[Matt]

Dates: September 22-23, 2012 Destination: Thunder Mountain Lakes, Thunder Mtn, Nimbus, Thor, K9 Party: Matt, Sadie's Driver, Middle E, BarbE, Daryl, Janet Saturday –Hiked to upper Thunder Mountain Lake via Tunnel Creek & PCT. Scrambled Thunder Mountain & Nimbus. Sunday – Scrambled Thor in the morning, then scrambled K9 on the way out. Western clouds fought eastern smoke for control of the mountain air. Saturday evening clouds filled everything west of the crest, and pushed through in waterfalls of cloud pouring through every gap between peaks on the ridge. Smoky haze turned the sun red hours before sunset, and kept the moon orange long after moonrise. Thunder Mountain Lake (TML) was wonderful in almost any conditions:

Smoky/Misty TML (1:46pm Sat)

Blue TML (4:26pm Sat)

Bronze TML (4:48pm Sat)

Cloudy TML (5:44pm Sat)

Moonlit TML (8:19pm Sat)

Sunrise TML (7:13am Sun)

Morning TML (7:33am Sun)

Saturday Tunnel Creek to Hope Lake to Trap Pass to Thunder Mountain Lake Hiking near the crest on the way in, each turn of the trail or shift of the wind could bring either cold misty fog or warm acrid smoke.

Tunnel Creek trailhead

Gus decided to roll in the dirt after swimming in Hope Lake

Orange sun above the clouds

5 labels

The TML Crest: Thor, Thunder, Nimbus & Slippery Slab Tower

Janet hiking with a gray boulder on her back

The smoky/cloudy skies hid many of the peaks, but actually made some of the autumn colors come out brighter.

Meadow along the trail

Hunter Orange leaves

Trap Lake

Beautiful trail below Trap Pass

A bit different type of trail above Trap Pass

The high country between Trap Pass and Thunder Mtn Lake was my favorite kind of terrain – a beautiful mixture of rock slabs and colorful meadows, with the surrounding towers adding drama even when half hidden in the smoke/fog.

Slippery Slab Tower

Clouds starting to intrude through the gaps around K9

Trail with Lightning Point ahead

Meadows and Nimbus

Horned Nimbus

Close-up of Horned Nimbus

Barb at TML below Nimbus

Thunder Mountain 6556 Thunder Mountain's named summit is at 6556, though its higher summit is closer to TML at approximately 6570. We traversed east of the near summit to the col between the two and then up 6556.

Colorful meadows o the traverse

Part of Square Lake around the corner

Clouds in the Thunder Mountain Col

Towers ahead as Barb rounds a corner

In the cloudy col

From the top of Thunder Mountain, the peak's southern towers stood like a crenelated wall slowly being overrun by the invasion of clouds.

Group on Thunder Mountain 6556

Clouds against Thunder Mountains southern towers

Departing 6556, with Nimubs, higher Thunder, & Thor on the horizon

We returned by going over the top of higher Thunder. By now, the clouds were waterfalls pouring through the gaps as the western tide of clouds rose higher.

Climbing back out of the col

Beautiful patterns of color & rocks

On higher Thunder

Cloud waterfalls

View of Lower TML

Descending back to upper TML – such beautiful clear water

Nimbus 6711 Nimbus was mostly an easy scramble right up from the lake almost to the summit. Actually, you can get great views all around from the various rock platforms below the summit boulder. However, the final step required a mantle up the free-standing summit boulder. You can walk behind or under the boulder, so I just wrapped a rope around it for protection. The others lacked confidence in my system, so chose to stay on more solid ground.

Group on Nimbus

Awkward move on the summit boulder

Atop Nimbus

Westward was a solid sea of clouds, which rose almost to my feet on this high point. The sun was a faint orange ball in the haze above the clouds. I stayed to see if it would cast any evening colors onto the clouds, but it eventually just faded away. Meanwhile, I watched rivers of clouds flow through every gap in the crest and splash across the lake basins.

Orange sun over Nimbus

Cloudy depths on the back side of Nimbus

Clouds on the Slipper Slab Crest

Clouds over Thunder Mountain Lakes

Evening at Thunder Mountain Lake Back at camp, I discovered that the others had brought treats to share for my recent birthday, including party hats, hummus, a fresh salad, popcorn cooked over a stove, and a chocolate cake.

Birthday celebration

Birthday cake

Later after bedtime, I walked partly around the lake to admire the moon's reflections on the water. The smoke haze scattered even the moonlight with a faint orange tinge across the sky.

Moon reflecting in TML

Sunday Morning at Thunder Mountain Lake

Subtle sunrise light on Thunder Mountain

Later morning alpenglow on Thunder Mountain Lake

Breakfast in the sunshine

Tent shadow

Thor 6804 More details on Thor later. Go left of the large rock pile below the summit, not right.

The col to Thor

Thor summit register

Thor summit group

Back at the Lakes On the way back from Thor, I dropped down to visit Lower Thunder Mountain Lake. Back at the upper lake, the offshore rocks and deep clear water provided an opportunity to jump in for another swim.

A pretty tarn along the way

Hazy view of Square Lake

Lower TML from above

Shoreline view of Lower TML

Swimming in lower TML

A swim after jumping into upper TML

Hiking out

Departing toward K9

Marmot on his personal boulder

It's called Trap Lake, but maybe it should be Von Trapp Lake, since hiking above it makes you want to sing the Sound of Music song. "The hills are alive..."

The hills...

... are alive ...

... with the sound of music.

K9 (Point 6242) K9 turned out to be a straightforward scramble. We left the trail directly where it crosses a small stream from the col west of K9. To get to the ridge crest, we went up the left side of the rock piles, then went onto the steep meadows on the righthand side of the gap to the base of the rock band, and then went through a small gap at the left end of the rock band, which put us on the ridge crest circa 5700 feet. From there we stayed on the crest. It had mostly open meadows, with brief obstructions of trees. Near the top, we had to briefly traverse out onto the righthand side to get around an outcrop.

Almost up to the ridge, with the PCT below

K9 summit

Posers

Colorful meadow just below K9 summit

[cascadetraverser]

Great shots! Incredible place.

[Gil]

Fantastic! Looks like a lot of fun!

[Shred]

Happy Belated Birthday! Those are some very nice pictures. A buddy and I must have been just ahead of you. We left the Tunnel Cr. trail head around 8ish. We scrambled a bit up Slippery Slab, Thunder, Nimbus, and over to Suprise Mtn. and out the Suprise Cr. trail. At times it was hard to breathe with all the smoke. Dropping down in the cool fresh marine air, west of Thunder was quite a nice treat.

[Snowdog]

[Middle E]

Yes, it was a bit like heading into Mordor on Saturday, but what an amazing two days of varying atmospheric conditions and color. I can't improve on Matt's photos, but here are a few that I like....

Moist and green

Mountain ash

Suzanne and Barb and Gus

Fall color

Barb posing for Matt

Suzanne on Thunder

Nimbus from Little Thunder

Evening sun

Lower Thunder Mtn. Lk.

Matt's route to Thor

Suzanne and canine on K9

Thunder Mtn. et al. from K9

[iron]

glad the trip worked out well and that no respiratory problems developed en route

[TrailPair]

I lost my wallet up there a few years ago ....did you happen to find it? great trip! trip report and photos

[DIYSteve]

Cool place, great TR and pics

[ree]

I think it's funny someone put a ciggy butt in that summit register. Nice pictures, and glad you all had a fun safe trip. We'll have to make it that way soon.

[puzzlr]

That looks like it was a really fun trip. Very creative photos too. Congrats on getting all the way to the real Thunder Mountain.

[twodogdad]

Very beautiful. Far less smoke than one would expect. tdd

[JimK]

Looks like it was a great trip. Some very good photos too. In the write up of the birthday party I do not see a reference to the Driver providing wine. No backcountry celebration hosted by the Driver is without proper beverages.

[Middle E]

[Sadie's Driver]

I LOVE this place! Matt, you did a great job capturing the spirit of the weekend and the weird weather/atmospheric conditions we experienced. However, I am disappointed you didn't use my suggested title of the trip report: Birthday Boy in his Birthday Suit at a Sekrit Location Ah well, no sense of creativity! In any case, for those of our group who hadn't been to TML before (most of them) - it was unfortunate you didn't get to see it when it's sunny and clear . . .TML 2008 but, a good reason for a return visit. Amazingly, there wasn't anyone else there but one couple. I guess our motley group didn't scare them away. Just so you know, Gus didn't look like this the whole trip!

Gus decided to roll in the dirt after swimming in Hope Lake

Lakes are good for cleaning dirty dogs!

Here are a few pics I gathered on the way in . . .

Not moss - mushrooms on the north side of the sign!

'shroom hunting made easy!

Cloud fingers around K-9

Approach to TML

Cloudy & Smokey Sun

And, then there was the birthday party . . .

Birthday boy

Party girls

Lighting up the evening sky

Matt blowing . . .

Hungry dog with drool bubble - Thunder Mtn. Lakes Sept. 25, 2012

And, then the morning after . . . (I think he slept in this outfit)

The morning after

Sunday morning was much clearer than Saturday had been . .

Nimbus early Sunday morning - much clearer

Tent city

We headed out for Thor - when Barry and I had been here before with Jim K, and TrailPair, we went up and over the "Frump Hump" (so named, because Yumi decided to climb it from the west side and she said she was the "Frump") - we quickly decided this was NOT the best route . . because of the steep east face you had to go down to get over to Thor's saddle. However, that didn't stop our birthday boy . . . . Up and over he went. We met him at the saddle (he did return via our route BTW!)

Our route AROUND the Frump Hump

The shoulder we went around to get to Thor - Matt went over this monolith

Our destination - Thor

Matt's crazy route down from the Frump Hump (ridge west of Thor)

Lovely up on Thor . . why, who is this??? Matt mentioned the Von Trapps!

Julie Andrews herself on top of Thor!

And, finally, Gus gets due recognition as five of us faithfully follow him up K-9 for perhaps a canine First Ascent! Here is Matt pondering the momentous occasion . .

Don't jump Matt!

He decided not to

Anyway, a wonderful trip even with all of the smoke and haze. The colors were lovely. And, no, Bob, we didn't find your wallet. Do you REALLY think we would tell you if we did??? A stop in Monroe for a Mexican dinner completed a fabulous weekend.