Forum Index > Trip Reports > Glacier Basin (MLH) 10/13/07
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Layback
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Joined: 16 Mar 2007
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Layback
Cascades Expatriate
PostSun Oct 14, 2007 12:31 pm 
TR on my Website Here NWHikers Present: Detekt and Layback Non-NWHikers: Susan and Susie Yesterday morning the plan was to meet at the Pinnacle Lake TH @ 7:00 am with the intention of doing the scramble route up Pilchuck. When we got there we realized that we should have checked the National Forest website to see if there were any closed roads. The final 2 miles of the road to the lake was closed. Feeling rather lame and still waking up, we turned our attention towards Montecristo (and a 4-mile road approach). I know - it makes no sense, but we were really pleased we made this decision. It turned out to be an incredible day. We started down the road at about 8:00 am with incredible light. As we impatiently made the walk down the road, the light slowly changed and became more contrasty. Still, we managed to get some decent pics above the town site.
Looking up towards Cadet and Foggy Peak
Looking up towards Cadet and Foggy Peak
Looking up towards Cadet and Foggy Peak
Looking up towards Cadet and Foggy Peak
Looking up towards Cadet and Foggy Peak
Looking up towards Cadet and Foggy Peak
Looking up towards Cadet and Foggy Peak
Looking up towards Cadet and Foggy Peak
Del Campo Peak?
Del Campo Peak?
Del Campo Peak?
Del Campo Peak?
At one point, we came to a scree gulley that we considered scrambling, but decided not to because we weren't totally sure that we'd get the views we were hoping to from the top of the ridge, so we headed up to the falls.
Susie, Detekt, Susan and Cascade talk it over...
Susie, Detekt, Susan and Cascade talk it over...
Waterfall
Waterfall
Waterfall
Waterfall
The trail above the falls gets a little dicey, especially when wet. In a few places it was nice have fixed ropes to use as a hand-line. (We found them particularly helpful on the descent later). Unfortunately, Susie has been having some troubles with her knee - she has been recovering from tendonitis ever since she walked in the Susan G Koman 3 Day. Today she thought it would be wise to head down so as not to jeapordize our upcoming trip to Nepal. Susan went down with her and Detekt and I continued upwards. If you have never been to Glacier Basin, it is the most amazing place. After the trail ascends the side of a ravine through brush, it pops you out into an ampitheatre of peaks (and a stream), the most notable of which are Cadet, Montecristo Peak and Wilmans. We took the time we needed to get some pics and then headed down the trail again to meet the girls and head out.
Stream and Montecristo Peak
Stream and Montecristo Peak
Stream Near Glacier Basin
Stream Near Glacier Basin
Trail to Glacier Basin
Trail to Glacier Basin
Avalanches
Avalanches
Stream and Columbia
Stream and Columbia
Glacier Basin
Glacier Basin
Glacier Basin
Glacier Basin
Back in the townsite, Detekt and I just couldn't resist playing...
Joe, Derek and Cascade Having Some Fun with the Old Railroad Turntable
Joe, Derek and Cascade Having Some Fun with the Old Railroad Turntable

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wamtngal
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wamtngal
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PostSun Oct 14, 2007 1:00 pm 
Love the "Glacier Basin" shot - peaks always look so much more emphasized with a light dusting of snow. up.gif

Opinions expressed here are my own.
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GeoTom
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PostSun Oct 14, 2007 1:07 pm 
Layback wrote:
If you have never been to Glacier Basin, it is the most amazing place.
I have not, and I should sometime. Like the clouds in this one:

Knows literally nothing
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detekt
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PostSun Oct 14, 2007 1:09 pm 
Here are some of my pics from yesturday. This trip is 13.5 miles and around 2300 vert feet of gain. We only saw 2 people above the waterfall. It's nice that a place as awesome as glacier basin can be so quiet (at least yesturday).
_W7J0588-2
_W7J0588-2
_W7J0633-2
_W7J0633-2
_W7J0640-2
_W7J0640-2
_W7J0661-2
_W7J0661-2
_W7J0666-2
_W7J0666-2
_W7J0683-2
_W7J0683-2
_W7J0768-3
_W7J0768-3
Can some ID these peaks, I'm thinking Cadet (L), Monte Cristo (C), and Wilmans Peak (R)?
_W7J0792-2
3 labels
_W7J0792-2

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Layback
Cascades Expatriate



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Layback
Cascades Expatriate
PostSun Oct 14, 2007 1:47 pm 
First of all... Holy Fisheye Batman!!!
detekt wrote:
Can some ID these peaks, I'm thinking Cadet (L), Monte Cristo (C), and Wilmans Peak (R)?
_W7J0792-2
3 labels
_W7J0792-2
Secondly, I think that's right for the peaks. BTW, the Wilman Spire that we were ogling goes at 5.6! Totally doable!

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the Zachster
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PostSun Oct 14, 2007 5:24 pm 
Looks like you guys had a great day too! Great pics. My favorites are the waterfall close up and the B&W. When I saw the turnstile pic I thought Susie was just making you do some calf stretching...she really ought to learn to leave work at work... lol.gif

"May I always be the kind of person my dog thinks I am"
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Sabahsboy
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PostMon Oct 15, 2007 7:02 pm 
You guys....a job well done! Great photos and a great place to take photos. Nearly made in there one, hot, late August afternoon. Ran out of time and my poor pup broke a toenail, a bit more serious than Paris Hilton snapping her.....er....whatever. Had planned to go this year...but...lousy road and Sauk crossing (for doggies) plus long hike back and forth, et al. And...all those lovely, cloudy, grumpy Sundays of summer '07. The two best weekends of summer? I was at Cleveland. Oh...the river don't burn no more.

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Layback
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Layback
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PostMon Oct 15, 2007 7:30 pm 
If the weather gets nice this weekend, I am sure there will be little change in the color. Saturday is supposed to be nice - you should hit it. Every time I go in there I wonder why I don't spend more time there. The place is severely underrated. BTW, if you have a ORV, they are okay to be used back there. I spoke with someone who owns a cabin back there as he was unloading a quad and it sounds like they are okay to be used with the recent washouts (if they weren't before). From the looks of the tracks we saw, ORVs have been used frequently there recently. Thanks for the kind words on the pics. Detekt is the man when it comes to photography. He coached me this weekend on some of the things I was doing wrong with panoramas and helped me unterstand the secrets of the HDR.

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Sabahsboy
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PostMon Oct 15, 2007 8:40 pm 
Gotta commitment with firm's charity fundraiser for Sat. It is outside, tho...so, we are hoping for good weather, too. Might get to break away for some sort of outing. Sunday, if weather "holds" is another tempting thought. My fear at the Sauk crossing in June was the dogs would wash away in the high water. Crossing on the logs might not be great for the pups....sounds like crossing is now do-able. When I relocated to NW, May, 1973, and for some time thereafter, the road was still useable and made a nice drive to old Monte Cristo. The hike to the Basin was very easy...I think the steep part has become slick from years of use. One time I went up there in spring and even sketched some...once over the "hump" of the steep part, the entire area was deep in snow and appeared mid-winter, tho I was shirtless (I would not present that front any longer, the years caught up). LOL! For several, recent years I went up the road for fun walks with the dogs, often stopping at a turn-off to a camp or a side "wagon road" to the river (there was a make-do partial structure someone had erected beside the bank. It was nearly washed away by summer, 2006.). You can get some nice photos from those two locations. Or, just go on to "town".

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Layback
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Layback
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PostMon Oct 15, 2007 9:28 pm 
I drove in last year myself for a climb of Foggy Peak. I didn't totally apreciate the fact that we were able to do that until this year. Is it just me or is anyone else getting really sick of closed roads and lack of funding? In any case, I think your dogs would be a-okay if the weather holds for Sunday. Our 3-year old black lab walked across a shallow section near the log crossing that is marked with a orange ribbon (at the junction with the Gothic Basin Trail). Don't get suckered into going further downstream. There is a sucker boot path that goes to nowhere.

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Sabahsboy
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PostTue Oct 16, 2007 3:57 pm 
Monte Cristo and beyond
Thank you, Layback. We may try it. If there is heavy rain this week, crossing Sauk may be out of the question. Oh...I am sick of the closures and trying to figure out what I can and cannot do. I won't get on my soap box, tho. Needless to say, perhaps some needling of Congress might get some thoughts moving through slumberous minds in Senate and House about the plight of NW (they think we are silly and spoiled kids and figure sending the cash on to New Orleans a more moral function...then they don't do that, either). Perhaps posing as an out of work logger...or, better, a failing saw mill operator, may give a little leverage. Climbers, hikers and scenery seekers are not what Congress thinks of as a necessary part of life to direct funding. Kids are...sometimes! I bet a $1.4 million Fed interpretive center at Big Four...even at Monte Cristo (and a new road) would move faster! Ya! Write your Congressman and demand $$ for interpretive centers at various "critical" historic and environmentally important sites....it might start a movement!

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