Today we went up to Little Kachess Peak despite the cloudy forecast. Plan A was to drive out east for the sun. But I decided to bite the bullet and hoped for the best.
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Little Kachess Peak at a Glance
Access: Kachess Ridge Trailhead
Round Trip: TBD
Elevation Range: 3200′-5194′
Gear: snowshoes
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: yes
Kachess Ridge
Three cars were by the snow berm on Kachess Dam Road (NF-4818). It was only a few hundred feet in from Sparks Road. Then two more vehicles came in after us. Later we walked 1.5 miles to the trailhead.
The pup and I took the Kachess Ridge Trail. But the goal was to go over to Little Kachess Peak should snow conditions allow. Later at the junction we followed what looked like fresh snowshoe tracks. Perfect!
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Kachess Beacon
The tracks left the trail at 3400′ and went northwest. So we continued to use them up to Kachess Beacon first. It was a much preferred way than hiking the summer trail like we did before. It also took off the extra mileage.
At .25 mile past the half-buried radio tower, we met the party of three who left the tracks. The weather had no signs of clearing. So they turned around here. I took a photo for the group and then continued. Then it was another mile to our destination.
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Little Kachess Peak Summit
We spent parts of the ridge walk in a complete whiteout in wind gusts. But I kept my hopes up for the sun at the top. The powder was calf-deep. But the snow condition was way better than last weekend’s trip.
The wind never stopped. So we spent most of our time on top ducking behind the half-buried evergreens. We waited a while for the clouds to move away, but it never happened. So we packed up and left the summit.
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Outro
Later we walked past the communications towers. Then right before we re-entered the forest, we caught a glimpse of Easton Ridge. There was also some blue sky behind the rolling clouds.
One and a half miles of mindless road walk back to the car.
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