A fine fall day in the Cly Basin
- September 30, 2012
- Team: Art & Carol
- Summit: Cly Peak, 8460'
- Car to car: 7 miles, 2900' total gain, 9 hours (leisurely, including a swim and a bunch of trail clearing)
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
It was promising to be another beautiful fall day, so we just had to take advantage. After an 8am departure and a short drive up to the yurt parking lot on Lick Creek summit, we were walking in the cold, looking for the old trail. It's in there somewhere. Or so they say. But we didn't find it until we had thrashed back and forth a bit and then, tossing our hands in the air, climbed up the hillside a few hundred feet. "Hey, look, a trail!" |
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If you can't find it, just head northerly and shoot for the bench shown on the map. Once out of all the undergrowth, it's a lot easier to see. And so is all the beautiful scenery.
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| Such as Beaverdam Peak. This view makes it look pretty stout. |  |
The trail winds north and then west over the shoulder of the ridge, eventually giving you a view of the first Cly Lake. |
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After dropping down and crossing the Cly Creek drainage, you climb up the other side on a very steep hillside and then drop down to the second Cly Lake, which is much bigger. |
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From the second lake, climb back up your trail a way and look for a fork heading up and off to the left. Gain the ridge up a steep gully, then wander southerly to find the Cly Twins. I think these are the most scenic of the group. |
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| We walked to the far end of the second lake where we found the perfect spot for a late summer skinny dip. Boy, was that refreshing (read: cold). This site is rated PG, so no pics. |  |
| I wanted to scamper up what I'm calling Cly Peak, but it did not look dog appropriate. So I went, but Art and Carol with Sammy continued around the lake to the left to gain a steep couloir up to the ridge. The plan was for me to run up and then join them on the ridge. |  |
As I rounded my end of the ridge, I discovered two things: my path was actually easier than the one Art and Carol and Sammy were on, and what we thought was the peak was actually a second, lower peak. If I was not going to cause a big delay, I was going to have to really light it up. I did so, and was rewarded with this gorgeous view of Tsum Lake and Tsum Peak (pronounced 'tsum'). |
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| I still was moving fast when low and behold, here comes Art. We summittted the lower peak where I took this picture of the Cly drainage with the twins in the foreground and Cly #2 farther back to the right. |  |
| Art and I clambered down the rocky ridge where we joined Carol and proceeded to walk the ridge in a northerly direction toward the car. This is looking back at one of the many humps on the ridge. Note the cliffs- very characteristic and enough to make you pay attention on this 'hike.' |  |
| If you are going to follow a ridge here, expect to do your share of up as you descend. All in good fun. Can't wait to go back to Tsum |  |
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