[geyer]

Date: July 10-11, 2021 Distance: 36.7 miles RT Accum. Elevation Gain: 8800ish ft Humans Seen: 6, 0 after first two miles of trail With the amount of bickering you folks do over in trail talk about I-90 hikes, I thought I'd show you how an I-90 hike gets done The background to this trip actually originated in a chat group with awilsondc when he asked if we knew any cool places for astrophotography. After about 10 minutes of scrolling through Google Earth and Caltopo, I picked out this nice little tarn on a plateau just northwest of the striking ridge of Bears Breast. It seemed like a pain to get to, so we never really discussed it past that. But I kept thinking about it... Day 1: Dingford to Williams Lake + Bears Breast ridge side trip Distance: 16.2 miles Net Elevation Gain: ~5000' Biking: 8 miles, 1400' gain Hiking: 8.2 miles, 3600' gain Summits: 0 I woke up early Saturday morning, entirely un-stoked to go on a solo trip. I'd been building it up in my head for days but the morning came and it just felt kind of pointlessly dangerous. I did a lot more solo off-trail adventuring a few years ago, but after finding some good partners, it no longer felt necessary. That being said, there are some serious perks to going solo: when you're out of shape, you don't have to feel bad about going slow or even changing plans and going with the flow. This is generally when the best exploring happens I had scouted a route to the ridge of Bears Breast and it looked very feasible, but I still felt nervous. A lot of things have happened since I last soloed off trail, such as... 2020 ('nuf said). For a while Saturday morning, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to go anymore. But I willed myself to load my car with my bike and pack and make the short drive to the end of the middle fork road and the not-so-short road to the Dingford Trailhead. This was my first time on the road and it's honestly not that bad, with the exception of the two creek beds with steep walls you have to drive through. If my 16 year old CR-V can make, I'd venture to say that even a Subaru could make it (shots fired ) When I got to the parking lot, there was a group of probably underaged kids shotgunning beers before heading off to the hot springs. Seemed like a way better time than what I was about to do, to be honest. I mounted my trusty Salsa Timberjack steed and headed up past the gate. Oooof. 8 miles of constant uphill with a heavy overnight pack is not easy. By the end, I had probably sweat multiple liters out and was already feeling the effects of dehydration. My pace slowed to that of a hiker. That horse camp was such a welcome sight. The ride has some good moments like the views of Snoqualmie Mountain's north side. Oh well, it would all be worth it on the way back. Almost immediately after stashing my bike and beginning the hike, I ran into a couple who, like me, wanted to know who they had to pay off to get access past the gate at Dingford. There were 8 cars parked on that road! What kind of ...errm, favors ... do I need to do to get my hands on those keys!?! I hiked past the couple and ran into two Forest Service workers who were clearing brush from the trail. It needed it badly in those first couple miles. Kudos to those two for working through the heat. After that, it was a beautifully designed trail with all kinds of boardwalks and bridges. For most of the way, it was a pretty trail, but not something I'd want to venture out to on its own. That is, until reaching the north flanks of Overcoat, and then Iron Cap, and then the pond with views of the Chief group and Bears Breast. Alright alright alright as Matthew McConaughey would say. To top it all off, Little Big Chief's NW face was just stunning. I wanted to just stop and stare at it all weekend. It was that nice.

Nice views of Overcoat and some huge boulders

slab waterfall

BB

Bears Breast

Little big chief

Little big chief

I got to the trail junction with Dutch Miller Gap to the right and Wiliams Lake to the left and chose to stick to the plan and head to Williams Lake. I had looked at Chiwakum's 2017 photos the night before and was starting to feel torn about where I wanted to camp. Ultimately, I had come out here to camp on the ridge of Bears Breast, but after 8 miles of biking and another 6 of hiking, my legs were feeling it and the allure of those golden hour Williams lake photos was reeling me in. As luck would have it, I overshot the lake and found myself on a wonderful, flat rock outcropping with views of everything. Tempting, I thought. I decided to take a break there and eat late lunch/early dinner here to (1) reduce pack weight and (2) give me more energy for the climb.

Some serious avalanches this spring

Wiliams Lake

Yeah right, as if that was ever going to happen. Once I started boiling water, I decided to unpack my tent and use this flat dry rock as my campsite. Yep, I was giving up the Bears Breast milky way dreams in favor of dry camping. Who have I become? There were a lot of advantages to this campsite though; I could go up to Bears Breast ridge during the day with a minimal pack; I could still get a sweet milky way view with Little Big Chief foreground; I could explore rather than be confined to a tiny ridge; and as a bonus, I could get an early start and run up Hinman. After finishing "Lupper" and setting up camp, I began the ascent to the ridge. On the way up, I decided to climb a gully because it seemed more adventurous. Almost too adventurous in a few places as I had to surmount a wet chockstone. Mostly fun scrambling though. After traversing under cliffs, I reache some 3rd class heather and topped out on the ridge to the screaming welcome of several marmots.

Sup tent

Nice views

Hi tent

The gully I climbed up + my tent

Bald Eagle

BB

BB

BB

BB

Hinman and Daniel

marmot

marmot

marmot

marmot

2 marmots

Oh no. Instant regret. The google earth rendering was surprisingly accurate. The Bears Breast pinnacles towered over the bright blue tarn with flowering heather, flowing water, flat rock, and screaming marmots everywhere in sight. It was a miniature paradise. Before I knew it, I had to climb back down to make sure I had daylight. The wind on the ridge was brisk anyway. The way down was treacherous. Luckily the "3rd class heather" was dry, otherwise I would have probably slipped and fallen a looooong way down. Not a route I would want to go down in the morning. Well, at least I got some confirmation of my campsite choice from this trip...

views on the way down

hey tent

last light

up

I got down and took some dusk photos (underwhelming) before going to bed. For all the complaining I've heard about bugs this year, leave it to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness of all places to be relatively bug-free. Or maybe it was the 100% deet? I went to bed peacefully on flat rock, satisfied with my decision to stay low for camp.

goodnight

At 1 am, I woke up and got out for Milky Way photos. OK I'm definitely not disappointed with this choice

Little big Chief, Little big galaxy

MF Snoqualmie Valley

Day 2: Williams Lake to Hinman to Dingford Distance: 20.5 miles Net Elevation Gain: ~3500' To Hinman: 7 miles, ~2500' gain Summits: 1 I was supposed to wake up at 3 am to get an early start on Hinman, but I turned that alarm off and slept in until the sun woke me around 5:20 am. I left camp without eating, donning microspikes and poles to cross Chain Lakes. Hinman is typically climbed from Foss trailheads, but the trails merge at La Bohn Gap. On the way up, I went straight up the snow, ignoring where the trail should have been. The snow was stiff enough and sun-cupped enough that travel was not an issue. Once I got further up, I stuck to the ridge, where the was once again a biting wind. So strong, in fact, that I had to take several breaks behind south-facing rocks just to escape it. At the very top of Hinman, instead of traversing the snowfield NE of the peak and risking having to cross a moat to get back on rock, I traversed just below the top of the ridge. It felt like a scene out of Indiana Jones, with the rock crumbling away from my feet half the time into the abyss of the snow moat. It turned out that there wasn't a moat next to the actual summit, so I would have saved some energy if I'd just traversed the snow. Oh well, l stand by my decision.

Wake up call

Chain Lakes

Bears Breast

Bears Breast

Hinman Glacier

Hinman glacier

GP

Baring lookin small

Stu-bear

Hey there rain-dog

The summit seemed like it would have had nice views, but I was honestly afraid to even stand up on the summit in fear of getting blown over the south cliffs, so I crawled up to the top and snapped some pics before quickly turning around and taking the snow route back down. The way back down was much faster.

Pea Soup

Daniel + Pea Soup

Summit Views

Chain Lakes

"I LOVE GOLD" - goldmember

Back at camp, I finally ate breakfast before packing up and heading back down. The way back was one big blur - I think I stopped once. I didn't even stop when two guys were literally taking a nap on their sleeping pads in the middle of the trail at 3 pm. Been there, guys (just not usually in the day time). The first half of the bike ride back down was great. No pedaling, only braking to avoid loose cobbles. Even the flat part of the road that I had to pedal was better than hiking. All in all, a pretty solid solo outing, and I'm glad I didn't let my early grump deter me from getting out.

[awilsondc]

[Gabep]

Fun looking trip Brad. Great pics!

[Bosterson]

[Bootpathguy]

Always enjoy your TR's

[chiwakum]

I passed by that way last week on my way over DMG and south on the PCT to Lake Kachees via mineral creek. Great pics. I skipped Hinman and Williams this time though.

[contour5]

Stunner of a tarn. First class trip report, awesome pictures. I've camped at the exact same spot above Williams Lake and never even noticed that tarn on the map. Nice catch! Thanks for sharing!

[puzzlr]

[Route Loser]

Appreciate the honest musings on motivation for solo trips. Those are some seriously beautiful photos.

[Backpacker Joe]

Ya, Rowena waasnt like that when I was there. Nice work there.

[zephyr]

[puzzlr]

Thanks, zephyr. That makes a lot more sense re the beers.

[geyer]