On Saturday, a group of us did the Moriah-Carters traverse, during which Raven and I tagged the so-called Mount Lethe (4584') for the Trailwrights. I'm skipping over everything but the Mount Lethe sections.
Both Raven and I had read whatever we could find on this peak, mostly the descriptions by RoySwkr, and Stinky Feet (from this past winter.) We came from the North Carter side, and along the way, checked out the views of Lethe a few times. From what we could see, the summit was fairly flat--no obvious high point--but we did observe a few clumps of taller trees that appeared (from below) to be the highest point. From the height of land on the Carter-Moriah trail, there is an obvious herd path heading due east. However, this herd path goes uphill only slightly and dead-ends about 25 feet from the trail. I imagine many folks stop right here and call it good, but we weren't quite high enough, and there were no views. We continued east, swimming through the krumholtz until we came to a large boulder, gaining another 10-20 feet of elevation along the way. Raven climbed up and couldn't see an obvious higher point, so I climbed up and joined him. From here, Raven wandered around to the other few rocks we could see, and never appeared taller than me. I followed him to the next two biggest boulders, and we called it good.
I don't recall a view to Wildcat, but I can tell you that on top of that biggest rock, there is a 360-degree view. We had left our packs at the herd path and with it the camera, so no photos from the summit. It's a thick stretch of 200-250', not very long at all, but very scratchy. Still, if you're in the area, it provides an interesting view. What would make a cool photo is for one person to go north or south on the CMT to a view of Lethe and take a picture of the other standing on that big rock. From either side, it would look as though the subject was standing on the tree tops.
Tim
Both Raven and I had read whatever we could find on this peak, mostly the descriptions by RoySwkr, and Stinky Feet (from this past winter.) We came from the North Carter side, and along the way, checked out the views of Lethe a few times. From what we could see, the summit was fairly flat--no obvious high point--but we did observe a few clumps of taller trees that appeared (from below) to be the highest point. From the height of land on the Carter-Moriah trail, there is an obvious herd path heading due east. However, this herd path goes uphill only slightly and dead-ends about 25 feet from the trail. I imagine many folks stop right here and call it good, but we weren't quite high enough, and there were no views. We continued east, swimming through the krumholtz until we came to a large boulder, gaining another 10-20 feet of elevation along the way. Raven climbed up and couldn't see an obvious higher point, so I climbed up and joined him. From here, Raven wandered around to the other few rocks we could see, and never appeared taller than me. I followed him to the next two biggest boulders, and we called it good.
I don't recall a view to Wildcat, but I can tell you that on top of that biggest rock, there is a 360-degree view. We had left our packs at the herd path and with it the camera, so no photos from the summit. It's a thick stretch of 200-250', not very long at all, but very scratchy. Still, if you're in the area, it provides an interesting view. What would make a cool photo is for one person to go north or south on the CMT to a view of Lethe and take a picture of the other standing on that big rock. From either side, it would look as though the subject was standing on the tree tops.
Tim
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