[Justus S.]

August 16, 2008 Destinations: Bulls Tooth (6840+), Doughgob, and Lemool (6284) I had been wanting to visit all the lakes and peaks in the Bulls Tooth area for quite some time. I have looked over to it from so many different perspectives. Well, I finally made the trip.

Bulls Tooth area1

Bull Tooth area2

Bulls Tooth area3

Bulls Tooth area4

The start for this trip was from the Mill Creek Road on the back side of the Stevens Pass Ski area. Mike Collins, Iron (Mike, whom we both had never met), and I where in for the trip. The drive up Mill Creek Road went pretty smooth for the first 4.3 miles where there is a gate off to the right, then the “fun” began. Here the road began to deteriorate quickly and was a bit over what a normal car should be on. Anyway, once you start something like this it becomes a bit hard to turn around. I managed to tensely coach the car up another 150 or so of vert where there was a place to turn around, whew. I definitely would caution one from driving a normal car past the ~4.3mile mark, a subie would probably be ok, Suv no problems.

road

We commenced our hiking at 5:45am, yes, it was quite early, but we wanted to beat the heat on one of the warmer days of the year. It was pretty warm already as we walked up the road. Maybe ten minutes or so passed when we saw a ski area boundary sign (thanks GO&G). A truck was also pulled off to the side here. The shortcut trail to the PCT was easy to spot (~4100). While hiking up the trail we could smell smoke and hoped we would not have to breath this all day. The trail was in good shape and easy to follow to the PCT. We passed Lake Susan Jane and headed up to the intersection with the Icicle Creek trail above Lake Josephine. It was then mostly downhill from here to the intersection with the Chain Lakes Trail. Luckily, we left the smoke smell behind, and it would remain so for the rest of the day. Hiking this early in the morning we passed several overnight parties some still sleeping in.

Josephine from above

On the Chain Lakes Trail now, we grunted our way up. One plus to doing this as a day trip, we didn't have to lug heavy packs up this section. We arrived at the lovely Chain Lakes where the fish greeted us as they where jumping for their morning meal. Bulls Tooth rose above the lakes to the east. It was very pleasant except for the bugs that would bother us when we stopped to rest. With Bulls Tooth in sight we headed for it by traversing slopes on the south side of the middle lake, not recommended approach. After getting past the lake we began scrambling up toward the summit. Unfortunately, or not, we ended up on the benchmarked summit. It wasn't a big a deal because the true summit was just a short scramble to the east. From the summit we could see the smoke filled valleys in the direction of the Jack Creek Fire. The Bulls Tooth Spire was striking from up here. We would not be climbing the spire, but it sure looked like it would be a nice little rock climb.

Lower Chain and Bulls Tooth

upper Chain

Traversing above the Chains

BM

Bulls Tooth Spire from near Bulls Tooth

zoom of Bulls Tooth Spire

From Bulls Tooth

Looking toward the chants, smoke filled valleys

Daniel

Cristos and Sloan

Chains

Looking toward Thunder

some toothy grins on Bulls Tooth

Doughgob from Bulls Tooth

Dropping down from Bulls Tooth

From Bulls Tooth a descent was made to intersect the trail below the Chain-Doelle saddle. Upon reaching the saddle the view down to the Doelle Lakes was striking. I think the best view of the day. We then dropped down toward the Doelle Lakes. The area around the lakes is fairly open and there are a number of paths that head to various places. From the lakes it was an easy trip to the summits of Doughgob. We thought there would be a register but all we found was a pencil lying on the ground. The Chiwaukum Range dominates the skyline to the east. Perhaps the best views from the summit are all the lovely, green and open valleys and ridges in the area.

zoom

Doelle from saddle

Chiwaukums

Doughgob summit2

Green Valleys

Mike heading up Doughgob

Bulls Tooth from Doughgob

mule creek valley

green ridges

heading down

The heat of the day was beating down on us in full as we made our way back to the Chain Lakes. It was hot. At the Chains we said hi to some backpackers, filtered water, and then headed up to Lemool. On the way to the summit we saw footprints, hmm... Upon reaching the summit we discovered that earlier in the day Dick (Kangaroo) Kegel had been up. It was his 94th bc peak. The views of the Chain Lake where pretty nice.

Doelle Lakes

Bulls Tooth from on the descent to the Chains

Looking at the spire

hiking back to the Chains

Chains and Lemool

We had reached our final summit for the day where usually the elevation for the day is done, but the days elevation gain was not over, unfortunately. We descended back the trail and down to the Icicle. As we pushed up the 1300' of gain to the PCT Collins and I were dragging pretty good. Iron, obviously in better shape, was fairing much better. The sight of the car was a very enjoyable sight after this long, hot day. Just one more thing to go and that was to get the car down. This went without incident, whew.

Chiwaukums

Bulls Tooth(left of center) from Lemool

toward Thunder

Fire flaring up near Glacier Pk

Monte Cristos and Josephine

Chains and Bulls Tooth from Lemool

Iron on Lemool

Notes: Trip time 12.75hrs. The bugs where plent annoying. If you have plans to go up I'd wait a while. Used trail shoes for the whole trip, recommended. No need for an ice axe.

map of area

[Opus]

That's such a nice little set of lakes. I went up there last summer. Did you guys get to the tooth with the register or the one USGS calls the true summit? I found the register last year and despite it being in place for a few years there were very few entries.

[cartman]

Great pics, Justus. That's really nice terrain and scenery--looks like it would be an ideal Sept. trip.

[puzzlr]

Great report Justus. 13 hours is a long time to be hiking on a hot day like that!

[Get Out and Go]

[Andy D.]

Nice work Looks like a fun trip. I was wondering how bad that Mill Creek Rd was, thanks for the info.

[Mike Collins]

[Opus]

Thanks for the info! There are so many teeth up there it's very confusing. I'm glad I muddled my way up to the one with the register, though I didn't find the marker. When I first arrived at Chain lakes I was sure "Bulls Tooth Spire" was the correct one despite my compass bearings. So much so that I went to the notch between Chain and Doelle to get a better look at it.

[Mike Collins]

Read Trailcat's writeup with wta. The true Bull's Tooth involves exposure not found on the Back Court highpoint. Bull's Tooth looks exactly as it sounds. It is the isolated spire off from the main ridge.

[wildernessed]

Nice pics, a single summit is not enough ?, I don't think I will ever understand the Bulls Tooth controversy, "Bull Tooth is not the real Bulls Tooth".

[Mike Collins]

It gets more confusing...Today I went to the Suzallo Library to look at maps. I was looking for any possible mistake with the name "Doughgod Creek." Jeff Howbert must have thought the name was a typo with the intent being "Doughgob Creek." Not so at all. Doughgod Creek was named exactly that by A.H. Sylvester. I researched three different dictionaries of western words. Doughgod is the term used for dough fried in a pan by miners and foresters. It is probably a corruption of the word "doughgood". One map from 1934 actually had the name Dogwood Creek for this same creek. The name Doughgod was on a 1927 map though so it is the first name given for the previously unnamed watercourse.

[Get Out and Go]

It's a vortex of confusion, I tell you. Don't forget the pronunciation debate of "Doelle".

[Justus S.]

This little tidbit of info from Howbert's site.

[Mike Collins]

Western Words": A Dictionary of the Range, Cow Camp, and Trail by Ramon Adams lists doughgod as "A slang term for biscuit." The American Thesaurus of Slang by Lester Berrey in 1942 lists doughgod as "biscuits made of fermented bread." A Dictionary of the Old West 1850-1900 by Peter Watts lists doughgods as "a cowboy name for biscuits or a loggers name of camp bread." Rather than banter about what sounds right I went to the library, blew the dust off some dictionaries, and looked up the word. I also reviewed the maps extant for that area. The 1901 map which I looked at was actually printed in 1927. The topography was done in 1901. Sylvester was in Washington in 1897 working as a topographer. It is possible that Hitchman had his dates wrong. It is also possible that with the later printing the name was added onto the previously unnamed watercourse. The book which is authored by Hitchman was compiled by people after his death. The redactors who sifted through his notes may have made an error too. The fact remains that doughgod is a word which is albeit antiquated but at one time was in the parlance of people working outdoors. Doughgob is a modern fabrication.