[cartman]

The Pasayten Wilderness, with its high, rambling terrain, long-ranging vistas, good trails and numerous peaks is one of my favorite areas of the Cascades. However, I've spent very little time in its western reaches and have for several years wanted to backpack the Devils Dome trail from Ross Lake to Canyon Creek, especially after seeing the photos from Barb E's trip a few summers ago. Ed and I had the benefit on this trip of four days of stellar weather, great trails and flowers at their peak. This area is a flower mecca, and they got better the further we went, culminating in the fantastic traverse below Jackita Ridge. And the easy terrain allowed me to wear sneakers and Ed trail shoes the entire trip. Water availability is a real issue on the W>E portion of the trip. KarlK's trip report was very helpful and is quite accurate for water sources, save for the basin between Devils Dome and Devils Pass, where we saw none. Bugs also were an issue, no surprise given the extensive flower fields all along the trails. Day 1: Ross Lake to Devils Dome Ed was game for a four day trip so we caught the boat Sunday morning for the Devils Junction TH on the east side of the lake, elevation 1600'. (Photos marked with an * taken by Ed)

Boat ride

Devils Junction

At the dock*

Soon we reached the wilderness boundary.

Into the Pasayten

The trail is in great shape. Zero blowdowns. All the maintenance in recent years has really paid off; some of the cuts are new this year. Matter of fact, there were no blowdowns on the trip until a couple ~700' above Canyon Creek, and we ran into a guy with a saw going up as we reached that TH. Talk about dedicated trail maintenance!

Good trail

From ~3500' to 4500' there's about an hour of hiking where the trail is a bit brushy, but it's all easy, mostly knee high soft stuff. We crossed the two streams and filled up with 2 liters of water, but should have filled up with more. We arrived at Dry Creek Pass and searched around for another water source up near the Bear Skull Shelter, but found nothing despite several decent campsites in the general area. Barb had a running stream when she was here two years ago, but it must be a seasonal meltwater source. Too bad; I was really interested in getting over to Spratt to the north-- which I could have done if I'd maxed my 4 liter carrying capacity at the stream--but without water nearby there was no choice but to continue on to the next water below Devils Dome. The trail above 4500' is in terrific condition, with a lot of variety in scenery and color. Flowers really started to show past Dry Creek Pass, and they would only get better as we continued the trip. Soon we reached the west end of Devils Dome,

Devils Dome

with great camping near a clear, flowing stream.

Devils Dome camp

Waterfall pool

We had plenty of time to set up camp and wander around taking photos.

Devils Dome moon

Dome moon

Domeglow

Also got a good look at the easy route up Bear Skull for the morning:

Route up Bear Skull

The night was quite warm--was thrilled I forgot to swap my zero degree bag for the summer one. Day 2: Devils Dome to Devils Pass We rose early and headed up easy slopes for the 1000' gain up Bear Skull, 7330'. On the way we found some nice clumps of unusual yellow monkeyflowers.

Yellow Monkeyflowers

Cool leaves

The entire way up is easy class 2 hiking, with great views.

Ed and Devils Dome

Approaching Bear Skull summit

Bear Skull summit*

Jack morning

Hozomeen from Bear Skull*

Bear Skull would make a great summit camp. There's enough space up on Bear Skull to place numerous tents, plus snow for water that's likely to last several more weeks. I wanted to check out the ridge and get a closer look at the Spratt area, so I walked to near its western end.

Bear Skull ridge walk

Spratt and Hozomeen

Spratt meadows

Spratt meadow closeup

And back. Bear Skull is a very enjoyable summit for roaming around and looking at all the views.

Bear Skull

Bear Skull

We head on back down, pack camp and most importantly load up with as much water as we can carry as we're not sure if we'd have a water source before Devils Pass (as it turns out, there was none). The trail continues on,

Up to pass

shortly going up Devils Dome, 6982'.

Up to Devils Dome

Ed nears the top

Dome plateau

Jack rise

Devils Dome would make an even better summit camp, as there is a ton of space and more good snow for water. And, of course, more terrific views.

Bear Skull

Jack

Cassia, Silhouette, Daemon

Including a peak I was wracking my brain trying to identify the whole trip:

Prophet

I think it's the Prophet area, as from this perspective it was right of Luna and closer. Not positive though. Walking over to the east end of the summit we get a look at our next objective, Cinnamon.

Ridge to Cinnamon

Trail drops ~200' then winds over to the ridge connecting Devils Dome and Cinnamon,

Trail to Cinnamon

Cinnamon

before crossing Cinnamon's meadows on its south flank. We pick a more open spot on the SW slopes, stash our packs, and head up the 500' on easy terrain,

Slopes up Cinnamon

to Cinnamon's summit, 6881'.

Cinnamon summit

Cinnamon south slope

Devils Dome and Bear Skull

In retrospect simply heading directly up the south ridge would have worked well too as it's open and easy. Continuing on we pass through more of the verdant meadows so prevalent in this area,

Meadows

Lupine

Basin traverse

Basin

Flower trail

Flower meadow

with fine views of the neighboring peaks.

Silhouette and Daemon

San Juan

Jackita Ridge

San Juan

The last half mile or so goes into welcome shady forest to Devils Pass.

Devils Pass

Green Trails says the distance from Dry Creek Pass to Devils Pass is 5.3 miles; I think it's closer to 7 miles and all waterless, so figure that into your planning re: time and water if coming in to backpack. Devils Pass has room for 6-8 tents and a water source about 1/4 mile up the Deception Creek Trail (go right at the first Y in the trail). It's a slow flow and buggy; less than a brook but more than a seep. We reached camp in mid-afternoon so set up camp and ate dinner early and napped, the better to head up San Juan Hill in the cooler evening.

San Juan moon

Ed on San Juan

High on San Juan

Curiously, heading up San Juan was the buggiest part of the entire trip. We top out on the easy walkup first summit and take a good look at the route over to the true summit.

San Juan summit block

There are actually two summits in the picture, the top of the third summit is just visible behind and is the high point. There are a series of ledges leading down to a gully below the notch b/n the first two summits, then it looks like the right-hand ramp in the photo would allow climbers to bypass the second summit and connect to the true summit. Ed wasn't interested in continuing; after waffling for a bit, I decided to pass as well. Probably would have been more comfortable in boots or if it was earlier in the day. It's another fine viewpoint, especially the way the big peaks line up:

Ballard, Azurite, Golden Horn, Tower

Reaching camp as the sun is setting, it turned out to be an even warmer night than our first. Day 3: Devils Pass to Camp 7111 We woke up to what looks like another warm one. Headed out early to begin the second half of the trip on the long traverse below Jackita Ridge. Once past the first two miles to the easy to miss junction with the trail to Anacortes Crossing, water becomes much more prevalent with more streams along or crossing the trail. This traverse has some outstanding fields of lupine.

Lupine slopes

Lupine*

Jackita Ridge also has the most rugged terrain of the peaks along our route, with multiple points along the way,

On to Jackita

Pointy Jackita

and more views of the big boys.

Crater

Jack

The trail mostly contours until reaching a large basin where it curves right and continues into the forest.

Jackita Basin trail

Nice campsite here, with good running water and a cool view.

Campsite

With a view

From the big basin is where the 1100' of elevation loss down to the North Fork of Devils Creek is made. There's a really nice little 20' waterfall on the way.

Waterfall

Waterfall

Mossy rocks

Then we get to regain all of the 1100' back up the steep trail, which is brushy to start. After the first 500' the angle lessens then enters a large meadow,

Time to head up

North Jackita

Ed in the meadow

before reaching the ridgetop.

Ridge trail

Jack

Then we get to lose another couple of hundred feet we'll get to make up shortly. Here is where the first good look at the high point of Jackita Ridge becomes apparent. Looks like the west ridge would go well.

Jackita ahead

So we hump it up the trail to where it crosses the ridge, but it looks brushy here so we continue on to below Jackita's SW slopes.

Jackita slopes

It's a fair bit steeper than it looks in the picture, but looks like it would go at class 2/3. It's pretty warm and Ed's willing to wait if I want to give it a go, but I decide to head up with him farther up the trail and see if there's a route higher that might go from the trail switchbacks in the scree. Cloud move in as we started up the trail on the wide open slopes below South Jackita,

Scree traverse below South Jackita

We love scree

giving some very welcome relief from the heat. I spy a route from one of the high switchbacks that would connect after a ways to Jackita's south ridge, but decide to continue on and see how we're doing for time and energy after we continue over to South Jackita's west ridge and head up to its summit. South Jackita is a very pleasant open walkup from the main trail, part of the time on a faint path to the top, 7248'.

Up South Jackita

Almost there

South Jackita summit

A great look at Jackita:

Jackita Ridge

Now about 5pm I reluctantly pass on an attempt over to Jackita, but Ed comes up with a fantastic idea: instead of dropping down to Devils Park to camp, simply traverse over to Point 7111 and camp high. He's spotted a small patch of snow in the middle of the plateau for water, so this will work.

South Jackita summit

We drop back to the main trail, hike for about a quarter mile then traverse up to the ridge connecting to 7111.

Turns out the flattest spots on the plateau are very close to the snow patch--the snow patch which is actually no more than six feet wide, but that will more than fulfill our water needs.

Tent shot

Evening camp*

After setting up camp I wandered over to see if the fire has progressed. As I watch it really blows up.

Falls Creek Fire

Falls Creek Fire

Falls Creek Fire

Falls Creek Fire

In the evening Ed gets an amazing shot of the smoke plume.

Falls Creek Fire*

We also are treated to a nice moonrise,

Moonrise

right before my camera battery dies. Though his battery is low too, Ed gets some spectacular sunset photos:

Setting Sun*

Sunset over Jack*

Sunset over Jack*

Sunset*

Sunset camp*

Perhaps it's the high camp, but this evening is much cooler than the previous two, a bit windy and actually quite chilly, necessitating the first use of the puffy coat. Nonetheless it's easily the best camp of the trip. Day 4: Ptarmihen Camp to Canyon Creek TH Morning dawns warmer than the previous evening.

Morning camp*

As we're having breakfast, a ptarmigan hen meanders into camp with her three chicks.

Queen of the Mountain*

She doesn't seem particularly concerned about us, clucking gently and slowly marching through with her little brood, as if she knows she's the resident here and we're only passing transients. They stay near camp for over half an hour, delaying our breakdown of camp until they mosey off. Well, this peaklet needed a name and now it has one. We backtracked towards Jackita for a tenth of a mile or so to avoid dropping into woods and walk down grassy benches back to the trail. Then it's a short hike into the vast green meadows of Devils Park.

Devils Park*

Slopes from Devils Shelter*

Devils Park is a delightful walk through green fields dotted with lupine. Eventually the trail goes into more forested terrain and drops a bit before going back up into McMillan Park, which is a series of marshes in semi-open woods. McMillan Park has a rep for being quite buggy but we luck out and have no bug issues here whatsoever. Shortly after leaving McMillan Park the trail begins its long drop to Canyon Creek. Spaced out there are three good streams crossing the trail for water, and the log bridge over Canyon Creek and the big bridge over Granite Creek are in excellent shape. This is a great area for backpacking, as long as you are aware of the water availability especially from mid-July on. This trip could be a good June or early July trip as more snow would allow more options for camping, especially if you want to climb more peaks, but the tradeoff would be to miss the best of the flowers. Interestingly, we encountered perhaps two dozen people on the trip yet we were the only ones doing the trip clockwise. I think the way we did it allows for better views, especially approaching Jackita Ridge. If I were to repeat this trip I'd likely come in from Ross Lake again. I'd come back to wander those wide meadows over to Spratt, even as an in and out via the lake, but probably a little earlier or in a better snow year. Thanks to Ed for being up for the trip on short notice and for the driving, and the great idea to camp high and the fantastic sunset pics. 34 miles, 13,000' gain Eric J. Johnson

[Opus]

Nice! I just did the loop from the 8th - 12th going counter clockwise. Very similar trip overall right down to the water issues. My trip was also much more smokey from that fire plume and calm winds. Great area, can't wait to head back!

[Jetlag]

Enjoying your trip report as thunderstorms rise over the Denver airport. Your careful description and photos give me a satisfying feeling as I relive the best parts of the four days. Hiking and climbing through Tahoe's Desolation Wilderness, the Jackita/Dome loop and along the Continental Divide this summer, I noticed a few things. First, water management is a key consideration. I have been so spoiled spending most of my hiking time on the west slopes of the North Cascades! Rarely do I carry more than a liter of water and a few doses of Aquamira. On trips this summer in the three drier ranges, however, I've been averaging 3-4 liters and two water treatment options! Secondly, the flowers that light up the scree, like the Purple Fringes you photographed, are so much the same in all three ranges. Butterfly species, however, are wildly dissimilar. Lastly, it's much easier to stay under 30 pounds on and off-trail for four days than I thought. Merrill Foot Gloves are as light as Vibram Five Fingers but the soles are just a bit thicker, making off-trail travel effortless. I didn't long for my mountaineering boots once. I know that agreeing not to pack a rope, protection and harnesses cost you the summit of San Juan, but now we know there is an easier alternate route. Thanks so much for inviting me on this trip and for researching the details!

[PorcupinePhobia]

Leaving Sunday for the same trip, thanks for the info

[cartman]

[Jetlag]

Good point - you wouldn't need a rope, but I would!!

[Eric Hansen]

+ 1 on Pt. 7111, plateau at s. end of Jackita Ridge. I slept there a few years back and would gladly return.

[Sculpin]

I must have missed this TR when it was first posted, boy does this bring back memories!