[Dayhike Mike]

Tom and I just got back from four days (7/5 to 7/8) bagging some lakes in the North Cascades. We had great weather and I had a really good time. Day One: The trip into the Jordans wasn't too bad. Pretty area. We opted to walk around Lower Jordan when we probably should have rafted it. Upper Jordan was neat...liked that little tarn on the right side that's built right into the lake. I was exhausted after the first day. Not sure if it was the heat or just the fact that this was my first real trip of the season, but I was ready to settle down in camp when we found a good place at Upper Jordan that wasn't under snow.

Great suggestion for the MFK gate

Tarn en route to the Jordans

Lower Jordan

Arriving at Upper Jordan

Mmm. Tasty.

Upper Jordan

Day Two: We had a good time rafting Upper Jordan and eventually headed over to rise up to the tarn above it. It looks like the high country is a little behind in the melt this year and the tarn hasn't thawed out yet. After a brief break we headed up, navigating the cliffs to gain the ridgeline. I had a really scary incident coming down from the ridgeline above Upper Jordan to Upper Granite. I broke through some snow and went into an uncontrolled slide headfirst down the snowfield. I managed to get myself turned around in time to hit a rock ledge and absorbed most of the impact with my feet, but the momentum carried me over to land on another ledge 5-6 feet underneath. When I stopped, I was hanging with my top half over empty space. Another few inches and I would have gone into a 25 foot hole headfirst. After that we went out of our way to avoid any questionable looking snow-covered talus. That boulder field was totally treacherous...wet rocks, thin snow, and huge gaping holes that'll swallow a small vehicle whole make for a really bad combination. We made it the rest of the way down and rafted across Upper Granite to the isthmus to camp for the night. Camping at Upper Granite was incredible...what a neat place out in the middle of those two very different water bodies.

Tarn on Upper Jordan

Leaving Upper Jordan

Leaving Jordan Vertical

Leaving Jordan Pano

Tarn above Upper Jordan

First views of Upper Granite

Phenomenal colors

Upper Granite Pano #1

Upper Granite Pano #2

Day Three: We left camp and gained the ridgeline to just left of the low point. Steep stuff and a few cliff bands to navigate. On the other side, there was a steeeep, steeeep gully down but it was filled with hard snow and slick mud, and after the previous day, it didn't seem really smart to tempt fate. We ran the ridgeline toward the outlet of Lower Granite and left it when we saw a faint track heading steeply down to the right into hard pack duff and toward another boulder field. Fun trip up to the tarn above Lower Granite. Even though it was frozen over, that was a neat boot path. From there up to the saddle was a cinch and we had great views. Traversed along the ridgeline toward Whale, keeping high. We were thinking we'd need to camp somewhere along that traverse because it was getting late, but the whole backside was snow covered. So about halfway along, we rose to the 5400' gap and looked for a nice melted out patch. Ran the ridgeline and found a place to call home at 7:30pm or so.

First views of Lower Granite

Lower Granite Outlet

Looking Back on Upper Granite

Arriving at Lower Granite

Shoreline along Lower Granite

Cliffs above Lower Granite

Point 6780 from Tarn above Lower Granite

Tarn above Lower Granite

Snowking and Kindy Ridge

Point 6870 from Ridge Camp

Day Four: We thought the rest would be cake. Turned out to be harder than expected. Navigation enroute to Whale wasn't as straightforward as it seemed. There are a ton of gullies with cliffy exposed bands to navigate. Staying high, most of them weren't really issues, but we had to deal with the last few as we dropped down to the ridgeline above Whale. I had seen traces of bootpath in exposed heather elsewhere along the traverse, so I totally expected some sort of bootpath from the flat ridgeline down to Whale, but there was no sign of a bootpath there. Also nothing but faint traces of boot wear on the route from Whale back down to the Slide-Enjar/Hamar trail. We got cliffed out at the confluence of two rivers (outflow from the meadows above and one that wasn't shown on the map) and had to backtrack 200-300 feet to find a way to cross the gullies. Other than that it was easy walking...a mixture of meadows, reasonable brush on the gentler slopes, nice duff under tree cover once you hit the steep section and really started to drop. Just really weird that we never saw a really defined trail. I saw boot wear once we hit the duff, and we hit the Enjar/Hamar trail exactly where the boot path is supposed to take off, but I seriously can't believe that was the path...there was no real sign of tread. From there down to Slide was uneventful but exhausting. That trail has got to be the craziest navigational exercises anywhere in the state. Bobbing and weaving through brushy boulder fields, up and over and around blow downs and deadfall, with sections of the trail obliterated from particularly nasty blowdowns. Seemed like forever before we got to Slide. We should have rafted Slide. It was long, and the trail around it was in particularly nasty shape with tons of fresh blowdowns that haven't been cut yet. I think we made it out to the trailhead at 8pm. Tom thankfully offered to ride his bike back the 3 miles back up to the truck (my feet were toast at that point) and picked me up at the Slide trailhead at 9:30pm. Summary: Really glad we had four days. Great weather on the first 3, overcast on the last, but the sun came out when we needed it at the lakes. Bugs weren't bad at all. Only bummer was that the two tarns above Upper Jordan and Lower Granite were all frozen over.

[ScottM]

I'm not sure but at first I thought it looked kind of similar to this one.

silver lakes pano4

[Schmidt Altitude]

Scary slide incident....VERY glad you are ok!

[Tom]

So was I! Other than that, a really enjoyable trip. Too bad we got clouded out the last day but I guess it helped me pare it down to 12 pics per day.

Tarn 4260

Stream Crossing

Arriving at Lower Jordan

Going around Lower Jordan

Outlet Falls From Upper Jordan

Pollen at Upper Jordan Logjam

Upper Jordan From Outlet Stream

Rafting Upper Jordan

Upper Jordan Side Tarn

Upper Jordan From Camp

Mike Rafting Upper Jordan

Avalanche Remnants at Upper Jordan Side Tarn

Upper Jordan from Side Tarn

Upper Jordan and Side Tarn

Looking Back to Upper Jordan Inlet

Leaving Upper Jordan

Arriving at Tarn Above Upper Jordan

Tarn Above Upper Jordan

Leaving Tarn Above Upper Jordan

First Views of Big Granite

Zooming in to Big Granite Inlet

Big Granite Outlet

Big Granite Inlet Pool

Morning Reflections at Big Granite

Big Granite Cove

Leaving Big Granite

4679 Granite from Ridge

4679 Granite Inlet

Point 6780 from Ridge Between Granites

Big Granite and Point 6377 From Ridge Between Granites

Baker From Ridge Between Granites

Descending to 4679 Granite

Mike at 4679 Granite

Arriving at 4679 Granite

Rafting 4679 Granite

Outlet Waterfall from 5564 Granite

Point 6780 from Ascent to 5564 Granite

Arriving at 5564 Granite

North Cascades From Traverse to High Camp

Snowking from Traverse to High Camp

Eldorado, Boston, and Johannesburg from Traverse to High Camp

Big Granite From High Camp

Arriving at Whale Lake

Whale Lake Inlet Falls

Leaving Tarn Above Whale Lake

Looking Back To Whale Lake

Leaving Slide Lake

Slide Lake Ponds

[Kat]

Beautiful photos and great TR - this is the stuff that inspires me to get out and go- and boy, what a scare that slide must have been. Glad you're OK. P.S. DHM - love that first pic

[Backpacker Joe]

Thank God Mr. Michael is ok. I think this deserves a pizza and beer tonight on me! What a great trip and pics guys. Wish I could have gone along. So did you stay at big Granites inlet? THere is a cool camp site at big Granite's outlet. Did you make it to Upper (Little Granite) Granite's outlet? That outlet area is really neat. Thanks for the pics.

[ree]

Beautiful pictures, guys, and great tr Mike. Glad you made it back safe.

[Magellan]

Glad you are ok Mike! What a great trip for you guys. Why did you resist rafting those two times? Was it just the effort to inflate, etc?

[Tom]

Why resist rafting? Here's the process: unpack raft and thermarest, inflate raft and thermarest, put camera in waterproof bag, take off boots, pack boots and poles, find good launch spot, try not to get wet getting in, pull pack onto raft without dunking into lake, raft lake, find good spot to dump pack and exit raft, exit, dry off, wait for raft and thermarest to dry, deflate raft and thermarest, re-pack, put on boots... BPJ, nope we didn't have time to check out the Granite outlets or the lower pots. Maybe if we ever go in the normal way. Is there a trail from Big Granite's outlet to the inlet? I was surprised to see so much impact at the inlet where we camped as it doesn't look that easy to get over there without a raft. Also, is there really a WC at Granite No. 2? I've never seen WC labeled on a USGS Quad. Something makes me think the map maker was having a little fun with that one.

[Backpacker Joe]

There is no trail from big Granites outlet to inlet. Rafting is it. Remember, they flew float planes in there prior to the late 70's. Im sure thats where most of the inpact came from. What is a WC? Ive been around both the Pots.

[Tom]

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/wc

[Backpacker Joe]

You could have just told me. I dont know what one is, but Ive been at that end of the lake and there is no (I dont know what one is) water closet!!!

[Tom]

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/water%20closet

[Backpacker Joe]

Well then.... I sure didnt see anything like that. Ive hiked from the road around the lake up the draw to Big Granite and I never did see anything like that... Seems krazie to me to put something like that at that crummy little lake and not one of the big lakes.

[kleet]