It has taken me several attempts to get to the top of The Pulpit, which is the highest peak on "Middle Mountain". Access to the Middle Fork trailhead now is great, since the road has been paved. Cross the bridge, go right and in 15 minutes, just beyond the bridge over the tumbling Rainy Creek, bear left onto the Rainy Lake trail. The trail is clear for the first couple of miles, though there are washed-out stream crossings and downed trees to negotiate here and there. At 1900 ft there is an area of bramble on talus. There is a path right through it. Go in about 10 feet, onto the large rocks and then turn right and up. It is easy to get through this section, about 120 feet. The first time, there was about a foot of snow, and I could not find the way across. I was also reading the Green Trails map, which shows an old route that crosses Rainy Creek several times. I crossed over, but didn't find any trail on the east / north side of the creek. After the first trip, someone pointed me to an excellent hike report on The Pulpit (http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7992205) that has a GPS track showing the route going right through this bramble.

On the second try, I cut across the lower part of the bramble, up the edge of the creek gully and then straight up to the trail at 2050 ft. This works, but isn't necessary. At 2600 ft, there is a spot where I got off trail again and ran out of time. At this point, the solution is to go up. When in doubt, this trail just goes up (generally speaking). On the third try, there were 3 guys there at 8:00 am going up to The Pulpit, so we went together. They quit around 3100 ft, and I continued, almost to the top. Around 3000 ft the terrain is much less steep. If you have managed to stay on the fading trail, you are now going west and up. At 3200 ft, the trail turns sharply to the SE (still up) toward Rainy Lake. I went straight up (west) to the ridge at 4000 ft. Following the ridge up and straight north takes you to a 3-way intersection of ridges, at 4400 ft. Going left, I climbed up the ridge toward the peak. Unfortunately, on the 3rd trip, I was seduced by a big rock formation, that I skirted around to the right, thinking it was the peak. I scrambled up from the north side, and seeing that the remaining 40 vertical feet to the top was certain death, I turned back. After perusing the maps and my GPS track, I realized I was still short of the real summit.

On the fourth trip, I first went a mile down the Pratt River connector to see if it was feasible to scramble up the valley between Ravensbeak and the Seven Beauties. The top of that drainage is steep, open forest, and would take you right up to The Pulpit. The problem is that there is so much logging debris - large horizontal trunks 1 to 10 feet off the ground - that it would be tedious and slow. Maybe if you stay close to the creek, it might work. Anyway, I abandoned that idea, conceded an hour and a half of wasted time, and headed back up the Rainy Creek trail.

I was concerned about the late start, so I measured my progress. I was making 750 vertical feet per hour, so I decided to press on. At 3100 ft, I cut uphill sooner than before, and the slope was much steeper, about 45 degrees. Arriving at the top, I was now on the right-hand ridge, the one that goes to the Seven Beauties. Turning left (west), I soon found another one of these huge rock formations that decorate these ridges. I climbed up the smooth, snowy slope, and got a good view of the 3 peaks of the mountain. The Pulpit was a ways off, but it was only 2:00 pm. Yet, it was 2pm and it would get dark at 5. I realized that at the 3-way junction I would have cell-phone connectivity, so I went back down and around the bump to the junction. I texted my wife that I now expected to get down by 8pm. So far, so good. I continued west, down and then up, around to the left of that big rock area, and up to the summit at 4523 ft. Not a great vista, as it has trees. But the view of Preacher Mountain to the SE is impressive. Rather than going down the very steep slope I came up, I went south from the junction, along that ridge, and dropped down to the left (east) at 4000 ft. It got dark, I turned on my light and had no real problems. I did cross my path once, and as I got lower down, the brush got thicker. I had a Garmin GPS device, so I could see (more or less) where I had been. I regained the trail at 2500 ft and easily followed my tracks back to the car at 7:45pm. Someone has put some small, reflective markers on the trees, which are invisible by day, but handy at night to confirm that you're on track. Also, it is much better to find the trail at 3000 ft, because the denser brush makes for slow going, and it's still pretty steep in parts.

3500 ft gain, 7 miles, 10:15 hours (to The Pulpit)
3600 ft gain, 9 miles, 11:45 hours (whole day)