench (trail hike)

Campsite: Paddy-Go-Easy Bench (Elev. 6100 feet)

Summit: Paddy-Go-South Peak (rock scramble via Northwest Ridge; descent via Northeast Slope)

Sidetrip: Sprite Creek & French Creek & Meadow Creek Trail Junction & French–Meadow Saddle (trail hike)

Summit: The Cradle: south peak (off-trail hike & snow climb & rock scramble via Southwest Rib—East Slope—North Ridge)

Summit: Paddy-Go-North Peak (snow climb & rock scramble via Southeast Ridge—West Face)

Approximate Stats: 18 miles traveled; 7500 feet gained & lost.

Related Posts

Sherpani Peak + Paddy-Go-North Peak – November 2004

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Full Trip Report

I spent Independence Day Weekend in the Cle Elum Mountains and Upper Icicle Mountains with Eileen, Beth, Mike M., Kerry, Greg, and Sarah.  Our individual schedules and goals differed considerably:  Eileen, Beth, and I were out for three days and hoped to tuck in three summits, whereas Mike, Kerry, Greg, and Sarah were out for two days and really didn’t care which summits they climbed.

Day 1:  Trailhead to Paddy-Go-Easy Bench + Paddy-Go-South Peak Climb

We made the short but steep hike up to Paddy-Go-Easy Pass on Friday afternoon and established our base camp on a 6100-foot bench closely east of, and slightly below, the pass.  In early evening, we all scrambled up 6566-foot Paddy-Go-South Peak for some evening color. Storm clouds were swirling overhead, but we were confident that things would clear up by morning. They didn’t.

We had a great view of Mt. Daniel, The Citadel, Cathedral Rock, and The Cradle from this summit.  Still-frozen Sprite Lake was visible directly below us to the east.

Day 2:  The Cradle (South Peak) Climb

Saturday morning, Beth and Eileen and I headed for The Cradle while the others headed back to the trailhead. We found the trail leading down to the junction of the French Creek and Meadow Creek trails, then hiked upstream 1/2 mile before ascending through forest. We worked onto a SW spur of the mountain and followed this to the main south ridge.

From there, we traversed over and upward through fog and light rain until somehow stumbling onto the summit of The Cradle’s south peak (5.2 hours from camp).

Eventually, the north peak poked its head out of the clouds, so we made a modest effort to traverse over to it. I had hoped this would be my 30th anniversary ascent of both Cradle peaks (following a foggy-day climb in 1978), but lack of time and visibility conspired against us. Is it always foggy on The Cradle or what?

We started our descent at 4:00pm and found a wonderfully open grassy slope that led all the way to the broad French-Meadow Saddle, which separates French Creek and Meadow Creek. It was raining steadily when we rolled into camp that evening, cold and wet.

Day 3:  Paddy-Go-Easy Bench to Trailhead + Paddy-Go-North Peak Climb

It rained off-and-on all night, and Sunday began with dark clouds, but blue skies soon prevailed. After breaking camp and hiking up to Paddy-Go-Easy Pass, we scrambled up 6573-foot Paddy-Go-North Peak for morning views.

In late morning, we began dropping to the trailhead. It felt like summer when we reached our vehicle at the end of this mostly fun, sometimes dreary, holiday-weekend adventure.

Photo Gallery

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