[Sadie's Driver]

Pugh is one of those magnificent peaks that you "just gotta' do!" And this absolutely picture-postcard day called us to 5300' of gain and 10+ miles of up.

Destination

Lake Metan and Pugh

We got started late - 9:30 a.m.

Cinching up!

Always begin at the start

Apologies, Joe, terrain and time were working against us. Driver had to be back in Seattle by 6:00 p.m., so we bailed before the summit - but we got close. I did this hike about 10 or 15 years ago, and I remembered it being a "quick hike." The memory fades! In any case - trail is in great shape. No snow to worry about. There were two groups ahead of us. We later learned, one group had camped at the lake. Trail starts right out with the upward movement. Some trees had slipped away and took some trail with it in spots - but easily negotiated.

Trail damage

Tree that took out trail

Washed out trail

We made relatively good time to the lake - less than 2 hours

Lake Metan

From the lake, its uphill to the boulder field - you're in forest shade all the way from the trailhead to the boulder field - which is a nice relief in the afternoon sun. Even though you gain good elevation to the boulder field, the switchbacks lessen the steepness. At the boulder field you finally break out of the forest and can easily see the next destination - Stujack Pass.

Stujack from edge of forest at boulder field

I didn't expect so many wildflowers this late into the season, but they were lovely.

Columbine(!)

Bluebells

Lupine

Penstemmon

Wildflowers - looking up to Stujack

On we hiked

Heading up to Stujack

and soon were at Stujack Pass

Glacier Peak Wilderness sign at Stujack

and then making our way on up to the "airy" part of the hike - but first the view from the Pass.

Baker and White Chuck from just above Stujack

We made it quite a way - about 4600' gain (to about 6400+) before we reached a turn around - but first lunch!

Sloan over Joe's left shoulder

Sloan up close

Mt. Rainier from Pugh

Looking up to final approach to summit

Dickerman and Forgotten in foreground

We watched a couple of guys coming down while we dined.

Hikers coming down off of Pugh

We probably could have made the summit with no problem, but we'll save it for another day. On our way out, we saw a relic (not you, Joe!) - something we hadn't seen on our way in.

Joe with old mining equipment

We were surprised on our way down Stujack to pass three different groups heading up - one guy with a dog. He seemed to think the dog would be ok to the summit. I took Sadie up to Stujack a couple of times - but we never summited. Hope all turned out ok. The closer we got to the lake, we saw a group of about 7 heading up - and this was at 3:00 p.m. - fortunately they were only headed to the Pass (didn't quite look prepared for a summit attempt anyway) and then further down, a solo guy heading in - seemed late - but he probably knew what he was doing. Meanwhile, Joe suffered from steepness in more than his knee.

Foot repair

Other than that, rather uneventful and we were back on the road before 4:00 p.m. and back in Seattle before 6:00 p.m. Lovely day and great company - thanks, Joe!!! We'll bag another one.

[Joe]

Trip stats: 10.7 miles with 4400 feet elevation gain. A couple minor corrections to the trip report It took us 50 minutes to hike to Lake Metan and just under 2 hours to hike to the boulder field below Stujack Pass. Overall a great day in the mountains. Maybe we will summit next time, an earlier start is probably needed. A few of my photos.

Lake-Metan

Sadies-Driver

On-the-trail-above-Stujack-

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