Saturday, 10/17/09 Mt. Logan (12,870)

Mt. Logan (12,870)
10/17/09
~13.5 miles
~4,400 vertical
Start from 3 Mile Creek TH
Jeff and Allison Valliere, Kevin Lund and Sierra
7:50 RT

Saturday plans fluctuated somewhat over the last few days of the week, but with such an awesome forecast, there was no way we could not get up to the mountains. Logan has been on my perpetual “to do” list and it fit the bill perfectly, as it was a short drive and somewhat easy.

Having been up the well traveled 3 Mile Creek TH several times before, navigation was a snap as we casually hiked up the sometimes narrow valley along the icy creek. The day was slow to warm, as we were consistently in the shade through the valley and did not reach direct, unfiltered sunlight until we reached a high, willowy, wide section of the valley at around 10,400 feet. Our pace was very casual and I was pleasantly surprised that there was just about no snow on the entire route, just the odd patch of snow here and there.

We continued on up the valley, where it soon started to switchback up the slopes of 12,574. Our initial plan was to contour over to Logan, but for kicks, headed directly up to Pt. 12,574, where we took a long break in the warm sunshine.

From 12,574, it was an easy stroll on gentle tundra and occasional stable talus over to the summit of Logan. As we neared the summit, we found the remains of a crashed US Army Helicopter that appeared to have been there for some time.

After another long break on Logan, we headed down and West toward 12,257 and then near the saddle, started angling NW down through the trees and re-joined our ascent route at the start of the switchbacks below 12,574.

The trip back to the car as per usual seemed twice as long as the ascent. An amazingly perfect day in the high country, as it was seasonally warm, calm and crystal clear, a stark contrast to last weekend.

Photos