[Dayhike Mike]

Tom and I had a good time stretching our legs for 3 days this week and thankfully managed to get some great weather for the trip. Wednesday, we got an early start and headed out to the Canyon Creek trailhead. The trail rises at an excellent grade from the valley floor to McMillan Park. We got to the turnoff for Crater Lake before we realized it and continued on up to the shallow banks of Crater Lake. From here, we retraced our steps to the cairned (true) trail up to Lookout No. 2 and proceeded to rise on nicely graded switchbacks, surrounded by alpine meadows and magnificent views. On top, we found some remnants of the old lookout and then proceeded to drop to Lake 6380. We traversed under the Garcia Glacier and dropped to our final destination -- the sunny shores of Springer Lakes. Thursday, we spent a warm and sunny day floating and fishing, swimming and relaxing around the area. We also found that we were sharing the lakes with a fellow NWHiker, RayD! A few large clouds drifted over temporarily, but for the most part we enjoyed good weather. Friday, we packed up and headed out of camp about 10am. On the way home, we rose to the col at 7200' and met up with Ray again. Together, we traversed under Crater Mountain to reach the trail to Lookout No. 1. There, we parted ways...Tom and I heading up Crater and Ray heading back toward the trailhead. The trail up Crater to Lookout No. 1 is amazing, to put it lightly. It's a well engineered trail switchbacking up some seriously steep terrain. A few hundred feet from the top the trail turns into a decent Class 3 scramble up a chossy gully and a cool ledge system to reach the false summit. From the false summit, the engineered trail resumes and switchbacks up the last 100 feet to the true summit. Great views of Jack, the north end of the Ptarmigan Traverse and south end of the Pickets from up there. Tom and I hung out on the summit for a good half hour and then headed down shortly after 3pm. After downclimbing the scramble portion, we made pretty good time all the way to the bottom and crawled into our car at 7:05pm. (pics are on their way)

[Tom]

Thanks for writing the TR Mike. Beautiful area but don't expect solitude. We counted 14 people (including us) camped at the lakes - midweek. A couple more items to note. While descending to the Jerrys we passed by an upper tarn which we mistook for the uppermost lake in our state of exhaustion and haste to set up camp. It wasn't until we were looking down on the lakes from Crater Mtn that we realized we never visited the higher lake. I would also describe the scramble up to the summit of Crater as class 3.14159. I do pretty well with exposure but for some reason it really freaked me out. Not recommended for the faint of heart. Here are my pics.

Collapsing Cabin at Start of Trail

Arriving at Crater Lake

Ragged Ridge from Lookout No 2

Lake 6380 and Jack Mtn

Silver Star? from Lookout No 2

Descending to Lake 6380

Mike at Lake 6380

Lake 6380 from Outlet

Leaving Lake 6380

Small Tarn and Jack Mtn

Small Tarn below Jerry Glacier

Looking Back to Jerry Glacier from Pass

Lower Jerry from Knoll

Upper Jerry from Knoll

Upper Jerry from Cove

Upper Jerry Island from Raft

Mike Rafting Upper Jerry

Middle Jerry

Mike Rafting Lower Jerry

Lower Jerry from Inlet

Lower Jerry and Devils Park

Lower Jerry Pano

Point 6835 and Lower Jerry

Ray D Fishing Upper Jerry

Upper Jerry Cove

Crater Mtn and Knoll Tarn

Upper Jerry Reflections

Upper Jerry and Camp

Leaving Upper Jerry

Jerry Lakes from Pass

Lower Jerry from Pass

Jack and Glacial Pools below Jerry Glacier

Lake 6380 from Ascent to 7150' Pass

Diablo Lake and Northern Pickets from Crater

Baker and Northern Pickets from Crater

Snowfield, Ruby, and Paul Bunyan's Stump from Crater

McMillan to Canada from Crater

Approaching Crater Summit

Jerry Lakes from Crater Mtn

Jack from Crater Mtn

Small Tarn and Lake 6380 from Crater Mtn

Hozomeen and Jerry Lakes from Crater Mtn

North Cascades Highway from Crater Mtn

Glacier and Waterfalls on East Shoulder of Jack

[Mtn Dog]

You guys rock! It's great to reminisce on that area seeing pics of it again just a few weeks later. The snow around the Jerry Glacier has definitely melted some from a few weeks ago. You also got a better view of the Northern Pickets (there were more clouds up that way when we were there). We had too many clouds blocking the view of Mt Baker. I wondered if that was Hozomeen Mtn or not and I loved the peekaboo view of Ross Lake to the left of it behind Jack Mtn. What a great hike! The Class 3 section is a bit challenging. I was prepared for it having read about it in the guide ahead of time but I was also quite relieved when we got back on normal trail for the last several hundred feet of ascent - mostly because the scramble took a bit longer and was costing us time. They did a great job of marking the route, IMO.

[Dayhike Mike]

[David¹]

Impressive Best pics I've ever seen of Jerry Lakes

[GeoTom]

Thanks guys

[Mtn Dog]

[RayD]

It was splendid to meet Tom and Mike! Here are a few pics although I'm almost ashamed to post them after Tom's beauties.

JerrryLakes 025

JerrryLakes 023

JerrryLakes 021

JerrryLakes 050

JerrryLakes 040

JerrryLakes 054

JerrryLakes 057

[RayD]

[Backpacker Joe]

Why were you guys scrambling up anything???? The route goes in between the two peaks......

[Tom]

BPJ, it made sense for us to go in the way we did for several reasons. First, we didn't want to bring ice axe or crampons and we knew our route in would bypass the glacier. We also wanted to climb Crater on the way out so it worked out perfectly to loop out that way after being able to judge glacier conditions. FWIW, I did the entire route in running shoes and trekking poles. As far as the exposure, it's on the scramble up Crater Mtn. One slip and you're a goner.

[seawallrunner]

wow Mike and Tom - what a great TR and what awesome photos! I heard that Granite was a tough climb (Gary Snyder manned the lookout there, in the 50s) but it's cool to hear that there is a trail. Dunno about that scramble before the summit though. I get vertigo just thinking about it! Well done guys!

[Tom]

[Backpacker Joe]

Thanks Tom. Based on our trip last year and my exposer problem I guess its good I didnt go with you guys on this one.... Bummer though. I really liked that route to the 7200' pass between the two peaks. It looks (from your pics) like there was more snow on the back side of that pass than there was two years ago when Dan and I went.

[Mtn Dog]

BPJ, the trail ascends to Crater Mtn summit and lookout No. 1 via a Class 3 scramble between 7,330 and 7,670'. It's just below the false summit and it's marked by yellow + signs in O's and arrows painted onto the rock. Fred Beckey refers to it in his guide. The summit is at 8,128'.