Trip type: scramble
Elevation gain: approx. 4,240 feet (approx 1,292 meters)
Car-to-car time: 8 hours 33 minutes
USGS Quad: Enchantment Lakes
In Area: Teanaway
Trip Organizer: The Mountaineers Scrambling Committee
Trip Report
What a perfect trip for a perfect day.
Our group of 11 Mountaineers met on the intersection of Stafford Road and Road 112. At this point two of our cars became stuck in the snow. After digging them out, we headed up Road 112 and Standup Creek trail.
At 4,840' where the Standup Creek trail crosses the nose of a ridge, we left the trail and headed NE up the ridge (toward point 6,459'). This is where the views started, by the time we reached the 6,200'+ pass SE of Earl Peak we had excellent views including Navajo Peak, Little Navajo (our original destination), and the Stuart Range. It only got better as we followed Earl Peak's SE ridge to the summit.
The ridge was largely brush free, and we had no problems the few obstructions we met along the way. A very pleasant route to an excellent destination for a sunny day.
References
Travel Times
Car-to-car time: 8 hours 33 minutes- 5 hours 19 minutes ascending from intersection of Stafford Road and Road 112 (2,840') to summit of Earl Peak
- 2 hours 58 minutes descending from summit of Earl Peak (7,080') to summit of Earl Peak
Visited
Looking SE from SE ridge of Earl Peak
Little Navaho from SE ridge of Earl Peak
Summit of Earl Peak from SE ridge
Stuart Range from SE ridge of Earl Peak
Stuart Range from SE ridge of Earl Peak
Mount Stuart from summit of Earl Peak
Bean Peak and Mount Stuart from summit of Earl Peak
Descending the SE ridge of Earl Peak