[rocknclimb]

Dad (Mtn Climber) & myself spent yesterday wandering the Pasayten Wilderness bagging a few easy peaks along the way. Our plan was to do a loop from Iron Gate TH > Sunny Pass > Pick Pk > Horseshoe > Topaz > Windy > out Clutch Cr trail. The road up to the trail is rough for cars, although we saw a prius at the TH. Started up the easy going trail at 8:15. Flowers were full bloom the first mile.

Starting out

Paintbrush

Flowers on display

We had no beta for Pick Pk so we left the trail about a mile before Sunny Pass heading for the shoulder of Pick since the way looked simple.

Left trail here for Pick Pk

We ended up climbing over a couple sub summits on a bunch of class 2 terrain before actually seeing Pick.

Pick Pk from our false summit

After walking up to the actual top we rested a few minutes and made an easy descent down to Sunny Pass.

Horseshoe from Pick Pk

Sunny Pass

Windy & Topaz

Horseshoe Basin area

From here we made a direct line for the summit of Horseshoe. Simple walk up in some beautiful alpine meadows.

Myself on Horseshoe

Remmel et al

Looking at our route for Windy and Topaz

Horseshoe summit views

Cathedral group

Knowing we still had a long day ahead we retraced our route down to Sunny Pass and took the Windy Pk trail for 3.5 miles to a junction. The trail is mostly in good shape w/ a few fallen trees.

Windy Pk

Hiking in a huge fire scar all day

Still wanting Topaz we took the junction and dropped a couple hundred feet. The route for Topaz was simple, just stay on the ridge all the way.

Looking at Topaz

Topaz Summit

Windy Pk from Topaz

Retraced our steps back to the junction rhen continued on the Windy Pk trail for about a mile. There is a path all the way to the summit of Windy.

Windy Summit

Register

Pasayten

Dad reaching our final and highest summit

North Cascades

Was nice to finish the day with a bulger summit. Our descent took us another 2 miles down before turning on the Clutch Cr trail. This trail is obviously not well travelled, and not recommended in the dark. We finished the slog out 11 1/2 hours later thankful for our stashed beer. 22 miles w/ 5,000' gained. Another great day in the mountains!!!!

[Michael Lewis]

that linkup looks like a nice stroll. encounter any other humans?

[rocknclimb]

[mtn.climber]

That was a fun trip. But a tough drive home afterwards. Plus, no restaurants open anywhere after 10 p.m. We did manage to find dinner at the Omak Casino late-night.