USGS Monroe
Lobotomy Hill
North of and right above Lake Fontal
1580+
Prominence 580 feet
April 23, 2005
Party: John Roper, Ian Mackay, Sofy (my dog), and Dougal (Ian's dog)
Lake Fontal and Lobotomy Hill
The USGS Monroe quad has but three named or 400+ foot prominence summits. High Rock, the only named one and “Highest Rock, aka Hi-King Mountain,” an unnamed blob with 1160 feet of prominence, were written up here.
On April 23, 2005, Ian Mackay and I finished off the quad, thanks to Stefan and our dogs on “Lobotomy Hill,” a 1580+ foot jewel in the jungle, unofficially named for its proximity to Lake Fontal.
Ian and I and Sofy and Dougie met at the SE 8th P&R off 405 then drove north to HW 520 to Redmond and out Avondale Road to Novelty Hill Road to Duvall, then north on HW 203 past the main Cherry Valley Road to a right on another road signed Cherry Valley Road (but showing up as Lake Fontal Road on some maps).
We continued on this road east past Big Rock Road on the left, and E Kayak Lake Road on the right, passing a new paved private road to King Lake and “Highest Rock” on the left. Still continuing east, we drove on through an open yellow gate, and stopped at a “T” with a locked yellow gate on the right and a “Y” fork in the road on the left. At the “Y” fork (in the middle of Section 27), the left branch has an unsigned yellow gate and the right fork is signed “Hamilton Camp.”
Stefan described a bike route up this Hamilton Camp way last month via Lake Hannan, a route that presented him with many private property/no trespassing signs. He discovered a route on the way back though via a logging road just west of his entry route with no private property concerns which ended back at the above “Y” in 27 . So this is where we started. Elevation ~1000 feet.
The entire route shows on this map, with the “Y” at the bottom, and Lobotomy Hill at the top. There is a road not showing on this map which goes west and north around Points 1171 and 1450 to connect just SE of Lake Fontal with the road coming in from Lake Hannan.
Lake Fontal from north with Dougie and Sofy and Point 1450
On the road to this point views are limited to swampy, scruffy third growth, but as the road climbs north of Lake Fontal, windows open up to nice vistas over the lake and down to where we live on Somerset Spire, with Hilltop, The Summit, Cougar, Squak, and Tiger Mtn all recognizable. Climbing a little higher, “Hi-King,” Bald/Lord Hill, and the Skykomish valley down to Monroe become evident.
Ian found a scant trail here on the west side of Lobotomy, which we followed up to ever expanding views until the tight evergreens and blackberry bushes closed in on us on the very summit making us long for chainsaws and loggers.
After Sofy's first summit ever, we rested and refreshed in a clearing just below the top with looks up the Sky to the Gunnshy-Gunn group, and right to Ten Four, Sultan's Harem, Drunken Charlie, Phelps, and the Home Court ridge between the North and Middle Fork Snoqualmie, down to Mount Si.
Dougie in Lake Fontal. Lobotomy Hill above.
We stopped in at Lake Fontal on the way home and deemed it a good Boy Scout hike, with overnighter possibilities, though I've read that the fishing isn't so hot. Dougie loved chasing Ian-tossed sticks out into the lake.
Ian and dashing Sofy
For the ride home Sofy crawled up on Ian's dashboard to take advantage of the warmth of the defroster and fell asleep.
Stefan biked this summit in 1.5 hours RT, but we lazed it on foot in about 4 hours RT counting sidetrips and stops.
Harvey Manning was poking around these hills nearly 30 years ago and amusingly describes this area in his 1978 Footsore 2 book.