Fri, Jul 25 2025 - Mad Wolf Grand Circuit (View Original Event Details) Coordinator(s): Brendan OBrien, Randy Hohf Participants: Brendan OBrien, Brennan G, StefanieC, Greg P, Randy Hohf, Jess Longenecker, Mike Petrangelo, Sarah Scott

After a delayed start due to some construction on Highway 2, we hit the trail at around 8:50 AM. After crossing cut bank creek and ditching our sandals, we made our way along the faintly defined boundary trail quickly gaining elevation. Once we left the trees we had a beautiful day with clear skies and not too much wind. By 10 AM we were above the tree line and started our scramble up Mad Wolf. The group stuck together, and the route finding was very straightforward. Once we hit the ridge we were blasted by a moderate wind that made conversation difficult and continued to the fairly unimpressive summit of Mad Wolf Mountain, with Eagle Plume Mountain looking formidable in the middle distance. More pleasant ridge walking followed, and we encountered GMS Member Eric Smart on the way back from Eagle Plume, having opted to camp the night before he got an early start and decided to turn back due to wind after summiting the second peak of the day.

At the end of the ridge Eagle Plume rose above us with some fun looking class III sections. Having lost 500 feet from the summit of Mad Wolf we had about 900 vert of scrambling ahead of us with a shear drop into the bowl to our right. We took our lunch break at the summit of Eagle plume where we took shelter from the wind. Descending the eastern face of Eagle Plume was a little tricky, namely figuring out where to cut to our right and manage the cliffs to hit the saddle of Bad Marriage without losing too much elevation. Keeping a careful eye on the topo map and utilizing some GPS tracks helped. The scree was overall not bad, not great. No real scree skiing opportunities, but we didn’t have to worry about kicking rollers down onto the party members descending below us.

We summited Bad Marriage in no time, 6 hours into our 12 hour day. The descent into the bowl we had been circumnavigating all day was a bit daunting, with no obvious safe routes. However as we followed the ridge a dry gulley helped us cut through the cliff band. Resisting the temptation to descend all the way to the inviting green floor of the bowl, we stayed high until we reached its outlet, where we followed the lip of the bowl down to the fast moving stream and hopped across.

Until this point the route finding had been obvious, but from here out we needed to pay more careful attention. Following a path off to our right we circled around until we found the right spot to descend the cliffs. On the descent our trip coordinator Brendan had an accident. While catching up to the group he dislodged a large rock and in an attempt to prevent it from rolling onto the group below him managed to get his hand crushed as it overturned. Many thanks to Randy and his wilderness first aid training as he bandaged and treated Brendan’s injuries.

Once we reached the bottom of the basin next to the waterall we had a critical route decision to make. Follow the GPS track up the ridge, skirting the boulder field below the Mad Wolf massif? Or take the route Randy remembered from years ago following the creek? We decided on the creek as it looked more inviting in person and on the map. However after 30 minutes of bushwacking down stream with the trail only looking brushier and the creek banks getting steeper, we decided to bail. The bushwacking that followed was thick slow, and steep, but eventually we regained the route we had a GPS track for and met up with the boundary trail.

If I were to do the grand circuit again, I’d be tempted to descend the saddle between Bad Marriage and Eagle Plume, descending north to avoid the cliffs, then take a scree covered spur as far down as possible to minimize the bushwack. I will admit descending the bowl was a fun challenge, and the waterfall at the outlet was very impressive. Be prepared for the second half of the day! We could have knocked a couple hours off with some better decisions, but the descent from Bad Marriage was no joke.