August 19th 2023
This hike was first seen when we went along the trail to James Walker Mountain. Let’s do Chesmill that looks doable. Here is my disclaimer I thought we were talking about the green mound with a nice ridge walk. Not until I did some research did I realise that there is a 2850 m to the right or east of the green bump.
So we set off from Sawmill on the Smith Dorrian Rd. As you would for James Walker Mountain and the lake. In about 3km see an orange tape on the left. Exit down too the creek here or move on a bit to shorten the bushwhacking to the creek as we did.. In August it was very easy to get over the creek. It may be harder earlier in the season. There are two choices.Go up the drainage gully or up the steep meadow. The choice for us was the meadow. The creek looked abit gnarly.
We had to push through some trees to get to the meadow, but apart from the steepness the footing was OK. I headed to the west to reach the ridge earlier but straight up works as well. The ridge is still up hill but the views are better. At the top looking down at the col, which was only about 25m away, we decided with the smoke and tired legs not to go the next 300m to the true summit. Lunch was taken and we returned the same way The views of Mt Chester were good but smoke prevented a full panorama.
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