We parked the car right after the bridge over Cascade River, next to another car. Elevation less than 1200' (yak! again). Started walking ~9:30am on S. Side Cascade Rd, which has a few washouts. R drives a sedan, so we didn't want to risk it. The road looks drivable for only a few minutes, with multiple creek crossings and serious overgrowth very quickly. Crossing Vee Creek requires sandals, especially the one at ~3/4 mile from the bridge (see photo on the right).
Not sure what to expect, we wore sandals, and I got many scratches. I put on my boots at the 3rd crossing of Vee Creek, on this nice big log (part of a fallen bridge). Watch out for long nails on the log, you don't want to trip on them.
Finally at about 3 miles from the car (1.5 hours later), we reached the TH (elevation just shy of 2400'). Saw some TP here, a fire ring. Possible to scramble down to get water. Not sure what to expect, I filled my water bottle here. We took a good break. I then realized that the cozy I sewed for my crampons had been whisked away by one of the million branches I had to brush past.
The trail starts off quite steep, and continued to be steep for ~1500'. I had to request a break. Then the grade eases a bit, still going up steadily. At about 4500' we hit snow, patches first, then solid, so couldn't see the already faint trail anymore. Totally relying on the GPS tracks we downloaded, because we were still in the trees.
Once we broke out of the trees, we could see where we were heading. Views got progressively better. I was so upset after the first "hill", we had to do a steep downclimb. That repeated a few more times, until we got tired, and started traversing on the side, which gets a bit tricky, especially right above Cyclone Lake. It was very steep. We stopped at a tree well, took ice axe out. I also put on helmet, just in case. R made good steps, and we prodded through slowly without any incident.
Finally, just before 5pm, we reached the saddle before the climb, above Cyclone Lake. I pitched my tent in a tree well (see photo taken the next day). Very small space, no room for rainfly. There were a couple of big rocks that I could sit on. R. pitched his tent on snow, over a small incline, so we don't see each other, but close enough that we could hear each other. The lake is too steep below us, so I used snow to wash a bit. Sun was shining so strong, that it was warm enough. Refilled my bottle with snow. I hung my hat inside to tent to block some sun. I fell asleep so early that when I woke up, it wasn't even dark. Stars were not bad, which I could see through my tent.
6/26, Sunday. We started out shortly after 5:30am, hoping for more solid snow.
The sun already risen, but cool enough.
All along, the view is superb. Here, in this photo, you can see Cyclone Lake, and our camping location, as well as the route coming in. We would be going above this hill instead of traverse the lake side on the way back.
Soft snow, but sticky (not powdery), so make good steps, and we don't sink too much.
The upper reach is steeper, but nothing I don't feel comfortable. The last bit is rock, but super short (as the snow continues to melt, this rock scramble may become a problem. But today, it's super easy).
At 7:15am I reached the summit (R was ahead of me). Found 2 geo markers here among the rocks. Not sure why 2.
The summit view is of course breathtaking. Baker, Glacier Peak, Rainier, and all the peaks in the North Cascade. R knows many of them. We took a long snack break, taking photos.
~8am, we headed down. Down-climbed the upper reach of the snow, then, glissaded and walked. Never need to use crampons. Back to the camp ~8:35am. Compared to getting here, this climbing is easy and swift. R decided to take a nap. I didn't expect that I would wait for him, so left my book in the car. Oh, well. I slowly packed up.
~10am, we hiked out. Cutting some ridge tops. Got a bit off trail in the woods. All was well, and we reached car ~4:10pm. At the creek crossing, I changed into sandals, and stuffed my socks in the boots. At the car, only one boot still had socks inside. Bummer!
Quilt: turning is not good. But the ill-fitted baffle didn't seem to be too bad.
Update: 1 week later, I received a message that someone found my socks.
