Peak 5,795 and Winston Ridge

[David R]

I have been fascinated by the small ridge between Squaw Canyon (renamed Hukaht Canyon) and the unnamed South Fork Rock Creek tributary. I had hiked last year to Peak 6,280 above Camp Glenwood and had scoped the route I wanted to do. I parked at a small pullout just before the road down to Camp Glenwood and took the PCT to Glenwood. I then ascended Peak 6,280, there are still healthy stands of poodle dog that are a bit difficult to avoid. From here I started dropping down steep slopes towards Hukaht Canyon, at first even with the fire there were trees and relatively clear ground. About halfway down this changed and whitethorn, buckthorn and manzanita started to make their presence felt. Fortunately most of it was knee to thigh high so relatively easy to push through. My goal was to come down the western foot of this ridge as that would put me at a spot where I could easily ascend to the ridge at a low point. About two thirds of the way down I came to a bump on the ridge that had a stone ring created probably from the campers at Glenwood back in the day. The western toe of the ridge was choked with brush so I had to sidehill on the south side following animal tracks until I finally slipped into Hukaht Canyon.

The canyon was interesting as other then next to the water course which was very small it was completely dry with minimal growth. The small section around the water was choked with a very short portion of 15 foot high brush. I found an entry way into the water course which was damp but not flowing. I found a spot where some daylight came out from the other side and pushed my way through to the other side. From here I was almost where I wanted to be and climbed a steep section to get on the little ridge. Unfortunately this ridge was just as inhospitable as the end of the other ridge I had been on. I could see clearly the route to Peak 5,795 which looked choked with brush and a bit steep. I continued winding on the ridge trying to find openings in the brush. I finally got to the last ascent which had the healthiest brush fortunately there was a route straight up the hill with only one area where I needed to side-hill. I was on the top which had a duck placed there. I assume that this whole area used to be hiked by the Camp Glenwood campers as on this ridge I also found some old cans. The view is interesting as you are completely surrounded by higher peaks.

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Looking back towards the ridge I came down on the right side of the picture.

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Looking up towards Waterman Ridge

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Looking towards the east and Mount Winston.

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Looking west towards Bare.

I had decided that if the ridge going up to Winston Ridge didn't look brush infested then I would loop my way back to the car. The ridge while steep was quite clear, much clearer then what I had gone through.

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I started my way up the ridge which also was quite sandy resulting in a tiring slog with one step up and half a step backwards. I finally reached Winston Ridge after some more winding between poodle dog at point 6,850. From here it was a matter of following the ridge back to the Winston Ridge highpoint. I had forgotten that there were a couple of rock outcroppings to get through in this section which were small diversionary scrambles. The peak had a register can and even though it is readily accessible from Cloudburst seems to rarely get visitors. Last party had been there two months prior. From here a good use trail let me back to the PCT which I took to Cloudburst and then down the road back to my car.

A nice little romp to an interesting ridge. The statistics were nine miles with 2,700 feet elevation gain in five and half hours.

[dima]

That's excellent. I've been over there (Winston ridge, ex-Squaw canyon) a few times, and it always feels forgotten and rarely visited.

[Nate U]

Very cool, was able to follow your route on the map(s). At least in your photos the brush doesn't look too bad. Bobcat fire is still mostly helpful, though the window for that won't be much longer. Knee-high brush is mostly what Mathew and I had to contend with in the bear creek area.