Forum Index > Trip Reports > Dip Top and Lynch peaks 9/5-6
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csmhiker
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Joined: 10 Sep 2020
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csmhiker
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PostThu Sep 10, 2020 7:03 pm 
This is my first real trip report here on nwhikers after being a huge reader for quite a while, hoping to make a habit of it and become a bigger part of the hiking and peakbagging community! Labor day weekend was coming up, I wanted to get a backpack trip in. Wanted to give myself a bit of recovery time before going back to work, so was looking for a trip I could reasonably do in 2 days to give me some recovery time. I'd always wanted to go up and see Pea Soup Lake north of Daniel. Finding a trip report from a few summers ago where the party descended from Hinman down to Pea Soup lake, I figured a good gameplan would be to hike in to PSL, bag Hinman, hike back to camp, then hike out the next day. After crashing in my car at the crowded trailhead Friday evening, I hit the trail around 5:40 in the morning. I had no idea the trail was going to be this lush and beautiful, it seemed like the perfect mix of summer and fall. I found lots of delicious blueberries along the way to Marmot Lake just past the PCT.
Marmot Lake was quite a large lake, with quite a few campsites spread out over a large area. Had to make my way over a bit of a chossy section to get to the trail to Jade from here.
Jade was just as cool as I had hoped! I can see why so many people like to camp by this lake. Questionably visible toilet though.
Making my way past Jade, I got to the inlet stream from the snowfield leading to PSL. This will be your last source of running water if you plan to camp at the bivy sites above. I stopped to put on spikes and take out axe once I got to the snowfield. I ran into a guy who said he had neither spikes nor poles and made it up and down fine. But... I carried them all the way here, might as well use them! Pretty mellow snowfield, just stay to the left away from the super icy sections. My first views of PSL were definitely as awesome as I'd hoped for! There are two bivy spots at the top of the col. I scrambled up the ridge and set up camp there though.
After setting up camp and giving myself a bit of a rest, I headed out again, trying to make my way to the western outlet of PSL, where I could then dip into the valley and ascend up the other side to get to Hinman. Turns out, the terrain was horrendous. Lots of huge, loose boulders on quite a steep heather slope that took forever to get down, and then followed by very steep, hard, dirt slopes and cliffs down to PSL. After quite a while of poking around back and forth, I eventually gave up and decided Hinman wasn't happening today. Making my way back to the ridge where I had set up camp, I made my way up to Dip Top peak from there. Fairly straightforward talus field with one or two little sections of exposed scrambling right before the summit. Once I made my way back to camp I assessed my options for tomorrow. I was eyeballing a plan B of going to/around Lynch and maybe Daniel if I had enough energy after, but the west ridge of Lynch looked beyond my comfort zone, and there didn't look to be any good way around. After a solid nights sleep where it felt like I was waking up every half hour(was trying out a foam pad instead of inflatable. Guess they were right when they said not a good choice for side sleepers!) I got up to enjoy the sunrise. I had a short conversation with a friendly guy making his way up to Dip Top, he told me he planned on going up the west ridge of Lynch then down to Daniel, and invited me to tag along. I declined, saying I'd see how the north ridge looked, and just hike out if I didn't like it. Making my way down the snowfield, I got a pretty good look at the scramble to gain the ridge. It looked pretty good, so I went for it. The hardest part was the snow gets pretty steep and hard towards the outer edge of the snowfield, and there were a few tricky scramble moves to gain the first 30' of elevation gain off the snow. But after that it was pretty smooth sailing all the way until the ridgeline.
looking back at the moon over Dip Top:
First running water since yesterday Looking north from the ridge:
Looking south, towards the peak:
The rest of the scramble was definitely the hardest part, it was difficult to pick out the easiest and least exposed route for me, but it wasn't too difficult if I moved slowly and searched everything out first. Definitely a sigh of relief after I popped out on the summit though. Couldn't find a summit register. I started making my way down the talus, just following the line of least resistance and avoiding the cliffs.
Once I got myself level with PSL, I just gained a ridge and traversed around Daniel. Fairly straightforward traverse, cliffs into the valley on your left, cliffs from the glacier on your right. Stay in the middle, sometimes moving up and down to avoid small cliffs. Really beautiful area, with lots of small waterfalls running down from glacier melt.
Eventually I ascended a large scree hill, before doing some more traversing, then descending next to a river until I made my way to Peggy's Pond.
Taking a bit of a rest, I dropped my camping gear by the lake and headed up towards Daniel. Unfortunately, due to a combination of all the hiking and scrambling I'd done already, and my awful sleep last night, I was pretty pooped by the time I made it to around 6600'. Not really wanting to be miserable on my descent and long hike out, I called it a day. I wish I'd brought another backpacking meal so I could've comfortably spent the night at Peggy's Pond. Oh well, good excuse to come back! Rest of the hike out was uneventful, made my way back to the trailhead about 5pm

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Foist
Sultan of Sweat



Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 3974 | TRs | Pics
Location: Back!
Foist
Sultan of Sweat
PostFri Sep 11, 2020 9:28 am 
Thanks for posting. Jade does not look so jade this year. I wonder if the color is going the way of the "pea soup" as the glaciers shrink. frown.gif That's good there is a toilet there now. Is that new?

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neek
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Joined: 12 Sep 2011
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Location: Seattle, WA
neek
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PostFri Sep 11, 2020 9:35 am 
nice to have another contributor! those ones have been on my list for a long time.

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Randy
Cube Rat



Joined: 18 Dec 2001
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Location: Near the Siamangs
Randy
Cube Rat
PostFri Sep 11, 2020 1:53 pm 
A couple of favs. I've approached both from Cathedral Rock which goes well enough. Getting from Lynch to Dip Top is somewhat involved without snow on Pea Soup, but not too bad.

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puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks



Joined: 13 Feb 2007
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puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks
PostFri Sep 11, 2020 5:30 pm 
Welcome, and with a great first TR. These are two home court peaks I have yet to do so I read with interest. Which approach would you prefer if you had to do it again?

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csmhiker
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csmhiker
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PostFri Sep 11, 2020 8:27 pm 
Quote:
Which approach would you prefer if you had to do it again?
I'd recommend the approach I took from Marmot lake.

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