Forum Index > Trip Reports > Nearly Trapper's Peak 08/19/06
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nuclear_eggset
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nuclear_eggset
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PostSun Aug 20, 2006 10:37 am 
Nearly Trapper's Peak North Cascades - Marblemount 10.0 miles, ~3340 feet cumulative gain (per GPS) 5:40 (40 minute break) Special thanks to silly_traveler for having me along on this trip! And extra special thanks to her for driving. It was a long, but enjoyable drive, out Highway 20, to a long, and very bumpy five mile gravel road that my car would never have cleared. There were six or eight cars in the very small parking lot, and a few folks getting ready to head up by the time we got to the trail head at 11:00am. After the stints I'm used to doing along 90, it seemed fairly deserted! The first mile of the trail is nearly flat, but the second mile starts to climb moderately. Here we discovered that silly_traveler and I have very different hiking speeds. smile.gif I attemped to keep up over that second mile of climbing, but she can bound up over mountains like they're smooth, flat trails with nary a rock in site. I, unfortunately, am not so speedy. My attempts did little but over-heat and exhaust myself, so when the dizziness set in, I had to slow down my pace, spending much of the rest uphill trip just trying to catch up. What little I remember of that attempt to catch up comes primarily in the crazy ascents, but based on the return trip, that seemed to be a good descriptor of the trail anyway! The unyielding climb was the fairly normal rocky, root strewn trail that's found all over the place around here up to the point of the fork that splits that paths going down to Thornton Lakes or up to Trapper's Peak where we met up again and snapped a few photos. From there, the previously well maintained trail becomes quickly less well maintained, and confusing. I got very mildly lost a number of times attempting to find the trail in the small maze at the bluff looking over the lake, and found that the trail is in many places grown over, and only by pushing through the plant life do you come through to see the trail appear on the other side again. The trail also is much rockier, has virtually no shade (which was pleasant in a way, as it reminded me of hiking in Joshua Tree and my first backpacking trip in the Angeles National Forest), and quickly becomes exposed to sheer dropoffs. A scramble up a rock wall, including wedging between two banks of rocks and climbing up hand over foot was my first experience of the kind, making me doubly glad for collapsable poles that I could put on my pack whenever needed, and having at least taken one or two rock climbing classes so I had some idea how to look for handholds and footholds. Soon the trail has you climbing along a ridge, cresting one small peak after another and you can see, in the distance, Trapper's Peak in front of you, and the Thornton Lakes a long, long, Long way down below you. The small peaks become narrower and narrower, while at the same time becoming rockier and rockier, and the trail becomes less and less obvious, at least to someone with my level of experience on these sorts of trails. Once I got minorly lost, at the second to last peak prior to Trapper's Peak, lost the trail, and while looking around for it, thought I spied it down below the rock. Uncertain how to get down there, I finagled my way down, and over to the patch that looked like the trail heading back up. Turns out it wasn't the trail, just a strip of dirt that looked like one, but it certainly wasn't passable. Only, my way down didn't look very passable as a way back up, and it was a pretty sheer drop anywhere else. Oh, did I mention I have a fear of heights? A few deep breaths later, shoving the "how the heck am I going to get out of here? no one knows I'm down here" fears out of my mind, I managed with only one scary foot slip, to make it back up to the trail. I did look over the rocky peak and find that, though the rock face sloped precariously (to my eyes), it could be walked over and the trail appeared on the other side, standing on the rock, the only thought that came to mind was that I really didn't want to fall to my death. Or, more precisely, I didn't want to fall to my shredded, bloody, and broken intense pain. So I turned around, found a kinda flat part not too far away, ate lunch while waiting for silly_traveler, who did make it all the way up to the peak (I look forward to her pictures! smile.gif ), asked some folks we passed earlier on the trail to let her know where I had stopped and why, and took some pictures while trying not to look down too much. The trip down was much easier for me than the trip up. I was able to keep up easily most of the time, though fell behind once climbing down the rock outcropping and injured my knee on the way out from there, and then slipped into the creek on the way out (mmm... a wet boot is a heavy boot).
The creek to cross to stay on the trail - and the one I slipped into on the way back.
The creek to cross to stay on the trail - and the one I slipped into on the way back.
The rock climbing section of the trail, where you go up, instead of across.
The rock climbing section of the trail, where you go up, instead of across.
Thornton Lakes as seen from above.
Thornton Lakes as seen from above.
Upper and Lower Thornton Lakes
Upper and Lower Thornton Lakes
Trapper's Peak in the distance, and the peak that I stopped at and nearly got stuck at in the foreground.
Trapper's Peak in the distance, and the peak that I stopped at and nearly got stuck at in the foreground.
The exposed trail up to the peaks; normally, it is not this easy to see.
The exposed trail up to the peaks; normally, it is not this easy to see.
And hopefully silly_traveler will have more to add soon too. smile.gif

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Kat
Turtle Hiker



Joined: 05 Oct 2003
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Kat
Turtle Hiker
PostSun Aug 20, 2006 11:24 am 
nuclear_eggset wrote:
Here we discovered that silly_traveler and I have very different hiking speeds. smile.gif I attemped to keep up over that second mile of climbing, but she can bound up over mountains like they're smooth, flat trails with nary a rock in site. I, unfortunately, am not so speedy. My attempts did little but over-heat and exhaust myself, so when the dizziness set in, I had to slow down my pace, spending much of the rest uphill trip just trying to catch up.
Just wanted to say, I can relate!!! I've got short legs, and that, coupled with a HOT day ratchets me down to a turtle's crawl.... And the dizziness thing (usually coupled with nausea) ain't that much fun! But I always persevere up.gif Perhaps we need to start a new club - THC - Turtle Hiker's Club lol.gif

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ActionBetty
Im a dirty hippie!



Joined: 06 Jul 2003
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ActionBetty
Im a dirty hippie!
PostSun Aug 20, 2006 12:18 pm 
Nice TR, I can so relate to the slowness and the fear of heights.. wink.gif

"If you're not living good, you gotta travel wide"...Bob Marley
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silly_traveler
~ roaming ~



Joined: 04 Jun 2006
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Location: Bellevue
silly_traveler
~ roaming ~
PostSun Aug 20, 2006 2:24 pm 
Thanks for writing the trail report nuclear_eggset! up.gif I like this trail very much, the creek crossing was a little tricky, and the climb to the peak was even more tricky.... but just keep on heading up and eventually you'll end up at the top smile.gif There were several instances that I thought.... perhaps I'll just stay here, good views here. But very glad that I went all the way to the top. Nice view of the Pickets at the summit up.gif This has now been added to my list of favorite hikes! Kat- I have short legs too! biggrin.gif They're seriously short! nuclear- I didn't know you have a fear of heights! I like hikes that go up and up, higher the better.... maybe I should of mentioned that.

♫ You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. And you're the one who will decide where you'll go. Oh the places you'll go. - Dr. Seuss
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nuclear_eggset
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nuclear_eggset
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PostSun Aug 20, 2006 2:53 pm 
smile.gif We both got good views. smile.gif

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Andrew
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Andrew
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PostSun Aug 20, 2006 4:05 pm 
Nice report, nuclear! I went to Trappers last year after visiting Sourdough and must say I prefer this. It is not as grueling and provides a great view and that extra bit of airiness at the top. Next time I go, I'd like to ramble on the ridge further towards Triumph.

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