[TR] BULLEN! - via Squire Creek/Bullen Lakes 06/01/2025

[JasonG]

Trip: BULLEN! - via Squire Creek/Bullen Lakes

Trip Date: 06/01/2025

Trip Report:

 

"I felt as if we had joined Sisyphus and his rock in Hell."

 

      - HERMANN F. ULRICHS on first ascent of Mount Bullen

I mean, who hasn't read the passage above in the Green CAG and decided that they just had to climb Mount BULLEN? 

Or, maybe I should ask, "Who has?" 

No matter, @sepultura and @therunningdog were not asking many questions, and that was a good thing for me, since otherwise I am pretty sure we would have diverted to a more "normal" destination on Memorial Day weekend.  And by "normal" I mean a mountain with more than one TR on the internet.  Which means, after this TR, BULLEN will be officially "normal".  Glad we got that all squared away for the masses sure to descend this summer

As it was, we didn't see another soul the entire way in or out of the mountains, not on the Squire Creek trail and certainly not in the brush.  But we did find several routefinding challenges on the timbered rib above Squire Creek to keep us entertained.  And some head scratching to get from the ridge down to Bullen lakes.  And some wandering and wondering to find a suitable campsite.   But this is what we came for, right?  Right guys?

I won't spoil the adventure for you, and smooth out the rough edges of your trip to Mount BULLEN!, don't worry.  But just know that you can do it without a rope!  Which is good, since we didn't have one.  Sometimes the crux of these North Cascades blue collar adventures isn't above treeline.  But what BULLEN! lacks in technical climbing it makes up for in ...uhhhh... fun? 

Just make sure you go with partners as entertaining as I had.  If you play your cards right, you'll laugh, you'll drink some whiskey, you'll banter like old times, you'll marvel at your luck finding such solitude on a busy holiday weekend, and you'll come out to toast your success at the Red Top. 

Because, is there any more to the Chossdawg life?

@sepultura and @therunningdog on the Squire Creek Trail.  Let the good times roll!:

It is important to get in touch with your feminine side before caressing the choss:

We were pretty excited when the snow covered the brush:

Then less excited when our feet began to squish:

The prominent couloir on the left is the ticket in early season, or so it seemed to us.  We camped on these large boulders near Bullen Lakes:

@therunningdog on an interesting section rounding the south shore of Bullen lakes.  @sepultura does his best to stare down BULLEN!:

We paused to watched this avalanche roar down the North side of the North Finger of Three Fingers:

Dakobed and Pugh:

SE to the headwaters of the South Fork Stillaguamish and the Monte Cristo Range:

Whitechuck, and our tracks coming up and over from Squire Creek:

@sepultura eyeing the last bit to the summit.  No brush, no problem!:

Cumbre!:

Three of the OG Choss Dog Millionaires on the summit of BULLEN!:

Heading down:

@therunningdog is always ready for his glamour shotz:

@sepultura prefers his to be action shotz:

Suffer together!:

If you climb BULLEN! you really must celebrate at the Red Top in Darrington.  To do otherwise is just poor form:

I'll get some captions in later this week....

Gear Notes:
ice axe, crampons, leather garden gloves, helmet (though we opted not to)

Approach Notes:
Squire Creek for awhile and then follow your choss urges upwards and then downwards to Bullen Lakes, then around the lakes to the south, and then up. Retrace your steps back to the car, since you won't figure a better way most likely than they way your choss urges guided you in originally. It seemed better in snow, but I'm sure without snow would feel more blue collar.

[Bronco]

Great timing catching the avalanche!  👍  

[bedellympian]

1 hour ago, Bronco said:

Great timing catching the avalanche!  👍  

Yeah, so good!

[sepultura]

Yeah that was a great trip guys. Classic Choss Dog Millionaires! It’s important to realize that you can still have lots of remote flavor in the Cascades and not be that far from the road, but with that said it’s certainly a chore getting into BULLEN. Seems like good potential for Repulsive 69 list- lots of Brush, Wet Slabs, Loose rock, Steep snow with dirty moat moves, and uncertain creek crossings. What’s not to love on a JG trip? 

I see the glorious line in picture 7!

Forget the Internet, FB, Trip reports and Gaia tracks, pick up the Beckey Guide and find yourself an adventure.

 

 

Edited Thursday at 01:55 AM by sepultura
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[OlympicMtnBoy]

Sounds like a certain type of fun!