Chelan Butte & Beckler Peak
Published: 05/31/2022
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Trail Report: Did these hikes as a "two-fer", with Chelan Butte in the morning followed by Beckler Peak in the afternoon.
Chelan turned out warm and sunny with lots of springtime green and wildflower blooms. Traffic was lighter than expected for a Saturday morning, even had the good fortune of coming across a marmot (!) at around 2,200 ft while heading up. Have never seen one of these at such a low elevation nor this close to the Columbia river gorge. Coming down it got warm quickly, bring whatever water you need as there were no obvious sources on the trail. Had a late breakfast in Chelan then headed back down Hwy 2 for Beckler Peak.
Beckler was a completely different hike. The first leg east was mellow with multiple stream crossings but once the trail switched back heading west tree debris and snow patches quickly gave way to snowfields. Snow was fairly firm beneath the forest canopy, ankle deep compaction with the rare knee deep posthole. Made it to the summit block but turned around shy of the summit proper due to time constraints and a bit of concern over the snow conditions (loose, deep, wet and pulling away from the rock faces on approach to the summit block). Wouldn't be surprised if these release over the next few good weather days. Last three pics are from just beneath the summit, observed at least one cornice overhang but opted no to get any closer checking for others.
Here's some background on Chelan Butte and Beckler Peak.