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Trip: Mt Logan - Fremont Glacier Trip Date: 08/04/2019 Trip Report: "Did you go far..." a gray haired lady happily chirped at us, 100 feet from the parking lot. "Yeah..." John and I muttered back at her in unison, giving her the shortest answer possible, not breaking stride as we trudged past. We weren't trying to be rude, but our minds were focused on the truck, cold drinks, clean clothes, and comfortable shoes. The longer answer is that we climbed Mt Logan over three days via the Thunder Creek valley and the Fremont glacier. And yeah, it was far, clocking in around ~46 miles total. Thankfully much of that is on trail, ~18 miles to Thunder Basin Camp on Saturday. Temps were cool enough and with enough shade that the hike in was relatively pleasant. John and I had each been up the trail on independent solo attempts in the past couple years. Sunday we were moving my 8AM, up towards Park Creek Pass then the long traverse across alp slopes towards the Fremont Glacier. We lost the climbers trail several times, but it was never critical. Just keep traversing. A tough aspect of Logan is you never really see the summit until you’re on top of it. The snow feature to access the scramble is melted back quite a bit, but not overly concerning. We lugged a rope which was nice to have for peace of mind, but not a critical piece of gear. The backside was more exposed than I expected, but is well cairned and stays mostly 3rd class unless you get off route. Views were worth it! Seems like you can see EVERYTHING from up there. Monday was a long hike out on sore feet. Sorry to the nice lady trying to say hi... Gear Notes: nothing unusual Approach Notes: long

Would a public/private partnership that uses donations funneled through the LMA and Access Fund to pay for expanding the parking lots, installing additional toilets, and installing additional garbage cans be a viable solution? Or is the FS simply trying to reduce the number of visitors and are using this as a backdoor?

Trip: Big Chiwakum and Snowgrass - via Grace Lakes Trip Date: 07/06/2019 Trip Report: The weather of the early summer was often not exactly bomber. Which means it was perfect for the scrambly peaks that are on the B (or Smoot) list. On this particular Independence Day weekend that meant Big Chiwakum and Snowgrass. We opted for a two day trip, camping at lower Grace Lakes. We were surprised to run into a pair of USFS backcountry rangers out of Leavenworth who were also camping up there. Given the mayhem of late in the Enchantments, it would seem that they were on an R&R assignment. One of them reported that the peak count at the Colchuck TH last summer was 800+ with over 400+ counted at Colchuck lake itself! Damn. We felt fortunate to share the lakes with three other parties (which still seemed like a lot for this obscure locale). But nobody was gunning for Big Chiwakum nor Snowgrass, despite the very non-alpine start @Trent and I got after accidentally consuming 750ml of whiskey the night before. These things happen in the alpine. Nevertheless, we pressed on, climbing the surprisingly engaging north side of Snowgrass in the mists, only to pop out in the sun on top. Well, how about that? Next, we backed down into the mists once again, and swung over to Big Chiwakum for the double Smoot. All that was left was a long slog back to the car, swatting bugs and planning our next adventure. The A plan, of course. There would always be Smoots for when the weather failed. Gear Notes: Helmet, axe, crampons Approach Notes: Decent trail to the lakes from Whitepine/Wildhorse creeks. Good camps at the lower lakes. We went to ridge north of lakes then up to upper terrace where upper Grace Lake is. From upper Grace Lake you can link both peaks easily. Best in early season when the North side of Snowgrass holds snow. Pretty steep in places, to about 40-45 degrees

If they are Sportiva shoes I send them to Rock and Resole as they have the Sportiva lasts so the shoes come back great.

Heads up y'all: There's been a bunch of rockfall from the side of Mt Parkes in the last few months, culminating in a large landslide (not quite Joffre sized), from right where the Crossover descent trail crosses the ledge under the summit of Parkes before beginning its descent through the meadows. Rockfall seems to be mostly to skiiers right as you descend the meadows but the top of the scar may or may not have taken out the descent ledge completely. Please be aware of this if planning to climb Slesse and be prepared to use alternate descents to avoid the rockfall hazard. The simplest descent is probably the west side Slesse Mountain Trail to Slesse Creek. You'll need a car shuttle or mountain bike to get back around from there to a vehicle in Nesakwatch Creek. Photo from Mike Garcia, taken from Slesse NEB