Live to be outside: Mount Stone and Skokomish (9/22

Susan and self climbed Mount Stone (S peak) and Mount Skokomish (N peak), as a two day trip with a camp at Lake of the Angels.

I would recommend the climb of Mount Stone which is very enjoyable, but the climb of Mount Skokomish was quite loose and exposed, and not as pleasant.

Day 1: Climbing Stone

We started the day with breakfast at "Blondies" in Shelton. There did not seem to be very many breakfast places to choose from there, but this one was pretty good. I had coffee and pancakes as usual, while Susan was brave with poached eggs and too much hash browns. I'd go back if I had to have breakfast in Shelton again, but next time I'd try to dress more like a logger and less like a hiker.

We started up the Putvin trail and as promised it is steep and at times scrambly. (It is only officially maintained for the first mile or two). We came to a flat area with a little pond and an unmarked climbers trail that led up up towards Mount Stone. The trail took up into a steepish gully initially filled with slide alder but up the streambed in the middle, so it worked ok. Soon enough we poked up in meadows, where there is no longer any sign of a trail, but an "up and slightly left" direction led us to a small saddle where we finally got above the clouds.

Scrambly trail

Finally getting above the fog

The route goes across the talus, and then under the cliffs on the left

summit nap

More talus and a long traverse left below the summit cliffs took us to another saddle on the ridge separating our valley with the Duckabush river. From here we followed the ridge right on quite an obvious trail. I have to say that it was longer to the summit than I expected. The scramble finished with a short but easy class 4 section. No rope needed.

We enjoyed the summit views with clouds coming in but mostly out below us for a few hours. Obligatory summit naps were had as well as lunch all the right fixings.

Lake of the Angels is located right below mount Stone. We took the same way down that we did up, but it looked like there was a more direct meadow traverse down towards the lake. This would avoid losing and regaining a few hundred feet of elevation. Camping a the lake was nice - a few other parties there.

Our tent with mount Stone in the background

Day 2: Climbing Mount Skokomish

Wake up when the sun hits the tent, some coffee and oatmeal, and no rush to go anywhere. Quite nice.

When we had enough of the relaxation, we packed our bags and started heading up the obvious big drainage towards Skokomish. Halfways up we realized there were three different notches we could choose - the left one is the one visible from the lake, the middle small and treed, the right one seemingly snowed in. We had brough only limited beta for Skokomish so did not know the recommended route. We chose the middle notch, but it turns out the right one would have worked much easier (did that on the way down).

Mount Skokomish itself has three different summits, and our beta was very limited. The half page copy of the Olympic Climbing guide we had stated that the north peak while not the highest, is the more popular climb, so we tried it.

With no additional beta, we decided to follow the north ridge up and it went with a bit of loose scrambling up to a few trees, and then up along the north ridge all the way to the summit. A few exposed and loose moves in places.

Lunch on the summit, and then back to the lake for a dip and more lunch and hike back to the car.