Forum Index > Trip Reports > Irving Peak + Cockeye Lake 11 oct 2020
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kitya
Fortune Cookie



Joined: 15 Mar 2010
Posts: 842 | TRs | Pics
Location: Duvall, WA
kitya
Fortune Cookie
PostMon Oct 12, 2020 8:00 am 
I actually wanted to check out Cockeye lake for many years, but it is both too much off the main path to be a quick side trip and yet too short to make a trip on its own. Last time I definitely wanted to check out Cockeye lake, I accidentally ended up on the summit of Poe and instead me and Cookie did full Poets Ridge high route to the summit of Kodak and back. Now, since I already have been to the summit of Poe twice, I decided I'll make sure not to make the same mistake again! Starting at the Irving Pass trailhead me and Cookie quickly gained the ridge. Less than an inch of snow at the TH, but more and more snow as we went up. It became quite deep very soon. Lots of wildlife footprints in the snow, everyone was out. No other human footprints. At the ridge we first turned right and started our traverse to Irving Peak. There are some useless pink ribbons on the trees. Not sure why anyone would need them - the route is super obvious, just follow the ridge. It gets steep in places. And super slippery. Fresh wet snow is tricky. I cannot see where I step and there is no grip. Sometimes it slides under my weight and I'm sliding on top of wet bluberries. It was tumble down, scramble back up kind of way, quite a few times, up and down, up and down. Finally we got close to the summit. Summit is rocky and open. There is an obvious zig-zag way on the rocks using series of sloping ledges, but it was very tricky with all the wet sliding snow and hidden rocks. I couldn't see where to step and what to grip. There was definitely some exposure and while in dry weather it would be very easy, this was extra scary for me with all this wetness. Cookie however is fearless and had no problem up or down! No views at the summit, but windy and cold.
After Irving we retraced our route and started going towards Poe. I heard in summer there is a trail all the way to Cockeye Lake. But now I couldn't really see any semblance of the way under snow, so we just traversed in the general direction. It is tricker than it seems should be. There was at least a couple of feet of snow in many places, but still super slippery. Lots of birds and chipmunks. Chipmunks are so funny running around on top of fresh snow and trying to dig for blueberries. Sadly my camera is not waterproof, so I didn't take any photos of them. It was dumping snow hard. Me and Cookie probably traversed too high and in a couple of places we had to scramble through very tricky slippery rock bands, but finally we got to the lake. Since I was freezing and wet, we just took a few photos of the lake and immediately started our way back.
Driving back was interesting too. In the morning forest road was mostly snow free, just some snow on the side. But since it was dumping snow all day, when we drove down the road became compact white ice. It was quite slippery. And Stevens Pass had slush and even an overturned car in the ditch. Winter is back!

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NBL
West Seattle Based



Joined: 08 Sep 2020
Posts: 44 | TRs | Pics
Location: 98126
NBL
West Seattle Based
PostMon Oct 12, 2020 9:24 am 
Beautiful to see so much fresh snow in the mountains already. Another destination I've never heard of before to add to the list...

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Cyclopath
Faster than light



Joined: 20 Mar 2012
Posts: 7697 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle
Cyclopath
Faster than light
PostMon Oct 12, 2020 7:48 pm 
kitya wrote:
Cookie is a great prop, what a beautiful photo! You're going to enter this in the calendar contest, right? smile.gif

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Kenji
Member
Member


Joined: 18 May 2010
Posts: 319 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle
Kenji
Member
PostMon Oct 12, 2020 9:06 pm 
kitya wrote:
up.gif up.gif

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kitya
Fortune Cookie



Joined: 15 Mar 2010
Posts: 842 | TRs | Pics
Location: Duvall, WA
kitya
Fortune Cookie
PostTue Oct 13, 2020 9:12 am 
Ha! It really helps to have someone yellow-orange colored with you, when the rest of the world is black and white. Makes for great contrast in the photos smile.gif

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Anne Elk
BrontosaurusTheorist



Joined: 07 Sep 2018
Posts: 2410 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle
Anne Elk
BrontosaurusTheorist
PostTue Oct 13, 2020 8:01 pm 
So much snow! No doubt Cookie was thrilled to be immersed in her element again.

"There are yahoos out there. It’s why we can’t have nice things." - Tom Mahood
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Forum Index > Trip Reports > Irving Peak + Cockeye Lake 11 oct 2020
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