Forum Index > Trip Reports > 7 Days in the Pasayten - Robinson Pass/Shellrock Pass/Pistol Pass - 5 Peaks - May 25-30
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Jeff Pod.
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Jeff Pod.
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PostMon Jun 08, 2020 11:34 am 
For those folks who are looking for trail conditions here are some notes so you don’t have to read all the way through the post. These are as of May 25-30, 2020. General Note: The mountains are moving out there, cornices falling, rivers swelling, trees tumbling, trails flooding…..the snow is melting fast and Spring is happening!! Snowline was still hovering around 5700 - 6000 depending on aspect. Bet it is higher now b/c it has been really warm. Robinson Creek TH to Robinson Pass: Trail is in great condition until the last bridge built to cross Robinson Creek. After that, there are some blowdowns - not too many though. One other crossing of the creek is possible on a log. Robinson Pass to Fred's Lake Junction: North Side of the Pass is mostly snow covered still - trail is easy to follow in the snow. Down low the trail is basically a creek you are walking in with many trees down. Once you gain elevation from the Middle Fork - the trail is beautiful. Junction to Doris Lake: Trail seems to be in great condition - snow cover up high makes the trail a little bit hard to follow - but there is a dry spot for camping at Fred’s Lake when we walked by! Everything above Fred’s lake is still covered in snow. Doris Lake to Shellrock Pass: The trail shows up part way down from Doris Lake and then is hard to follow into the Eureka Creek Drainage. Once down low the trail is fully snow covered and many blowdows exist on the snow’s surface. Makes for treacherous postholing and walking. Shellrock Pass has a big cornice on the east side. Possible bypass from the ridge 60-80 feet higher up. Cornice has about a 10-15 foot drop to the slope. Shellrock Pass to Pistol Pass: Fully burned trail and forest. Trail basically impossible to follow if you are trying to find it. Fades in and out just below Lost Peak and then shows back up once you begin contouring up towards the Lake of the Woods drainage. Some serious blow down tangles everywhere. Snow covered to Pistol Pass from the snowline. Pistol Pass to Monument Creek TH: Trail is still in great condition and easy to follow up high; only a few fallen trees. The descent to the Lost River is steep, loose and arduous. Trail is overgrown and hard to follow most of the time. Thanks to whoever has built cairns - extremely helpful. The Eureka Crossing is dangerous and might be treacherous if coming up from the TH. We only made it by swimming…….but we were coming down from there so the current was flowing in the direction we needed to go. The trail once you make it across the creek is stellar. ------ I am writing this trip report a bit late as I was not able to find the time this week to write it - but I figured better late than never. We ventured back out into the Pasayten for a week this time. We planned on heading into an area that I have seen referred to as the “Shellrock” area….must be because of Shellrock Pass. We were hoping to climb a few of the Washington Bulger peaks that are in a high concentration in this area. There are 8 of them to be exact. We had a master plan that we could possibly do them all in this trip, but we knew that with the early season conditions and with how difficult (foot)travel would be, it was probably pretty unlikely. We entered the Pasayten on the Monday evening after Memorial Day Weekend because first of all, the weather looked to be really good for the five days following the weekend, and second, we knew there would most likely be less people out there after the weekend was over. Day 1 - Hike It In. On Monday evening we hiked in after having dinner at our place in Winthrop. We started hiking around 7pm and ended up stopping just before the second bridge that crosses Robinson Creek. We passed the turnoff up towards Mt. Robinson via Beauty Creek and the trail looked to be in somewhat good condition. Day 2 - Hike It Out. We woke up and were packed up and walking by 8am. Just after crossing the bridge we started hitting a few blowdowns and some snow started showing up in the trees. Not too much. We came to another crossing of Robinson Creek and found a precarious log to cross it on. We sat on it and scooted across. We hit snow on the way up to Robinson Pass and started to see some footprints up towards Devil’s Peak and wondered if other folks had been out this way on the weekend. We found the sign saying Robinson Pass and headed down the trail. The trail was fairly easy to follow - especially because an animal, most likely a deer, was following the trail almost exactly and we were just following their footprints. Down towards the river, the trail was flooded for a few miles with some thin snow to walk on. We broke through the snow and were often demoralized by the feeling of soaked boots. Dang, that can be frustrating. Eventually, we climbed out of the drainage and up onto a trail that was beautifully maintained all the way to the junction. We took a break and mentally prepared for the long uphill to Lake Doris. The trail was easy to follow and became snow covered at around 5800 feet. We were happy to see Fred’s Lake and passed by an awesome little campsite there. Making our way up to the pass above Fred’s lake afforded us great views across towards Buckskin Ridge and down at the lake. We made it to the top of the pass and we were able to see some of the peaks we wanted to climb! We made our way down to Lake Doris for the night, made camp and dinner and went to sleep. -----
The log we scooted across over Robinson Creek.
The log we scooted across over Robinson Creek.
Robinson Pass sign.
Robinson Pass sign.
Looking down toward Fred's Lake.
Looking down toward Fred's Lake.
Lake Doris campsite.
Lake Doris campsite.
Day 3 - Energized and Excited The night was cold and our tarp was covered in ice when I woke up in the middle of the night to pee. But, we woke up and the weather was stunning. Our plan for the day was to climb Osceola, then pack and move camp down to the headwaters of Eureka Creek, then attempt Mt. Carru and see how we felt about Mt. Lago if daylight still existed. The climb up Osceola was pretty simple and the snow made for some really easy travel. There were some traces of some folks who skied the peak recently. I am sure this is an awesome peak to ski in the early Spring. We made it to the summit at around 9:30am, took a few photos, and then headed back down. The peak is mostly a choss pile, but the ridgeline affords for some great views on the way up. We packed up camp and started the journey into the headwaters of the Eureka Creek drainage. The trail was fairly easy to follow, but we got caught too high a few times, so we made our way back down to where the trail was. We stopped and unpacked and set up our day packs at the base of the gully that leads to the Carru- Lago Saddle and mentally prepared for the climbing ahead. We started up and were feeling tired. Eventually, after much work we found ourselves on the ridgeline to the Mt. Carru summit. Carru is a big peak….also a choss pile. We were the first folks to sign the register on Mt. Carru - probably not the first folks to be up there this year though. We made our way down the same way we came, except this time, we stayed on the ridgeline most of the time. This put us out almost at the saddle and we had a discussion about attempting Mt. Lago. It was 5:30pm and we knew that we moved at about 1000 vertical feet per hour. The summit was 1500 feet above from where we were. We decided to go for it. We kicked steps most of the way and then scrambled to the top. We made it to the top at 7pm and enjoyed the sun as it began to set. We were the second signature in the register this year - the first was the past weekend from a ski tour of a couple folks (probably the same people we saw on Osceola). We could see their ski tracks headed down the snow below. We glissaded in their ski tracks and we were back to camp before we knew it. We were tired, so we quickly made dinner and headed to bed. Phew! What a day. The views on top of all three of those peaks were stunning. We were able to see Mt. Baker and all the way south to Mt. Rainer. Wow - fully across the Cascades. ----
Almost to the top of Osceola.
Almost to the top of Osceola.
Jeff on top of Osceola.
Jeff on top of Osceola.
Selfie on summit.
Selfie on summit.
Headed towards the headwaters of Eureka Creek
Headed towards the headwaters of Eureka Creek
Close to the summit of Mt. Carru - steep on the other side!
Close to the summit of Mt. Carru - steep on the other side!
Big cornice on the top of Mt. Carru.
Big cornice on the top of Mt. Carru.
Such a stellar day!
Such a stellar day!
At the Carru-Lago saddle.
At the Carru-Lago saddle.
Summit of Mt. Lago!
Summit of Mt. Lago!
Day 4 - Half Hearted and Low Motivation We woke up tired. We packed up camp and headed towards Shellrock Pass. The walking down low was hard. We postholed through to unseen trees for most of the first hour of hiking. We made it up to Shellrock Pass and were talking about trying to attempt Blackcap mountain. All of our conversation was pretty half hearted and we eventually decided, after way too long of a break, that we should at least try. We walked the ridgeline up to a spot where the snow got really steep and the runout was pretty scary. We just decided to turn around and were not feeling any motivation to make it to the top. Oh well…..We came back down to Shellrock Pass and collectively decided that we wanted to sleep on dry ground that night - we were getting pretty tired of having wet feet all day, every day. We made a plan to walk down into the Monument Creek Drainage and sleep down there. This whole area was burned and so we really had no idea what to expect. Our map said there was (emphasis on was) a trail there at some point. We found a way around the big cornice off the east side of Shellrock Pass and walked down the drainage until we were able to find a place to camp where we didn’t think any trees would fall on us. We made camp and ate dinner. This day we were feeling very uninspired by peaks. It may have been all of the things going on in the world that we were finally processing. The outdoors does tend to bring out the parts of you that you normally ignore or push down when you are able to have distractions away from the wilderness. ------
Walking towards Shellrock Pass.
Walking towards Shellrock Pass.
Shellrock Pass sign.
Shellrock Pass sign.
Looking back at the day before from Shellrock Pass.
Looking back at the day before from Shellrock Pass.
Exploring the ridge line where we eventually turned around.
Exploring the ridge line where we eventually turned around.
Headed down Shellrock Pass. The actual pass has the cornice on it in the photo.
Headed down Shellrock Pass. The actual pass has the cornice on it in the photo.
We saw a porcupine that day!
We saw a porcupine that day!
Day 5 - Feeling the Burn on Lost We woke up and decided we would give Lost Peak a try. We had decided the day before that we were just going to climb it from the valley floor as it looked dry and would have fairly easy movement through the forest as the burned area had cleared out all of the underbrush. Just a really chill walk through the forest and then on some small talus to the summit. Great views from this peak. We are glad we did it from the valley floor instead of going over Pass Butte from Butte Pass. We headed back down and stopped at the river before we got back to camp and went swimming. First swim of the season for us! Always good to remember how refreshing cold water is. We spent a bit of time lounging by the creek and then headed back to camp, packed up, and were on our way towards Pistol Pass. The trail was really hard to follow and we did end up finding the spot where it crosses Monument Creek (we knew because we found a half burned Monument Creek sign). We were able to find a spot to cross Monument Creek just below where the drainage from Blackcap Mountain and Monument Creek meet. It wasn't too bad, but still went up to our waist at the highest for a few steps. We found the trail on the way up to Lake of the Woods and ended up camping there for the night. As we were headed to bed we remarked on the clouds that were coming in and wondered what weather that would bring. The forecast we wrote down earlier in the week showed good weather up until the end of this day - so the weather after this was unknown to us. ------
Headed up lost peak.
Headed up lost peak.
Lost Peak summit.
Lost Peak summit.
Swimming hole we found - so amazing.
Swimming hole we found - so amazing.
Burned Monument Creek sign.
Burned Monument Creek sign.
Where we crossed Monument Creek.
Where we crossed Monument Creek.
Day 6 - Climb a Lake and Swim in Your Sleep. We woke up and took off around 8am to climb Lake Mountain. The air was humid and we could tell that there would definitely be some weather at some point. We climbed the east gully. Almost fully snow - except for some fun scrambling right at the top. First signature in the register this year and it has a really cool little summit register tube. At the top we could look over and see the other peaks we had climbed, as well as, a huge storm brewing over Silver Star and the Gardners. The clouds looked gnarly and we knew we had to get down pretty fast. It was obviously headed this way. As we left the summit to descend the same way we saw a few flashes of lightning and heard some thunder. We both thought we better be quick and efficient on the descent. We glissaded most of the way down. About 5 minutes from our tent we started getting poured on and so we hustled back to hunker down until the storm hopefully passed. We waited out the weather for a few hours in the tent. At around midday the sun started coming out, we packed up and kicked steps over Pistol Pass. The trail down from Pistol Pass was awesome up high. Once we started dropping down towards Eureka Creek and the Lost River, the thought of if actually crossing Eureka Creek was even possible was on our minds. We had already resigned to the idea of swimming if we needed to. About 5 minutes from the camp spot where the two waterways join another big storm rolled through. We got down there - set up our tent - took stock on the creek (didn’t look good) and decided to sleep and see what it looked like in the morning. That night we went to bed with the sound of Eureka Creek booming with the amount of water and rocks that were falling because of the amount of rainfall that had happened. Then, of course, to continue to make it more of an adventure, we woke up at 1am with our tent flooded out because the creek had overflowed the banks and seeped its way into the campsite. Our haste in setting up the shelter because of the storm has us set up our shelter in a lower spot than a few other spots at the campsite. Of course! We moved camp and re-setup our shelter on higher ground hoping the river wouldn’t continue to rise.
Headed towards Lake Mountain.
Headed towards Lake Mountain.
Summit shot with storms in the background.
Summit shot with storms in the background.
Here they come!!!
Here they come!!!
Headed towards Pistol Pass.
Headed towards Pistol Pass.
Pistol Pass marker!
Pistol Pass marker!
Day 7 - Swim…...In Your Dreams?.....I mean….for Your Life! We made it to the morning without getting flooded out again - but were not hopeful about the crossing. We knew that we needed to get across this river or we would end up walking back around the way we came. We thought we could ration our food enough to make it. Being Outward Bound instructors for the last 7 years…..we started weighing all of the options, risks, consequences, outcomes, feelings...etc. Ultimately, for a moment, we decided to turn around and walk back. We had gotten into the creek up to our waist and we weren’t even close to getting across. If we were going to do it - we were going to swim and we would need to swim hard. We started, sadly, back up towards Pistol Pass. About 10 minutes in we got a good overview of what the conditions down river looked like. From there, we decided to go for the swim instead. The runout looked really good for a couple hundred yards, no huge hazards, and a few big eddies to shoot for on the other side. We know both options were not the best - but success was possible with the right plan. We entered the creek a little bit above the confluence - trying to get as far into the middle as possible before entering river position (feet downstream, on your back). Then, we made it through one small rapid and swam as hard as we could towards the eddies. We made it and enjoyed the nice walk on the Monument Creek Trail out and on the road back to our car at the Robinson Creek TH. Wow….glad to be done with that - epic. ----- Follow us on Instagram! Check out our site for past adventures!
Trip overview map.
Trip overview map.
This trip presented so many hard decisions to make. Some of the emotional, some physical, some mental. We always learn more and more what it means to be effective risk managers and decision makers in the outdoors every time we go out and want to own that our decision to swim across Eureka Creek was risky. We knew the bridge was out - but we could have been more proactive about thinking about Spring mountain conditions and planning ahead for that specific moment. Overall, we feel like we made the right call based on our experience levels and our mental and physical fitness. We were excited to have climbed 5 out of the 8 peaks we wanted to climb and we are already scheming for the other three….once the mountains calm down a bit and become a little bit more “stable” - if that ever really happens.

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neek
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PostMon Jun 08, 2020 12:20 pm 
Extremely useful report. Looks like an exhilarating trip. Didn't want to go for Monument? As if you didn't do enough...

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Alden Ryno
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PostMon Jun 08, 2020 12:21 pm 
What an outing! Kudos for getting out deep into the Pasayten with it still being predominantly snowbound. That Eureka Creek crossing has been giving me pause on a Lake/Monument trip in the coming weeks. There's at least one alternative route I know of (from Slate Pass, still with snow now), though a packraft may be the best option. Thank you for your great pictures of the area and I'm glad that y'all made it out safely! We all make risky decisions in our inherently dangerous pursuits. Thank you for stating that you weighed the options and for outlining some of your thought process.

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Jeff Pod.
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PostMon Jun 08, 2020 12:33 pm 
neek, Yes - we thought about it - but we were tired.......as to be expected.

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neek
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PostMon Jun 08, 2020 12:49 pm 
RynoA wrote:
That Eureka Creek crossing has been giving me pause on a Lake/Monument trip in the coming weeks.
Huh, maybe we'll see you out there. Or at least see a blur dash by.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostMon Jun 08, 2020 12:59 pm 
Jeff Pod. wrote:
We saw a porcupine that day!
We saw a porcupine that day!
up.gif I have no idea what their population is like, but it seems like porkie sightings are fairly rare.

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Slide Alder Slayer
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PostMon Jun 08, 2020 1:31 pm 
I don't reply on many trip reports but on this one I'm impressed. I can't imagine how high and fast the water was running at Eureka creek crossing, it's fairly narrow were the bridge used to be, and the water has to be at most 40 degrees F if that, and the decision, not lightly, was made to swim downstream. That required some big ice cubes!

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Kim Brown
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PostMon Jun 08, 2020 2:45 pm 
Porky pine! And he's been busy on those trees! I have never seen one in person. Neato report.

"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area." Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
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Jake Robinson
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PostMon Jun 08, 2020 4:36 pm 
Thanks for the report and conditions update. Very nice work getting those peaks early season up.gif Swimming across Eureka Creek, I can't even imagine!

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Brushbuffalo
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PostMon Jun 08, 2020 6:48 pm 
Jeff Pod. wrote:
Headed up lost peak.
Headed up lost peak.
Nice pano of Lake, Monument, and Blackcap. Don't see this view too often. Unfortunately it also shows that horribly burned Monument Creek valley. However, that trail had a zillion fallen logs even before this fire. I would have chickened out on that Eureka Cr. crossing, hating cold water as I do. However, the reality of reversing the arduous hike might have been enough to do a good benefit - risk analysis like you did. Pretty nervy, and good for you! Regarding your day of low motivation, when it happens what often works for me is to ask myself "When will I be back here again?" ( I am of advanced age...'middle age, fully stage 2', so the answer is often 'never'). That realization is often enough to revive my motivation. Also I have learned from running 100s that 'it doesn't always get worse'. Applies to hiking and climbing also. The satisfaction lasts far longer than the pain. At other times if I still can't come up with the gumption to complete the intended objective, I have become an expert at rationalization. wink.gif Any trip where we come home physically and emotionally intact is a successful trip IMO.

Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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Jeff Pod.
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PostMon Jun 08, 2020 7:16 pm 
Brushbuffalo, We are in the considering a good trip regardless of the situation. I think the life or death feeling of the river crossing was enough for us. All the days out in the mountains were good for us - even though we were having a "bad" day that day. I lean towards the idea that if you are having an off day and planning to climb and 8,000+ foot peak it may not be the best option. Sometimes it is said that turning around takes more power than pushing to the top. But whatever. That is awesome that you have ran some 100's ---what an accomplishment.

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MangyMarmot
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PostMon Jun 08, 2020 8:25 pm 
Awesome trip! Congratulations on tagging all those peaks. The creek crossing sounds quite adventurous.

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rstoddard24
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PostMon Jun 08, 2020 9:09 pm 
Really enjoyed your TR. Did the Shellrock Slam last June and it was one of my favorite trips all year. Any photos of the river where you crossed? I'm curious, did you wear your backpacks while you swam? My wife and I are also former Outward Bound instructors (Voyageur). Perhaps we will cross paths in the Cascades sometime -Ryan

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Nancyann
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PostTue Jun 09, 2020 12:30 pm 
I love this trip report. You two are really pushing the boundaries, physically and psychologically! I’m also curious what you did with your packs during the river crossing and have you done this before in Outward Bound?

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jdk610
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PostTue Jun 09, 2020 5:01 pm 
Awesome! I just went up Robinson Creek yesterday for a long run. I was with my dog so I forded the creek with her leash firmly in my hand, rather than try to balance both of us on the butt-scoot log. (I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought the log was a bit too narrow to just walk across...) Anyway, it's essentially snow-free up to Robinson Pass now!

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