IBEXtrax.com - Cascade Mountains of Washington State Snoqualmie Forest - Unprotected

Three Peaks

9 June 1973

03 013 North Wall of Tinkham Peak from PCT

The short, broad Northeast Wall of Tinkham Peak as seen from Pacific Crest Trail above Twin Lakes. Named for early railroad surveyor Abiel W. Tinkham, this is a small but well-known Crest peak located one mile Southeast of Silver Peak. The highest point is on the West end of the flat summit ridge. Tinkham Peak must have been one of the earliest climbs in the region, and even was ascended on skis in the early 1900s.

03 014 Mount Rainier beyond Abiel Peak from Silver Peak

The rounded fir clad slopes of the South Central Cascades extend South from Snoqualmie Pass in a rolling sea of green. The undulating ever-green carpet that stretches out to the glacier draped cone of Mount Rainier is all too often interrupted with clear cut logging slashes. These unsightly brown rectangles give testament to the controversial commercialism that dominates this section of the Cascade Mountain Range.

03 015 Snoqualmie Pass Peaks from Silver Peak

Captain George B McClellan probably gave the first description of the "Snoqualmie Peaks" from near Naches Pass in 1853, when he wrote "to the northward there is a vast sea of bare, jagged, snow-crowned ranges as far as the eye can reach". McClellan sent Lt. Abiel W Tinkham into the area in the winter of 1854 to measure snow depths and railroad practicability, thus making the first known Cascade crossing in the region.

03 016 Chris H on Tinkham Pk with Silver Pk Kaleetan Pk

From the summit of Tinkham Peak a climber looks Northwest over Silver Peak and on to the pointed arrow of Kaleetan Peak. When McClellan and Tinkham came looking for a railroad route in 1853, they asked the local natives about a feasibility of using Snoqualmie Pass. With all the wind blown timber blocking the way, the wise Indians told the young Army officers that the route was impractical for horses. North Bend RD.

03 016m Abiel Pk Tinkham Pk Silver Pk Map.

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