Cascade Hikes 2016

Seasonal Travels in the North Cascades
HELIOTROPE RIDGE: Late June starts our alpine hinking season. This is our traditional early season conditioning outing. Hogsback is already free of snow, so up the climber's trail we suffer... A smattering of paintbrush on the sides of the moraine. Through the lower climber's camp at 5600'. It's all snow from here. Early season + higher elevation makes for a slow, tough slog. Fresh, soft snow adds to the effort. Just below 7000' and you can see over the ridge to the Sisters Range (and Puget Sound).
Nice view from our rocky outcropping lunch spot. Mt. Baker is 10,778'. One team returning from the summit (hopefully). Still some rope teams heading to the summit late morning. These folks are just above 10,000'. Descent is much more pleasant... ...although Eeyore may feel otherwise. Yvonne plunge steps down toward the climber's camp.
CHURCH MOUNTAIN: An annual trek through some nice meadows and up to a rocky viewpoint. (Meadows were snow-free early this year.) Not many snow patches to cross. Yvonne makes quick work of the last one. Hiker's summit all to ourselves. The benefit of getting up early. Nice clear day looking across the Nooksack River drainage. From Church Mountain, you get a nice view of our high point of last week's hike. Back to the woods and the steep forested trail home... and pizza at Chair 9.
TOMYHOI LAKE: A solo workout to the lake and back. View just beyond Yellow Aster Butte trailhead. Crimson Columbine found at a couple different water seeps in the avalanche chutes. Crossing Gold Run Pass gives a nice view of the Tomyhoi Lake valley. American Border Peak (7994'), which, as you may guess, is just on this side of the Canadian border. A wider angle shot with the lake below and TomyHoi Peak to the left. Mount Larrabee (7861'), as I play with a new polarizing filter.
False Hellebore (Veratrum viride). Nanny goat keeping and eye on me, but pretty relaxed. Kid nearby scrambles back to momma. I was surprised to see goats at this low an elevation and in the meadows. Weastern pasque flower. The "mouse-on-a-stick" seed heads come later. One the return climb out of the valley, fungus of some sort right at Gold Run Pass.
Weather changed rapidly and I found myself hiking out in the rain. I didn't mind at all. SKYLINE DIVIDE: We were hoping the clouds would lift, but they never did (after driving a miserable 13-mi Forest Service road). Plenty of white paintbrush along the ridge. Another. I've never seen so many. At least it was something interesting to look at. Heading back out. A good workout -- and we stayed dry -- and we got pizza in Glacier, WA. PTARMIGAN TRAIL: An overnight bivy past Coleman Pinnacle begins 7:30am on a Thursday.
Coleman Pinnacle and Mt. Baker beyond. Passing Camp Kaiser, quite a few arnicas and some lupine. A nice way to frame the scene. A second version. The scenery was worth stopping for a bit with my camera. At the end of the trail, 6300', you get an eyefull of Baker's glacial details. Turn around and face the opposite way and you get a nice view of Mt. Shuksan.
A better look at some of the glaciers: White Salmon, Upper Curtis, Lower Curtis. Looking north from my bivy site at 6200' shows part of Table Mountain, Hermann Saddle, and Iceburg Lake. I watch from my ridge camp a herd of 25 goats climb up and wander past me during "dinner" (a PB&J). They just kept coming. This is the largest herd I've come across. Just after sunset, alpenglow lights up Shuksan. Time for bed. Baket catches a bit of light as the sun sets.
Up from 12:30 to 2am to watch the Perseid Meteror shower, the Milky Way rises above Mt. Baker. An impressive sight worth a second attempt at editing. View from my bivy sack at 6:30am. My temporary home, but time to pack up to beat the strong sun. Ridglines to the northeast as the sun comes up over Shuksan. The goats came back over the col on the other side of me. I seemed to have camped on their daily path.
I didn't know there were two insects until I downloaded this image. A more family friendly view of a lupine. Yellow Monkey Flower typical blooms in bunches on the edge of running water. A single flower growing in a seep on the trail. The first nice groups of lupine found this season. Some patches of lupine are spent, but others are n peak color.
PTARMIGAN TRAIL II: A return day hike of the 11 mile scenic wonder. Love the purple. Sitting on a lateral moraine in an amazing alpine garden. This marmot came out and just stretched out on a rock. He looked comfortable. A bit down the trail, this younger marmot was a bit more animated. (Look for Yvonne's reflection in his/her eye.) Rounding Coleman Pinnacle provides some spectacular close-up views of Baker. Good view of the early summer massive icefall off of Sherman Peak.
Past Camp Kaiser and heading to the off-trail end at 6300-ft. Nice place for a lunch break. Perfect day with a cool breeze and no bugs. Last look at the basin and Baker. Heading back. Cold filtered water and planty of flowers made the return easier. Wide angle view to capture the building clouds that would soon obscure the summit. Views of Mt. Shuksan on the entire hike back to Artist Point.
CHAIN LAKES LOOP: Wild Goose Trail is a nice warm up as you climb to Artist Point. Along table mountain, we just never get tired of this view. Amazing that we didn't see another soul, but it was mid-week. Mount Baker looking as stunning as usual. Between Iceberg Lake and Herman Saddle, there was an amazing number of sweet blueberries. A quick look over at Ruth Mountain after crossing Hermann Saddle. One more shot from the Saddle, which would be my last of the season.
Purple asters were abundant down by Bagley Lakes.