I first took notice of Florence Peak in the late spring of this year. Back then, the yellow pup and I were on Burnt Mountain across the Carbon River Valley. Glad the weather this weekend was better than last week.
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Florence Peak and Sweet Peak at a Glance
Access: Carbon River Rainforest Trailhead
Round Trip: 8 miles
Elevation Range: 1760′-5508′
Gear: microspikes and snowshoes
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: with guidance
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Florence Peak and Sweet Peak
After researching, I decided to climb these two peaks later. So we could potentially avoid the high season crowd. Glad we were able to avoid today’s heightened avalanche danger on minimal open terrain.
Two cars were in the lot when we arrived. Then we started hiking at a quarter to 9 on the excellent trail. The path was snow-free until we reached the West Boundary Trail Waterfall at 3000′.
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En Route to Florence Peak
Later I put on microspikes at 3200′ by the first clearing. We were on the shady side of the hill. So we had to miss out on the glorious morning sunshine. But the sun would later succumb to the increasing clouds as we neared the ridge.
Later at 3600′, the trail took a turn southwest. But not before going out of the forest through a talus field. There we stepped through the snow for a short distance. Then we were right back into the forest on one to two inches of snow.
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Alki Crest
Soon, we left the pack trail at 4520′ on the ridge. Then we turned left onto a climbers’ trail. From there, we traveled southeast on Alki Crest. Finally, I put on snowshoes at 5100′ in calf-deep snow.
We continued on the ridgeline for a bit. Then we reached the south face of Florence Peak at 5400′. From there, I was able to get glimpses of views along the ridgeline to the north.
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The Final Stretch
Soon, we made a 100′ steep climb on the south slopes through slick, knee-deep snow. Then we finally went up on the false summit. But the real high point was now only 100′ away.
We continued on the narrow and rocky summit ridge. At the same time, we stayed on or east of the crest. After some careful scrambling over rime ice-covered boulders, we reached the top of Florence Peak.
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Florence Peak Summit
Our trip to Crystal Peak had the view of Mount Rainier at every turn. But on this trip, we only had our first look at the lenticular cloud-covered volcano from the false summit.
Glad that we made it up here while the clouds were still high. So we were able to catch the decent views in time. There was plenty of tree coverage on top to keep out of the wind.
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Next Stop, Sweet Peak
After an enjoyable stay, we made our way back to the false summit. Then we went down into the forest. From 5200′, we traversed the one-mile long spur ridge toward Sweet Peak.
With excellent snow coverage, we snowshoed over down trees efficiently. Plus, we were able to avoid the dense brush through the section before going over Point 5042.
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Sweet Peak Summit
Beyond Point 5042, we encountered massive down trees on the south saddle. But they continued up through Sweet Peak’s southern ridge. Plus, snow coverage wasn’t as great through this part.
So with snowshoes on, we carefully stepped over one down tree after another. Eventually, we reached the woodsy summit after an arduous traverse.
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Outro
I managed to get a few photos through the thin forest openings. Then we left the summit shortly. But instead of going back through the south saddle, we went down the west slopes.
Later, we went into the basin and crossed an unnamed creek. Then we reconnected with the main trail back at 3800′ to hike out after sunset.
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