[rubywrangler]

I had been wanting to visit L. creek basin in larch season since gazing upon it from the summit of Clark a couple years ago. But when the stars (ie weather, schedule, health) aligned this year, I had major anxiety about it for some reason. Maybe because the last time I dabbled in Routes and Rocks I ended up on crutches. Possibly because trip reports made the LC High Route sound horrendous and not doable for meanderers like Ruby and me in the limited daylight of October. Ruby's been slowing down this year and I was concerned it would be too much for her. I postponed the trip twice trying to scrounge up a partner, but everyone I know who would be up for a trip like this is either out of PTO or injured. So in the end I made a pretty detailed plan, with many options and contingencies, and went solo (plus dog). Well, it turns out my anxiety was a total waste of energy. After spending a second night in Leavenworth instead of sleeping at the trailhead (bad decision - another hour of daylight would have been nice), Ruby and I set out from the LGP trailhead around 9:30am Friday. We reached the pass at 12:30 and LC falls at 4. I had figured that if we got to the base of the falls by 4, we could probably get to the top of the falls by sunset, IF we didn't have any routefinding issues. And if things started to go south by 5, we should turn around and head for the R&R red dot camp a bit further up the Napeequa valley. Fortunately we had minimal issues and were able to easily follow the route described by wolffie and Steve in some old posts on this site. We arrived the R&R red dot camp at 6400' at 6:10pm - almost exactly sunset.

colors along the little giant trail

napeequa valley

clark

snakey napeequa

clark

walrus glacier

l. creek falls

goats across the falls, climbed about 600-700 ft so far

retreat!

losing light, climbing higher

middle falls

going up there somewhere

we came up climbers left and then around, a bit lower down

On Saturday I got up at sunrise and ran around like a maniac taking photos of Clark and Luahna across the valley.

clark

clark at sunrise

luahna

sunrise pano

looking upstream into l. basin

clark

l creek

clark & creek

l. creek basin

basin & clark

I was a little sad to leave the upper falls area before the sun lit up the larches there, but according to my peakfinder app the sun wouldn't crest the ridge above us until 11am. We climbed to the upper basin / pumice plateau and my sadness quickly disappeared at the sight before us. In fact, my sadness was replaced by one of those stunned giggle fits of euphoric disbelief. Holy crap, this place is amazing! I had estimated it would take about 30 min from camp to intersect the standard route to Buck at ~6800', where I planned to stash overnight gear. Actual time 1 hour 30 minutes due to view and photo breaks!

views on the way to the pumice plateau

OMG

OMG2

larchy pano

my nemesis

pumice

pumice plateau

larches all around

pumice, larches & clark

fortress, chiwawa, red

our route to high pass, for later

Eventually we did stash overnight gear and make our way up Buck, following the footprints of Jake and Trace from last month. After a short summit nap for Ruby, we climbed down, retrieved gear, and headed up another larchy ridge toward Mt. Berge. There was a bootpath most of the way, then an easy scramble on slabs and large boulders up to ~7500, then a quick traverse and climb up to the saddle south of Berge. We skipped the summit since we were behind schedule due to the earlier photo time warp and continued to High Pass, first descending southwest from the saddle to an obvious green ramp, then wrapping around to the north and the lake basin just south of High Pass, where we camped.

looking back on the pumice plateau

buck snowfield. footprints everywhere.

summit left of the white stripe

views west from the saddle

king lake

buck summit nap

summit view east

layers

cooling paws

our route ahead

looking back at buck

view just below berge saddle

descending to high pass

lake south of high pass

On Sunday morning we climbed up to High Pass where I tried in vain to avoid taking all the same photos I took last time I was there. Then we headed for Buck Creek Pass and had a long, leisurely descent. We arrived to Trinity just in time to catch a ride back to the LGP trailhead with Ryan, a solo climber who had just come down from Fortress. Thanks again Ryan!

camp at sunrise

first light on clark & luahna

high pass

triad

fortress and chiwawa - closer

triad vicinity

sitting nap

GP

glacier peak and flower dome (not toasted)

buck creek trail, buck in the distance

~30 miles, 10k' elevation gain All the photos Definitely one of my favorite trips this year!

[awilsondc]

Good stuff... good. stuff!!! This area is quickly moving to the top of my to do list! Great photos as usual.

[Jake Robinson]

Such a nice trip...that area is really special. Thanks for documenting it so well with your exceptional photos and writeup

[RichP]

I enjoyed your report and photos.

[ozzy]

[Nancyann]

So many stunning pictures, I’m just going crazy over them! Glad to hear Ruby could make the trip and handled it well!

[fourteen410]

[timberghost]

That's a beautiful area

[DaddyJoe]

Awesome post. I guess I should have just stopped looking on here for TR's and actually started posting as it would have been good to have a partner on this same trip only last weekend, always safer. I ended up going up the west shoulder of cleator approach, 10/14-10/15 to the buck Berge basin, That was my only goal to get up there and see the larches as my wife only gave me 2 days away from kids. I updated that route on summit post corrections, but may post it here eventually as well, it's probably the quickest... made it up in 5 hrs to the basin from trinity, although I was not taking my time, and basically bonking by the time I got to the basin. The Burn area along Buck creek has made that approach easier for now. Although in a few years the schwack up there will be miserable as the underbrush begins to grow in. I especially enjoyed the pictures of the lower basin as I didn't explore down there and yes the sun doesn't come up until like 11! OH, well Glad someone else got to see it! and one of the most beautiful areas in the state! Here's to missed opportunities.

[geyer]

[rubywrangler]

Thanks all for the comments! It's a pretty awesome place. As a general rule I don't do repeat trips, ever, but I will do this one again. With one more day you could add on the Massie HR and see the larches at Massie lake...

[Snowdog]

Very nice! I've been to LGP, and up Buck Creek to the pass and on to High Pass. Just need to fill in that missing section.

[MtnGoat]

Magnificent. Thank you

[wolffie]

[Brushbuffalo]

Wonderful!