[Bernardo]

I’m normally a day hiker, but a couple of times per year I like to spend a few days and nights in the wilderness. My main objectives besides spending time away from the city were to climb Chikamin and visit the elusive Chikamin Lake. I entered from the Mineral Creek Trailhead in the afternoon and took about 3 hours to reach my first camp at Park Lake with my 42 pound pack. Yes, that was way too heavy, but I was well equipped and supplied!!! After dinner I decided to explore a little and headed up to the PCT. At the small lake slightly north of the trail intersection I met a nice father-son team heading for Stevens and we had a good chat. I had neighbors! The next day I moved from base camp one to my higher camp two at Glacier Lake. Here I dropped 90% of my gear and headed for Chikamin Peak via K Lake. It’s really beautiful country up there. I walked past the famous monolith, then followed the outlet stream to K Lake. From here I walked the path of least resistance to the summit. As others have reported, the summit is infested with fire ants. I took the route climber’s right at the top which involved one class 4 move. On the way down I noticed a cairn suggesting a left side route. Anyone know for sure the best approach to gain the top? On the way down I explored the ridge heading over to the Four Brothers and found the rock with some pioneer names from 1899. The writing is really too faded to read but this has been well documented in the linked thread. Afterward I worked my way down the slabs and decided to head over to the sometimes hard to find Chikamin Lake. Fortunately, there were many cairns to guide me. Again, beautiful terrain. I met a couple heading back to Glacier Lake for the night, but I had the windy lakes to myself. Back in camp at Glacier Lake a party of three had walked in from Snoqualmie and had set up camp near my gear. So that night there were three parties entailing six people at the lake. They were considering walking to the Pete Lake Trailhead and trying to hitch a ride back to Snoqualmie. My plan had been to spend another day in the area and then return to my car at Mineral Creek. But this looked like an opportunity for me to take a nice one way hike on the PCT, so I offered to walk to their car the next day and drive it back to Mineral Creek. All I had to ask is what color is your Subaru? They readily accepted so the next morning I was on my way with my now 40 pound pack to Snoqualmie Pass. It was a great, but strenuous trip which gave me plenty of opportunity to contemplate the error of my ways. Somewhere between Huckleberry and Bumble Bee Pass I had a Saul on the road to Damascus experience with regard to ultralight backing. On the PCT in August you can’t help meeting all sorts of interesting people. I met and talked with many hikers heading to Stevens or Canada. I became acutely aware of pack sizes. Many were travelling fully loaded and seemed quite happy, but it was the thru-hikers who were my evangelists. A thru-hiker named Gypsy was very sociable and I offered her my extra food in an attempt to lighten my load. She accepted some items, but she really inspired me to think outside the box when she informed me she had no way to cook my dehydrated meals and just ate cold food! Just before I met Gypsy, I saw a black bear running into the brush down the steep slope below Ptarmigan Park. The Gold Creek valley is really beautiful. I finally staggered into the parking lot at Snoqualmie at 16:45 where a blue Subaru was indeed waiting for me. I drove it back to Mineral Creek and had just started filling my water bottles when my new friends arrived after having spent the day exploring Chikamin Lake. As many of you may recall, my good friend Brian passed away this year. It was a solemn experience at times to be in an area he loved and that we had hiked many times together. It helped me to remember and commemorate my friend and think about the great way he led his life even if he never practiced ultralight backpacking. He was a strong man. It would have been really nice to have been up there again, hiking together, and enjoying nature’s beauty. It was not a sad experience however. It was enjoyable to have thoughts of Brian on the top of my mind and to know he would have enjoyed this experience. What would be sad is forgetting a good friend gone to the great beyond. Below are some pictures of my trip.

Snoqualmie Mountain on the way to Mineral Creek TH

Park Lake

Hiker at Park Lake

Camp visitor at Park Lake

My food

Sunset at Park Lake

Breaking Camp

PCT shield

Looking back on the Park Lake trail

Entering the Glacier Lake basin

Chikamin Peak above Glacier Lake

Amphibian near Glacier Lake

K Lake above Glacier Lake (I made up that name!)

Glacier Lake from en route to Chikamin

I walked around this

Looking backward on the way up

The route to the ridge

The route to the top

Boot shaped lake below Chikamin, does this have a name?

Spectacle Lake in the distance

The north ridge

The south ridge

Infested summit cairn

Joe Lake

Huckleberry in front of Thompson

Went up this notch to the summit

Joe, etc.

High Box

On the ridge to the Brothers

Pioneers' Rock

Looking back at Chikamin

Solemn cairn in a beautiful spot. Left it as I found it.

Dried tarn above Glacier Lake

On the banks of K Lake

Raccoon at high elevation?

The Brothers above K Lake

Near Chikamin Lake

Chikamin Lake and Peak

Life goes on

Departing Glacier Lake

Anyone know what type of Butterfly this is? I think it's an imitation of a Monarch.

Self-portrait entering Ptarmigan Park

Huckleberry in the morning

Joe Lake with my pack. Several hikers including some thru-hikers admired my external frame.

The bear didn't pose like the marmot

A rare flower in good shape in this dry year.

Entering Ptarmigan Park

Picture taken by Gypsy

The Kendall Katwalk.

I sat here and my pack balanced itself.

One of my favorite signs

[RichP]

Beautiful tour, Bernardo. I'm still hoping to make it into that area this year.

[JimK]

Very nice report. Great photos. I still have not been beyond Park Lakes. Much still to see up there.

[joker]

Brings back some good memories. As you might imagine we saw (and walked on) a ton more snow on the slope between Chikamin Lake and Chikamin Peak over Labor Day weekend back around the turn of the millennium. At least there's one little remnant bit hanging on.

[mbtigger]

Did a loop of the PCT/MFK out of snoqualmie last September. Supposedly there is a boot path off the PCT to glacier lake, but I did not notice it. I was probably looking up instead of down when we passed it. When I solo (or duo, sometimes) I carry a light alcohol stove and 8-12 oz of fuel. I dehydrate my own food and make sure it is stuff that will rehydrate in boiling water with out much extra cooking beyond boiling 2C of water. My pack is usually below 25 lbs for a 4 day trip. Unfortunatley most of my hiking is done with my kids that are still a bit small to carry more that 12-15 lbs. So I end up carrying my Osprey 90L pack with 50 lb or more of stuff. (3 man tent, 4 person cook set, white gas stove, the works). But things are changing! - this last trip we had 4 people and 2 tents, so the kinder had to carry their own tent! Soon I hope to hand off the stove and the cookset and get them to 15-20 lbs. Someday They will both be carrying above 20lbs and I will be below 30lbs, using my lightweight pack. I dream of it...

[puzzlr]

That sounds like a relaxed tour of the area (except for the weight). Cool that you could do the car shuttle for the other party. Once again I feel lucky to live in a part of the world with these kinds of area available and accessible.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

[Bernardo]

RichP and JimK, you definitely would enjoy this area. As the many reports on this site demonstrate, there are a lot of possibilities. I'm looking forward to a more extended trip in the future. Joker, I was glad to see a little snow. Last August there was water in all the tarns and there was a big field of snow down to Glacier Lake. mbtigger, believe me, I've been researching alcohol stoves on YouTube since I got home. I enjoyed you your report from last year on your loop hike when I first read it and just now. I have a new appreciation for your first big day! Puzzlr, you puzzled out my true intention; I did camp the second night at Glacier and have edited the report to reflect this. A few things I left out: -The route down from Huckleberry Pass looked very steep. As a matter of fact, I didn't see a way down over the edge. Has anyone done this route? What is it like? -Saw a couple of military jets flying up the Gold Creek drainage. The hikers I spoke with soon after were awed more than annoyed. -I couldn't find a register on the summit. It's possible one was there, but the bugs kept me from looking very long.