Devils Backbone and Angle Peak sit east of Fourmile Ridge. From the former, the ridge continues down to Stormy Mountain and Baldy Mountain. Then across Entiat River Valley was the broad crest of Tyee Ridge.
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Devils Backbone and Angle Peak at a Glance
Access: NF-5504
Round Trip: 7.5 miles
Elevation Range: 3800′-6735′
Gear: snowshoes
Route Info: Eric Eames
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: with guidance
Road 5504
Devils Backbone was last weekend‘s backup. But we stuck to the initial plan due to wind gusts and the two extra hours of driving. We started from NF-5501 off Entiat River Road before turning onto NF-5504 at the three-way.
We started scrambling at 3800′ from the supposed trail, but it wasn’t there. Much of the snow on the ridge had melted since Eric‘s report. The partly sunny weather had improved, but the wind persisted higher up.
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Devils Backbone Southwest Ridge
We hugged the ridgeline for most of the climb. But sometimes, we needed to bypass the outcrops from the west. At 6000′, we moved west into a broad, steep gully through which the snow had softened from the sun.
I didn’t put on snowshoes sooner, so I trudged to the knees in several places through soft snow. The pups followed closely behind for a while before reaching west of the summit at 6600′. Then it was a short walk to the top.
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Devils Backbone Summit
The top was somewhat woodsy but with excellent views. Despite low clouds over the western horizon, the peaks on that side were still visible. The taller Stormy Mountain sat to the southeast, and Tyee Ridge dominated the southwest skyline.
I also got spontaneous views of The Enchantments to the south. To the north were the high points in the Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness. I even spotted a slice of Lake Chelan down by Twentyfive Mile Creek.
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Next Stop, Angle Peak
We savored the views for an hour, and then I finally put on snowshoes. Soon, we made our way over to Angle Peak. There was enough snow on the ridge to traverse more smoothly.
En route were areas with steep drop-offs on the north side. But we easily bypassed them by going through the rocks on the south. We scrambled some before the simple walk-up to the top.
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Angle Peak Summit
As I looked around the flat summit, I had difficulty believing it was a peak. The high point wasn’t definitive at all. Nonetheless, the east views were decent, but the dense trees had taken away the rest of the scenery.
I was curious about the west, so we continued through the trees. Soon, we walked up to a bump at 7040′ that overlooked Bear Lake below the steep north side. Afterward, we went down to the west saddle to see the water more closely before turning around.
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Leaving Entiat River Valley
On the way out, we stopped before Angle Peak. Then we dropped onto the south rib west of the peak. From there, we had a direct view of Devils Backbone’s southwest ridge.
Then at 5400′, we moved southeast through heather and shrubs. Then we went out into the roadway at 4000′ by the creek. It took half a mile of road walk to return to our car.
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