Bean (6,743') and Earl (7,036') Peaks- 6/27/10 Teanaway Solo

Getting There

I was sick all week with a nasty cold and the weekend was not looking good for an outdoor adventure. Once Friday rolled around I begin to feel somewhat better. So I planned on a hike that would be easy and convinced myself that I would take it slow.

By Friday night the weekend schedule was confirmed with setting in the sun Saturday on Lake Stevens and doing a gentle stroll up Earl Peak in the Teanaway on Sunday.

It ended up with a full Saturday wake surf session on Lake Stevens along with hours of sun. This resulted in a sun burn and finding some new muscles that got neglected this winter. Sunday plans turned from just doing Earl into fitting a nice ridge walk to Bean Peak up in the mix... Why drive all that way and just do EARL right?!?!

So I set off for the Eastside early Sunday morning. I left Arlington around 5am for a Solo adventure. Munched on some snacks, drank a good cup of coffee and enjoyed some Alpenglow on Rainier heading south on 405. Soon I was to CleElum and on the Teanaway road. Wow, what a crappy road full of deep holes. These holes added some time to my trip, even though I have a full size truck.

Got to the Beverly Turnpike Trail #1391 trailhead around 7:30am to about 8 cars at the parking spot. I got started up the trail around 8am. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and amazing smells in the air. I really took my time because of my cold, coughing up stuff here and there... probably why I didn't see much wildlife.

Going Up Earl Peak

Went up the valley along the creek. Its amazing how green it is for being over East. Wow. Soon I was to the Bean creek crossing. It is right when you open up into the large meadow. The crossing is on your right with a couple small trees across the creek.





Its here that the trail starts to gain elevation. I eventually hit snow in the timber before the broad ridge. Once on the ridge I ascended north to the summit. There was still snow on the ridge all the way to the peak. I stayed to the west, because the snow was soft and still corniced.


There was one old snag on the ridge guarded by an angry bird. This bird was not in a very good mood and made some pretty harsh sounds at me. Whatever that was all about.

Summit of Earl Peak (7,036')

There are a couple false summits that seem believable until you are on them, just keep going up.

I got to the summit after going at a very slow pace checking out plants, wildflowers and all that good stuff.



I had some snacks here and chased around a scruffy looking Marmot trying to get his picture. I never had any luck with that. The views were great. Adams, Ranier and the Stuart Range were my favorites to just name a few. I got bit by a couple small black flys, so it was time to get moving again.

Traversing Ridge to Bean Peak

I then dropped down along the ridge out to a northern point. From here I descended to the Northwest down some loose scree.



There were still some cornices along the ridgeline to Bean Peak. I stayed away from those on the solid rock. The ridge was mainly class 2 with a little 3 in spots if you chose to go that route.

About half way across the ridge I could make out a climbing party just below the summit block of Bean Peak. I started to pick up the pace jumping and scrambling along the great boulders. I was moving a lot quicker than going up Earl. I think I was just more excited with the route. Before I knew it I was to the base of the summit block. The party had gone maybe another 100ft, by the time it took me to traverse half the ridge.

I viewed my different options for approach. Most every option looked solid class 3, with some class 4 if you wanted to take that route. It looked like the party was taking a simple class 3 line so I asked if I could follow them up. The rock looked and felt solid, but there was a lot of overhead rock. I didn't want to try and pass them up and have something fall on them. I put my helmet on at this point.

Summit of Bean Peak (6,743')

I met the party of 5. They were a group from the Seattle Mountaineers and they all seemed very friendly. They were also fine with me tagging along, they just said to stay close with them incase of potential rock fall.
We headed up the beautiful line of sticky rock and were soon on the summit. Once I was up there, it looked like there was easier ascending routes. I liked the one we chose. I had a cup of noodles, listened to some great mountaineering stories, tried to keep the ladybugs out of my pack and was then on my way. By the way, the views were amazing.




Bean Peak was their first summit of the day and they were debating on maybe doing Mary's Peak. I hope things went good for them. Good group of people.

Heading Out

I then bailed down the south face of Bean, hit some real nasty scree and eventually found some solid rock to take me all the way to the meadows. Its amazing how much water is collected in that meadow. Its like one large sponge.

A couple spots the small creeks would run into a sinkhole with no visible outfall. Others spots would have a spring coming out of the ground, with no visible inlet. It was interesting to say the least. I finally picked up the trail in the meadows and was back on track. It seems like it would really be hard to get lost in this area. Everything is really open and visible.


I made good time back to my truck and was quickly on the crappy Teanaway road again heading back home. Beautiful area and a great time of year to be in the Teanaway.

Images

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