[Fletcher]

Julia and I teamed up with Selena and Jake on a grand tour of the Eastern Pasayten this past weekend. I had to work on Friday night, and left the Seattle area at 10pm. We caught a couple hours of crappy sleep at the Chelan Walmart Bivy and made the remainder of the long drive out to the Iron Gate TH on Saturday morning. Selena and Jake had already set up the car shuttle with our exit point at the Cathedral Driveway TH (thanks guys!). We all started hiking at 9am in pleasant weather. Jake and I were out there for the peaks. Selena was out there for the exercise and mountain time but she isn't a peakbagger even though she bags a lot of peaks And Julia was there to enjoy the hike and see a new part of the Cascades. She was excited to see the Pasayten because I have been talking it up for years. We all started hiking towards Sunny Pass at 9am.

Windy Peak

Pick Peak

approaching Sunny Pass

We made quick work of the hike to Sunny Pass. From there, we found a nice spot for Jules to lounge, and the other three of us made the quick hike to the top of Horseshoe. Excellent open terrain up there!

hiking up Horseshoe

on top of our first peak

the peaks ahead

Remmel

After Horseshoe, we descended to Jules and our packs. We then hiked a short distance to just beyond Horseshoe Pass and dropped packs again. Julia continued on to Louden Lake to chill, while the other 3 of us set out to tag Arnold and Armstrong. More wonderful open Pasayten terrain on these peaks.

hiking up Arnold

Armstrong up next, probably my only trip to Canada in 2020!

border monument

We made quick work of Arnold and Armstrong, returned to our packs and hiked to Louden Lake. It was pretty buggy and crowded there. Jake and Selena wanted to climb Rock Mountain from there. I was tired and hung out with Jules instead. They made quick work of it, then we headed further east along the Boundary Trail. After another short distance along the pleasant trail, we dropped packs AGAIN to set out for Caprock Peak. The bugs along the Boundary Trail were horrible here, so Jules decided to join us! The summitblock of Caprock was a short but fun little scramble with a class 4 move. Nice!

Caprock summit

Jules and Selena scrambling Caprock

yours truly on Caprock

After Caprock, we grabbed our packs and hiked a few more miles on the Boundary Trail until we were directly south of Haig Mountain. The bugs were bad along the trail and we thought we might camp high on Haig to get above them. We ended up camping at 7600 feet on a flat bench. Views, water, no bugs, and a bottle of High West Double Rye... Life was good.

Haig Mountain camp with Windy Peak

dinner time

After dinner and a few sips of whiskey, we walked the short distance to the top of Haig. Excellent views. This is a nice little corner of the world.

Jake on Haig

Windyn

Cathedral and The Pope

Arnold, Armstrong, and Horseshoe

changing weather

We were all woken up by heavy rain during the night. It rained and snowed well into the morning which delayed our departure from camp. Eventually, during a break between showers, we packed up were hiking back down to the Boundary Trail around 9:30. We then hiked through intermittent rain, sometimes heavy, below Teapot Dome until we were directly below the summit of Bauerman Ridge. We then dropped packs once again, and climbed the 1000' to the summit. Bauerman Ridge has a really nice summitblock with some nice scramble options but can also be kept to class 2 on the east side.

Apex through the rain

approaching the summit of Bauerman

Bauerman Ridge summit

the peaks ahead

From the summit of Bauerman, our views west confirmed our hopes that the rain was behind us. We descended pleasant terrain back to our packs, had a snack, and continued on. The Boundary Trail continued its trend of pleasant walking past Scheelite Past and Tungsten Mine. I was excited to check out Tungsten Mine but that was going to have to wait until our exit the next day. Once we got to near the pass between Tungsten and Ewart Creeks, we dropped packs again and set out for Wolframite. This peak was another enjoyable hike up from the Boundary Trail with an interesting pile of granite boulders for a summit. I couldnt stop remarking about all of the untapped rock climbing potential in this area. Among the otherwise gentle terrain, impressive granite features rose in every direction. Most of which looked like it would support a wealth of quality routes.

better weather

Tungsten

Tungsten

hiking up Wolframite

Wolframite summitshot

Cathedral getting closer

Coming down from Wolframite, we ran into a Ptarmigan with chicks. We gave them ample space. Back to the Boundary Trail, we hiked over Apex Pass and made our way to below The Pope. Selena joined Julia and they hiked to Upper Cathedral Lake to camp. Jake and I once again dropped packs and set out for The Pope. Some easy but steep class 2 terrain led to a talus finish filled with car sized boulders. Best views of the trip.

Ptarmigan

Cathedral

Pope summitshot

From right to left: Cathedral, Amphitheater, and Remmel

from where we came

We descended The Pope and made good time to upper Cathedral Lake and dinner. It was a cold. windy evening, so no bugs. Everyone went to bed before dark.

the same picture I took of Amphitheater when I was doing my Bulger rounds in this area in 2013

Jake and Selena woke up early on day 3 to do Cathedral but Jules and I slept in. We had a leisurely morning strolling up to Cathedral Pass and enjoying our coffee. When Jake and Selena got down we all enjoyed the pleasant walk back to Apex Pass. From there, we dropped packs for the last time and hiked up to our last peak of the trip.

Amp and Cathedral in full morning sun

Remmel

Amphitheater with Andrew and Amos

Apex topout

Tungsten

We then descended to Apex Pass and down to Tungsten Mine where Jake and Selena gave Jules and I 10 minutes to check it out. Cool place, but I would never stay a night in those decrepit cabins. There was some Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey in the upper cabin though. Too bad Im a man of expensive taste.

Jules at the upper cabin

Tungsten

Tungsten

From there, it was an 11 mile slog out to Cathedral Driveway. Goddamn, the Pasayten delivered again.

crossing Tungsten Creek on the exit

~62 miles ~13,000 feet of gain *a little more mileage and gain for Selena and Jake, who did a few more peaks than me

[Fletcher]

Sidenote that I forgot to mention... Considering this trip and several before it... there seems to be a prolific summit register thief (or just as likely, thieves) on the loose in the Cascades. Its a damn shame. Summit registers are doing no harm being up there. Any hiker or climber with half a brain can strive to practice LNT ethics, but man, why you gotta be taking these historic summit registers?!? The removal of registers needs to be met with opposition. Im going to start packing a spare register with me on trips to replace the ones that have been taken. f### whoever has taken it upon themselves to remove them. Now, if we could only disband the WH&C Facebook Group, thats something I could get behind...

[ozzy]

Goddamn right Fletcher on the register thieves! I too have thought about taking a spare reg up with me too.They would definitely be met with some opposition if I caught wind of it! It's just sad and disappointing when people take upon themselves to impose their views on to others. The history, memories, and people that were there before you add to the majesty of the hills! Leave the Goddamn registers alone!!! Sorry bout the rant, anyhow nice trip y'all!! 62miles...lol you all are animals! Cheers!!

[raising3hikers]

Nice trip guys and gals

[Bosterson]

Not bad for 3 days.

[Bluebird]

11 peaks, 1 register. and not popular peaks for most of em. although when i went to horseshoe arnold and armstrong before i do not recall seeing them there. as a person who carries 500ml nalgenes for water, i always have a spare reg container & emergency pencil but never a notebook. ive left my water bottles as better housing for the registers on elephant butte and treen. ps: no fletcher, im not a peakbagger. im a placebagger 🤣

[Jake Robinson]

Thank you all for a fun trip! I might add some photos here later if I have time. The Cathedral step-across was a little bit spookier this time around, maybe I am just getting old. Re: registers, there are multiple peaks we visited (Cathedral and The Pope) that I'm sure had registers just two years ago, but now do not. To those who are taking them: why? I'd be interested to hear your viewpoint. If you are that committed to LNT, why not just stay home and not go to the mountains? Surely your presence in the mountains has more of an impact than a register sitting in some rocks on a summit?

[neek]

looks great. maybe i'll wait for the bugs to die down a bit. anyone followed up to see if the missing registers are finding their way to suzzallo or the mountaineers?

[Washakie]

Register thieves...same type of people who break into cars at trailheads....just with a little more energy and mushrooms instead of meth.

[Nancyann]

Nice trip, one of my most favorite section of trail in the Pasayten, glad the weather improved for you. That’s very unfortunate about the trail register thieves, they are stealing a piece of history that is irreplaceable. Remmel had a summit register last August as did Apex, I hope they are still there as they are the only two registers I have signed in my entire life, not being a peakbagger.

[Jake Robinson]

[Nancyann]

Awesome, thanks Jake! I actually thought Apex was my first T-100 until Josh Lewis set me straight. It was a cool experience anyway, especially when a bobcat came up very close to us while we were on the summit!

[puzzlr]

That's quite a tour of peaks. You sure covered a lot of ground. Can't say I wish I was there battling the bugs, though. Great report!

[Stefan]

Registers: I recommend keep putting up new registers. There are more of us putting up registers, than those taking them. I recommend it to make it a habit to carry a summit register to place. I try! We can't fight those that take the registers, but we can keep up a "herd mentality" that we will continue to put up registers. I will continue to do so. Thanks for the trip report!

[Fletcher]

What’s everyone’s recommendation for a register and register tube?