Hayley Sierra Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 Trip: Summit Fever in the Cascades - Big/West Craggy, Courtney, Star, Oval and Cashmere Date: 9/6/2008 Trip Report: Summit Fever! Big Craggy and West Craggy, Courtney, Star, Oval, and Cashmere Peaks After finishing/quitting our summer jobs, Nick and I took off in the mountains for a week of peak-bagging fun. My goal was to hit as many of the Bulger Top 100 as possible in that time. I think we did pretty well! Day 1: Big and West Craggy Peaks – 11 miles, 5400 feet Day 2 and 3: Courtney, Star and Oval Peaks – 24 miles, 9200 feet Day 4: Cragging at Pearly Gates, Leavenworth (our rest day, involving up to 5.10 crack climbing!) Day 5 and 6: Cashmere Mountain – 17 miles, 5500 feet Total = 6 peaks, 52 miles, 20100 feet, and two tired but happy climbers! Day 1 We started off on Big and West Craggy Peaks, which we decided to do in one day with a car camp at the trailhead. The approach is short, but the climb has some routefinding challenges, as most of it is cross country. We headed off northwesterly up a meadow after 2 miles on trail (be sure to check out the mine shaft at 1.5 miles!) and hit a ridge on the east side of Big Craggy. After running the broad ridge, we ascended boulder and scree to the summit. The traverse to West Craggy was a long scree slide down to a saddle between the two peaks (~1/2 mile). I highly recommend climbing Big Craggy first so that the traverse on the loose rock is descending. West Craggy from the saddle Big Craggy from saddle From the saddle, traverse on or to the left of the ridge toward West Craggy. We climbed a short gully to get onto the south side of the mountain, and then ran the ridge to the summit. Summit of West Craggy The descent off West Craggy was easy at first, plunge-stepping in loose dirt/gravel down a large gully into a basin. However, it became a little challenging to find our way back to the trail. We headed east from the basin for ~1 mile until we were sure we had passed above Copper Glance Lake (and thus the trail) before descending the brushy slopes to rejoin the trail and hike out. We were back at the car by 6 pm and ready for our next adventure! Day 2 Our next trip itinerary called for approaching to Star Lake on day 1, climbing nearby Courtney and Star Peaks on day 2, and climbing Oval Peak and hiking out on day 3. After driving to the West Fork Buttermilk Creek trailhead and camping, we thought we would try to extend our energy by taking it easy on this day. We slept in and got a 10 am start on the 9 mile approach to Star Lake. The scenery along this trail was very enjoyable, moving between forest and meadows pretty much the entire time. Star peak from trail We arrived at camp at 2 pm alongside a beautiful little alpine lake beneath the towering Star Peak, and tried to relax with some cards. However, after a couple hours we decided we might want to climb Courtney Peak that day anyways, so we packed up a light summit pack and headed out. The guidebook suggested 2 hours for the ascent, but we figured we could cut it down to 1 ½ hours. We ascended to Fish Creek Pass, and up the trail along Courtney’s southeast ridge. This mountain turned out to be deceptively close by, and by moving quickly we found ourselves on the summit in only 40 minutes! Star Peak/Lake from Courtney summit Descending Courtney Camp at sunset Day 3 Since we had climbed Courtney Peak on the previous day, we thought some adjustments could be made to our itinerary. We decided to get an early start and climb Star and Oval Peaks that day, and move camp closer to the trailhead at the base of Oval. The ascent of Star Peak was very enjoyable. We traversed around the lake and climbed a steep dirt/scree trail up to the ridge quite a distance to the east of the summit. Approaching Star Peak Star Peak saddle Fortunately, there was an easy trail along the backside of the ridge through the scree, with the only class 2 scrambling occurring on the last couple hundred vertical feet before the summit. We took just over 1 hour to get to the top, and enjoyed great views of the neighboring peaks. After descending to the lake, we packed up camp and headed towards Oval Peak. To get there, we retraced our steps over Fish Creek Pass and continued ~1 mile on trail to reach a junction with the Buttermilk Ridge trail (very faint, marked by 2 small cairns). A couple miles of ups and downs, pausing to relocate the faint path, and we made it to a small pond at the base of Oval Peak. Oval requires a bit more cross country travel, and we ascended through trees and meadows to gain the south (left side) ridge of Oval. This long ridge was strewn with large boulders, and the going was slow. Still, we made it to the summit in 1 ½ hours from the pond. Nick on Oval summit From there, we chose to forego the boulder hopping on the south ridge and descend the east ridge instead. The upper ridge was more of the same, but once we got lower there were fewer large rocks, and it made the descent much easier. We located a dirt/scree gully heading back in the direction of the pond after a few hundred feet, and we took this back down to the trees. The loop trip ended up working well because we found it easier to ascend the boulders and descend on scree. In fact, we got back to our gear soon enough that we decided to just do the hike out that afternoon. Descending Oval’s East ridge Again we opted for cross country travel on the descent, and rather than hiking back up the Buttermilk Ridge trail to rejoin the Buttermilk Creek trail, we headed on a southeast bearing downhill through the trees. There was moderate brush and windfall in places, but it was not too difficult to pick our way through the forest. We rejoined the trail in about 45 minutes, cutting off several miles from our descent, and we were back at the car in a couple hours. That night we drove to Leavenworth and camped. Day 4 After re-supplying in town, we hiked up to the Pearly Gates crags in the Icicle Creek canyon for some rock climbing. To get there, you hike up the Snow Lakes trail across the irrigation canal, and then take a right fork at the end of a switchback, following a steep climber’s path up to the rocks. It takes around 30 minutes. At Pearly Gates there are several excellent crack climbs, ranging in difficulty from 5.7 to 5.11 or higher. There are also some resident mountain goats that will harass you and you gear if you are not careful! Pearly Gates, 5.10c Day 5 We toyed with the idea of doing an Enchantments trip for our last couple of days, but with the permit situation at this time of year we knew we didn’t stand much chance of getting up there. Therefore, we chose to climb nearby Cashmere Mountain, an 8500 foot peak in the Eightmile/Lake Caroline zone. Luckily, we were one of only 2 groups hoping to get permits for this area (whereas there must have been at least 10 groups battling for the Enchantments permits!), so we had no trouble at all. The approach to Cashmere follows the Eightmile Creek trail for 3 miles to Little Eightmile Lake before heading steeply uphill through an old burn to Lake Caroline (5 ½ miles total). We continued another ½ mile to Little Caroline Lake, which offered excellent campsites nearby. Day 6 For Cashmere, we continued on the trail as it ascended toward Windy Pass. However, keeping in the spirit of cross country travel, we left the trail in ½ mile after traversing a large meadow, and headed across the top of the meadow to a ridge. The ridge took us up to a point on Cashmere’s west ridge, and we followed a trail (which often gets lost in boulder fields) to a saddle at the base of Cashmere’s peak. From the saddle, there is a trail heading up the west ridge, but we were advised to traverse along the north side of the peak after a couple hundred feet, and ascend a gully near the north ridge instead. This worked quite well, and we reached the summit with only class 2-3 scrambling. North side of Cashmere The views of the Enchantments were amazing, and the calm weather kept us happy up there for quite a while. Looking back at the lakes from the summit, with Mt. Stuart in the background. The enormity of our week long undertaking finally hit us on the descent from Cashmere, and we were good and tired by the time we got back to the car. We really enjoyed this trip. It is something I have wanted to do for a while, but have never had the time or energy. I was impressed with the scenery on the east side of the mountains, with some of the best meadows and forests around. It was great to see so many different landscapes all in one trip, too! I’m ready for more! 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Val Zephyr Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 Nice job Hayley and Nick! Only ~75 more peaks to go right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayley Sierra Posted October 6, 2008 Author Share Posted October 6, 2008 Yeah, I'm up to 28 on the top 100 list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Scurlock Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 ck yer pm's, HS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom_Sjolseth Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Very good times indeed. That Bulger List is always good for a 20,000' week. Thanks for the report!~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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