Calendar

Past Activity

The Wife via SW Ridge

  • Start date: 07/13/2019

  • Start time: 12:00 AM

  • End date: 07/13/2019

  • End time: 11:59 PM

Description:

This will be a long day, but the views will be amazing. You should be in TOP PHYSICAL CONDITION to complete this very demanding hike. After leaving the PCT, we will SCRAMBLE up a 20 degree slope to the summit ridge, gaining about 1,800 ft. elevation in about 3.5 miles. There will be logs, outcrops, scree and probably patches of snow. The reason for participation limit is safety - to minimize the chances of accidentally kicking rocks down on each other. See Sullivan's Cascades 4th ed. hike #60 for a look at the trail network NW of Devil's Lake parking area. I want to hit the trail no later than 10 am. By consensus we will stop for big dinner celebration on the way back.

  • Event Leader: Tom Rundle

  • Event Leader Phone: 541-653-0741

  • Event Leader Email: vivadancero@gmail.com

  • Assistant Leader:

  • Event category: Trips

  • Area Type: Mountain

  • Departure Location: South Eugene High School, 19th & Patterson

  • Rating: Difficult

  • Roundtrip total drive miles: 260

  • Season: 2019

  • Permits Required:

  • Event Status: Passed

  • Supplies and Equipment Required: 2 LITERS OF WATER REQUIRED, snacks, lunch, attire appropriate for weather, 10 essentials. One trekking pole or staff is highly recommended, but not required, for safely traversing steep scree fields. You may want mosquito juice and sunscreen.

  • participant prerequisites:

  • Conditions:

  • Total Distance: 10.5

  • Member Fees: 1

  • Elevation Gain: 2200

  • Non-Member Fees: 5

  • Committee: Trips

  • Junior member fees: —

Trip Report

From the Devil's Lake parking area, we went through a tunnel under the Cascade Lakes HW and followed the Elk Lake trail for about 1.2 miles to the Wickup Plains trail. We followed the west branch of the Wickup Plains trail around Kaleetan Butte and across the Wickup Plain to the west side of LeConte Crater. From there we were off-trail for about 1.8 miles all the way to the summit of the Wife. We followed a network of drainages using GPS navigation across pumice fields and wooded areas to the west ridge. This was very tough going. There were intermitent patches of snow with swarms of mosquitoes and almost continuous deadfall to work our way through. Then we ascended the steep west ridge with an 880 ft elevation gain in about 0.5 miles for lunch. This intrepid crew overcame all these difficulties with cheerful determination. From the summit we had a fantastic view of the volcanic and glacial features on the west side of the whole Sisters massif. After lunch, we returned to Devil's Lake by the same route.