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Route: Frenchman Creek
Day 1: Pack in 2.5 miles and 1,300 feet vertical
Day 2: Summit RT from camp 5 miles and 2,600 vertical, then another 2.5 mile pack out
Nice weekend for an overnighter! We had skipped Columbia when we did Harvard a few years ago (scree). From other reports on this site, it looked like Frenchman Creek would be a better route.
First off, kudos to the Forest Service or other crew that cleared the trail of that deadfall from the wind microburst a couple of years ago. The trail would have been impassable otherwise. Evidence was everywhere of big trees fallen and cleared so we hikers could hike!
Bridge over Frenchman Creek
We drove our Xterra to the 4wd trailhead and packed in 2.5 miles on the good trail to a great campsite at 11,600. Close to Frenchman Creek with lots of willows away from the creek for restroom purposes. So nice to sleep with the sounds of the babbling brook right there.
The campsite area was the only place we had trouble following the trail. It appears to end in some deadfall at the end of a clearing, but just North about 30 yards down the treeline is a small cairn that points out the trail again.
Trail cairn left of logs, tent behind the clump of willows
The cairn is just to the left of the logs in the above picture. We set up camp behind that clump of willows. Always nice to have a big log for sitting and camp kitchen!
Our campsite and "kitchen"
Nice sunrise
The next morning after entering the trees at the cairn, we immediately lost the trail! Lots of deadfall and what looks like the gravel remains of a flood obscured the trail. Miscellaneous cairns here and there but no real trail. The key is continue west and stay close to the creek and you will find the trail again.
Above treeline
Great basin, Harvard on the right
At the Frenchman Creek crossing, do not cross (unless going to Harvard of course). We turned left and followed a faint trail between the willows/marsh and the rocky slope to the left. As evidenced by other trip reports, there is no one way up to Coumbia's East Ridge. Scout it out and pick your line! It is mostly easy, sometimes steep, grassy/rocky tundra. We chose what I will call the North ridge of Point 13,730.
North ridge of Pt 13730 on the left
After the steep grunt to 13,450 we decided to do a traverse to the right around Point 13,730 to save some elevation gain. Here is where we encountered the only scree field of the hike and the real reason for this trip report. It didn't start out too bad, but then got to very, very loose! About half way across a tentative step started a small slide. Then another attempt and another small slide. So we were about to backtrack and go over the Point when a faint trail was noticed about 5 yards below us. We made our way down to the trail and made an easy crossing of the scree field. The attached gps track has waypoints for this scree field trail.
Columbia finally showing, looking at the scree traverse
The scree trail was obvious looking back from the West, but not so easy to see when approaching from the East!
Scree trail stands out looking back
The rest of the route just after clearing the scree field. Mostly a flat approach to the final rocky summit pitch.
Just after the scree crossing
A closer look at the final approach.
Easy flats to Columbia
The last couple of hundred vertical feet is rock hopping up big stable talus. Very nice!
Last 300 vertical feet of rocks
The intrepid duo atop Columbia! What a gorgeous day! Hardly any wind on top, though we encountered much wind at various times on the way up.
Intrepid duo on Columbia summit
A couple of summit pics of Yale and Harvard.
Yale to the south
Ridge to Harvard
The yellow line shows our route up the North Ridge of Point 13,730 and across the flats. The scree field was only about 100-150 yards across.
Looking back on our route up
A few pics on the way down, with some fall color starting to show.
Getting back to the valley
Fall color starting
Made it back to camp a little after noon, packed up and out. Arrived at the Eddyline around 3pm for celebratory libations and appetizers. A great weekend and very good approach to get Columbia. We did not see another person from pack start to pack end, with exception of Columbia's summit.
My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):
Looks like incredible conditions. Love these 'off the beaten path' reports. Have been thinking of doing the Harvard Columbia circuit from Frenchman Creek - east ridge of Harvard, traverse to Columbia, escape Columbia back down to Frenchman Creek around the marsh. Your report and pics seem to confirm its very doable this time of year. Any more good camping sites higher than yours? How obvious is the route off of Columbia back down to Frenchman? You guys ascendeded and escaped on the north ridge to 13730 . Whats the gulley like further west of that, more direct to Columbia? Any other beta? Thanks for the report! Love it!
Good loop for Harvard and Columbia! 9/18/2014 6:24pm
I would say very doable! Not really very marshy at all between the willows and the slopes to the south. Maybe wetter earlier in the year though. The hi camp waypoint at 11,800 was the last ”used” campsite that I noted, before reaching the creek crossing. But there were a lot of flat, dry areas along the route we took between the willows and ridge (closer to 12,100-12,200). The pic with the yellow route line was taken almost at the top of Columbia and shows practically the entire route. I would say very easy to follow. At the bottom we did note the smaller ridge to the west of Pt 13730's North ridge. That ridge would dump you out midway along the upper flats so would probably be shorter. But it looked like it might have a bit more scree, so we ended up choosing the 13,730 North ridge. Hope that helps!
Nice to see what the basin looks like in summer. Thanks for posting!
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