Help, we're from Boston

[Bluethroatedone]

Hi all,

 

Was hoping for some help planning a 5 day backpack to the North Cascades. My wife and I live in Boston and love to hike in the White mountains every couple weekends.

 

We are looking to come to Washington for 5 days of backpacking followed by a guided climb of Baker or mountaineering course.

 

Were hoping for 5 days that includes ridges summits, views, lakes etc. A loop would be easiest unless you have hiker shuttles like we do in New Hampshire. While we have winter gear, we'd like this first part of the trek to be relatively danger/crevace free if possible. We are pretty aggressive hikers, will do up to 5000 ft of elevation gain per day, like to hike briskly for 6-8 hours a day (i.e. shriner in RNP is good example of nice morning hike).

 

Ideally we're looking for something similar to the awesome Grand Teton Loop (Jenny lake to Teton village).

 

Thanks for all advice you might have.

 

Blue

[tomtom]

you might also want to try

 

http://www.nwhikers.net/

[forrest_m]

given what you describe, a good itinerary might be to do the wonderland trail that circumnavigates mount rainier starting and ending at longmire; then go directly to a mountaineering course offered by one of the guide services on the mountain. there's even a shuttle from the airport to longmire in the summer, so you probably could do this without renting a car.

 

wonderland trail is ~90 miles and about 20,000 total feet of elevation gain, IIRC, so would be a good challenge. it can certainly be done in 5 days, though most people take longer. this does require some advance planning for permits etc.

[ryland_moore]

Ptarmigan Traverse. Nothing else needed to say.....

[thelawgoddess]

another option would be part of the pacific crest trail, but that makes it a little more difficult to arrange for transportation.

[forrest_m]

ptarmigan was my first thought, too, but they said no crevasse danger. hey, wouldn't this be cool: take a course *first* somewhere in the boston basin area, then have them leave you in the cascade pass parking lot at the end. then use your newfound glacier skills to do the ptarmigan north to south. the only thing missing is a ride from downey creek back to civilization...

[Bill_Simpkins]

Enchantments.

Hannagen Pass to Copper Ridge then down to river then back.

 

Basically, if you are spending part fo the trip on a volcanoe, I'd spend the other part in the alpine.

So much to see.

[Bluethroatedone]

Thanks for all the advice. Where would I find out about Ptarmigan traverse? Also, I found one hike over hannegen Pass in WTA but not the same exact one, is there a book, map or site you would reccomend to research this?

[TeleRoss]

There is an excellent loop trip you can do that would be great for 5 days.

Start at Phelps Creek TH hike up through Spider Meadows and over Spider Gap. Down to Lyman Lakes. Up to Cloudy Pass, over to Suiattle Pass. Down across the Suiattle River and then up and over Buck Creek Pass. Out Buck Creek. At the end you will have a short hike up the road to get your car. Maybe about a mile or so.

Total mileage is about 35-40ish give or take. Plus you could take a day sidetrip without your camping gear and go to Image Lake, one of the most scenic lakes in all of the Cascades.

Beautiful scenery the entire way, highly recommended. Awesome views of Bonanza and Railroad Creek Valley, Chiwawa and Lyman Glacier, Glacier Peak, Entiat Range, White Mountains....etc. etc. etc.

[Alex]

For info on Ptarmigan Traverse, just google it. There are alot of folks here who have done it and have posted TRs on this site and elsewhere (such as http://www.mountainwerks.org/alexk/climb/TRPtarmigan03a.htm [thump thump]).

 

However, I agree with Forrest...this is a great ramble but does have at least some moderate glacier travel.

[Alex]

There is an excellent loop trip you can do that would be great for 5 days.

Start at Phelps Creek TH hike up through Spider Meadows and over Spider Gap. Down to Lyman Lakes. Up to Cloudy Pass, over to Suiattle Pass. Down across the Suiattle River and then up and over Buck Creek Pass. Out Buck Creek. At the end you will have a short hike up the road to get your car. Maybe about a mile or so.

Total mileage is about 35-40ish give or take. Plus you could take a day sidetrip without your camping gear and go to Image Lake, one of the most scenic lakes in all of the Cascades.

Beautiful scenery the entire way, highly recommended. Awesome views of Bonanza and Railroad Creek Valley, Chiwawa and Lyman Glacier, Glacier Peak, Entiat Range, White Mountains....etc. etc. etc.

 

Thats a really good suggestion. The Entiat range is awesome!

[catbirdseat]

Dryad now lives in Boston. I don't know if she views this site anymore, but she said she was interested in a backpacking vacation, possibly the Wonderland Trail. She knows this area pretty well.