[dicey]

The "summer" weather we have been having lately has really been messing with my weekend trip planning......oh well, I'm learning to be more flexible and switch to day trips during the week in order to fulfill my need to get out. With the weekend weather forecast beginning to take a dive (again), ErinB and I decided to bolt up McClellan peak on friday, hoping to sneak in a good weather trip. It worked out pretty well. Rather than take one of the 'standard' approaches, I convinced Erin that we should take Ingalls creek to Crystal creek for this peak. I attempted to enter the enchantments this way a few years ago, but got rained out. This time I would be in tennis shoes and carrying a very small pack. We left Seattle around 5:15am and arrived at the Ingalls creek trailhead at....well, I don't know what time. It turns out that neither Erin or myself had a watch or altimeter, or anyway to tell the time at all. Not a big deal, overall. We had headlamps and plenty of daylight. We took off up the trail. Erin suggested jogging, which I was already doing to try to keep up with her. I haven't jogged in quite some time (years), so 7.5 miles of it didn't do my body any favors! Anyway, we arrived our turn off at Crystal creek sometime later (?). I don't think Crystal creek is signed, but it is about .5 miles after the sign for cascade creek. We turned uphill just east of the creek, looking for signs of a path. We found bits and pieces of trail here and there, but not much, and never for very long. There are a few cairns as well, but if you follow the creek uphill, you will be heading in the right direction. Eventually, we arrived at the lovely basin at 6,000 feet. It would be great to camp here, but there is no water right now. Maybe in the spring....

electric slide tree

basin at 6k

Erin in 6k basin

pointy

There is some house sized boulder hopping before reaching this basin, and from the basin up, nothing but talus and boulders all the way to the crystal lake outlet. The way up looked tedious, so we cut up a side gully and didn't go all the way to the outlet on our ascent, which probably didn't save us any time since the gully we chose was very loose and sandy/rocky. Once we could see Crystal lake below us, we began traversing east below the flanks of McClellan Peak. The terrain was bouldery meadows, followed by scree, boulders and more boulders. We dropped down around a couple of hard snow patches, the last one being just west of the prong and the ramp/gully we scrambled up to reach the ridge. From the ridge, the summit is not too far and can be approached in a number of ways. We chose to follow the ridge and then drop over to the south side to avoid a large outcropping. Once we were on the east side of the summit, an easy scramble gains the top.

approaching mac

the prong and gully

We lounged on top for an hour or so, checking out the views. We briefly considered hitting another peak in the area, but the only one I had left was Colchuck, which Erin had already done. We guessed we didn't have enough time for Argonaut, since our route had taken longer than we anticipated. We also briefly considered dropping down into the upper basin, and descending Aasgard to the Colchuck trailhead. We figured from there, we might be able to beg a ride back to the ingalls creek trailhead. This would avoid having to descend all the boulders + 7.5 miles of trail at the end, but it was also taking quite a risk.

fantasia pond

chants 3

Little A

chants 2

chants

In the end, we decided to just go back the way we came, sigh. This time we dropped to the Crystal lake outlet before starting down. The descent wasn't as bad as we anticipated, although I was able to somehow lead us down the wrong side of the creek This resulted in a nice little 500ft schwack through fern and giant fireweed to reach the Ingalls creek trail.

looking back up on the way down

Crystal creek route 8-17-07

I requested that we refrain from jogging the trail on the way out Made it to the car well before headlamp time. Although it was fun to take a different approach into the enchantments, I wouldn't consider this route to be any faster - just different and interesting with guaranteed solitude. This would be a great spring ski approach! Notes: We both brought crampons, but were able to skirt below remaining snow patches, so they were unnecessary. Don't count on water on this route as the creek goes under boulders before the 6,000ft basin and doesn't resurface until 200 feet below the outlet of the lake. Stats (I'm guessing here) 22mi. r/t 6,000 +

[GeoTom]

Damn!

[Yana]

You're both insane.

[silence]

NOT TOO SHABBY ... you guys blow my mind!! Awesome views of the chants -- seldom shared -- thanks big time!

[Dayhike Mike]

Crystal Creek is a dry dry dry approach.

[Foist]

6000 feet of boulder hopping in tennis shoes? And you quit after only one lousy peak? Dicey, WHY ARE YOU SO MEGA FREAKING LAME?? That's a cool approach though. Next time I go to the Enchantments I might actually try it. Were there any places to camp along Crystal Creek before the water went under the boulders? Or is there basically nothing between Ingalls Creek and Crystal Lake?

[don b]

Hey Dicey, Second peak this year that I was a day behind you. I came in over Aasgard and hit several peaks. It was the lightest I've traveled this year including ditching the zip off pants for a pair of old school running shorts (I've got red upper thighs to prove it!). The freedom of those shorts was unbelievable. By the way, Crystal Creek is also a fun way to ski in the winter.

[dicey]

J - Sorry about my lameless, must be getting 'old' or something. Camping at the basin (6k) would be great earlier in the season. This time of year you would need to haul water up. There isn't really much else. Don - You can bet I was daydreaming of all those boulders covered in lovely white snow, and me with my skis on...

[canyonwren]

What an incredibly awesome hike! I'd love to follow your footsteps (once I can be assured I'm physically UP for 20+ miles in a day...)

[gyngve]

Thanks for the beta on the lack of water in that basin... I've thought about that approach and camp as a legal way to do the 'Chants permitless for multiple days...

[summitseeker]

Spectacular!!! That's a hell of a day. I've linked to your TR from my website as well.

[Foist]

[ErinB]

Dicey - That electric slide tree is awesome! Don B – I’m with you regarding the freedom of shorts – so worth the scratches! And seriously, the splendor of the basin more than compensates for the flat (ugh!) approach and tedious boulder fields, though I didn't seem to notice on the way up! So thank you for the route choice, Dicey!

[Matt]

Nice pics of the lakes from a different angle on McClellan. I think this is the second report for the Chants via Crystal Creek this year. I predict it will be the new most-used previously little-used approach at nwhikers. So many interesting lines pop out of this report.

[Magellan]

There is a dim idea rattling around in my head, much like a bb in an empty tin can, that there is a human being named Erin who is faster than Dicey. Why does my head hurt?