Skyline Divide - November 10, 2012

Our hiking foursome spent a weekend in Glacier, WA hanging out at a cabin and making the most of the slightly gloomy fall weather. We decided a bit of a leg stretcher was in order and headed up to Skyline Divide. We headed up the ridge and just kind of meandered through the compact snow. There was light snow falling, the clouds were rolling in, and we weren't really geared up for a full day adventure. After a couple of miles we decided to call it a day and head back. This is definitely an area I'd love to return to.

Skyline Divide Panorama

Someone missed the memo that we were hiking. Tennis shoes, jeans, & messenger bag isn't Derrick's normal hiking attire.

Sam and Derrick taking in the view

Sarah and I happy to be in the mountains

Tonga Ridge, Mt. Sawyer, Ptarmigan Lake - September 1-3, 2012

This labor day weekend we decided to head in search of a new experience...camping on an island. I'm not sure how we got the idea in our heads, but we decided we really wanted to find a lake with an island that we could set up camp on and Ptarmigan Lake fit the bill.

With a slightly late start, we headed up to the Tonga Ridge trail head. The ridge walk was really nice with lots of great views. We followed it until taking a small slightly hard to find path down to Fisher Lake. Fisher Lake was nice, but we forded on to our destination. From Fisher it is a bit of a bushwhack over to Lower Ptarmagin. We managed to make it down to a pretty tree lined shore where we blew up the raft, loaded up our pack and floated over to the island.

Fisher Lake

Our campsite on the island

Lower Ptarmigan Lake

The island was nice and had a large campsite where we set up for the night. The next morning we spent a relaxing day on the lake. We took our raft around an explored a bit. We considered hiking up to the upper lake, but decided to just relax instead. We met one other person their camping near the shore, but it was pretty quiet.

Terrace Mountain

Sun beginning to set on Ptarmigan Lake

Reflection

Evening tent glow

Stars above Terrace Mountain

More stars

Rafting back to the mainland

 The next day we headed out and made a side trip to Mt. Sawyer for some lovely views of the Alpine Lakes wilderness.

 Daniels (left) and Hinman (right) from Mt Sawyer

Rainier peaking over with Chimney and Overcoat on the left

Looking towards Ptarmigan Lake with Terrace Mountain and Daniels

Summit Marker

Glacier Peak

Fernow Peak with Columbia, Foggy, and Sloan in the background

Daniels through Silver

Tonga Ridge Trail

Our approximate route

Lake Sylvester - August 4-5, 2012

After an epic trip to Derrick Lake last summer, we decided to go in search of other off trail lakes. This time we set our sites on Sylvester Lake off of Icicle Creek Road.

I had done my research and heard about an old fishermans trail that climbed steeply up to the lake. With some trial and error and a good map, we were able to locate it. Make no mistake I use the word "trail" very loosely here. It was tricky to follow in places and we hit a lot of very rocky steep areas in the process.

Daniels and Hinman in the distance

Harding and Bootjack Mountains

Ingalls, Hawkins, Harding, and Bootjack 

Almost at the lake 

Eventually we made it to the lake, both feeling a bit tired and ready to unload our packs. Camping sites at the lake were a little minimal, but we found a spot pretty close to the shore. The unfortunate thing about this trip was the mosquitoes. They descended upon us pretty quickly making it hard to enjoy our private lake. Luckily we brought our raft and were able to find some solace out on the lake where the mosquitoes apparently don't travel.

Sylvester Panoramic

Grindstone Mountain

We spent most of our evening on the lake until we were ready to turn in. The next morning we went for a paddle to check out the other shores. This lake a has a dramatic setting with grindstone peak looming above, but it lacks the open shoreline that many of the areas alpine lakes have. Reluctantly, we packed up camp and headed back down the long steep slog to the car. We ran into another man heading up as we were coming down. It never fails to surprise me that even in some of the more remote areas we run into other folks.

Overall it was a nice trip, but I wont put it on the same level as Derrick Lake.

Approximately where we went

Two Trips One Lake: Rachel Lake and Rampart Ridge

This is the story of two adventures about one month apart to the same lake. It started in June when Sarah, Aaron, and I decided to go for a scramble. Alta was the peak of choice. It lies in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness near Rachel Lake and Rampart Ridge. Unfortunately, our not-so-warm summer meant lots of snow remained. We made it to Rachel Lake, despite some snow and a creek crossing that required us to abandon our shoes and ford the river. Rachel was mostly frozen yet still scenic. We attempted to head up the ridge on a snow field, but about half way up, our better judgement kicked in and we headed back down. With an ice ax this would have been a doable ridge, but without slipping would not end well. So we headed for a small high point near the lake for some good views and called it a day.

Really cold feet after crossing the creek

A frozen Rachel Lake

Not Alta, but good enough for today

Hibox came out for a moment

Now flash forward to the end of July (about one month later). I decided to head back to Rachel to see a bit of what I missed out on. Derrick and I were taking 2 of our friends, Robyn and Brian on their first backpacking trip and thought Rachel fit the bill. We headed out early on a Saturday morning and made it up to the lake around lunch time. The snow had melted and the lake was transformed to a sparkling blue gem, still too cold to enjoy much swimming. We spent the afternoon lounging by the lake and making good use of our inflatable rafts. It was a warm but windy day that turned into an even windier night.

The waterfall below Rachel Lake

Rachel with no snow

Best addition to our gear!

After getting less sleep than I liked (thanks tot he wind), we woke up and decided to make our way up to Rampart Lakes. The trail to the lakes was snow free until the top of the ridge, but even that was easily navigated. The lakes were beautiful and surprisingly quiet, we really only saw one group. The largest lake was still partially frozen but the smaller ones had melted out except for a snow bank at the far end of one of the lakes. The guys eyed the snow for a while talking about how much fun it would be to use the snow as a slide into the lake. After much heckling, they both decided to give it a try. It was less of a slide and more of a run and scream with a little jump into the shallow end of the lake. Regardless, Robyn and I were quite amused.

One of the Rampart Lakes

Brain goes for a swim

Derrick takes a turn

Once they warmed up, Derrick spotted a rocky cliff that provided a perfect spot to jump into the lake. Again, after much debating both Liz and Derrick decided to give it a go. It was an extremely cold but very refreshing experience. From there we explored the rest of the lakes area taking in the beautiful scenery. After a brief Canada v. Montana snowball war (Canada won), we headed back to pack up our campsite at Rachel Lake and head back to the trailhead. It was a fun weekend ending with a relaxing dinner at the Snoqualmie Brewery. Good times were had by all.

Derrick cliff jumping

There goes Liz

Robyn and Brian

Montana v. Canada show down

The larges of the Rampart Lakes

Very little snow left on Hibox

Mt. Thompson

Looking down at Rachel