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Trip Reports
Here's where you peruse WACer trip reports and post your own for everyone to see. Remember: Never let the truth interfere with a good story! | Trip Reports |
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| GuideBook | Red Becky |
| Weather | |
| TrailConditions | |
| Owned By | climbing |
| Mailed to WacList | |
| RowId | 86 |
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| Mountain |
Elevation |
Summitted |
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| Blackcap Mountain |
8397 |
false |
| Osceola Peak |
8587 |
true |
| Lago, Mount |
8745 |
true |
| Ptarmigan Peak |
8614 |
true |
| Dot Mountain |
8220 |
true |
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| Report |
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Sherry and I returned last week from 10 days in the Pasayten, her first big trip to the area, my first in three years. We toured roughly the same area Pat visited. In a nutshell, we left from Slate Pass and headed downstream on the West Fork of the Pasatyen. In a few miles we hung a right and headed to Lake Doris, home of Stumbilina the Deer. The next day we scrambled Osceola, 8600', returning to camp for another night of noisy, bumbling deer. Day three we walked two hours into the Upper Eureka Creek Basin, 6400', pitched camp, and headed up Blackcap Peak, 8300'. Didn't get far before the rain caught us. Big rain. Thunder. We hid in small larch groves to wait out the worst rain squalls as we made our way back to the tent. The next dawned rainy, but, what the hell, we headed up Lago Mountain, 8700', anyways. Weather improved as the day wore on. We elected not to ascend nearby Carru--a person can stand only so much scree in one day. Day 5 it was up and over Shellrock Pass and then down the deadfall strewn Ptarmigan Creek Trail. Three hours to walk three miles and lose 2000 feet. Full body workout. Shades of Depot or Bachelor Creek. You can't buy better RAMROD training. At Dot Creek, 5200', we made a left, heading up the basin into the brushy, trailless forest. Three more hours to walk some mile and one half. Again, an athletic endeavor, made more interesting by occasional drops of rain form a darkening sky. Wet brush would have been considerably more unpleasant. White Rhodies as far as the eye could roam, too high to see over, too low to give shelter, too thick to go through. Our first larch sighting and the accompanying thinning forest at 6200' was cause for rejoicing. The skies were kind as well, waiting to let loose until we were safely ensconced in our tent drinking tea and slurping ramen at sweet Upper Dot Lake, 7200'. Day six saw a hike up Dot Mountain, 8000', and a ambly tour on the gentle ridge surrounding the basin. Day seven, we moved on over to the south side of Ptarmigan Peak, setting up camp around 7900', just above a small tarn. We then sauntered up Ptarmigan, 8600', so smooth on one side, so precipitous on the other. We sighted many of the namesake birds . Last three days we moved north to the Tatoosh Buttes, beautiful open ridge walking, then back down to the West Fork of the Pasayten and up to Slate Pass. On the penultimate day, we saw our first homo sapiens on the trip, two women, packing in on horses. Oh, and Orion is up again in the predawn skies--go tune those skis.
A beautiful trip, and a section of the Pasayten I'll go back to.
Jonathan
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