Nursery Peak has been on my back-burner list. Just like the neighboring The Cradle, it was also an excellent vantage point for views. Today’s scenery was a drastic change from our outing two days ago.
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Nursery Peak at a Glance
Access: North Scatter Creek Trailhead
Round Trip: TBD
Elevation Range: 3320′-6962′
Gear: microspikes
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: on the trail
North Scatter Creek Trail
The trail was in decent shape. But there were lots of down trees in the lower elevation. Later the terrain steepened right after we went through the last group of down trees. They were a little tough to bypass.
Once again, the terrain flattened right before we re-entered the forest. There we were on packed snow at last. Snow turned out to be firmer in the trees. So postholing wasn’t an issue at all.
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Going Around Tucquala Peak
After coming out of the trees, we then moved in the direction of the summer trail. Then we went around Tucquala Peak from the east. In hindsight, we should have dropped lower for a smooth traverse.
At first, we went up too high on the slopes. Then we had to go back down through a steep gully. But on the way up, it was hard to gauge the incline with my eyes. Though, we figured out the better route on the way back.
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Southwestern Slopes
We had to drop down to the saddle at the head of Meadow and French Creeks. So the crux on this trip was regaining the 1000′ of elevation lost on the way back. Once we went over the pass, we only needed to go through a short section of the brush. Then we were in the upper basin.
From there, the route was straightforward. So we went up the steep southwestern slopes to the top. Postholing was never an issue. But I put on snowshoes for traction through the steeper parts.
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Nursery Peak Summit
The summit was a little windy. But the views were as great as on other peaks when the weather was excellent. The main attraction was The Cradle. Glad the pup and I were able to avoid the wind east of the summit.
We stayed behind the bushes and hung out until the wind died down quite a bit. Most mountains and ridges were visible on this gorgeous day. So we had views of Stuart Range, Jack Ridge, Blackjack Ridge, and Mount Daniel.
See more trip photos here.
Outro
On the way back, I kept looking over at the notch by Tucquala Peak. So I wondered how long it would take us to go back up there.