My primary goal was to find the abandoned trail up Kelley Creek, mentioned
in the Glacier Peak 100 hikes book, and previously surveyed by Lopper &
son.  The secondary goal was the summit of Captain Point, and tertiary
goal the summit of Scorpion Mt and the purported abandoned trail between
these two peaks. 

I got to the "trailhead" at the Pilarian hour of 11am. I drove up road
6710 to the gate, then backtracked to the nearest spur road at about
3120'. I had tried the lower spur road, and it didn't look like the right
spot from the car. I was armed with a Greentrails map and altimeter set
the previous day, and figured (as usual) that it would be straightforward
to find the right spur road. When will I ever learn?! Looking at the 7.5'
map, it's plain as day I was on the wrong spur. 

I poked around in the brush near the upper spur road, not finding much. 
But knowing that the trail was found earlier this year, I plunged into the
alder-choked jungle. After a hundred feet of very slow progress, I went
uphill slightly and found it a little easier. 15 minutes later I reached
the old growth forest. Travel sped up considerably and by 30 minutes I was
standing next to Kelley Creek. I never saw any evidence of tread or blazes
anywhere. I spent quite a bit of time traversing back and forth but
remained unsuccessful. So I headed up hill, angling slightly away from the
creek, hoping to find some tread. The forest is relatively open and easy
travel.  Occasionally I thought I saw tread, but it never lasted, and it
didn't seem like an old trail. Eventually I reached a logging road, and
continued up logging slash and blueberries (still quite tasty!) to the
highest road and traversed to the end of it. Someone has ridden an ATV to
the snow line near the top, gotten out and walked to the summit in hiking
boots. I thought that was strange. Most ATVers don't like to walk. 

From the easy summit, I had views of the clearcuts to the south and east,
and some glorious territory northbound. So I descended the north ridge to
Scorpion Mt. Might as well get another peak in if I can't find the Kelley
Cr trail. Along the easy ridge I found some cut logs and faint tread, and
upon further inspection plenty of blazed trees. Aha! Finally an abandoned
trail to add to my collection! But due to snow and faint tread, I kept
losing it.  The forest is pretty easy and the ridge obvious, so eventually
I made it to the top of Scorpion Mt. The winds were howling, but the views
were tremendous of Sloan, Glacier, Rainier, and countless other peaks.
Below is a very pretty Joan Lake. By this time I'm hungry and tired, so I
rested and ate. Then I headed back along the ridge towards Captain Point. 

Somehow, along the ridge, I managed to follow blazes and faint tread away
from the ridge up to the Captain. I was paying more attention to the
exciting discovery of this forgotten gem than anything else. The ridge got
considerably narrower than I recalled, and so I downclimbed to the left
and then back up. Above was the top, aye aye, of the Captain. But it sure
looked different. At this point, the forest ended and I had a good view of
the surroundings. Yikes! There's Captain Point way the heck over there on
another ridge! Since I was 5 minutes away from the high point, I scrambled
up to the summit. Three peaks in a day is a big bonus. But on top I
discovered it was merely a high point on the ridge of Fernow, and nothing
to be proud of after all. Turns out I climbed up point 5498
(http://topozone.com/map.asp?z=10&n=5291780&e=634030&s=25) just to the
west of Captain Point.  This peak, dubbed "That'sit" (Fernow) by John
Roper, has no documented summitteers.

Well, I didn't know if I could get out after dark by backtracking along
the ridge, or if I could even notice where the ridge split. So I decided
to race down the very steep forest to Kelley Creek, and try to bushwack my
way out in just two hours. It didn't seem appealing at all. On the way
down, visibility of Capt Pt was good through the trees, so I traversed at
the anaerobic threshold, hoping to gain the ridge again. I was nearly out
of food and water, and a bit thrashed from the exercise. Fortunately, the
ridge wasn't too bad to regain. After peeking at the peak through the
trees, and consulting my map and compass, and checking it 14 times, and
wishing I had more water, and eating snow for it's food value and moisture
content, I headed back up towards Captain Point. I bumped into my earlier
steps in the snow and somehow struggled to the top just as the pink/orange
sky behind Glacier Peak turned dark. 

This second time on Captain Point, I noticed the brass climbing register. 
It was from 1995. Lopper & son had been there in '98. Amazingly, someone
had been there the previous day -- none other than Pilar the climbing
kitty and his new bride! So that's who stomped steps in the snow. Did they
drive an ATV most of the way? It was an uneventful jog/walk down the
nearly perfect logging road in the dusk, with only one confusing 4-way
intersection.  Apparently I guessed right, because I got to the gate on
road 6710 an hour later and staggered to my waiting trusty steed.