Mt Bethel (12,705) by Brian Schultz Sunday July 21, 2019

Roundtrip mileage: 7.15 miles
Elevation gain: 2,550'
Start to finish: 5 hours 45 minutes from Herman Gulch trailhead
Participants: Brian Schultz, Jason Mayfield, and Ollie the dog

We had beautiful weather in the forecast and it turned out just as predicted. Jason and his dog Ollie and I met at the Herman Gulch trailhead and began at 7:50 AM. There were lots of people on the trail and many had their dogs with also. Most of them were likely going to Herman Lake, a popular destination on a summer weekend, and perhaps some would be climbing Pettingell Peak. But once we departed the trail, we had Mt Bethel to ourselves.

We departed the trail at ~11,300'. The trail is flat at this elevation for a ways and we passed by an earlier opportunity to exit the trail but this one turned out to be fine. It's a bushwhack and we had to cross a creek, which was fast flowing thanks to late season snow still melting. We headed up the steep, grassy slopes where several snow patches were easy to get around and once we got above the slopes, the remaining ascent was straightforward. We topped out on the summit at 10:40 and with the weather so nice we stayed for nearly an hour. The views of the surrounding peaks (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4) were awesome and Jason and I pointed to the many peaks we've climbed together over the last few years.

Our descent from the summit began at 11:35. We descended the grassy slopes to the east of the slopes we ascended and this worked out nicely. There were handy hit and miss trails lower in the trees and some willows to bushwhack through after crossing the creek but the routefinding was easy and we were soon back on the trail with the throngs of people. We stopped to take pictures of some columbines in a scenic area before pulling in at the trailhead at 1:35. I enjoyed this outing!