Malcolm Mountain via south ridge trail

Date: 2006/06/03 to 2006/06/04
Trip type: hike
Elevation gain: approx. 1,900 feet (approx 579 meters)
Car-to-car time: 16 hours 18 minutes
USGS Quad: Teanaway Butte
In Area: Teanaway

Trip Report

I parked at the Way Creek trailhead on a spur road off of Jungle Creek Road and headed up Way Creek trail (#1235). The "trail" is more like a road at first, sometimes a bootpath breaks off to the left then rejoins. At 4,615' the road turns into a pleasant trail.

After two miles I turned left onto Koppen Mountain trail (#1225). Then left again onto a way trail that heads up the east side of Malcolm Mountain, there was a pile of chopped wood under a tarp here, I wonder what that is for?

The summit of Malcolm mountain is bare of any vegetation except for smatterings of wild flowers. It has a a metal plaque that reads "Wes Stanley 1928 - 1996 Malcolm Mt's Midnight Tenor", I wonder what the story here is? The views from the top are mostly local, Elbow Peak, Humerus Hill, Jolly Mountain, Skookum Mountain, Koppen Mountain, Mount Stuart, Iron Peak, Earl Peak, etc.

I bivvied on the summit. Around 1 AM it started raining and by the time I woke up around 8 in the morning I was laying in a pool of water.

References

Book: Seattle Outdoors: Hiking & Cycling-Puget Sound and Cascades
Book: Teanaway Country: A Hiking and Scrambling Guide to Washington's Central Cascades
The Northwest Peakbaggers Asylum: Malcolm Mountain and Goldwater Peak
kuresman.com: Malcolm Mountain loop

Maps

Greentrails map: Mount Stuart (#209)

Travel Times

Car-to-car time: 16 hours 18 minutes
Driving back time: 2 hours 15 minutes

2 hours 6 minutes ascending from Way Creek trailhead (#1235) (3,785') to summit of Malcolm Mountain
2 hours 15 minutes descending from summit of Malcolm Mountain (5,680') to Way Creek trailhead (#1235)
16 minutes driving back from Way Creek trailhead (#1235) to 29 Pines Campground
1 hour 59 minutes driving back from 29 Pines Campground to Lower Queen Anne