2021.7.27. Skyline Divide

7/27, Tuesday. Took the day off (replacement of a prior PTO day) for a day hike. 5 of us piled into M's car at Ash Way P&R shortly after 7am. I took the middle seat, and was surprised that no one offered to exchange seats with me. Skyline Divide is a very popular trail due to the short length. Weekday is a good idea. Even Tuesday, 15 cars in the parking lot.

Flowers were the best before you reach the ridge. Out in the open, this dry summer has a toll to the flowers. They were mostly withered. Shuksan and Baker are staring at you. View is expansive. No snow along the ridge. Saw some backpackers. Need to lug water.

I took 2 small detours to crest 2 knolls. First one is just a couple of minutes. The 2nd one is a bit longer, but has better view and its north slope had more flowers.

At ~3.5 miles (the 4th knoll), turn right and up along the ridge. (The left fork goes down to Deadhorse Creek for camp sites, and maybe more flowers). All along view is expansive. The best patch of lupine is on a west slope (odd) further south. Baker looms closer and closer. The trail gets more rocky, and flowers change.

We turned around here, at ~4.5 miles. Lunch, rest. A patch of paintbrush. Quite some harebells and phlox.

On the way back, we stopped for drink/food. 4pm is too early for me to eat dinner, so just ordered a beer. M showed us photos he took recently during a 12000 mile drive in Canada. M dropped me off at downtown exist. A great day. Beats typing on computers!

2021.7.24-25 Dumbell + Greenwood from Phelps Basin

7/23, Friday. I and H met in front of R's house north of Northgate at 5:30pm. H drove to Phelps Creek TH. Wasted at least an hour stuck in traffic on Hwy-2. It was almost 10pm, when we arrived. R picked up his pillows and walked to a small camp area a couple of minutes into the trail (right after the frist creek crossing). I pitched my tent in front of the car on the road, very dusty. Almost 60 cars already there.

7/24, Saturday. Alarm at 4am, because we were supposed to be ready by 5am (really, no need to be this early). Ate a big breakfast. The two girls, C and K, arrived in K's car, Y drove by himself. We started hiking in around 5:20. Quite some down trees blocking the trail, as well as some minor creek crossings. Chatting along the trail. C was looking for an easy backpack with her brother, and Y for his son. I try to tell Y that this is a perfect destination for beginners, because it's easy and pretty. We arrived at Spider Meadow in 2 hours, and as soon as Y saw the beautiful valley (still in shade), he nodded and said he'd be back with his son in 2 weeks! We took a break here. There were already many tents. A deer was visiting some of them. Corn lily and valerian is most common here. Above photo was taken the 2nd day, on the hike out, when the meadow was in the sun.

Continued towards Phelps Basin. Going through upper meadow (more trees). Well marked junction (left to Spider Gap). It was still in shade when we arrived. Pitched tents, and took a break. There was already a tent here. K has been on night shift for 3 months, so need a nap. As soon as the sun shone on our tents, it was getting uncomfortably warm. Some bugs. Elevation ~5400'.

Around 9:30am, we headed up towards the source of Phelps Creek and above. Took ice axe and microspikes (didn't use either). There is a trail to follow, though heather meadow. The trail was getting steeper, and I was lagging behind. Was feeling faint. I should have refueled while at camp. By now, my 4:30am breakfast had evaporated. I had to make a couple of stops to refuel sugar (dried apricot, energy chew).

Once above the vegetation, no more bugs, maybe ~7000'. We headed to Dumbell first. I was happy to see snow, put some in my water bottle. Here, we met 3 Indian guys running down. Above snow is rock and scree, but not too steep. The steeper higher section is solid. Fun scramble. I just realized that I lost my helmet. Must have left where I was refueling in a frail mind. R insisted me wearing his helmet. He was leading ahead, and on the way down, he stayed behind, so to avoid getting hit by the rocks we kicked loose.

We had the summit (8421') all to ourselves. We stayed about an hour here, resting, lunch, identifying all the peaks around. They signed the summit registry. R brought saki to toast at the summit. The top east rock had quite some flying ants. A few flies and lady bugs other places.

Going down the same way. Half way down the scree, we crossed the scree slope, and scrambled up to a saddle, towards Greenwood. From there, a narrow ledge with steep drop, but solid.

At the end of the ledge, it's a basin with a beautiful tarn. Going a bit down the snow field and then back up to the gentle-ish scree slope. Again, we stayed ~1 hour on the summit (8415'), toasted the summit with the leftover saki. View is again exceptional. Took many group photos. They signed the summit registry. From here, we could see 4 plumes of wild fire to the NE.

Down as we came. Saw 1 tent in the upper heather meadow. 2 more tents (same group) in Phelps Basin. This area actually doesn't have many flat campable ground. We went to bed early. Mosquitoes. Almost full moon. Bright all night long.

7/25, Sunday. Lazy morning. We didn't pack up and leave until way past 9am. A lot of folks hiking out at the same time. Back at the TH ~noon. R cut a watermelon to share. I collected the peels. Lunched at 59er Dinner at Coles Corner. They have outdoor seating. Fast service. Food is acceptable. $15 for a burger. Price is going up everywhere. A few chicken walking around under the tables picking up leftoevers. By the time we were ready to drive out, Google told us 50+ minute delay on Hwy-2. C and K decided to chill by Nason Creek nearby. The other 4 headed back, since this traffic jam wouldn't dissipate until late evening. H dropped me at home.

This is a keeper, worth repeating. Condition is good now (the ledge should only be attempted snow-free). Beautiful, not too dangerous, short and scenic approach. However, I'd leave Seattle on Friday ~7pm, and start hiking on Saturday ~7am, hike out ~7am on Sunday and get to TH at 10am, so to avoid traffic on Hwy-2.

More photos from the group.

2021.7.17-18 Clark Mountain via Boulder Creek

O and I decided to attempt Clark Mountain and Luahna Peak this weekend, after being warned about wildfile in North Cascades. She arrived Friday eve. The GPS tracks we downloaded were going south of the ridge, rather than via Walrus and Clark Glaciers north of the ridge, shown on Mountaineers.org. No tracks available from this year. I sprayed my shirt/pants/hat with permetherin in anticipation of swarm of mosquitoes.

7/17, Saturday. We headed out of Seattle ~7:30am, overcast. Sunny east of Stevens Pass. The 3-4 mile past the bible camp, Tall Timber, is gravel, very narrow first. ~8 cars in the parking lot. Here is the start of 2 trails: White River and Indian Creek (cross the nice bridge, with good view of the roaring river below). We headed straight onto White River trail. The river has a nice color.

The trail is well maintained for the first mile or so. Saw freshly cut down logs (thanks). Close views of the river at first, but not for long. In 5 minutes, we entered Glacier Peak Wilderness. Some big trees. Nice trail, but overgrown at times: barely saw my feet when walking through tall thimbleberry/salmonberry (no berry!) bushes. ~4 miles in, crosses Boulder Creek on a large log. Soon after, the signed junction to Boulder Pass trail. Here is a large camping site by White River. Mosquitoes were not too bad: dry forest, running water. So far somewhat boring.

Boulder Pass trail turns right, after some flat minutes, it slowly zigzags up a slope, with the creek to your right, but usually out of sight. Very well graded. Glances of distant peaks of Thunder Basin. After ~1000', the trail levels and goes through more trees and into Boulder River basin. Water on trail, more bugs. At ~4100' (~2 miles from junction), cross Boulder Creek (3 braids next to each other, the last one requires an easy ford). We took a rest drying our feet on the big boulder right after the crossing. Quite some monkey flowers here.

The view improves greatly, now that the trail zigzags on the right (west facing - warm) slope over Boulder Creek, and all the way to its source, a scenic meadowy basin full of pink heathers, at ~5000' (about 8 miles from TH). There's an obvious trail junction (unmarked), about 2 miles from the ford. Turn left for the basin. Keep straight for Boulder Pass. A large campsite before the juunction. We turned left. The end of the basin still had snow, waterfalls hanging in front. All along quite buggy. More flies than mosquitoes. We both wore head nets. Not too many good camp sites at the end of the basin. We settled at one close to the trail. Only then, did I realize that I forgot to bring my tent! Thankfully O has a 2p tent. We each found a tree and hid in the shade. I took a nap, after covering myself with an extra layer of clothes to deter biting insects. I lost my sunscreen somewhere in the basin.

Once the shade reached our camp, O pitched her tent, and we headed out towards Boulder Pass ~6pm. Saw a nice campsite near the trail. Quite some paintbrush, columbine, thistle on the slope. It's about 1200' gain from camp to the pass. The trail is nice and well graded. The pass had some snow patches melting fast. The Boulder Pass trail continues down to Napeequa Valley. It's more U-shaped than other creek basin. Not as pretty as I had hoped. View from the other side (Little Giant Pass) would be better, because you could see Walrus and Clark glaciers from that side. Didn't stay long. Tons of mosquitoes here. Couldn't even take a panorama photo without risking a dozen bites.

On the way back, a deer was staring at us for a long time. A few marmotts. Scanned the opposite side of the valley to guess tomorrow's route.

The tent was wet when we returned. A colder night than I had thought. Even with 2 people in the tent, I was still somewhat cold in my 45°F bag + a liner + all my clothes. I did get up to see stars, not bad.

We didn't see anyone all day.

7/18, Sunday, sunny. Up early. Chilly. We started out shortly after 6am. Followed the trail (not on map), zigzaging over to the left slope of Boulder Creek basin. Morning light casted a nice glow over the open country. Over a low ridge, huckleberry, heather, corn lily, speedwell, nice place to wander, no other human in sight. The view from the south ridge of Point 8373 is very good. Too bad, that we climbed up a wrong col (the lowest one on the ridge). Had to back down and traverse to the higher col which has a gully on the other side to go down the ridge. I put on my helmet, traversed in the middle of the steep slope: it wasn't good. O traversed lower on snow and then went up. On our way back, we came back down the proper col. It was loose and steep above the snow. I didn't like it either.

At the correct col, we saw a group of goats on the higer slope of the Y basin. Now, this gully is very steep, especially the lower half. Not too many good rocks to hold on to. After that, the traverse over the Y Basin slope is also not safe. So slow going. As we got closer to the goats, they moved higher.

Once we were on the proper climb, the condition is better. Snow to the south ridge of Clark, not very steep, and then scramble up to the summit. A bit like Black Peak: part loose gravel, part solid rock. We met a group of 3 at the large cairn which marks the trail junction. Going down here to continue to Luahna. Looks a large drop, and super steep. These 3 hauled their overnight pack here. They camped in the Y Basin below. They said, it took 3 hours to Luahna, and 1 hour to Clark from their camp. Going down here is as bad as the gully we came down earlier. I just cannot imagine myself hauling a large pack on these steep loose gully.

By the time I reached the summit, it was almost noon. This took a lot longer than I thought. We didn't have time to continue to Luahna, nor do I want to drop down the 2nd gully. Being a chicken, I'm too slow on steep slopes. There are 2 geo markers on the rocks at the summit, but didn't see summit registry.

On the way back, we took a slightly different route after the col. Back to the camp ~3pm, and packed out a little before 4pm. Reached car ~8pm.

I drove home, totally exhausted. O left Monday morning. I threw away my cheap gaiters from Amazon ( velcro was falling off) and my 30-yo shirt (shoulder torn). Next weekend, will bring proper gaiter and new shirt.

I probably won't climb Clark again. I do like the basin for camping and the solitude, maybe do a loop with Little Giant Pass, later in the season, after mosquitoes are gone. There are a lot of huckleberry bushes,

2021.7.15. Fresh-Ground Stories

7/15, Thursday. 7pm. I attended my first ever in-person in-door event since end of March 2020. The Starbucks on Olive Way halfway up on Capitol Hill had a good turnout. The cafe closes daily at 7pm, but stayed open this evening to host this story telling monthly event. I've only attended once before COVID. Since then, a few times over zoom. Today felt special. I enjoyed it immensely, happily celebrating the end of a pandemic, with all these strangers. About 1/3 of audience wore face mask, and I'm one of those.

Downtown Seattle "Welcome Back"

Walking by Westlake Center a non-descriptive afternoon, saw this big rooster walking around. DowntownSeattle.org is hosting a series events throughout downtown to entice people. So far I only see tourists. Today's show was tap dance.

2021.7.10-11 Hidden Lake Peaks

The planned Glacier Peak climb was canceled due to a hand injury of the event organizer. Bummer, none of the other 4 wanted to go without this organizer. Thus a last minute change to Hidden Lake Lookout overnight, which turned out to be great: amazing views and a relaxing time. Don't know why I never came here. Maybe the road.

7/10, Saturday, I walked to an I-5 exit for a pick up at 5:45am. The reason for the early start is to get to the lookout early to secure the night: it's first come first serve. Just in case, we stopped at Marblemount ranger station (open 7am-4pm) for a permit at Hidden Lake, which took ~45 minutes. Picked up a bear canister and some blue bags (just plastic bag with 2 twines, no more litter or wood chip). When I saw Mi, the other passenger in the car, my heart sank. The young lady is ~50lb overweight, wearing a peach colored dress and sweat pants. Her luggage includes a heavy 2p tent, and a giant Colman sleeping bag, a battery powered fan, and a cane (with a curve handle)! She has done a few backpacking trips, and was eager to try this one. She insisted that I should go ahead to the lookout without waiting for her. We arrived at the TH ~9:30, after ~4 miles of bad road (easy for M's Landcruiser). ~7 cars in the parking lot, one is a regular sedan!

Mi headed out with her giant load, cane in hand, while the driver/organizer M and I struggled to strap the bear can on his pack. The trail starts in the forest, fairly gentle first, with many creek crossings. Nothing big, but it gets muddy. Soon it breaks out of the trees. The first view of the valley is enticing. I stopped in the shade to wait for my group, and doll out sunscreen (neither of them brought any). There's a big landslide where the trail crosses the south fork Sibley Creek, about 1 mile from TH. Minor confusion here. Once on the other side, the trail zigzags up a flowering open slope, in the full sun. A very warm day. Rosy spiraea, thistle, corn lily and velarian, some columbine and paintbrush. The view gets better as you get higher.

About another mile, the trail starts traversing towards rocky slopes, with snow patches. At times, I lost the trail, and found it again quickly. Heathers, both white and pink are blooming, some partridge foot. About 12:20, I was at the saddle, where you can finally see the lake with floating ice. View is grand already. The pink circle on the photo is where the lookout is. There's a sign of park boundary (North Cascade N.P.).

The trail now goes over the saddle. There's actually a decent bootpath up to the lookout. Lots of heathers. The very top are some jumbo of boulders. Easy scramble, the rocks are stable and surface is grippy. I asked if the lookout was taken. Two boys (US Navy) said that they took the bed, but we are welcome to sleep on the floor. So after taking a few photos, I hid in the shade and took my book out. A ranger came and went, stopped a drone. Every once awhile, I'd walked to the edge and looked down the saddle to check if my group was there. Also inquired everyone if they've seen them. Another group of 3 backpackers arrived, and they settled into the lookout. There's cell signal here. I txt-ed M, but no response. Eventually (~2.5 hours later), with the navy boy's binocular, I spotted the peach dress. Took my pack and hiked down. Needed to fill water anyway: no water or snow above the saddle.

Met M and Mi below the saddle. Took another break at the saddle. We decided to camp a few minutes below next to a small creek formed by melting snow. I actually like it here better than cramming into the little lookout. Running water is essential. M brought a hammock instead of tent. No big trees to tie a hammock here. He stretched his hammock and bug net using hiking poles, using his Dyneema tarp as ground sheet. There's also cell signal here. Amazingly, not much bugs here.

After pitching my tent, washed up, then, took my ice-axe and microspikes and headed over towards Hidden Lake. From the saddle down, there's no footprint. Steep at first, and then leveled out to a heather plateau. I glissaded down a short stretch. Boulders sticking out of the snow. There are two nice camp sites overlooking the lake, one next to a small creek now (formed by melting snow). Close by is a steep track down with rock and loose gravel. I decided not to venture farther, since I was alone. Couldn't really see how to get to the other side of the lake, to reach the few blue tarns there. Came back up via a slightly different route.

Returned to the camp for dinner. I didn't bother to bring a stove, just ate a sandwich. M was fiddling with his clothes. Mi went back to the saddle to wait for sunset. I decided to climb Hidden Lake Peak. In a straight line, it's only half a mile. But too me awhile, maybe a full hour. There is a clear boot path first, but quickly disappeared. Saw cairn here and there, and then nothing. Just keep to the ridge. Big boulders, fairly grippy. Not difficult, but requires care. You can see the tiny lookout from here, and someone was flying a noisy drone. Great view, time for sunset. I actually climbed onto this triangle rock, the high point. I headed down before the sun actually set. Don't want to scramble on rocks in the dark. Instead of retrace my steps, I headed downhill, which seems easier. But took about the same time. I got back to the camp well past 9pm.

Slept well, even though there was ice forming on the little pond the next morning. I took a silk liner this time. Woke up around 3:20am, the sky was already getting light, ruined the night sky. Too bad. M said that the star was brilliant.

7/11, Sunday. Woke up just past 5am. Quickly headed out to the saddle to watch sunrise. Back to the camp for breakfast. M brewed coffee, with proper cream (instead of powder). Mi cooked breakfast with a 1lb gas canister (she still had 3 Mountain House freeze-dried packs). My breakfast was simple: mix of breakfast cereal, nuts and dried apricots.

We packed out ~8am. This time, I strapped the bear can (with everyone's garbage) on my pack. 3 of us hiked out more or less together. The bear can fell off my pack soon enough, that ended stuffing it inside my pack, thus unable to close to top. At least it was so jammed that nothing would fall out. Once back on the zigzag of the flowering slope, we hiked ahead without waiting, because of bugs. I glissade a bit on the snow (not steep enough to pick up much speed), and rejoined the trail, without getting ahead of M. I waited after the big land slide for Mi. Took my book out and socks off. 10 pages later. Mi showed up with her sleeping bag in hand. She wasn't happy that we didn't wait for her earlier. I strapped her sleeping bag on my backpack, and headed to the car. Ate food I had left in the car, while waiting for her in sandals. All weeekend, I didn't see or hear marmott. Odd.

M. dropped Mi off by her building. It turns out she lives just 2 blocks from me. Easy. Still early enough to clean up all my gear. A beautiful and relaxing weekend. Worth a repeat.

2021.7.5. Vesper Peak

A very different hiking experience than last trip in automn. 7/5, Monday. 6 of us met at Ash Way P&R at 6am. We drove in 2 cars to the Sunrise Mine TH. I'm the only person who decided not to bring crampons.

The trail starts smoothly. About 3 creek crossings. The last one is more serious. I switched to sandals and waded it though. But took awhile to swap shoes and gaiters. On the way back, walked upstream, and crossed on a pile of logs as seen on the photo. Then, it's a south facing slope, hot and dry. M slowed down to reduce overheating. I put half a hydration tablet in his 1/2L bottle. We all waited from time to time when we found shade. By 9am, we reached Wirtz Basin, half in cool shade.

The trail crosses the basin, onto rock fields. Partly covered with snow. Once we crossed the snow, we were higher than the trail. W who was in the lead took to the gully just right of the zigzag trail. Unstable rocks in the lower half and snow upper. All switched to crampons. I put on micro-spikes. B slipped, said she felt dizzy. M waited for her since he was the last. Later, we learned that she had heat exhaustion, and two of them turned back.

Once reached the pass, bushwhacked down ~10' and onto the trail. The traverse is good, not covered by snow. The lake was still snow covered. Saw a few tent sites by the lake outlet, and some on the ridge. From there on was mostly snow, except the very top rocks: dry, a couple of good campsites, abundant heather and phlox. Great view all around. A couple of climbers were trying out the north cliff. The summit registry was full. I hid in the shade eating my sandwich.

Glissade down the peak, almmost all the way to the lake junction. We took the proper trail coming down Heedlee Pass. A lot easier. The trail was maybe 1/3 covered with snow, some loose rock. I didn't bother with spikes. At the bottom of the basin, we slide along the snow below the trail, and then rejoined the trail. Back at the TH, found M's note on the car window. Good to know that they were safe.

Now 4 of us crammed in one car. I was dropped off by I-5 exit close to home ~7:30pm. Walked the last mile home.