"Spectal Peak starts with a pleasant 8km bike ride up the Cascade Fire Road, before ditching the bikes and bushwhacking alongside the creek up to the upper valley. In the interests of science, our party split up to see whether it was quicker to reach the summit via the valley or the west ridge. Rob & I opted for the more tame valley route, between gnarly rock walls on either side and passing a picturesque lake. It was mainly a screen grunt with some route-finding to get to the summit, arriving around 30 minutes before the other slackers got there. Lito & Markus reported some spicy terrain along the undulating ridge, but enjoyed the route. On the way down, we followed a scree descent and then some rock band bypassing to reach the valley bottom, before the long bushwhack and fantastic bike out. In places there was a lot of deadfall, but in general the bushwhack was tolerable and the deep bed of moss provide nice cushioning. 16km bike, 15km hike, 1600m elevation gain, 11:50 hours" — geoffhardy • Jun 18, 2021