Home»All Photographs»2020 Hikes»Thrift Peak 06-06-20

Thrift Peak used to have a straightforward access along Camp Ridge. However, when we got to the road leading to the old trailhead, there was a private land sign saying no trespassing. Not wanting to give up on the location, we studied the map and figured we could still give it a go from the new parking area farther east. This new trailhead was simply a parking area for an ATV track that hunters use and had little to do with the distant Thrift Peak. This meant a longer approach over a series of parallel forested ridges with no trail. We went up (and all the way back down) two ridges before even reaching the Camp Creek crossing. This extension turned our outing from an eight hour day to a twelve hour day.
The weather was nice, however, and we had all packed a lot of food, so there was no problem. On we went, through mature Douglas fir forest, meadows and open ridges, chatting about whatever and photographing the myriad of wildflowers.
The final grunt to the (as of yet) unmanned fire lookout was very steep - it was sure rewarding to top out and see our scenic lunch spot waiting for us.
On return, we avoided all the uphill bushwacking (mostly) by hiking out via a longer trail with easier terrain. All in all, a huge day with 1850 m of elevation gain and 23 km of hiking. What a good Super-Saturday season opener!