Forum Index > Trip Reports > June 26-29, 2009 A Pasayten, Monument Creek, Bulger Slam
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John Morrow
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John Morrow
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PostTue Jun 30, 2009 9:56 am 
Scrambles: Blackcap Mountain 8397' Pass Butte 8140' Lost Peak 8464' Monument Peak 8592' Lake Mountain 8371' Having plans for something in NCNP; Dicey, Roald, Randy, and donb met me along the North Cascades Hwy for a few days of working on the high hundred lists. When they arrived, they told me that the Marblemount Ranger Station informed them of an impending storm. So we headed for Monument Creek in the Pasayten as our Plan B. In hindsight, there was some speculation that they just did not want us in their park! June 26: Starting at 12:30 PM, it was a long warm climb, 4600 vertical feet, through Pistol Pass to the Lake of the Woods Basin on the ever-disappearing Monument Creek trail. We had enough time for fitting in water gathering, grub, and a bit of BS'ing until dark. June 28: Off by a casual 8:00 AM, we traversed the pretty basins below the east side of Lake Mountain 8371' . We expected easy travel toward Shellrock Pass where we each had some ideas of peaks to pursue. Scenic, yes, but Easy it did not turn out to be! 3 Basins, and 1000 shin and leg scratches later, we knew that a trip north to Ptarmigan Peak was out of the question.
unmapped pond below Lake
unmapped pond below Lake
Pasayten Wilderness, WA
Pasayten Wilderness, WA
Three of us had yet to scramble Blackcap Mountain 8397' and the other two graciously indulged us by accepting it as a consolation for the long travel to Shellrock Pass! The final 500 vertical feet of the NE ridge was quite fun and solid class 2 scrambling.
Blackcap's East Ridge
Blackcap's East Ridge
Pasayten Wilderness, WA
Pasayten Wilderness, WA
Dicey and donb with Lago behind
Dicey and donb with Lago behind
Descending east ridge
Descending east ridge
We were already behind schedule and knew we had to get Lost Peak 8464' out of the way on this trip because it is indeed a lost in space kinda mountain. So down to Shellrock Pass we traversed, and over to Butte Pass we headed via trail. Fortunately, a couple of short butt glissades cooled our scraped bare legs and hastened our travel. However, we simply fell more behind as this day went through this big open country. From the pass it was a long, gentle, scenic, alpine ridgeline frolic over Pass Butte 8142' to the top of Lost Peak 8464'
East ridge below skyline
East ridge below skyline
Pasayten Wilderness, WA
Pasayten Wilderness, WA
Pass Butte to Lost Peak
Pass Butte to Lost Peak
Lago to Ptarmigan skyline
Lago to Ptarmigan skyline
Top of Lost
1 label
Top of Lost
Now it was simply getting late. Two things had to happen for a safe and reasonable return to camp: first, we needed a smooth descent route off Lost Pk. to the Monument Creek Trail in the valley bottom, and second, we needed the Monument Creek trail to still be recognizable. Fortunately, we found both! The main west-facing gully of Lost proved a great descent route by first heading down the gentle sw ridge, then dropping off the ridge northwesterly toward the gully over easy soft plunge-stepable gravels. Then we went into the gully boot skiing on the last bit of snow, finally linking the sparse grasses of the avalanche runout. When it got too steep we went skiers right briefly into the bordering open lodgepole forest. The wildflowers were grand in the avy meadows.
Boot ski in Lost gully!
Boot ski in Lost gully!
Meadow descent frolick
Meadow descent frolick
Cooling the feet in Monument Cr.
Cooling the feet in Monument Cr.
Lost with descent gully
Lost with descent gully
And alas, the old trail was recognizable on the opposite side of the meadow. It was a bit tough to find beneath jack straw piles of blowdown, but followable all the way back to camp even in the darkness of a post 10:30 PM finish! June 29: Slept in for a 9:00 AM start wondering if that meant another late return! We first climbed to the saddle on the south ridge of Lake Mountain, and traversed the southwest side of the mountain to the basin separating Monument and Lake Peaks. Crossing the creek at about 6500 feet, we spied a short gully to a steep treed slope that cut through the east-facing cliff of Monument.
Key ledge access: lower left tree patch
Key ledge access: lower left tree patch
This ramp ran from 6600 feet to about 6800 feet and led us right up to the long enjoyable class 2 ambling and scrambling of the southeast ridge of Monument, over mostly solid granitic slabs and blocks. The last 500 vertical feet to the east summit was a heap of rubble, but the final rib connecting the east and west peaks was a fun and airy class 2/3 scramble to the true summit of Monument Peak 8592'
SE ridge of Monument
SE ridge of Monument
Monument, final class 2/3 step
Monument, final class 2/3 step
Dicey descending the step
Dicey descending the step
From here we scoped our route up the broad west slope of Lake and then descended back to the creek basin the way we climbed.
Leftmost gully route up Lake Mtn
Leftmost gully route up Lake Mtn
Key gully accessing monument SE ridge
Key gully accessing monument SE ridge
Crossing back over the creek we began a surprisingly solid and easy scramble, over water polished granite, in the northernmost of the big gullies coming off this west slope. Two thirds up the gully we diagonaled up and right to gain the final gentle spur that led us to the summit of Lake Mountain 8371' More solid scrambling on big gentle granite slabs was to be had on either side of the uppermost snowpatch in the picture.
Roald on Lake's fun class 2/3 slabs
Roald on Lake's fun class 2/3 slabs
Summit of Lkae
Summit of Lkae
Carru and Lago in distance
Carru and Lago in distance
The final treat of the day was the descent of the solid blocky granite of the east ridge of Lake Mountain the led us back into the basin of camp.
Lake East ridge descent
Lake East ridge descent
Lake's east ridge
Lake's east ridge
For the scramblers out there, this is a great class 2/3 route, over solid blocks and steps, on a high scenic mountain! Home to camp before dark! Only 8:00PM! June 30: Packed up at 8:00 we began the long 11 or 12 miles out, discovering that descending the 4600 vertical back to the car was far less painful than we expected.
East ridge in distance from Pistol Pass
East ridge in distance from Pistol Pass
Last look at three of 'em
Last look at three of 'em
We didn't get our big NCNP traverse plans accomplished but none the less had a fine weekend in the high and scenic alpine country of the Pasayten Wilderness! And I couldn't have done it with a more fun, diverse, and interesting group of partners! Thanks guys!

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”-Mary Oliver “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” ― MLK Jr.
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DIYSteve
seeking hygge



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DIYSteve
seeking hygge
PostTue Jun 30, 2009 10:04 am 
Lovely!

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wildernessed
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PostTue Jun 30, 2009 10:27 am 
up.gif Damn sweet, I will have to refer back to this in the late summer - fall. Was this another trail run ? hockeygrin.gif

Living in the Anthropocene
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BeyondLost
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PostTue Jun 30, 2009 10:31 am 
John, Great trip and pics. up.gif up.gif up.gif Sorry I did not get to meet you but it sure was nice to see Dicey, Roald, Randy, and donb. Bob

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John Morrow
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John Morrow
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PostTue Jun 30, 2009 10:38 am 
wildernessed wrote:
:up: Damn sweet, I will have to refer back to this in the late summer - fall. Was this another trail run ? :hockeygrin:
Hi wildernessed, Unfortunately, this was strictly a boot trip. My first time this season in my crampon compatible boots, thinking we'd be on snow/glacier in NCNP. Thus I got a seriously bruised left big toe from the shrunken leather! Hope I don't lose the nail. no pain, no Bulger gain!
Toe Jam!
Toe Jam!

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”-Mary Oliver “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” ― MLK Jr.
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John Morrow
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PostTue Jun 30, 2009 10:41 am 
BeyondLost wrote:
John, Great trip and pics. :up: :up: :up: Sorry I did not get to meet you but it sure was nice to see Dicey, Roald, Randy, and donb. Bob
Hello Bob, Would have loved to have met you, folks were wildly speculating on your hospitality, so I hope I didn't miss out too much! Thanks, John

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”-Mary Oliver “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” ― MLK Jr.
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Dayhike Mike
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Dayhike Mike
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PostTue Jun 30, 2009 10:51 am 
Great TR, guys... A lot of really nice peaks you bagged there. up.gif up.gif

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke "Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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RichP
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PostTue Jun 30, 2009 11:01 am 
Awesome trip. It's good to see that the Monument Ck trail is accessible. I've still got to get back up there for Lake and lost.

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Slide Alder Slayer
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Slide Alder Slayer
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PostTue Jun 30, 2009 11:01 am 
Excellent trail report!

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BeyondLost
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BeyondLost
Crazy Bob
PostTue Jun 30, 2009 12:14 pm 
John, Tried to offer drinks but all I could sell was Beyond Lost water for their bottles. lol.gif Went over to the river and talked. They had a 4 hour drive ahead yet and looked a tad whipped smile.gif so had to hit the road. Course I did not look too good myself as I had just finished taking out and disposing of a big dead aspen along the driveway before they arrived. Do love to play with my chains saws. hockeygrin.gif Drop by yourself if in the neighborhood. Bob Edit: You're going to lose the nail. agree.gif

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Tom_Sjolseth
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PostTue Jun 30, 2009 12:26 pm 
Nice work. Did they replace the bridge over Eureka Ck, or did you ford it?

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John Morrow
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John Morrow
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PostTue Jun 30, 2009 1:49 pm 
Tom_Sjolseth wrote:
Nice work. Did they replace the bridge over Eureka Ck, or did you ford it?
Hi Tom, No bridge, knee deep and a little swift, no problem with a stick and crocs/tevas. Did cool off my painful toe! I get sad that our society and resultant gov't doesn't value trails enough to respect the huge original investment in dollars and sweat it took to build that trail. I hate to see it lost and returning into the hillslope. We'll never get it back. It is not the fault of the good hardworking trail folks out of the Methow Valley Ranger District, there are simply far too few of them to get it all done. Hey, indulge my fragile ego and rate SW ridge of Corteo a solid class three, at least! It felt that way for me anyway, going solo, and did have to descend past a few rappel slings after all (probably more dangerous than the downclimbing)! Thanks for the beta on Graybeard, wanting to get up there. John

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”-Mary Oliver “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” ― MLK Jr.
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Tom_Sjolseth
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PostTue Jun 30, 2009 2:11 pm 
OK, then I won't tell you that I "climbed" almost the entire thing with two ski poles in trekking position. hockeygrin.gif Thanks for the info on the trail. That makes getting into Trailblazer and Three Pinnacles an easier proposition.

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sooperfly
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PostTue Jun 30, 2009 2:11 pm 
John Morrow wrote:
Tom_Sjolseth wrote:
Nice work. Did they replace the bridge over Eureka Ck, or did you ford it?
It is not the fault of the good hardworking trail folks out of the Methow Valley Ranger District, there are simply far too few of them to get it all done. John
Hope you don't mind me butting in here? We've discussed this area in other threads before...... For all intents and purposes, this trail was abandoned when the ranger districts combined many years ago. It's gone for good along with a lot of other stuff in the Pasayten. I'd bet the location of a couple good fish'n spots the bridge and the trail system beyond will never come up for maintenance again. Thanks for the nice report and information! Looks like a good time. up.gif

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John Morrow
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John Morrow
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PostTue Jun 30, 2009 2:38 pm 
Tom_Sjolseth wrote:
OK, then I won't tell you that I "climbed" almost the entire thing with two ski poles in trekking position. :hockeygrin: Thanks for the info on the trail. That makes getting into Trailblazer and Three Pinnacles an easier proposition.
Definitely take the trekking poles into Three Pinnacles, you'll want 'em! J

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”-Mary Oliver “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” ― MLK Jr.
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