Forum Index > Trip Reports > Waptus Pass Loop July 2-5, 2011
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gottahike1
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gottahike1
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PostThu Jul 07, 2011 3:25 pm 
Waptus Pass Loop. July 2-5, 2011. Distance 21 miles. Every 4th of July, I head to the mountains with my faithful canine companion, Galen, to escape the noise of fireworks. Galen is dreadfully afraid of loud noises, so it’s a good excuse to hit the trail.
Galen is happy to avoid fireworks
Galen is happy to avoid fireworks
This year, finding a destination was a bit of a challenge due to the snow level. After some research, I decided upon the Waptus River Trail, with a loop up to the Polallie Ridge Trail as described in 100 Hikes in Washington’s Alpine Lakes (3rd ed.). My friend and her dog joined us for a three-night backpacking trip, and we arrived at the trail head around 2:00 on Saturday afternoon. It was a busy place, with a lot of people enjoying the river and glorious sunny weather, but once we started up the trail, we only passed 2 people on horses, who had turned around due to too much windfall for the horses to cross. They were the last people we would see until Monday evening. The plan was to hike the loop as described in the book, which goes counter-clockwise, first heading to Waptus Lake, then up the Quick Creek Trail to Polallie Ridge. Thanks to the NFS website and a very helpful nwhikers.net member, I knew that accessing Waptus Lake would require a rather significant fording of the river, but that could be avoided by going to Quick Creek Camp, which is also on the lake. So off we went, in good spirits, feeling good to be hiking and catching up with each other. smile.gif As the trail gained in elevation, I recalled reading that it would parallel the river, and I assumed it would drop down and soon we’d be along water. After a few miles, I noticed the sound of cars to our left, and we were still gaining elevation. Checking my friend’s GPS unit, we learned that we were at a higher elevation than we should have been. Hmmmm….so we brushed it off to a fluke and continued on. rolleyes.gif A little later, I said, “maybe we’re on the Polallie Ridge Trail”, which, it turns out, we were indeed. The cars heard to our left were on the road to Cooper Lake. Oh well, we’ll just do the loop clockwise and make camp #1 at Diamond Lake. A few miles later, around 4200’ elevation, we started to hit snow, which soon became very deep and completely covered the trail.
Hiking in July
Hiking in July
My friend, in her infinite wisdom, said that we needed to know exactly where we were, because virtually all signs of trail were hidden by snow and windfall. Using her GPS we marked our location on the map, and we set a compass bearing and carefully and very slowly continued on our way onward
the trail is somewhere around here...
the trail is somewhere around here...
. We were fortunate to notice blazes on trees, too. So using every navigational skill at our disposal, we safely made our way to Diamond Lake, up.gif which, of course, was also snow-covered.
We hadn’t planned on snow camping, but there we were. (This is the part of the story when I would also tell you that my friend discovered she had forgotten her tent poles, but I’m not supposed to tell anyone, so forget I said anything…). shakehead.gif I think it’s safe to assume that we were the first humans to camp at Diamond Lake this year. I may be wrong, but there were no signs of anyone having been on the trail or around the lake. It was absolutely beautiful and bug-free! A Great Horned Owl hooted overhead sometime during the night…life is good. Day 2 dawned crystal clear and we knew we were in for a full day of testing our route-finding/navigational skills. Continuing in a northerly direction, and continuing to constantly check our elevation and compass bearings, and searching for blazes, we made our way to the high point of the trip, at 5547’.
along Polallie Ridge trail
along Polallie Ridge trail
Rather large burgshrunds hung over the ridge and the dogs, oblivious to the danger, trotted over them until we pulled them back to safety.
Cornice
Cornice
The views of surrounding mountains were amazing and we took a well-deserved break, taking it all in. The next highlight a short ways further along the ridge was the location of a former lookout tower, with views so glorious they deserved another break.
Break at lookout site
Break at lookout site
From the lookout site, the trail heads due West to join trail #1317 (Tired Creek), where it then continues in a North-northwesterly direction. Wanting to stay at higher elevation to avoid what we assumed would be mosquito-ville at Waptus Lake, we planned on stopping at the junction with the Quick Creek Trail near Waptus Pass. Getting there, however, proved to be a real test of our skills, requiring fording Quick Creek which was flowing very fast. Also, in this vicinity, we had lost some of our blazes and were not absolutely certain of our location. Fortunately, with perseverance, we found a good place to cross Quick Creek (requiring more than just a little coaxing of my friend’s dog
coaxing Rosy across the creek
coaxing Rosy across the creek
), and soon found ourselves at an absolutely perfect camp site. Surrounded by several feet of snow there was a camp site melted out beneath big trees, complete with a bench and stumps to sit on
Camp 2
Camp 2
. Amazed at our good fortune, we set up camp #2 and enjoyed another splendid, bug-free night. biggrin.gif With a little exploration after dinner, I discovered that we were essentially at the junction of Quick Creek Trail and Tired Creek Trail. The next day we wanted to extend our time in bug-free zone, so we decided to day hike to Waptus Pass and Escondido Lake. For all of the navigation we had accomplished to that point, one would think that such a little trip would be simple. Not so.
woof
woof
While we did find footprints in the snow from a hiker who had apparently travelled up the Quick Creek Trail from Waptus Lake, and continued on toward Waptus Pass, we soon were unable to ascertain our location. We eventually knew that we were in the vicinity of the trail that we needed to take to Escondido Lake, but could not find enough confirmation to continue. Having given it a solid attempt, we decided to simply have a break where we were and then return to camp.
Galen and me
Galen and me
After packing up, we made our way to the Quick Creek Trail that would take us down to Waptus Lake, thinking that all the hard work was behind us. However, the stretch of the Quick Creek Trail between Waptus Pass and Waptus Lake is also heavily covered by snow in parts, and lots of windfall, requiring careful stepping and our full attention. The last challenge was a crossing of Quick Creek not far from Waptus Lake. Fortunately, we were able to negotiate this without difficulty and soon found ourselves on the shore of Waptus Lake. It was Monday evening, the 4th of July. We decided to camp there for the night and leave early the next morning for the approximately 9 mile hike back to the car. There was a nice breeze and still virtually no bugs! We heard humans for the first time since Saturday, and looking across the lake, were a man and a woman skinny dipping and whooping it up. We dubbed them Adam and Eve and enjoyed a chuckled at this sight. The birdlife around camp #3 was wonderful: Evening Grosbeaks galore, Western Tanagers, Pine Siskin, Swainson’s Thrushes (Hermit Thrushes at higher elevations), Common Nighthawks, and two Barred Owls who called out to each other in the middle of the night, just to mention a few. The final leg of the trail was very straight forward and required no navigational skills, just some careful avoidance of water on the trail at times, and a couple of creek crossings.
Waptus River trail
Waptus River trail
And finally, the mosquitoes found us, but even they were not too bad. It was a wonderful adventure, testing our navigational skills, and building our confidence. Best of all, we experienced four solid days of no fireworks! Woof. I would not recommend this route to the inexperienced hiker and, given this late date, current snow levels, and budget cuts, I doubt that much trail maintenance will occur this year. Lessons learned: GPS is extremely helpful, at least for use as an altimeter. Know how to navigate by map and compass. Always determine exactly where you are on the map. Utilize all possible clues as well as good judgment and common sense.

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MackAttack
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PostThu Jul 07, 2011 5:21 pm 
My friends and I attempted that same loop going the opposite direction also starting on Saturday. After one night at Waptus Lake the plan was to camp at Diamond Lake Sunday night, however the snow from the pass to the north end of Polallie got the best of us and we ended up coming down the tired creek trail and coming back via Cooper River. You might have crossed our footprints near the pass. Ran into another couple headed to Escondido lake on Sunday. I'll write a full trip report once I get the photos off my friends camera. Nice to see what we missed at diamond.

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Foist
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PostThu Jul 07, 2011 6:51 pm 
That's funny, I once went to Waptus Lake and then on up to Polallie Ridge, also on July 4th weekend. There were no bugs at Waptus, but then I camped near the old lookout site and got eaten ALIVE by mosquitos. It was one of the worst mosquito attacks I have ever experienced. So don't assume the low-lying lake is always worse than the ridge! Also funny that two reports were posted right in a row both by people saying they take their dogs backpacking every year on July 4th bc the dogs are spooked by fireworks.

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Yeti
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PostFri Jul 08, 2011 1:55 pm 
Great report! I noticed that the mosquitos were bad in places along the river a couple of weeks back. The Hour Creek crossing was a bit challenging but nothing too bad. Great trail, great area!

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joker
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PostFri Jul 08, 2011 2:17 pm 
Nice report, and good job of sticking out the navigation and snow camping.
Foist wrote:
Also funny that two reports were posted right in a row both by people saying they take their dogs backpacking every year on July 4th bc the dogs are spooked by fireworks.
We used to do this as well with our pal who died in 2004 - it was a nice prod to get out for a few nights early season. However, on the exit from one of the trips, up to Navajo Pass, we encountered target shooters with semi-automatic weapons as we neared the TH, which kind of undid all the peace we'd given the poor guy. I'm glad I had him on a leash at that point or he'd have booked for sure. The dog we have now notices the bangs but doesn't seem to care much.

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Benzarino
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PostFri Jul 08, 2011 2:19 pm 
Nice Report! Isn't a bergschrund a crevace at the top of a glacier? That photo just looks like a really big cornice! I wouldn't be suprised if it was though, those dogs look like they could handle it!

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Lakes&Summits
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PostMon Jul 11, 2011 6:49 am 
Did anyone happen to see what the ford was like to access the northeast shore of Waptus? I have the same issue with my dog and dutifully remove him far from range of fireworks every year without fail... Nice job on the route finding.

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Yeti
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PostMon Jul 11, 2011 7:15 am 
I met a guy on the trail a couple of weeks ago who had done the crossing at the horse ford. He indicated that the river crossing was tricky and he didn't recommend it. I can tell you that the river is flowing pretty heavy right now.

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gottahike1
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gottahike1
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PostMon Jul 11, 2011 7:48 am 
Señor Ben wrote:
Isn't a bergschrund a crevace at the top of a glacier? That photo just looks like a really big cornice!
Oops, I guess you're right...its a cornice. Thanks for the correction. smile.gif

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Lakes&Summits
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PostTue Jul 12, 2011 7:24 am 
That's funny; I made the exact same mistake a few years ago with my son and ended up on the Pollalie Ridge trail... I also recall terrible mosquitoes at Diamond Lake and at the l/o site, but there were none at Waptus. Can't figure those buggers out.

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