[rubywrangler]

For Ruby dog's 11th birthday (approximately), the goal was lots of meadows, lots of water, and minimal talus, so we headed for the Mormon Ladies lakes. We left the Chatter Creek TH mid-afternoon Saturday. The parking lot was full but we only saw a handful of people on their way down. As soon as we left the forest, the mosquitoes found us. I was fully permethrin-ed from head to toe; that did not seem to deter them at all.

chatter creek basin

It was about 5:30 when we left the trail, stashed overnight gear and headed west over the saddle toward Grindstone summit. There are still a few hard, steep-ish snow patches on the route and I had a mini nervous breakdown upon realizing that my microspikes+trail runners combo was not going to be very effective in this situation. After slowly and carefully crossing the snow, we followed cairns here and there through a boulder field to a final bit of snow and the summit.

view west from the saddle

ladies, snowgrass, big chiwaukum, w/ cape horn in the foreground

across the snow and left to the summit

summit in sight

almost there

sylvester

clouds rolling in from the west

time to head down

On the way down, I went around the steepest snow and we moved much faster, but it still was after 8:30 when we got back to the trail. I hoped we could get to Lake Edna before total darkness, but Ruby had other plans and decided to play hide and seek. I think she made it halfway back to Grindstone's summit before turning around. Eventually I spotted her above me on the ridge. We ended up camping in a pretty nice spot on a bump in the next basin. After setting up, I realized my fuel was missing. Ugh. Too lazy to hike back to where overnight gear had been stashed, I had the next day's lunch for dinner with a delicious backcountry margarita and passed out.

fading light on cashmere + stuart

we camped on the tree island @ lower right

First thing Saturday, we backtracked and found the fuel, then returned to camp for breakfast. A solo hiker passed by around 8am - the last person we saw until we got back to Icicle Road on Monday. We packed up and meandered to Lake Edna, up Cape Horn, down to Ladies pass.

en route to edna

cape horn + edna

lounging

edna + big jim+lou

ladies pass + beyond

One more steep snow patch along the trail before Ladies pass, easy to go around. There were a few flowers popping out at the pass but definitely not peaking for another week or more. I had read somewhere that "it appeared" one could travel over Ladies peak to Marys pass, so I lugged my pack up the peak, but could not find an easy way over or around the gendarme SW of the summit. We hung out on Ladies for awhile, taking in the views and enjoying a relative break from the bugs. A helicopter flew by, north of Grindstone heading west, while we were on the summit.

scoping things out

looking back to cape horn

grindstone + glimpse of alice

summit nap

snowgrass + big c

grindstone, enchantments, stuart

mary, margaret

brigham, flora

helicopter passing grindstone @ center

Back down the ridge to the trail, we continued our meandering, taking way too many photos, passing by lovely Upper Florence , Marys pass, Lake Mary, and many waterfalls along the trail.

I had intended to camp near Frosty pass, which would leave about 13.5 miles to the car on Monday. But no views at the pass so we continued to Lake "Margret", which was better than I expected - bugs were less terrible here and there is a huge waterfall pouring into the lake.

The hike out on Monday was pretty quick - we moved as fast as possible to outrun the mosquitoes, especially just after the junction of Frosty Wildhorse and Icicle Creek. Frosty wildhorse rivals Mineral Creek for "where are my feet" in a few places! The Icicle road walk was not too bad given the lack of traffic on a Monday morning (4 cars passed us in 3.5 miles) but I wouldn't want to do it on a weekend. A leisurely 24 miles and 8300' of gain. More photos

[GaliWalker]

Nice! Some of the worst mosquitoes I've encountered were at "lovely Upper Florence". I would have liked to have spent much more time at that lake, but I was driven away by those voracious flying beasties.

[neek]

Nice trip! I got a shot of Grindstone from a high point on the ridge a few days prior that I believe shows some of the terrain you and your 11-year old dog covered:

[mbravenboer]

Looks great! Congratulations on the birthday (our dogs are about the same age!)

[wildernessed]

Nice !

[kitya]

Happy birthday Ruby!!!! Have a nice treat!

[rubywrangler]

[MLHSN]

[Brushbuffalo]

Happy birthday to your sweet Ruby!

[zephyr]

[Nikola]

imo: rubywrangler chose tougher/longer way to get to the top. easier route is described in Peggy Goldman's book: over the 7400ft spot (orange dot in my sketch):

green dot: saddle on the north ridge; orange dot: 7400ft point to cross the ridge

[Sky Hiker]

So any pictures of Ruby?

[rubywrangler]

Ruby's in a couple photos above:

[timberghost]

Awesome looking dog in a pretty landscape

[Downhill]

Beautiful photos and a great trip report - thank you for sharing and a belated Happy Birthday to Ruby! Your TR and pics bring back many fond memories of these amazing lakes, meadows, and peaks. Many years ago, my dad, brother and I made a similar trip, but in the reverse direction, starting up Icicle Creek to Frosty Pass, eventually exiting down Chatter Creek. We intended to drop down to Alice but our plan didn't come together - - so I have that left to go finish. Congrats on a great hike - thanks again for sharing!