The original plan was to hike in Saturday to Waptus Lake (8 miles) and camp for the night. Then depending on what the conditions were like we would either just day hike around the area on Sunday or hike the Polallie Ridge trail to Diamond Lake. We also kept open the option to hike over Waptus Pass and return via Pete Lake. So Saturday arrived and we set off into the unknown.
The hike started off nicely. It was a beautiful blue sky day and the crew was feeling good. The trail starts by climbing slightly up the low divide from Salmon la Sac. This area has been burned and is very open which allowed for some good looks up to the surrounding ridges. The snow level was actually looking pretty good and we continued on hopeful to make a loop. The hike to the lake appears mostly flat although over the 8 miles you do climb about 1000ft. We had lunch at a scenic site along one of the first creeks. The creek crossing were all a bit on the exciting side. The water was moving quickly and you often had to navigate over rocks and logs. With our poles and a little acrobatics we were able to keep our feet dry.
View along the river
On the way in we had nice view of cone mountain which looked completely free of snow. We were continually glancing up at Polallie ridge to our left trying to get a handle on the snow level and feeling hopeful. We briefly considered going up trail creek and making a loop to the east, however when we saw where we would have to ford the Waptus River to get there we quickly changed our minds. The Waptus river was running high and unfortunately the bridge to cross to the east side of the river just below the lake was out. Hikers were being rerouted to the horse ford crossing which was doable, but fairly deep. When we got to the junction we decided to skip the crossing and instead set up camp on the south side of the lake. We had only passed a few people on our way in, but heard from another hiker that the north side was quickly becoming crowded.
Waptus Lake from the south shore
At about 4:00 we made our way to quick creek and looked for a place to set up camp. Quick creek was a wide flooded mess by time it reached the lake and unfortunately the only 3 sites near the water were all occupied. We settled on a large site before the creek set back in the woods a bit. We got set up made a fire and enjoyed a delicious taco and s'mores dinner. The area around our campsite still had some large snow patches, but we had plenty of bare ground to hang out on. A little before sunset, Sarah and I went for a walk and managed to find an area where the shoreline protruded into the lake far enough for us to have some splendid views of Summit King and Bear's Breast mountain over the lake.
Summit Chief and Bear's Breast behind Waptus Lake
In the morning we decided to go ahead and attempt a loop and head towards Waptus Pass. We packed up camp and headed out with an open mind and a handful of backup plans. We took the quick creek trail that was just a bit before our campsite and quickly began to climb the switchbacks. We made quick progress and began to reach some open spots with nice views of the lake and the falls along the creek. We stopped for an extended snack break about 2 miles into the hike where the climb eases and there is a nice view point. During the next mile we began to hit patchy snow which got continually thicker until the junction with the Polallie Ridge trail. Despite the snow, we had no problem finding the trail to this point. We ran into a nice couple who were headed over the pass and down to Pete Lake, but they were the only people we saw for most of the day. At the junction we saw a random bench and a slightly wet, yet snow free campsite. Here the trail climbs for another 1.5 mile to a junction with the Tired Creek trail at a crest.
Climbing up Quick Creek Trail
Looking down at Waptus Lake
Waterfall along Quick Creek
And the snow begins
Melted out campsite near the junction
Above this point was continuous snow and the trail was not visible. According to our map we needed to cross one of the small creeks and continue up until the high point. It looked very straight forward basically as long as we stayed between the two creeks and climbed we should hit the junction. We were going to check out what the snow was like actually on the ridge and then decide to either forge on to Diamond Lake or drop down Tired Creek to camp at lower elevations. So up we went.
View after the climb up from the junction
After a while we made it to what appeared to be the top. There was still a decent amount of snow and although we could see patches of bare ground we saw nothing that resembled a trail. We knew their was an old lookout near the junction, but nothing of the sorts could be found. After more map reading and debate we decided that we might have cut our angle a little too far west. We were right (we were near the 5001 ft mark on the green trails map). Unfortunately we didn't realize just quite how right we were. In order to correct our mistake we decided to drop down a bit to climb back up the rise just slightly to the west. After more snow climbing we made it to the crest and were greeted by breath taking views. We could now see north to a whole panorama of peaks. It was absolutely beautiful. There was bar rock at the crest in patches and lingering snow as well. The only thing that threw us for a loop was the large ridge that we were now looking at to the east. Thinking we were standing on Polallie Ridge, we just couldn't figure out quite what we were looking at. We were staring at the main section of Polallie Ridge and standing very near a snow covered trail 1317 on a little side ridge. Feeling tired from all our climbing and a bit frustrated we decided to drop down into the bowl and traverse to the south to see if we could get a better feel for our exact location.
Panorama of the view
Only a few clouds
Sure enough after about 30 minutes I stepped unknowingly right onto the trail. A little confused, it was back to the map and we made the realization that we were on the Tired Creek trail and staring up at Polallie now quite a bit above us. At last we decided to claim defeat on the Polallie attempt and head down to find a drier, warmer camp spot. The trudge down the Tired Creek trail soon became snow free and dusty and was a bit of a knee buster in spots. After a while we reached the Cooper River trail and began the hike to Cooper Lake. Not long after we passed the parking area for Pete Lake and left the solitude we had been enjoying all day. We found a nice spot to camp on the north end of Cooper Lake and rest after our ~11 mile snow adventure day.
Headed down Tired Creek Trail
Our Route
On Monday after a lazy morning we hiked a tedious 5 miles back to our car along the Cooper River Trail passing several horses and flip flop clad families who all gave us and our packs very quizzical looks. One person even stopped to ask us if we were training for something. We just smiled and said "nope we do this for fun". At about 2:00 we returned to our car and headed to Roslyn for some well deserved and very delicious burgers and beer. All in all it was a great 4th of July weekend. In total: about 25 miles, lots of snow (probably 8ft at the deepest), and about 3,000ft elevation from trailhead to high point (much more if you count all our ups and downs).
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