Trip Date: September 25, 2004

Whittier Peak Day Climb

Poe Mountain / Lookout (6015 ft)
Longfellow Saddle
Whittier Peak (7281 ft)

Trip Report Summary

Region: North-Central Washington Cascades

Sub-Region: Upper Wenatchee Mountains

Areas: Henry M. Jackson Wilderness & Glacier Peak Wilderness

Starting & Ending Point: Little Wenatchee Ford Trailhead at end of Little Wenatchee River Road #6500 (Elev. 3000 feet)

Way Points: Poe Mountain Lookout & South Poet Ridge & Longfellow Basin & Longfellow Saddle & Papoose Creek Basin (trail hike & off-trail hike)

Summit: Poe Mountain (hike via lookout trail)

Summit: Whittier Peak (rock scramble via Southwest Ridge; descent via Northwest Ridge)

Approximate Stats: 14 miles traveled; 7000 feet gained & lost; 5.8 hours up; 4.0 hours down.

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Full Trip Report

Kevin, Janet and I headed up the Little Wenatchee River on Saturday morning to climb Whittier Peak.  I have long admired this peak from surrounding summits, and had unsuccessfully tried to climb it on a traverse from Mt. David and Mt. Jonathon 27 years ago.  In truth, that attempt failed due to lack of motivation, but I always used the excuse that the “Biblical king peaks” and “American poet peaks” simply don’t connect philosophically or topographically.  Although Janet had climbed Whittier just last year, she was more than happy to repeat it because Poet Ridge is one of her favorite areas in the Cascades.

We made short work of the switchbacks leading up to Poe Mountain (1.5 hours from TH), where we spent a half-hour eyeballing other peaks near and far.  The air was crystal clear and comfortably mild on this autumn morning.  Whittier Peak’s summit pyramid looked impressive from here, albeit somewhat far away.

For fun, we tried to remember the full names of all five poets who have namesake peaks on Poet Ridge:  Bryant, Longfellow, Whittier, Poe, and Irving.  Between the three of us, we could name all of them except Whittier! (See answer at end of report.)  Incidentally, the map actually calls this “Wenatchee Ridge” rather than “Poet Ridge”; however, the more descriptive name seems preferred by hikers, and it avoids confusion with the other “Wenatchee Ridge” near Blewett Pass.

Having flunked our English literature exam, we continued northward on the scenic Poet Ridge Trail, which is fairly well defined until it enters a little basin on the western flank of Longfellow Mountain.  There, we lost the trail for a while, then we regained it just before heading cross-country up to the 5840-foot saddle on Longfellow’s northwestern ridge (3.6 hours from TH).

Whittier Peak still looked a discouragingly long distance away, and Janet decided that she was satisfied with this as her turnaround point.  Having already climbed it, she also knew something that Kevin and I didn’t know at the time:  it’s a looong traverse!

Kevin and I descended into Papoose Creek Basin, then we contoured heather slopes at about 5500 feet for ¾ mile before gradually ascending platy talus toward the summit pyramid.  From our position beneath the steep west face, the northwest (left) and southwest (right) ridges looked equally do-able.  I arbitrarily picked the southwest ridge, and this turned out to be a good choice—for people who like exposed scrambling on questionable rock.

We were completely surprised by the steepness and exposure of this sharp ridge crest, which went mostly Class 3 and even pushed Class 4 in few spots, and we dearly hoped for an easier descent route!  Finally, at 2:40pm, we reached the summit (5.8 hours from car).

The gentle afternoon sun and good visibility begged for a long summit stay, but we limited ourselves to 45 minutes.  This gave us time to gander all of the central Cascade peaks and let our feet partially recover from the extensive side-hilling.  The register was a big plastic tube with a Mountaineers book that had been placed by Debbie McLallin last year.  Only two parties signed in last year (Debbie was in both parties), and we were only the second this year.

From the summit, we walked down the broad, gentle northwest ridge for several hundred feet, then descended a short cliff band (Class 2) to reach the talus slopes below.  Endless talus and side-hilling got us back to the 5840-foot saddle and down to the trail.  The low-angle sunlight brought out vivid colors in the autumnal foliage as we hiked southward to Poe Mountain.  We eventually hooked up with Janet again, then hurried down switchbacks and arrived at the trailhead minutes before headlamp time (4.0 hours from summit).

Postscript:  The answer to the English literature question is John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–92).

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