Mount Deception - Gilhooley Saddle, July 2009
Deception Peak and Mount Mystery (left-to-right) as seen from Mount Anderson.
At most I might average a single Olympics trip a year. After all there’s only so much choss that even I can take. Having climbed both Anderson and Deception within a few weeks of each other, one might ask what the hell has gotten in to me this summer. Have I lost my mind?
Whatever. I had it on relatively good authority that a trip to climb Mount Deception would be well worth the effort, no matter how loose or easy the climb for that matter. From outrageously scenic Royal Basin to the lofty summit (by Olympic standards) with its expansive views of surprisingly rugged peaks both near and far, Deception doesn’t disappoint. But make no mistake; the peak certainly harbors some awful rock, although frankly I didn’t find it any worse than that which I have encountered on so many peaks in that mountain range east of the Sound. Besides, being that it’s the second tallest peak in the Olympic Mountains alone warrants visitation by any avid Seattle-based...er, um chossaholic in my opinion. It certainly also doesn’t hurt that the climb is doable in a day from my bed in North Seattle. Bed-to-bed in less than 20 hours I like to say…ha ha! Had I not gotten hosed by the damn ferry wait once again I’d have made it home in time for a late dinner even!
Ever the glutton for punishment, John Lupo answered the call to join me with relatively little notice. As John would be driving up from Aberdeen, we agreed to rendezvous just outside Sequim and drive to the Dungeness Trailhead together. Volumes were light on the 5:45am Edmonds-Kingston sailing and I caught-up on some much needed sleep during the half-hour transit…that is until I was jolted out of my slumber by an irate ferry worker beating his fist on my windshield. Save for the vehicles queued behind me, the entire ferry was empty. Whoa, good morning everyone!
It took me about 45 minutes to drive to the John Wayne Marina near Sequim where I waited a few minutes for John to arrive (Lupo, not Wayne). After transferring gear into my car, we turned back onto HWY 101 and then turned off onto Palo Alto Road (right if going south-bound from the marina). The road becomes FSR 28, then taking a right onto FSR 2880 we continued past the Dungeness Forks Campground to the junction with FSR 2870. Staying left, we continued on the unpaved FSR 2870. Although there wasn’t any signage indicating as such, we had beta that suggested a portion of the remaining road to the trailhead has been closed (see Eric’s report for details). While I suspect Eric may have gotten the forest road numbers mixed up, I think the gist of the detour is to take a right onto FSR 2860 (not marked on the NPS map) and stay on that road (ignoring a right fork soon thereafter) until it re-joins FSR 2870 presumably after the portion of road that has washed-out. We weren’t entirely sure if we were going in the correct direction at the time, but we stayed right at this fork, noting that the left fork seemed to descend into the valley below. The road then hugs a steep hillside with intermittent views of the Dungeness River Valley. A final gradual descent to the bridge over the Dungeness River leads to a large parking area immediately beyond.
(Photos: SV)
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