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Kloochman Rock 4532 ft (attempt)
Goose Egg Mountain 4566 ft
November 18, 2003
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This week Kim took a temporary job in Sunnyside so I tagged along for the ride. So while she was
hard at work, I was hard at play. After filling up at the famous Teapot Dome gas station, I headed up
highway 12 towards White Pass.
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The roads were mostly dry as I turned off at Lost Lake. I wound around
the road and was amazed when I came around a bend and there was the skyline of Kloochman right in front
of me. I had first read about this fabled peak years ago in William O. Douglas' classic book Of Men
and Mountains. More recently I read in Beckey's CAG vol I, his downplay of Douglas' recountenance as
the "overstatement of an impressionable youth". As I continued driving down the road, I looked forward
to my own experience on this interesting island of rock.
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On the right side of the road was a large rock buttress that I figured to be Goose Egg Rock according
to my gazetteer. I noted this peak as an possible alternative if Kloochman Rock didn't work out. I drove past
the emergency airstrip and stopped to take a picture of the beautiful birch trees that bordered
it. It had started to rain lightly, so I may have been subconsciously trying to take my time and stay in the car
as long as possible. I initially drove past my road but turned around when I came upon some cabins and realized that I
was getting farther away from Kloochman Rock. I never found Road 1402 that Beckey mentioned in his description. Instead
I took the obviously most traveled road, which I believe was 1201 (Note: The road was actually FR 1202). Heading in on
Tieton Road (Road 1200), it's the left immediately after the cattle grate. I followed this road up, breaking trail
in the freshly fallen snow being careful to not stop on the steeper parts where I might get stuck.
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I wound around for a few miles until I got to wide flat spot in the road where I knew I could turn around easily.
I pulled over to the side and started hiking from here. I saw a trail sign that read "Louie Trail 1126". There were many
game trails to follow so I stopped periodically to tie an orange flag to a branch so I could find my exact trail back...
The trail wound around the edge of a small unnamed lake and I could see where deer and elk had walked to the edge to drink.
I lost and regained the trail several times but I finally left the forest at the SE end of Kloochman Rock. I was too far
north so I swung left back into the forest and along the base ofthe rock to where there was a steep scree/boulder
field that ended at a steep ramp that lead upwards to the left. I was using the photo in the Cascade Alpine
Guide vol I as my reference. I followed the ramp up to an exposed ledge that continued traversing left to
some slabs that looked like they continued up to the forested slopes that lead to the notch that gains the
summit ridge in the photo from the book. But since it was raining and the rock was pretty slippery, I turned around and
climbed back down. When dry this route is probably class 3, but it is exposed in places and a misstep could be very bad.
I followed my trail back to the car, retrieving my flagging as I went. It was still early in the day and I really wanted to get
to the top of a mountain, so drove back down the road and parked near the cattle grating and scrambled up Goose Egg Rock. I had some nice
views of the NW end of Kloochman Rock.
