[awilsondc]

Ozzy and I teamed up to tackle Big Jim in the Chiwaukum Mountains on Sunday. In researching the area, we got the idea to head up from the Hatchery Creek Trailhead and take the trail into the Badlands and climb Big Jim from the Big Jim Mountain Lakes area and add on Big Lou if we felt up for it. This would make for a nice loop of the area, always a joy as opposed to the usual out and back. We met up at a park and ride at 12:30 am, feeling a little rough. I had tried to get about 4 hours of sleep before leaving my house but just laid there the whole time, unable to fall asleep. I figured it would catch up with me and it eventually did. We drove to the trailhead which had a rough uphill section of road a couple miles from the TH that gave me difficulty. It took three or four tries to get up this deep rutted uphill section. I had the clearance but my tires kept losing traction. It was one of the gnarlier things I've put my Outback through but it was short and the rest of the road decent. We saw 2 passenger vehicles up at the TH. Kudos to them for getting past that part! It was much easier on the way down. By 3:35 am we were hiking up the trail by headlamp. On the hike up we heard some noise in the brush, some kind of animal... I passed a tent 5 feet off the trail, up on a hill. It caught me by surprise and I turned to alert Ozzy. He had bear on his mind from the noise we heard earlier and was checking the route on his phone when he too was startled by the tent, audibly startled thinking it was a bear! He woke up the guy in the tent with his startled yell, but apologized. A voice from the tent said "you're good" and we were on our way. We missed our trail junction and decided to head off trail after grabbing a snack. It was cold and eerie walking through the dead forest from the '14 Chiwaukum Creek Fire. We layered up and took off down steep burned forest en route to Battle Creek and The Badlands beyond. (How bad ass does that sound?!?!) We soon found the trail, which was littered with blow downs and mildly difficult to follow by headlamp. We stopped and filled up on water at Battle Creek since we weren't sure where we'd have water the rest of the trip. The trail to the Badlands High Point was a nice gentle ridge. Dawn had arrived and we turned our headlamps off. The dawn broke a pumpkin orange, and with the chill in the air and the fall colors and dead forest around, it really felt like Halloween to me. We reached the summit shortly after sunrise.

Dawn breaks

Sunrise draws near

The Badlands

Dead forest

Life after the burn

Charred

Grouse

Ozzy taking note of the sunrise

Big Jim

Sunrise from Badlands High Point

The trip was really starting to get good, and was about to get even better! We decided to head down to Big Jim Mountain Lakes and head for the summit from the upper lake. Shortly after leaving the summit we found a trail that took us right to the lakes. What a cool area! There were a couple campers at the lower lake, but the upper lake was deserted. We stopped there for a snack. After breakfast we started up a gully for the final 1300 ft of gain to the summit. The gully was a decent route. It was loose, but not horrible... typical mountain stuff. On top of the gully we found a talus field that we would take to the summit. The talus field was surprisingly stable, but still a talus field. We reached the summit just after 9:00 am, ~5:30 from the trailhead. Most of the peaks had clouds around their summits, but we had some views. We relaxed for a bit. I had been feeling great so far despite going on zero hours of sleep. Ozzy asked if I wanted to go for Big Lou, and I definitely did. He was game so we headed off down the SW ridge.

Off to the lakes

Lower Big Jim Mountain Lake w/ Big Jim

Morning in paradise

Upper Big Jim Mountain Lake

Larchy reflection

Departing upper Big Jim Mountain Lake

Scrambling up the gully

Ozzy taking a breather in the gully

Top of the gully

Big Jim bivy spot

Point 7571

Big Lou from Big Jim

The moment Lake Augusta came into view was definitely a 'wow' moment! Holy smokes!!! Patchy early morning light filtered through clouds illuminating the lake and the slopes to the west while clouds and mist blew over the summits of Big Slide and Big Lou. Helluva time to be alive! This stuff is what I love most about being in the mountains. I was stoked.

Seeing this was a 'wow' moment

Ozzy admiring Lake Augusta

Ridge over to Big Lou (left)

Augusta!

Augusta's east shore

One last shot of Augusta

Traversing over to Big Lou

We traversed around point 7571, passing a couple hikers on their way to Big Jim. We went up and over the 7443 point and up the north ridge of Big Lou to the summit. ~1:10 from Jim to Lou I believe. We spent maybe 50 minutes on the summit hoping the clouds would blow over Cashmere and the Stuart Range but they didn't. Still, the views were good and stoke was high!

Big Lou north ridge

They're turning!

Meadow

Ozzy stoked to be near our last summit

Big Slide

Cashmere

Chillin on Big Lou, looking back at Big Jim

Grindstone Mountain from Big Lou

We descended Big Lou and took the NE slopes down into the basin. What a glorious place! On the way down we spotted a marmot on a rock. Soon it was joined by two others and they just chilled there until we came too close for comfort and they took off. We meandered through the meadow taking pictures and enjoying a few fleeting moments in a special place as we passed through.

Ozzy descending Big Lou

Grindstone

Close up crop of the marmots

Marmots on their perch

Entering the meadow

Lots of tarns in this meadow

Ozzy getting the shot

Big Slide and Big Lou

Cruising through the meadow

A tarn and a tree

I wish I had a wider lens for this shot

After the meadow we had to descend a bit to get around a rocky rib but it was generally easy and we soon found ourselves in another meadow and soon back on the trail. The way down was fairly uneventful. We easily spotted the trail junction we had missed earlier in the morning and passed several hunters on their way up, most of whom had what appeared to be SUPER HEAVY packs, I'd guess a lot were carrying 60 pounds or more... they looked heavy and miserable! lol A couple notes. The first mile is a bit brushy and the rest of the trip is mostly out in the open. There is no shade really, I can't say this trip would be fun in the heat of summer but it was perfect for us. Larches were turning, probably about 20% of them had turned. Another great day in the mountains!

Fall colors

Christmas colors. Too soon?

Back on the trail

I always forget what these are...

Elephant Trunk

Gnarled

Big Jim Loop Map

18 miles 7200 ft gain 12 hours

[Type E]

Nice loop !

[triad]

[GaliWalker]

So jealous! I love that area. Thanks for the beautiful pictures, Lake Augusta in particular.

[geyer]

Great pics as usual Aaron - I've especially been enjoying the forest pictures you've been putting together lately Have you been giving ozzy lessons?

[ozzy]

[fourteen410]

Fabulous shots, especially of the lake.

[Nancyann]

Nice to see the loop work out so well. So many beautiful photos! I’m guessing the blowdowns on the main trail must have been cleared. We snowshoed up to the meadows on the main trail in early May and there were too many blowdowns to count, so much fun to climb over while carrying snowshoes. No trouble going up the road in the Tacoma.

[Downhill]

Great TR and awesome photos!! I really love this area and it's got good access from the other (west) side as well. It feels like once you get your elevation, you can go off in so many directions. And the colors this time of year, as evidenced by your photography, are incredible - as are the views of the Stuart Range and beyond. I like the Jim on Big Jim photo - You hit up the 2 for $5.00 Jim Beam "special" at Dan's Market - a must!!

[awilsondc]

Thanks everyone! I really loved this area, especially that view of Lake Augusta, holy cow!!!

[D. Inscho]

What a fun area, and nicely captured in photo and word. Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed a late season trip up there with Ida as a destination a couple of years ago. The cross-country travel is a glory And those badlands really live up to their moniker