by Roger Gervin
At the beginning of October I took a fun scramble in the Teanaway Area. It was a little early to see the larch trees wearing their yellow coat, but their orange coat was a pretty nice consolation.
I used a combination of Esmeralda Basin Trail #1394 and Ingalls Way Trail #1390 to reach Ingalls Pass (~6500′). After hiking a total of 3.3 miles, I took the higher of the two trails that lead over toward Lake Ingalls staying on the trail above Headlight Basin for a half-mile beyond the pass. At this point I left the trail and headed cross-country for the ESE ridge (~7050′) of Fortune Peak, and then followed a good path on the ridge all the way to the summit (7382′).
There were broad views in every direction. Leaving the summit I traced my steps back down the ESE ridge until I found a Class 2 (maybe Class 1.5) route down to dry “Lake Camp Fire Girls”then took the path of least resistance from the lake over to rejoin the Ingalls Way Trail a couple hundred feet below Ingalls Pass. At this point I then made the 3 mile hike back to the car.
The total trip was 8.7 miles, gaining 3,422 feet of elevation.
The North Fork Teanaway Road is very washboarded until you reach Beverly Campground. From there it is in reasonably good shape from the campground to the trailhead.
For detailed images and GPS information click here.
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