Longsway Peak - 6.2.2017
FS-9737 was closed at the Iron Peak Trailhead... leaving a 1.1 mile road walk to the trailhead... our hike today was 7.8 miles roundtrip, gaining 3106 feet of elevation.
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The road is really in quite good shape... a little rough just before the parking lot, but very driveable by all vehicles.
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Heading up the Esmeralda Basin Trail.
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After hiking a quarter mile or so we turned right onto the unsigned Ingalls Way Trail... which quickly turned into a snow-covered trail.
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Making our own trail as we climb toward Longs Pass... Fortune Peak in the center of the photo.
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Here comes Snowdog... with the multiple summits of Esmeralda Peaks in the background... Hawkins Thimble on the far right.
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Heading for Longs Pass.
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Esmeralda Peaks from near Longs Pass.
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Arriving at Longs Pass... with 'Not Hinkhouse' Peak on the far right... and Ingalls Peak through the gap.
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The Stuart Range from Longs Pass.
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Hiking south along the ridge from Longs Pass... looking at Bills Peak on the right... with Three Brothers and Navaho Peak in the center of the photo.
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Continuing south from Longs Pass... on the ridge that runs over to Teanaway Peak on the left.
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Some easy scrambling on the ridge when the snow is melted.
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rocman leads the way along the ridge.
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Several ups and downs along the ridge.
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Our destination is the snowy pyramid just to the right of Snowdog's ice axe... Teanaway Peak is on the left.
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A closer look at Point 6494 (aka Longsway Peak)... the snowy pyramid in the right foreground.
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Here comes Snowdog... nearing the summit of Longsway Peak... Fortune and the 3 summits of Ingalls on the left... 'Not Hinkhouse' Peak in the foreground... with Mt. Stuart on the right.
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rocman and rodman near the summit (6494') of Longsway Peak.
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A nice view from the summit of Longsway Peak.
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The Stuart Range from Longsway Peak.
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Gotta take a selfie on Longsway Peak... Snowdog, me, rocman and rodman.
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It is still early in the day so we will continue along the ridge and check out the huge rock outcropping on the right.
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Getting closer to the rugged looking rock outcropping.
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I found a nice perch where I can watch rocman try and summit the gnarly looking summit in the previous photo.... Esmeralda Peaks on the right... with The Louvre and DeRoux Peak on the left.
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rocman is just under the summit.
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rocman's clothing kind of blend in with the rock... but I can easily pick out his blue gaitors on the pinacle on the right.
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Snowdog found a pretty nice perch also.
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Returning to Longsway Peak... looking back at the rock outcropping.
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We found rodman taking a nap on the summit of Longsway Peak... Stuart, Sherpa and Argonaut from center to right... with 'Not Hinkhouse' Peak in the left foreground.
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Instead of going back to Longs Pass, we found a reasonable spot to leave the ridge and start dropping down toward Esmeralda Basin.
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Heading down.
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On steep terrain... but the snow is very forgiving... the east end of Esmeralda Peaks on the right... with Mt. Rainier behind Jolly Mountain on the left.
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Almost off of the steep terrain and back down to Esmeralda Basin.
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When we got back down to the Esmeralda Basin Trailhead we decided to take the seldom used North Fork Teanaway Trail #1358 back to the car... however, the trail was in such lousy condition that we returned to the road after hiking the trail for a third of a mile... our total trip was 7.8 miles, gaining 3106 feet of elevation.
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