[cartman]

The view we would have had...

...but Sauron had other ideas.

Approaching Mordor

These two peaks are on the ridge north of Downey Mtn running straight at Dome Peak. Neither peak is named on the USGS map; Pilot Peak is the 7088' high point of the ridge, and I named the 6640'+ peak to the west Midway Mtn as it is halfway between Downey Mtn and Pilot. After our fun extended weekend picking off obscure 7000ers in the far Pasaytens, Brenda was game to help me continue my obscure 7000' summit quest this summer and to help with unfinished business on this one in particular from last year. Joining us was Haylee, wanting to see the North Cascades and test herself on her first overnight trip a few months after a compression fracture of her ankle on Mt Washington in the Olympics. Last August Ed (Jetlag) and I tried to snag these two peaks in beautiful weather on a two-day trip but ran out of time via a direct route up the basin south of Midway. This time we'd approach the main ridge a more roundabout way. I also resolved to add a half day for the exit so we wouldn't be squeezed for time on summit day. This worked out very well. The skies, not so much... Day 1: Approach to camp at Lake 4800 We drove to the Downey Creek TH at the 20 mile mark of the Suiattle River Road,

Trailhead

and hiked the easy 2 miles to the second stream crossing--the brushy one--dodging an active wasp nest overhanging the trail just before the stream.

Wasp nest

Watering up here, we walked a couple more minutes on the trail until finding a tree with a very prominent blaze, then another thirty feet to a second tree with this blaze:

Turn off here

Here we left the Downey Creek Trail to turn uphill on the faint start of the trail up to Lake 4800. This trail does not appear on any maps, but is a very good trail all the way to the lake, complete with nice switchbacks. I originally thought this must be a fisherman's trail. Just as we started to ascend, we saw two guys coming down, and stopped to chat with them. Turned out to be Kevin A., who posts a lot on Summit Post, and his partner Tye, both who'd just done...Pilot Peak! Astounding that this obscure mountain was going to see ascents by different parties on consecutive days. That might be a first for this peak. Regarding the origin of this path, Kevin made the very good point that fishermen rarely put in switchbacks on their trails, and suggested it might be a relic trail from the 1930s built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. No idea why they would have put a trail in here, and would be interested to know if anyone has any information on this. Soon after we ran into two more fellows, who had gone all the way to Downey Lake to fish. They went the same way we were planning to go around Midway, and said they lost the trail southwest of the peak but found it again farther on all the way to the lake. After seeing not a soul a year ago on this trail with Ed, seven people in the space of a half hour almost made it feel overrun. This fine trail switchbacks under old growth forest,

Old trail

the trees tall but not particularly thick, with many blazed at eye level on the 3 miles to the lake. There is almost no brush on this trail, and only one spot where the trail is a little difficult to follow at ~4100'. Here there is a large fallen tree and rootball. Simply go up and right around the rootball, then immediately turn left through a small eroded bit and the trail will parallel the fallen tree just above it as it continues left. Two more switchbacks and the trail is then straight on a long contour to the left (north) to near a watercourse, which is the outlet stream for Lake 4800. It then winds to the right of the stream, never crossing it,

Higher on the trail

all the way to the lake where there was good camping just as we reached it. Good space for two tents and Haylee's hammock here right next to the outlet, and on the other side another camp site which we used for our kitchen. After setting up camp Brenda took off to give Downey Mtn a shot. Haylee hunkered down in her hammock while I wandered around the lake, not much interested in adding another 1000' on not very fun terrain on Downey after having attempted it last year. As the fishermen had mentioned, this lake has no fish but plenty of tadpoles. An hour later Brenda returned, having turned around just below Downey's North Ridge where the terrain is unpleasant steep dirt and vegetation to reach the ridge. Last year I'd soloed to the ridge and saw what looked like no more than steep forest for the last 300' to the summit, but turned around as the sun was setting, not wanting to descend steep forest and dirt/green stuff to boulder fields in the dark. Really shouldn't have taken that nap. Weather was very calm all day and night. Too calm. Day 2: Pilot Peak and Midway Mtn We woke up, had breakfast and were moving by 7:30. The trail continues around the north side of the lake, then switchbacks a few times and heads left (west) into more leafy trees and then mostly open rolling meadows. Here we had the first views of Downey.

Downey

The calm air during the day and night hadn't done anything to clear out the smoke migrating down from the fires in Canada. Once in the meadows the route continues on intermittent trail west and gradually up,

Meadow trail

till nearing a couple of points which are on the far side of a larger gully.

Meadows and bump

More meadows and point

Somewhere in here the trail peters out, so we simply turned right uphill working our way around the west side of Midway on easy terrain.

Pointy

Meadow gully

Haylee and rising sun

These meadows have one great bonus: lots and lots of blueberries. Soon Brenda and Haylee neared the top of a minor ridge,

Another gentle gully

where the rising sun made for cool lighting as the gals paused on the ridge.

Morning sun in the haze

Haylee and sun

Sun and peeps

Rounding to Midway's NW side, the terrain became more rocky,

Around the bend

Scrambling around Midway

Easy scrambling here

where each of us found our own route to Midway's North Ridge. Staying lower turned out to be better as we would find on our way back.

Below Midway

Haylee starts the choss cross

If anything, the smoke seemed to get thicker as we traveled,

The Apocalypse

where we had our first view of Pilot. Sort of.

Not Pilot and Pilot

Now north of Midway, we began the long ambling route on the ridge.

Now on Pilot's ridge

Traveling north, we could look down on the unnamed lake south of the larger Downey Lake,

Unnamed lake

while traversing on top of the ridge to the first significant bump.

To the next bump

Haylee and Brenda

Lotsa ridge

Looking back at Midway

The lake from directly above

Up de bump

Da bump

This peaklet is the point where the trail turns east. Walking over it we could now see Downey Lake,

Downey Lake

as well as fields of Western anemone, the dominant flower in this area.

Western anemone

Western anemone is common enough, but it is unusual for it to be the dominant flower anywhere; I can think of only one or two other places where I've seen it predominate. Trending east now,

Trending east

The route to Pilot

we encountered the crux as we descended the 500' toward the low point of the ridge. Trying different short sections to best solve the route either on top of or to the right of the ridge, it turned out that staying on or very near the top was the best way to go. Definitely a bit of class 3 here, but mostly solid with plenty of trees to grab.

View back to the crux descent

Now on easy green ridge to the saddle,

Descending to the saddle

Haylee and Brenda at the saddle

I followed Brenda and Haylee over another bump just above, where the ridge again turned north.

Waiting

Here Haylee decided she'd had a successful test of her ankle and would return to the saddle to wait as the views weren't likely to get any better. Unfortunately she was right. Now with a "view" of Pilot ahead,

The summits of Pilot

and the pretty basin below,

Basin below

Basin and saddle behind

Brenda and I continued up the rolling ridge toward our goal.

Brenda and anemone

Forging on

The west side

Balanced rock

Brenda, ever energetic, waited for me on the next bump

Brenda tops out on the bump

prior to descending to one more notch before the two summits of Pilot. Most of the way on the ridge we'd been following a goat path/climber's trail, but here there seemed to be nothing. So we did a more or less rising contour on the east side of the ridge a ways below the rocky crest. The sidehilling in grass became a bit tedious as we eventually made our way back to the top past most of the rocky bit.

The false western summit, true summit beyond

Now it was a matter of simply following the ridgeline past the grassy false summit,

Brenda climbing to the true summit

to the easy short scramble to the top of the rarely climbed Pilot Peak, 7088'.

Brenda just below the top

Brenda on the summit

At the top of Pilot

Pilot summit, 7088'

One of the best reasons to do this trip is for the up close views of Dome, Sinister, Spire Pt and all the other points nearby. If views were this good last year from south of Midway,

The view we would have had...

just imagine how good they would have been two miles closer from Pilot. This year we looked toward where Dome would be, and saw nothing but a wall of white. Not so much as an outline of a peak. No register either which was almost as much of a disappointment, as I really wanted to know how often this peak was climbed. Taking a quick break for lunch, we descended easy grassy terrain just below the ridge,

Traversing back

Look! Views

and this time stayed higher, first on the rocky crest then just below the rock face to reach the small saddle below. This was better and faster than the lower traverse.

Down to the false summit low point

Piercing

Returning to the saddle to a patiently waiting Haylee,

Descending to the saddle

Haylee chillin'

we began the 500' of uphill over the crux, which seemed much easier and actually kind of fun going up,

Oh look, more up

and over the linchpin bump,

Past the crux, over the bump

to just before Midway. Brenda had actually tagged the summit of Midway on the way in--cause she's sneaky fast--so Haylee and I went up the short and easy ridge to the top of Midway, 6640'.

Starting up Midway

Haylee on the summit of Midway

Haylee at the top

Still not much to see, so we walked back to Brenda,

Back to the ridge

and had a good break on the ridge. Brenda had scoped out a good and much more pleasant route to get back to the NW side of Midway by dropping straight down on class 2 dirt, grass and boulders to a snowpatch,

Easy descent

where she whipped out the stove she'd brought along and melted some snow for water which I was quite short on. From here it was class 2 rocks and meadows around Midway,

Next

Looking back at the ridge

Mordor!! Or, Downey

to more meadows,

Relaxing meadows

(Mordor never looked this good) following a tighter curve closer to Midway and back to the trail to camp.

Aaaaand...back to the trail

Our chosen route worked out well, and would have been ideal if not for the smoke. Would have been great if the wind had ever picked up, but except for a breeze now and then the air was quite calm and little seemed to stir all day. Even the marmots were taking the day off. Day 3: Out We packed up early and made an uneventful and efficient descent. The air did seem to be a bit less smoky, but there was still little wind to move the smoke out. On the way out the Downey Creek Trail, I encountered this giant tree remnant and had to take a few pics of the unusual trunk, and the fact that this probably had to have been cut manually as it was inside the Glacier Peak Wilderness boundary,

Ginormous rootball

Giant crosscut

unless a special dispensation had been made to use chainsaws. This area was a great place to return to. The approach to camp is easy, and the route to the peaks straightforward and picturesque. Would have been a lot better if I'd returned here when there were views; I had hoped a destination west of the crest would avoid most of the smoke, but it was not to be. Brenda and Haylee were superb partners. Brenda is always enthusiastic, marveling at how great the terrain is even when the views were mostly obscured. Haylee, just about to start her freshman year at UW, showed excellent judgment and very sound decisions as to how far to push her recovery, and did great. All in all, the trip was mostly a success. We all got to spend two days and two nights in the North Cascades, Brenda and I climbed our objectives, Haylee got a summit and got to see the North Cascades (if she looked down), her recovery seemed to be going very well, and Sauron can kiss my . Since we missed the close up views of the Ptarmigan Traverse, who wants to go back...? 18 miles, ~7700' gain Eric J. Johnson

[Matt]

Glad you finally made it to Pilot, despite the smoke.

[cascadetraverser]

Pretty cool ridge ramble in the smoke. Cool trail discovery!

[raising3hikers]

[Sculpin]

Superbly crafted TR! I may not crest the peaks but the trail and meadows sure look appealing. If you post your question about the origin of the trail in the history forum, you never know who might materialize to answer.

[Prosit]

Well told TR. Unfortunate for the smoke; it's a nice area. Downey lake is full of Cutthroat, and you're right that the views from Pilot are worth going back for.

[geyer]

I hope you brought your facemasks! I think I had heard you talk about this area before. Nice that you got to revisit and tag the summit

[cartman]

Anyone know if Pilot or the area nearby has been used as an alternate route to Cub Lake and Dome Peak? This is easy terrain as far as we went, seems far more interesting than Downey/Bachelor, and no brush. The crux would be getting past Pilot to Cub Lake. On the map it looks like one could drop south to ~5500' and traverse quite a ways, then descend toward the creek draining Itswoot Lake and up to Cub, or maybe even trying to run the ridge west of Cub and then down on the other side.

[Arthur]

The majority of the trail maintenance on the Downey Creek trail is done by volunteers. Mike has been the motivator for most of the trail maintenance that Downey has received in the last decade. His crew cut that cedar last year using crosscut saws. We also spent a few days this year clearing logs and cutting brush. One crew spent 2 days clearing 2 logs. Cutting with handsaws is not quick! The photos tell part of the story. Downey Creek - April 25th Downey Ck - April 26th The clearing did not get finished this year because there weren’t enough hands helping. If you can help and have some time available next Spring, send me your contact information and I’ll get it to Mike.