[rubywrangler]

After a month of dogless climbing trips I was ready for something Ruby-friendly and a little more ramble-y. Caltopo and browsing TRs on Friday morning led me to this spot. A nice, long ridge scramble sounded good. Off we went. I had never visited the WFF before. Definitely more interesting and less of a death march than the east fork. We got to Big Heart Lake sometime after 7pm. I was hoping to make it to the 5300' tarn at the end of Atrium ridge so we kept moving. Got to where there should be a turn off to head up the ridge, but didn’t see anything. Due to the amount of traffic, I expected this to be marked, or at least easy to find. So I dithered a bit looking around, one false start, generally wasting time while the sun was starting to set, and realized we might not have enough daylight to make it all the way to the tarn. Backtracked to a mosquito incubation pond a bit lower to get water then tried again. Spotted an out-of-place looking rock about 50' upslope so headed that way, and immediately found the bootpath. I wonder if the main trail wraps around and meets the ridge trail at some point? I didn't see any footprints on the first section of the ridge although there were a few folks ahead of me as I would learn the next morning.

copper

little heart

big heart

delta, trout

Anyhoo. We got to the far side of Atrium and found a flat spot high over Big Heart to set up camp at about 9pm. Just in time for the last bit of color in the sky. Moquitos were briefly bad, then they went to bed.

ridge camp views

ridge camp views

Saturday morning we packed up and moved camp to the tarn. This was a lovely section of ridge, lots of trickles and puddles and boulders and green and snow. The tarn itself was still largely snow-covered. Just as we arrived another party was leaving. So it turns out my campsite was occupied anyway. And it turns out it was occupied by people I know, who were doing the ALHR. But didn't learn that until I got back.

between ridge camp and 5300' tarn

From tarn camp we went down to Chetwoot Lake/Little Chetwoot and up to Pt 6077, then east on the ridge to Iron Cap. For the most part the ridge was solid ground and boulders but there's some snow remaining. I did not bring an ice axe so tried to avoid it. The ridge was pretty scrambly in parts and took a lot longer than I expected - almost 2 hrs. It's not so dog friendly. Ruby was a bit freaked out at some points and I had to help her up/down/through a few times but ultimately she made it to Iron Cap. Two women from the Skagit Alpine Club were behind me on the ridge and their dogs did not get to the summit. Ruby was rewarded with a snow patch to nap in while I took in the views. I love this part of the ALW.

chetwoot

crawford, big snow, wild goat

naptime

E/S summit pano

We headed off the summit around 2:30. From earlier reports (and Puzzlr’s entry in the Iron Cap register), I knew the ridge route to Wild Goat would go, but I wasn't sure if we had enough time to get there and back to camp before dark. Might as well give it a shot.

down the ridge to wild goat

iron cap lake + mtn

pt 6077 pano

Except then we didn't really stay on the ridge. I think Crawford Lake has some kind of magnetic pull. We dropped down a bit that way, then climbed back up to the saddle between Crawford and Chetwoot.

south side of the ridge

crawford

chetwoot, little c, angeline

wild goat, tourmaline, lakes

Then we dropped down to the Chetwoot side to get around some trees. This turned out to be a mistake; we couldn’t get back up to the ridge and had to drop a couple hundred feet more to get around steep stuff. Then we finally had a clear path on scree and snow to saddle beneath the summit of Wild Goat, but it was after 6pm, Ruby was clearly slowing down, and I figured it would take a couple hours to get down and around the lake, and back to camp. So we climbed up a little way past the saddle to a flat spot with a great view of the Middle Fork valley, had a quick snack, and headed down, following the south shore of Chetwoot to the outlet and then up the bootpath to camp.

turnaround point

looking back

Sunday morning was cool and cloudy and Ruby’s paws were fairly beat up from the rocks so I quickly packed up camp and we headed out. On the way down I tagged Atrium and marked the turnoff to the ridge trail with a few rocks. We made it back to the TH at about 2:30pm and hung out for a bit talking to the women from the SAC, and made it back to Seattle through the Hwy 2 traffic jam just in time for my own birthday dinner!

5300' tarn

impass

big heart and camp robber from atrium

My camera is broken but I took almost 300 photos with my iphone! The 68 kind-of-decent ones are here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskZGgvX6

[HermitThrush]

Appreciate the beta. Great report. Which tarn were you at?

[Backpacker Joe]

Yes thank you. Some really wonderful pictures you have there.

[awilsondc]

Damn, those panos are phenomenal! If you're reading this and you haven't clicked the panos to see them in full screen, you're missing out. WOW! I've been meaning to do the foss river loop / alpine high route for a couple years now and I REALLY want to go! Some of the best photos I've seen of this area. Love the first ridge camp, Iron Cap summit pano, and last pano w/ Tourmaline. Man, I really want to do this loop now!

[mbravenboer]

That's an exceptional report! Great views of the conditions in that area also (particularly on Flickr).

[rubywrangler]

HermitThrush - the tarn is just east of Tourmaline peak, a couple hundred feet above Chetwoot lake. I'm glad folks are enjoying the photos, it certainly is a stunning and photogenic location! I experimented with shooting in RAW on my iphone on this trip but still think the jpg panos came out better. Or maybe that spot is just more suited to panos because the views are so expansive.

[puzzlr]

I love the reminder of how scenic this area is. Great photos and just the right amount of clouds to add drama. With a newer iPhone and good lighting there's no need to apologize for the quality -- yours are some of the best I've seen.

[GaliWalker]

Those are some fantastic pictures, especially for an iPhone. That's a sublime part of the ALW. I'm missing it quite a bit right now, so thanks for the stoke.

[geyer]

Wow this just makes me want to hike an Alpine Lakes High Route even more! But I might have to do it in weekend sections because of time. :/ Great pics in an amazing area!

[thename]

Great pictures! That little tarn is one of my favorite camps in the area, glad you found the route.

[Distel32]

[nickmtn]

Do you remember if there was a place to pitch a tent on the summit of Iron Cap? Any water near the summit?

[rubywrangler]

I think you could probably put a tent up there, but not 100% sure. The summit is pretty flat and there are a couple of clear spots, IIRC. Probably no water after the lakes.

[Tom]

I remember it being pretty windy up there and a lot of scrub. Not an ideal place to camp.

[nickmtn]

Thanks for the info! Probably make my camp at those chetwood tarns 😀