[SwedishHiker]

I figure I should probably post a trip report at some point, so this is probably as good as any a place to start... We started out as a group of five, and ended up as four. This was definitely the most demanding trip I've ever done, but I'm glad I went. It was quite the adventure and the views were certainly worth the pain and suffering. Day 1 - Into the Diobsuds: We started out under a mix of sun and clouds. It was still nice, though. The cooler weather made for easier travel, even though it did make for fewer photo ops.

First views of the Watsons

A bevy of boys

Upper Anderson

Leaving Upper Anderson

Crossing that which need not be crossed

The trail went by quickly and soon we were traversing on granite and heather above Watson Lakes. Snow made some parts of the traverse easier, and others a little more difficult.

Traversing above the Watsons, first views of Blum

First of many tarns

Watson Lakes below us

Mmmm, Bacon!

That's our pass!

It was tiring to crest the saddle above the Diobsuds and even more exhausting to descend that last 1000 feet. I think we made the right call to avoid the creek and gully at the bottom, even though it meant a steep bushwack down the hillside.

Heading down into the Diobsuds

Finally home for the evening.

There was another party at the first lake, so we trudged on to find a comfortable camp at the second. Bugs weren't bad...maybe a few mosquitoes, but no biting flies. Day 2 - Forget the Salad, I want Bacon: We got a relatively late start, leaving camp around 10:45am. There was a lot of condensation on the tents, and we were waiting for everything to dry out.

Diobsuds in the morning

Tom says it's time to go

The first part of the day, a relatively flat traverse across grassy slopes, was by far the most treacherous, painful, and slow travel I have ever encountered. Each step was an exercise in balance and stability; we had to fight to stay on the mountain and maintain our elevation all the way across, even though there's nothing to hold onto or keep you from sliding. Just slick, steep vegetation... It took forever to reach the band of cliffs that would be our "exit" from the hellish sideslope.

This is what hell looks like

Brian and the Lower Diobsuds

The cliffs themselves turned out to be more work than expected. Mike and Tom worked hard to figure out where they'd gone across on their last trip. Things just didn't look right. Mike scrambled up and across to reach the safety of the trees and scoped out the route from above. Tom climbed up to see if there was another way through. Ultimately, we figured out that the right choice was a sketchy scramble across a thin ledge to a downturned old log.

Under this log is the key to your salvation

The next section involved slide alder, slick wet hillsides, and steep meadow. We went up and right and eventually waded our way through slide alder to reach a steep gully. At this point, I was wondering what I had gotten myself into and plotting the death of my boyfriend. (Sore Feet helped.)

Heading up the gully

Surveying the scree below

Happy to be heading up

Lower Diobsuds far below

Getting steeper

We scrambled up the steep gully, up and over benches of rock and vegetation. There was one exposed step with a third class move, before we eventually emerged onto a slope with talus and heather. More hot climbing (occasionally with a refreshing breeze) and we finally made it up to the tarn high on the hillsides of Bacon.

Finally in the talus above the gully

Pumping water at the tarn

Lunch was fun... Mike and Tom set up the pizza processing plant and made us all backcountry pizzas. Very tasty!

First visit to the Pizza Factory

After lunch, we headed up a steep snowfield, the Snow Finger of Death. It was steep, felt a little exposed, but Mike did a good job of kicking steps and got us all to the top safely. We exited onto moss and lichen covered granite slabs and continued working our way up the mountain.

The snow finger -- our route up

Dayhike Mike and the tarn. He seems unconcerned.

Looking back down the snow finger

Brian is glad to be off of the steep snow

I am a stud. Look at my axe!

Lush shag carpeting as we head up Bacon.

Beautiful greenery

The water running off the cliff below.

The slopes got steeper and steeper, rock became less and less stable, and finally we exited the top of a chute to find incredible views of Bacon, Canadian Bacon, and Electric Butte. From here, we continued on a breathtaking ridgewalk toward the summit. We crossed snowfields and traversed to the far side of the summit before dropping our packs.

SwedishHiker and DHM

Resting at the bench. So much more to go!

That's our notch at upper right

Brian, enjoying the views at the top of the notch.

Electric Butte

Back down the gully, from the notch at the top

The boys, running the ridgeline.

Scrambling the 4th Class step.

Heading up the snow arete toward the false summit

Almost off...

As we headed up to the summit for views, we realized it was getting late and we were all fairly tired. Thankfully, we found a tight spot to fit two tents near the summit and set up camp for the evening.

Strange rock formations on the summit

Fun with light and atmosphere

Happy to be relaxing on the summit

We had beautiful views from camp that night and enjoyed a beautiful moonrise. Thankfully, there was little wind and I slept well that night.

Sun and shade, slabs and snow

Clouds and cracks

Glacier in alpenglow

One last view as the sun goes down

Day 3 - The Bacon Tarns, Bacon Laken, and Green Lake: We headed out a little earlier on Day 3. Our first step was to descend the Scary Glacier of Death (thanks, Tisha! ). We all strapped on our crampons, except for Mike who thoughtfully left his behind for someone else to use at our Diobsud campsite. (If anyone finds them, I'm sure Mike would love to buy you a beer.) The descent went quickly and we traversed underneath the glacier for better views.

Great light in the morning

Room with a view

Mount Baker

Shuksan

Here's the saddle we'll be passing through

Looking back at the Watsons, Twin Sisters in the background

Heading down the Scary Glacier of Death

View up the ridgeline from the bottom

Ridgeline detail

The direct route is not advised!

Almost to the saddle

Mount Baker and our way out of the trough

Looking back for more perspective

Our next obstacle was steep, hard snow that blocked our route up to a saddle above the South Rib. Tom cut steps with his ice axe to give us all a leg up and out of the trenches. We headed up the loose rock to the saddle and finally got our first views of Green and Berdeen. Stunning!

Cutting steps to get out of the trough

Looking back at the rock we came down

Happy to be out of the trough

First views from the saddle

Blum and Hagan in the distance

Brian heading out to get some pictures, Canadian Bacon in the background

We dropped onto the snowfield and headed down the south rib. Apparently the nice folks at SNOTEL also liked the campsite up on this ridgeline, as they decided it was a great place to install one of their tower thingys. Ugly.

Good memories of our last visit

Beautiful red plants everywhere

Berdeen still has a bit of snow

Tom surveying the Snotel thingy. How, uh, attractive..?

Berdeen and the Picket Range

Nature has a red paintbrush

From here on down was fun glissading and light scrambling on slabby granite. It was beautiful, and the views only got better and better as we descended. We finally got our first views of Bacon Laken and were thrilled to see that it wasn't iced over.

First views of Green Lake. Yay! No snow!

Happy to be heading down

Incredible red rock on Canadian Bacon

SwedishHiker, enjoying the views of Bacon Laken and Green.

Can't get enough of those reds!

I want to go to there...

DHM is happy to be back

Descending on a polished slabby sidewalk

First views of the tarns below

Red, White, and Blue...how patriotic!

Heading down the heather benches...

...with Tom leading the way.

Green Bacon and Laken!

Almost down...

Heathery ramps of alpine trees and flowers led us down into the valley below the glaciers of Bacon and directly to the highlight of the day, an intricate web of tarns and waterfalls, winding their way down the polished rock. A few of us scampered up the smooth red slabs to the toe of the glacier for a closer look, then we picked up our packs and wound our way down the waterways toward beautiful Bacon Laken.

Finally walking on the red rock

Better views of the Bacon Tarns

Zooming in on the upper tarns

Looking down the valley

Arrival at the tarns

Wandering amongst the waterways

Let's head up there...

Follow me...

Hagan in the distance

Polished flumes

Up the left, to the toe of the glacier

Almost there...

We've arrived

Mastering the art of friction walking

Flumes galore

Navigating the waterways

Working our way down

Ecstatic. Simply ecstatic.

I love this one...waterfalls and airy blues

Crossing more waterfalls

Looking back

Where to wander next

A hidden tarn, Shuksan fighting to be seen in the background

Getting closer...

I can do this all day

We ended up eating lunch at the outflow from Bacon Laken, looking down the waterfall to Green Lake. The blue colors of these lakes are truly amazing and unlike anything I've ever seen before.

Polished reds and buffeted blues

Feels great to be here...

The party making their way around the shoreline

Peaceful perfection

Lupine and the outflow

SwedishHiker in paradise

Interloper in the background

Swede in Sunlight

View from the far end

Looking back from whence we came

Down the waterfall toward Green Lake

Polished rock at the outflow

Quickest way down

Ready for pizza?

After lunch, we waded across the waterfall, traversed up and out of the basin, and wound our way down dry creekbeds to the edge of Green Lake. We had originally planned on rafting tonight, but we were tired and the sun was gone. We decided to go ahead and set up camp on the sandy beaches of Green Lake.

Shadowplay on ruddy rocks

Tom atop burnished leather

Finally descending to Green

So much unstable rock

Views from the camp toward the inflow

And our sea of tranquility

Day 4 - The Trek to Upper Nert: We woke up to find pools of condensation and everything soaked. It took quite a while to get everything dry and ready to go which led to us getting our latest start of the entire trip. Our first step was to raft the lake to the outlet. This was the coolest thing...so relaxing and refreshing, just cruising along through the bluest waters. Easy sailing! Before long, we were back out of the rafts at the far end. We dried our gear and had a few snacks before packing things up and heading on.

Our campground, beside Green.

The flotilla is ready to launch, Cap'n.

Bryan lounges while Tom preps the boat ramp

This Swede was born to float.

Amazing blues and views back toward Bacon.

Blues and greens.

Paddling seems so effortless.

Enjoying the views and resting the feet.

Dayhike Mike is having a good time as well.

Getting close to the outflow.

Follow me... (Interloper in the background.)

The next step involved some STEEP scrambling up the hillside. We were literally pulling ourselves up on trees and huckleberry bushes. Mike kept saying we were on trail, but Brian and I knew better. This was obviously all improvised! Much sweat and swearing later, we crested the slope and plopped ourselves down in heathery meadows.

Leaving Green Lake. Up, up, up!

Happy to be off the steep.

From here, we headed up steeply to gain the ridgeline above Nert Lake (which is the dumbest name for a lake that I've ever heard...who the hell is Nert, anyway, and why does she have her own lake?). We avoided dense trees, and stayed mostly in the huckleberry and heather. Near the top, we crossed a steep gully to finally emerge at the top of the slope. It was pretty up there. We descended the meadows, generally following a hint of boot path, and ultimately straight down steep slopes to reach the lake.

Finally at Nert.

Time for pizza yet again...

We refueled with a little lunch, pumped some water, and headed right back up the other side. Occasionally we'd come across some boot wear, but we mostly followed our noses (not so much mine) and wound our way up through the steep cliff bands. After the first step, we traversed back to the left and found a route up steep packed pine needles and duff, traversing on exposed ledges to reach the top of the second cliff band. On top, we found boot path that lead left to the base of a talus field. Mike and I opted to head up the easy path, straight up the talus field to a low point above. Tom and Brian, ever the overachievers, opted for a slightly more difficult and longer route up forested hillside and a draw.

Winding our way through the cliffs on the last steep bench.

And finally in the meadows again.

Finally on top, we all wandered through beautiful grassy meadows, with mossy-banked streams winding through them. Up two short slopes and finally, we were face to face with scenic Upper Nert (again, what a stupid name ). At this point, it was getting late and we decided to camp here instead of pushing on for Berdeen. Above the lake, we found one of the most comfortable campsites of the entire trip. It was a good evening.

Just around the corner...

A stream from Upper Nert!

This looks comfy. Let's call this home tonight.

The view from our campsite.

Back to Green and Bacon.

Down the valley to Glacier Peak.

Zooming in...

And in...

Faces in the heather.

Hagan looming above. Goodnight Upper Nert...

Day 5 - Exploring the Berdeens: This was probably our shortest and most relaxing day of the entire trip. We rose and traversed on the hillsides, generally following along the bottom of talus fields until we were forced to drop on steep slopes to the ridge below. We wandered around the top of the ridgeline, checking out the views back toward Bacon and forward to Berdeen.

Descending the ridgeline after the traverse

Photo time, looking back...

Views back to Bacon and Green

Zooming in on Bacon...

Waterfalls on the outflow from Green Lake

We ended up heading down the ridgeline, winding back and forth to make our way past cliffs. Eventually, we headed down and to the left on a steep, brushy slope. We slipped and slid our way to the bottom of the valley (some in more painful ways than others) and then followed a stream down the valley toward a large basin under Berdeen.

Off the ridgeline, heading toward the meadows under Berdeen.

Where are the bears?

This basin was idyllic; water wound its way everywhere, meandering through grasses and mosses. Sadly, there were no bears anywhere (they promised me big-assed bears) or any other wildlife to speak of. In spite of my disappointment, we continued down and checked out the waterfalls leading down to Lower Berdeen.

Flowers and pools

Flowers and waterfall

Wandering through the meadows

Winding past the pools

Winding past the pools

Following the stream down to Lower Berdeen

The water flows into a narrow ravine.

Looking back toward the meadows

Waiting for the shutterbugs on our descent to Lower Berdeen

We swam and bathed and enjoyed lunch at Lower Berdeen. It was relaxing and a great place for a long break. After lunch, we pack up and headed up the grueling 250 feet to the no-big-assed-bear basin and then enjoyed "easy walking" straight up the last 350 feet to the shores of Berdeen. (Awkwardly, I was accosted and "legitimately raped" by a tree during this vertical ascent. True story.)

On the shores of Lower Berdeen. Time to swim!

Heading up...

Best view we had of the upper falls

High above the meadows

First views of Berdeen

Berdeen is beautiful. The blues were not as nice as Green Lake, but it's a sight well worth seeing. We took pictures, relaxed in our grassy campsite, and took in the views as the sun went down.

Touring the peninsula

Looking toward the outflow

Resting in camp

Catching low light on the lake

Moss and lichen on the rocks

Calling home from camp

Day 6 - Boating Berdeen, Hating Hagan, and Braving Blum: This was a hard, long day. We started it off with a failed rafting of Berdeen... The winds were strong, and we managed to make it a third of the way up the lake before our flotilla found a sheet of ice across the water. Rather than repeat mistakes made by the Titanic, we erred on the side of caution, beached our ships and headed up the shoreline on foot.

Morning colors over Bacon

Soft light on the horizon

First light on Lonesome and Berdeen Peak.

First light on Bacon

Swede is toasty in her sleeping bag.

DHM's pillow is not as comfy.

Sun is up. Time to go...

Choppy waters on the lake

SwedishSailor fighting against the wind.

Too much work. We're pulling out here.

Pulling out, packing up

Jessica and Interloper

At the end of the lake, we enjoyed our lunch beside the outflow from Upper Berdeen (still mostly frozen). From here, we continued up the valley, winding left on snowfield to reach the foot of a glacier. Here, Tom, Mike and I ended up heading up onto the hillside for better views back at Berdeen. It was a stunning sight.

The ice across the lake, and the pass to Porkbelly Ridge

Just a beautiful day at Berdeen

Brilliant blues of Berdeen

SwedishHiker and Tom rounding the lake

Happy to be hiking again

The far end of the lake

Looking back down the lake

Continuing on toward Upper Berdeen

The babbling brook feeding Berdeen

The upper lake is starting to thaw

That steep snow is our route out.

The beginning of Mystery Ridge

Looking back on the Berdeens

Berdeen and Interloper

Looking back on the Berdeens

Swede soaking in the scenery

Tom and SwedishHiker enjoying views from the lower bench.

After our side trip, we headed up the glacier to a steep face of unstable rock. Mike and Tom assured us that "it goes" and we headed up loose scree on slabby rock to reach the Chossy Gully of Death. Here we strapped on our crampons (suck it, Mike!) and Tom lead us up a steep snowfield, kicking in good steps for us to follow. It was a little daunting...one slip and there would be fatal consequences. After a bit of switchbacking, he exited onto loose chossy slopes at the left and we all scrambled up some of the loosest, scariest rock I've ever seen.

Time to go! Our route is in the shade now.

One last view back down the valley.

Lonesome Peak

Tom and Bryan heading up the glacier.

Getting closer to the route out.

View back to Triumph peeking out above Mystery Ridge.

Ridgelines and glaciers off the south face of Hagan.

Finally, steep snow slope is our our route out.

What could possible go wrong?

Crampons and ice axe! I'm feeling secure! Kinda...

Finally on top. First views of Blum.

The Fab Four, happy to be past the Gully of Doom.

At the top, we all breathed a sigh of relief, and began the long traverse along the ridgeline toward Blum. We were tired, but really couldn't stop. We needed water for the evening and a space for two tents. We crossed talus fields and rounded the final bump between Hagan and Blum.

Losing light. Let's head out...

Finally full views of Triumph behind Berdeen Peak.

Traversing on talus.

Looking back to where we came up.

Northern and Southern Picket Range. Pioneer Ridge in foreground.

Bryan is ready to rest.

Tom continues, traversing high.

As we rounded the corner, Mike announced that "there's our campsite!" He pointed at the slopes high on Blum. My stomach fell and Sore Feet turned pale. There was no freaking way that we were going to make it over there...it was too far, the cliff was so steep, and it just seemed so high above us. But Tom and Mike led on and proved once again that it was indeed possible.

Descending on snow to Blum.

Our campsite is up there!

Fast travel on snowfield.

SwedishHiker and Sore Feet descending the granite.

We dropped from the snowfields onto slabby rock, traversed on the ridgeline above Upper Blum Lake, and made our way to the base of the cliff. We descended 100 feet, where Mike kicked steps up a steep snowfield and we all made our way onto a narrow ledge that led across the face. On the other side, we headed up and up and up. And then up some more. The talus turned into steeper and steeper heather and rock.

Finally on the granite slabs.

Baker, Shuksan, and Upper Blum.

Upper Blum and the outlet tarn.

Winding their way through the rock.

We just need to traverse across that? Painless!

Dayhike Mike leading the charge.

Tom reinforcing the steps while DHM looks on.

After a lot of grunting and exertion, we topped out and found ourselves on heathery benches high on the slopes of Blum and the most amazing campsite of the entire trip. We were perched at the top of the world, with views in all directions. It was incredible. No words or pictures can adequately describe it.

Golden light on the ridge we traversed.

Shadows cast by Baker as our lingering light fades.

Last light on the ridgeline.

Going, going, gone...

The 'trail' is *STEEP!* (looking up)

The 'trail' is *STEEP!* (looking down)

Looking down on the steep heather. Bryan's pack is visible waaay down there.

Thankfully, we had no clouds and no wind that night. It was relatively balmy, considering our elevation, and we all sat out late enjoying the stars and views from our vista. We all slept well that night.

Shadows off Mount Baker. Night falling on Baker Lake.

Sunset on Hagan. Glacier Peak in back left.

Sunset behind Baker and Shuksan. Twin Sisters at far left.

Sunset over Hagan.

Sunset over the Picket Range.

Soaking in the scenery from the top of the world.

DHM and SwedishHiker. Happy to be hiking together.

Sunset over Hagan.

Sunset behind Mount Baker.

Sunset behind Baker and Shuksan.

Sunset behind Mount Baker.

Day 7 - The Brutality of Blum: The day started well. It got worse.

Sunrise behind the Southern Pickets.

Morning colors on Glacier Peak.

Morning color on Hagan.

Morning color on Hagan.

Sunrise behind the Picket Range.

Sunrise behind the Southern Pickets and Despair.

Sunrise behind Triumph.

Sunrise on the horizon. Glacier Peak in the distance.

First light on Mount Baker.

First light on Hagan.

Mount Baker and the Twin Sisters in light. Baker Lake and the Blums below.

First light on Shuksan. Vista Lake on far ridgeline.

Zoom into Vista (top) and Blum tarn (below).

First light on the top of Mt. Blum.

Upper Blum, Middle Blum, and Lower Blum. Baker Lake far below.

Glacier Peak lit up on the horizon.

Sloan, Pugh, and White Chuck.

Mount Baker and Shuksan from the west edge of our shelf.

Full light on Hagan.

We rose, and packed, and Tom, Mike, and I headed up to the summit of Blum. It was a relatively easy scramble, with great views and a really nice ridgewalk to reach the top of the mountain. We enjoyed stunning panoramas of the Picket Range to the east, Baker, Shuksan, and Icy to the north, and a view of our entire trip to the south. We got back to camp, finished packing and headed down Blum around noon.

The view back toward Hagan as we headed up. Watson starting to peek out on right.

Jessica running the ridgeline. Redoubt to Spickard and Whatcom to West Fury in the background.

Incredible relief in the North Cascades.

All smiles for this Swede.

Our route beginning to appear. Bacon finally visible behind Hagan. Watson on the right. (Notice Whitehorse, Three Fingers, and Rainier on horizon!)

Jessica and Tom running the ridgeline to the top of Blum.

Tom scrambling the ridgeline.

Almost there! Walking across to reach the true summit.

View to the north. Redoubt, Custer, Rahm, and Spickard in back left. Whatcom, Challenger Complex, Fury Complex, and Perfect Pass.

View to the west. Twin Sisters, Baker, Shuksan, and Seahpo in back. Vista and Blum tarn below.

Perspective on the northern spur.

Woo woo! Jessica celebrates while Tom searches for the register.

Jess and the view back to our entire route.

Zoom to north. Redoubt, Custer, Rahm, Spickard, and Mox Peaks in background. Whatcom squarely in the middle. Pioneer Ridge in the foreground.

Northern ridgeline of Mount Blum.

Another view to the north.

Heading back down to the camp. Snow has softened considerably.

Back to camp. Packing up.

On our way down, the first obstacle was the Gully of Doom. We carefully made our way down the loose slopes, moving one or two at a time to avoid killing each other with rockfall (and salty language). Eventually, we all made it safely down and, cursing Mike, all made our way down to the polished shores of Upper Blum Lake.

Heading down. Upper, Middle, and Lower Blum. Baker Lake far below.

Shuksan and our route down.

The brilliant blues of Upper Blum and Hagan high behind.

Enjoying the slabby granite as we approach Upper Blum.

Upper Blum.

Upper Blum Tarn and Middle Blum below.

Finally at Upper Blum.

Here, we found numerous bathtubs that demanded our bodies as sacrifice. Gleefully, we threw ourselves into the cool waters and fruitless scrubbed at the dirt and odor which had no intention of leaving our bodies. It was great, so relaxing and so refreshing on a hot and sweaty day. We ate our final pizzas of the trip as we dried out, then packed up and headed down.

Heading down to Upper Blum Tarn. Shuksan disappearing behind Vista Ridge.

Outflow from Upper Blum to Upper Blum Tarn.

Swede is loving the slabs.

Crisp and colorful, Upper Blum Tarn.

Tom walking down the outflow.

Jess, jumping over streams from the tarn.

Last look up to the ridgeline.

Tom and the impossible traverse to Vista. Does not go.

Below, we entered a second Gully of Doom...steep heather and rock encrusted hillsides on the way down to Middle Blum. It was slow going and at this point, my knees began to protest. Sadly, there was no delaying our descent.

Middle Blum is brilliant below.

SwedishHiker swearing at the steep, slick hillside.

Not a fun descent on hard packed earth.

Middle Blum beckons us...

Almost off the worst of it.

Glad to be done with that crap.

The direct route down is not advised.

We rounded Middle Blum and followed a boot path down to Lower Blum. Here, we crossed the inflow and headed up and left across talus fields to reach the elusive ridgeline that supposedly held a trail to the bottom of the hill.

Finally on flat. Rounding Middle Blum.

Cooling off in Middle Blum.

One final view of Lower Blum and Hagan before we head DOWN!

Once we left the talus fields, we found lots of slick, steep sidehilling on pineneedles. It sucked. Little did I know that this would be the highlight of our trip down. (Start high on the talus to minimize the sidehilling.) Eventually, we found the ridgeline and headed down. And when I say down, I mean DOWN. The trail failed to really materialize for the first 2000 feet. Eventually, it showed up for short bits here and there, only to be interrupted with downed timber and upturned root balls every 50 feet. It sucked. A lot. We would find the trail, and two minutes later lose the trail, and spread out to try to find the trail again. Mike and Tom did a phenomenal job of routing us down the ridgeline, avoiding cliffs, and finding the trail again and again as we wound our way through the steep duff, brush, and cliffs. About 2000 feet above the valley floor, the sun went down and route finding went from hard to nearly impossible. And my knee was really hurting and swollen. We continued on, slowly winding our way down. Tom generally took the lead and managed to amaze us all, finding a way down again and again. We kept thinking we were so close, but the "trail" kept going down and down and down and the nice trail with "easy walking" never quite materialized. After what seemed like forever, the slope finally let up and Brian announced that we were on the valley floor. Thus began the second longest part of the trip, winding our way down the remaining slope, across the valley floor to find the "real trail" that supposedly was waiting for us. We were so parched. Our water was long gone, and even though we were right next to Blum Creek, the steep shores kept us away and prevented us from filtering up. Finally, the trail was there. At 11:11pm, we finally reached some semblance of civilization. Brian and Tom quickly went down and filter water for the group. After a quick rest break, we hobbled our way up the valley, across the bridge, and back down the valley toward our cars. We made it to the cars at 11:45pm. We were exhausted, but happy to finally be out. All in all, it was an epic trip. I had a great time and even in spite of the final desecent, would definitely do it again. Mike and Tom were awesome and did a great job of taking care of me and Brian and finding the route all along the way. Thanks guys!

[Dayhike Mike]

SwedishHiker did a great job of writing up a summary of the whole trip, and her pics are kinda my pics too, so I'll just add a few thoughts here. All in all, it was a great trip. It was harder than normal due to the snow levels. Several steep sections that were reasonably safe with additional melt (on our previous trip), felt excessively exposed with the steep snow. I know we pushed Sore Feet and SwedishHiker way out of their comfort zones, but they did great, took it in stride and I think they are both happy that they came along. Day 1 -- If we'd known how much snow was still up there, we probably would have come in low via the Watsons instead of traversing over the top. We really wouldn't have missed much and it would have been easier travel. And it's too bad BPJ had to turn around, but I think he made the right choice. Day 2 -- The traverse across from the Diobsuds is always brutal. Stay as low as you can as long as you can. No reason to be high up on the hillside. Just seek out flat ground and come up to the log at the last moment. I liked running the ridgeline on top better than the sidehilling on snow we did last time. Very scenic. Day 3 -- The Tarns and Bacon Laken were the highlight of the trip, again. Definitely worth it to get onto the South Rib, rather than descend down the boring expanse of glacier. Far more scenic. Day 4 -- Originally planned on camping at Berdeen, but because of the slow start, ended up deciding to cut this day short, camp high at Upper Nert, and spend the next day exploring the area around Lower Berdeen. It ended up being a great decision. Day 5 -- Here, we made a mistake. We got up to Berdeen so early that we really should have pushed on and camped at the far end of Berdeen, or preferably, at the camp left of the saddle near the entrance to Mystery Ridge. We had nice conditions in the evening, heavy winds in the morning. I don't believe the ice was entirely across the lake in the evening, whereas it made passage difficult the next day. And staying at the outflow of Berdeen meant that we had a very long day on Day 6. In short, it was comfy, but dumb. Lesson learned. Day 6 -- Beautiful day, but yeah, that exit up onto Hagan was a pain. I just prefer rock to steep snow. The ramp onto Blum still goes great. Long day, and some were wishing they'd brought more water. Day 7 -- This was a hard day. The heavy blowdown on the exit ridge slowed our descent, which ended up leaving us in the dark, and that dark prevented us from finding the nicer trail down. This was brutal. Someone seriously needs to go up there and flag a route. Leave the flags up for a few years until a decent foot path has re-emerged. At present it's just a kinda crappy hodge podge of blowdown with the barest remnant of boot path showing itself once in a while. People are too dispersed, and it's not doing anyone any good. (I keep wondering where the good route actually heads left. It has to happen after the narrow point around 2800' where the ridgeline is reduced to a single lane of traffic for roughly 20 feet. Anyone know?) Three other items of note: #1. When leaving Upper Blum, don't go down the gully to Middle Blum. It's far easier to traverse left and descend on gentler slopes direct to the lowest lake. #2. From Lower Blum, gently ascend on the talus as you're traversing all the way out to the end of the last talus field. Yes. Go HIGH. The higher you are when you begin traversing in the forested section, the less steep pine needles and duff you'll need to endure before reaching the gentler slopes of the ridgeline. And #3. Bring extra water for the ridgeline. It's a bad place to be running low.

[Tom]

Finally got around to uploading my vids and pics. Enjoy!

Day 1

Watson Lakes

Mossy Anderson Shoreline

Lower Upper Anderson Lake

Leaving Lower Upper Anderson

Traversing on Snow above Watson Lakes

Backpacker Joe Enjoying a Break

One of Many Pools Along the Traverse

Upper Watson Pano

Bacon Peak from Tarns

Arriving at Diobsud Lakes

Day 2

Upper Diobsud Pano

Jessica at Upper Diobsud Outlet

Past the Brushy Ramps, Preparing to Ascend

Brian and Lower Diobuds from Ascent

Tarns at ~4840'

The Steep Snow Gully to Ascend

Leaving Lake 5420'

Mike Helping Brian Safely Off the Snow Gully

Jessica Happy to Be Past the Gully

Diobsud Buttes in Distance

The Route Up

Jessica Scrambling

Unmapped Lake SE of Bacon Still Frozen

Views Opening Up

Scambling the Ridge

Approaching the False Summit

Alpenglow atop Bacon

Foggy Sunset

Day 3

Watson Lakes from Bacon (Twin Sisters in Distance)

Descending the Scary Glacier of Death

Baker in Distance

Glacial Rings

Swiss Cheese Glacier

Looking Back to Bacon Peak

Where is Wilderness Watch When You Need them?

Green and Bacon Laken

Arriving at Upper Pools

Outlet Channel

Waterfall

Pano of Upper Pools

Bacon Glacier

Bacon Glacier and Ledges

Waterflow

Bryan Shooting a Waterfall

Lower Pool

Love Bacon Laken Style

Leaving Upper Pools

Descending to Bacon Laken

Shangrila

Bryan at Bacon Laken

Traversing Bacon Laken

Mike Approaching Outlet

Green from Bacon Laken Outlet

Bacon Laken Outlet

Bacon Slab

Leaving Shangrila

Shadows Falling on Green

Mike Leading the Way Down to Green

Day 4

Green from Raft Launch

Getting Ready to Raft

Bacon Laken Outlet Waterfall

Rafting Green

Jessica and Mike

Mike Docking at Green

Packing Up

Green Lake from Outlet

Leaving Green

Arriving at Nert Lake

Arriving at Talus Tarn (Upper Nert)

Alpenglow on Interloper Peak

Glacier Peak from Camp

Day 5

Talus Tarn

Bacon and Green

Snow on Berdeen

Waterfall

Descending to Meadows below Berdeen

Meadow Pool and Wildflowers

Hagan from Berdeen Meadows

Berdeen Waterfall

Berdeen Waterfall and Pools

Above Falls to Lower Berdeen

Berdeen Outlet Waterfall

Zooming in to Upper Portion of Falls

Zooming in to Lower Portion of Falls

Arriving at Lower Berdeen

Lower Berdeen

Leaving Lower Berdeen

Bryan, Jessica, and Mike at Falls above Lower Berdeen

Arriving at Berdeen

Bryan and Mike at Berdeen

Berdeen from Camp

Day 6

Snow Flotilla on Berdeen

Snow Flotilla on Berdeen

Perhaps We Could Have Rafted Thru

Hagan and Lonesome

Traversing to Berdeen Inlet

Leaving Berdeen Inlet

Leaving Upper Berdeen

Outflow from East Hagan Glacier

Hagan and Steep Snowfield Exit (to Right)

Berdeen from Viewpoint

Upper Berdeen from Viewpoint

Shadows Falling on Hagan Glacier

Safely Above Hagan Glacier

Looking Back to Berdeen

The Bakers from Blum Camp

Hagan from Blum Camp

Snowking and Glacier Peak from Blum Camp

Triumph and Beyond from Blum Camp

Northern Pickets from Blum Camp

Terror from Blum Camp

Day 7

Baker, Vista, and Shuksan from Blum

Redoubt, Mox, Spickard, etc.from Blum

Northern Pickets from Blum

Hagan, Bacon, and Watson from Blum

Mystery Ridge and Lonesome Lake from Blum

4 labels

Whence We Came

Hither We Go

Uppermost Blum (5760)

Descending to Outlet Tarn

Baker and Gang at Outlet Tarn

Mt Blum from Outlet Tarn

Descending to Upper Blum

Mt. Blum from Upper Blum

Hagan from Lower Blum

Looks Like An Easier Route Down to Lower Blum

[Sore Feet]

Not going to cover much since the Swede did a pretty good job with the synopsis. This was my first time doing any sort of glacier / snow hiking and I had this image in my mind that it would be a lot more difficult than it was. The exposure in a couple places definitely pushed me well past my comfort zone - namely the Chossy Gully of Death and one spot on the climb up to the campsite on the shoulder of Blum - but the rest of it wasn't that bad considering some of the places I've gotten myself into when hunting down waterfalls. The big highlight of this trip for me was being able to finally lay eyes on the big waterfalls coming out of Berdeen and Green Lakes, while simultaneously the biggest disappointment was realizing I wouldn't be able to get anywhere near as close to them as I had thought I could. It certainly looks possible but navigating the terrain in that area is just so much more difficult than it appears on maps that I just didn't have the energy to expend. Definitely going to be back, but probably via a different route and more to focus on photography around the lakes rather than doing the whole traverse again (though I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to it). Three days on from getting home and my thighs are still killing me from the descent. A few pictures so far, more to come later:

Sunset on Bacon

Green

Sunrise on Hagan

Berdeen

[forest gnome]

reserved for caus I dint git go....

[Chief Joseph]

Cliff notes and pics? Also, where is this Berdeen place of which you speak? It's not in any of the 3 100 hikes books I own.

[Ingunn]

Aah, you survived a Mike & Tom Special! You must be pretty cool (for a Swede).

[forest gnome]

oh for gods sake chief....it's the same one I keep beggin u to look up....

[Backpacker Joe]

Reading this report, I think I made the right decision. Glad you guys made it and had a good time!

[Dayhike Mike]

BPJ, yep. There were many times in the trip when we would look at each other and say "Good thing BPJ bailed. He really wouldn't like this." Overall, we did great with everything considering the conditions. But time and time again we found ourselves commenting that "this was way easier last time".

[Backpacker Joe]

Did the Rafts and cramps and Axe work out for you guys alright Michael?

[BarbE]

Sounds like an epic trip and you're willing to do it again!

[SwedishHiker]

BPJ, I am sorry you had to bail, I would have liked having you along and enjoyed meeting you. Much appreciation for the loan of the rafts and the rest of the gear. We'll just have to meet up for a less traumatic hike.

[Backpacker Joe]

God dag, Hej. I'm sorry too, but after reading your report Im pretty sure I did the right thing. Glad my gear could make the trip with you guys.

[forest gnome]

.......