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cascadetraverser
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PostMon Jul 16, 2018 8:21 pm 
Day One: Work commitments kept Tommy T and I in town until an afternoon departure to the Suiattle River Trailhead. We got there by 4:00 to a mostly empty parking lot and warm temps. We figured things would cool down soon and after last minute pack adjustments, headed off.
A scant 1/8 mile leads to the left side trail up to the ridge adjacent to Sulfur Mountain. It’s a nicely graded, not oft used trail that alternates between really steep sections, flats and moderate uphill and the whole thing goes up for a long, long time. Have a whole lotta water along as there isn`t much on the trail, even this time of year. The day steadily cooled and the hard work continued. We ran into and elderly gentleman, somewhat surprisingly en-route with his dog and followed his footprints near the finish of the trail, through a ½ mile section of snow. We came out ontop and the pass was clear and about 100 feet up was an excellent flat for camping with tremendous views of Glacier Peak and peaks (Dakobeds, Buckindy`s) everywhere. Below was the Lookout lake basin we would drop to tomorrow. It was cool and cloudy but beautiful.
Day two: Woke to partly sunny skies and started late after a good sleep. The drop to the basin is brief and a pretty creek is crossed and then up a boulder field and a brief drop into a larger now snow filled basin surrounded by the eastern peaks of Stonehenge ridge. I had been here decades before solo being beat back by a big storm on an ill fated attempt of this same traverse.
We headed up to the obvious notch only to realize we were at the wrong one (so much for my memory) but made short work of a brief heather/snow traverse to the correct notch. Below the notch, a big spectacular rock table was covered with snow and we had lunch with spectacular views toward Glacier Peak and the Dakobed range, which would be the familiar backdrop for the next 3 days.
After eating, we crossed the divide to the Bath drainage side with great views to Dome and down Bath creek. The snow was steep and we rounded over to the ridge and found the “adroit goat trail” as described by T and C, which indeed after first noted by them in the early 1960`s does exactly what you would hope and crosses most of the nastiness and plants you at the shores of Lower Bath Lake.
The weather had steadily looked more and more worrisome but thankfully had waited all day for its tumult; and it started a light rain on arrival. Tom and I promptly raised the tarp and tent and relaxed underneath while the skies opened up and lightning cracked above. Whew…..
Day Three: Got up under cloudy skies and packed up camp and made the easy trip up to Upper Bath. As pretty as billed, and still frozen over except for melting along about 15% of shore. A great camp sits on the south side of the lake with the perfect view. A fabulous place and time for a rest day. Very relaxing…. Tried to fish and had absolutely no luck. I suspect the lake was sterile from no stocking for quite some time. (Any High Lakers interested??) We watched the clouds move through, the sun slowing faded into dark blue skies and appreciated the great bird calls all around.
Day four: Clear skies made for a very chilly eve and despite wearing all layers and burying ourselves in our sleeping bags we froze! But a warm sun made things right. Interestingly, the lake had completely refrozen and the snow all around was hard as rock. A slow breakfast gave Mr. Sun some time to warm the top layer of the snow fields all around and gave our boots some grip as we travelled upwards (no crampons needed). Hiked to the ridge and then over to the Great Wall. It was either up and over to the other side via the route as outlined by Tabor and Crowder (Looks pretty difficult with big packs; most people apparently go around but kudos to those who have gone the hard way). The Great Wall forms a pretty impenetrable wall and drops deep into the forest. Having spent too many days on past traverses, trying to solve difficult route puzzles which ultimately were unsolvable, without too much hand wringing, we opted to go around.
The western edge of the big ridge coming off Pt 7201 (the Great Wall) has recently been burned so the lush meadow soon gave way to black charred trees, soft brown soil with only scattered greenery and little sun breaks for the descent. Luckily the air was cool as the breeze was coming out of the valley and the soil soft (the recent rain compacted the top layer and kept us from dusty hell) allowing easy soil plunge stepping down. The usual culprits, gullies, cliffs and steep terrain intervened but all in all we dropped around without much ado. On the other side a nice stable scree field led up. En route we dropped over to a lovely forest with a meandering stream for awhile to break up the monotonous boulders. Finally, we crested into the basin and found a nice flat spot surrounded by waterfalls with views to Glacier and the Great Wall. A binoc view of the alternative route made us glad we came the way we did! A waterfall shower felt great and we relaxed with a great view for happy hour (iced Mescal) and dinner. Amazingly, not a bug around either…Yay!
Day Five: Sunny skies persisted and we were off to a long easy stretch with views continuing towards GP and Miner`s ridge. Then we crossed a series of basins (a familiar theme for this HR) and took a bit of scouting to find the big meadow that leads over to Totem Pass. Once found, a nice game path (Tom and I can`t remember a trip with so many handy goat paths; never saw a goat though) led to the ridge which then trended to Totem Pass, still buried in snow.
From there, the view changed feeling like we had left the gentleness of the Glacier Peak Wilderness into the awesome grandeur of the North Cascades (still staying within the borders of the GPW for the entire trip though). Sinister, Dome and Spire Point dominated the sky and the Sulfur creek valley greened up the foreground. The backside of Stonehenge Ridge was much more formidable than the south side we had just crossed. A long uninterrupted snow field traverse led to our next destination, the Hanging Gardens which looked super cool from afar. Without being interrupted by scores of cirques, ribs and gullies (as in the previous 4 days!), it was a pretty quick finish. I had visited the Hanging Gardens twice before on traverses coming south from an extended version of the Ptarmigan that crossed via the Chickamin glacier over to Ross Pass. The first time was in 1987 and again in 2002 and now lastly in 2018. I don`t believe I can recall any other such remote site, that I have been to in Washington, roughly every 15 years. I don`t often get sentimental on such trips, but this was a rare time I was. Lucky me (and Tom) to have been able to travel in this remote wonderful paradise for 30 years. Clouds had been building and soon turned gray and threatening.
The tarp was up right away and soon the rain started and the fabulous views turned to a white out. The temps plummeted and the rest of the eve was spent under the pitter patter of the tarp.
Day Six: Woke up to a white out and rain. We stayed put, took it easy, read, and watched the clouds and rain come and go along with the sounds of bird song and an angry whistling marmot trying to coax us off his backyard.
Day Seven: Clear skies! NW winds! Actually, retrospectively, the cool SW weather pattern all week, was great as clouds and cool air had made the travel better than many of the trips Tom and I had taken with a full on high pressure system in place, but it was nice to see nonetheless. From Ross Pass (I swear it used to be called Garden Pass on my prior trips here??) we made the fun trip through cliffs, scree fields and down to the Upper Bannocks, crossed between them and after passing a large lateral moraine, made our way through the lovely environs of the Upper Bannock Lake basin. Really cool place… We had wanted to spend a night here but mother nature had other plans. A nice ramp system lead up to the pass (Bannock Pass?) and we ate a nice lunch and scoped the way down. A steep basin lay south with forest below that.
Down we went and once through the forest dropped down steep forest until hitting the obvious wide nice trail known as the PCT. 7 long upward miles uphill with lots of snow was next. By Suiattle Pass we were tired boys… I knew of a nice unmarked camp where I had spent a night 17 years before with my wife and son (a toddler back then; RichP we met the next day all those years ago at Lyman Lakes) had stayed. It was open and the whole camp seemed unchanged from almost 2 decades prior, unlike Tom and my aging joints and my son who is a young man off to college…Wow, another sentimental eve.
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Day Eight: 17 miles of long forest trail, nicely shaded and upwards occasion views of the peaks and ridges we had just crossed. Just when we had just about given up hope of ever leaving the forest, we passed the Sulfur Mt trail sign and hit the car. Trail notes: Thanks to Tom for being the best traverse partner I could ask for. Two rests days really helped make this less onerous and more fun. Might want to continue that plan for my aging body. Cool weather is great for traversing! How did we avoid the bugs??? Sure was nice!!

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RichP
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PostMon Jul 16, 2018 9:17 pm 
I enjoyed your trip report. Hoping to walk part or all of that route this year.

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Brian Curtis
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PostTue Jul 17, 2018 9:18 am 
I've been as far as the ridge above Canyon Lake in an attempt to get to the Bannocks twice. Both times we hit dense clouds and snow that left conditions too poor to try and pick our way down through the cliffs. When a lake is mostly frozen it is not uncommon to find no sign of fish. They are cold and will often hide under the shadow of the ice. Upper Bath hasn't been stocked in many years because the fish naturally reproduce there. Oh, and FWIW, it is the Trail Blazers who stock the lakes. It is a common mistake to cite the Hi-Lakers. I'm a member of both clubs.

that elitist from silverdale wanted to tell me that all carnes are bad--Studebaker Hoch
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iron
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PostTue Jul 17, 2018 9:27 am 
good stuff marc. some of WA's finest there. you guys need smaller packs!

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DIYSteve
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PostTue Jul 17, 2018 4:06 pm 
up.gif up.gif

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glenoid
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PostTue Jul 17, 2018 4:38 pm 
Looks like a great time Marc and Tom. If you carry my pack (or me), I would go...

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raising3hikers
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PostTue Jul 17, 2018 4:39 pm 
up.gif thanks for posting. rest days? what are those?

Eric Eames
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cascadetraverser
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PostWed Jul 18, 2018 11:31 am 
Rich: Good luck and don`t hesitate to PM me with details....I really think you will like this trip. The Totem to Bannock add on is worth it if you have the time. Brian: Trail Blazers it is! Your comments on the nature of fish make sense. It has always seemed to me that if a big chunk of the shore is thawed, the fish are ready and hungry (I have been lucky that way in the past) but I suspect the ecology of different lakes vary and who knows, maybe the lurkers were waiting below for the warmth. Definately go on to HG and BL; if we had arrived some hours later to Totem Pass, we would have dropped down to Canyon as well. Glenn: So Tom carries your pack and I carry you? I will have to think about that one biggrin.gif Mike: You are so right! Somehow after all these years, I haven`t managed to lighten it up. Gotta get rid of the booze, tarp, fishing gear and candy I guess. mad.gif Eric: Rest days are good; the next big trip I do I am not planning on any though! wink.gif

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Bernardo
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PostFri Jul 20, 2018 5:39 am 
That's a nice photo of a grizzly bear!

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joker
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PostFri Jul 20, 2018 11:43 am 
Thanks for sharing. Cool report. I see some other folks still carry tent + tarp when there's potential weather. That tarp can make such a difference in mood at camp!!

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tommytownsend
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PostSat Jul 21, 2018 9:54 am 
When I first started doing trips with Marc (aka The Goat/Cascadetraverser) I thought a tarp was a weird thing to lug along. I've now spend hundreds of days (and nights) in the high country with him and the wisdom of having the option of hiding under a tarp to take a break from rain or sun has been born out too many times to recount.

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cascadetraverser
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PostSat Jul 21, 2018 1:50 pm 
Kind words TT; tarps are the best. Much better to mull under the pitter patter of rain and a tarp cooking eating etc than get stuck in a tent endlessly. Tarps make rainy day camping fun and only weigh a pound. Lots of fun to set up and fiddle with to get just right.

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fishonjoe
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PostSun Jul 22, 2018 10:33 am 
Brian Curtis wrote:
When a lake is mostly frozen it is not uncommon to find no sign of fish. They are cold and will often hide under the shadow of the ice. Upper Bath hasn't been stocked in many years because the fish naturally reproduce there.
I was at Baths in 2016. Absolutely no sign of fish in Upper Bath. Lots of jumpers in lower though same day. Was very surprised. Both were well thawed

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cascadetraverser
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PostMon Jul 23, 2018 4:00 pm 
Lower Bath looked exactly the same as Upper Bath this time around with 20% of the shore thawed and no sign of fish whatsoever... Was that your great stash of wood (replenished before we left of course) at Upper Bath? Other than that stash and fire pit we saw no sign of visitation on the trip.

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fishonjoe
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PostMon Jul 23, 2018 4:08 pm 
cascadetraverser wrote:
Was that your great stash of wood (replenished before we left of course) at Upper Bath? Other than that stash and fire pit we saw no sign of visitation on the trip.
If you're referring to me, No wasn't our firewood. We never made any fires on our trip. I never saw any firewood but maybe you are referring to a different location on the lake we didn't visit. We were only there a couple hrs., never spent the night.

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