[geyer]

Dates: June 23-24, 2018 Distance: 34 miles (includes hike from parking lot to dock) Accum. Elevation Gain: ~8000' total Total Humans Seen: 5 climbers, 1 birdwatcher, 1 boat driver, 1 big beaver camper Eve and I made Luna Peak just in time for sunset on Saturday, with not a minute to spare. At times this trip felt like more of a chore than leisure, so I thought I would write my trip report to reflect that. But first, some background info: Back on March 31 when Eve and I went up Welcome Pass, we came across two familiar faces who we knew through various social media platforms, but had never met in person. We had a quick hello on the mountain and commiserated in each others' misery, but went our separate ways. When I got home, there was a message waiting from Cassie: "Want to do Luna Peak on June 16 or 23?" Instant response from Eve and I = "Is that even a question? Yes." Game on. Luna was basically at the top of Cassie's list and even though I was excited for it, I think Cassie was over the moon times ten more excited than the rest of us. I really wish circumstances had been different and it was Kyle, Cassie, Eve, and I all on the summit together, but the world had other plans in mind... [Saturday, 03:40] Wake up 10 minutes before alarm clock. I don't realize that, so I spring out of bed in a surge of panic thinking I overslept. SHITSHITSHIT [04:15] Go find my car in the maze of street parking. Have mini-meltdown when car isn't where I thought it was. This has become a regular thing on early wake-ups. [04:16] Realize I'm an idiot. Car is where it's supposed to be. I am on wrong block. [04:27] Arrive at Greenlake P&R 13 minutes early. [04:40] Eve arrives. Hit the road in my car. [07:30] Arrive at Ross Lake Dam trailhead. [07:35] Cassie and Kyle pull up behind us. They laugh at us for wearing pants and long sleeves and bringing mountaineering boots and ice axes and trail runners. (I regret nothing) [07:55] Hike down to the dock. Boat picks us up 10 minutes later and we cruise to Big Beaver. It's cloudy. Hoping brush is dry so we don't get soaked on the trail.

Water taxi through Ross Lake

[08:27] Boat arrives at Big Beaver camp and we start hiking. Oops already made a wrong turn. This is going well... [10:44] Creek has completely swallowed the trail. We stop trying to keep our feet dry and give in to nature. Pretty sure we waded across every single creek crossing after this, except Big Beaver. No f**ks were given.

Green trails

toad

some jurassic leaves

ferns

determined

more logs

lots of water to cross

and we got lazy so we just waded all of it.

[11:00] Cassie says, "Hey guys I think I tweaked my knee, I'm going to go a bit slower. You can go faster if you want" Us: "Oh that's fine, we'll just go slower with you." Nobody really thought much of it since it was a completely flat trail. Also side note: we didn't really go any slower. Sorry Cassie. (Spoiler alert: Cassie tore her MCL.) [12:30] The past four hours are a bit of blur. I'm pretty sure 95% of the time was spent cursing as I swatted mosquitoes away and the other 5% was talking about how cool packrafts are. But at this point, we've crushed out 10.5 miles and are at the turnoff spot to access the log crossing. Coordinates we're aiming for are 48.8395, -121.2090. Apparently there was a second log crossing closer to access creek that involved less shwacking though devil's club. Oh well. We were all just pumped to find a clean crossing. [13:34] Finish schwacking about 0.6 miles parallel to big beaver (on its west side) to get to access creek. Took 40 minutes. Not great, Bob. [14:03] Go another 30 minutes uphill, parallel to Access Creek (on its north side). Suddenly Cassie stops. Her knee is not going to let her go any further, so she tells us that she and Kyle will spend the night at Luna Camp. We're a bit shocked. The look on Eve's face says it all - all her energy is sapped. Cassie can tell I still want to go on (I still have that solo hiker attitude lingering in me) and she wouldn't have it any other way. Eve, on the other hand needs convincing. She's like a helium balloon that has just been pricked and had all the air squeezed out - just completely deflated. Kyle's standing there like the good husband he is, totally supporting his wife, but you can tell he wishes things were different. Cassie just wags her finger at Eve and says "Don't you dare argue with me! You're going up there with him or else I will make you drag my bum knee to the top with you!!" The peer pressure worked... [14:23] Crossed Access Creek to the south side again at 3000'. Not much was said for a while after this. What could be said anyway? This was supposed to be a group trip, and it turned into just me and Eve again. Bummer... [14:49] This is dumb. Why did we cross to the south side? This brush sucks. We cross back to the north side at 3300'. Do yourself a favor and just stay on the north side. [15:38] We stayed on the north side (albeit too close to the creek in heavier brush) for another 50 minutes until 3700' where we crossed back to the south side when we hit slide alder. The south side also has slide alder, though not as dense. [15:50] Try to cross slide alder patch and just go absolutely nowhere for 5 minutes. Decide it'll be easier to go high. We were right, but it turned out there were lighter areas that we found down low on the way back. Mental status is at a low point

This became a familiar sight

[16:17] Emerge out of slide alder to views of Luna basin! VIEWS!!! Second Wind mode engaged

Finally some views!

[16:59] We turn a corner and Eve shouts "PEOPLE!" I'm thinking, I bet she knows them. Sure enough, she does. Ilia, whom she had ice climbed with before, is with his friend Devin. They're coming down from the summit and tell us it's about 2 hours to the shoulder, 2 more to the col, and 2 more to the summit. That's not great. That would put us on the summit at 2300... which isn't happening. Yikes. Being the cocky bastard I am, I'm thinking there's no way. They must just have taken it slow. God I hope I'm right... We part ways. This has been a very disconcerting meeting [17:04] Eve perks up and says "ahh this is just the best" Ok what am I missing... She's been down ever since Cassie and Kyle turned back and we just got bad news. "Huh?" I ask. Eve: "The only thing better than seeing no people is seeing people I know and like" Me thinking: Ok, whatever Eve. As long as you're in the mood to summit again... Eve: "It's like we just got our spirit guide to bring us up the mountain" Me internally again: uhhhh yeahhh....ok I wasn't very enthused, but her positive energy was definitely lifting my spirits too. Eve bolts off up our first snow slopes with a new-found energy and a goal: get to the summit before sunset. And if Eve's got energy, then so do I. Third Wind mode engaged

reminds me of the basin below Wheeler Peak in Great Basin NP

Ok... this is intimidating

just. one. more. step...

1. hike 2. bushwack 3. ??? 4. Prophet

seriously, when will this end?

[17:15] Third Wind mode deactivated. Well that didn't last long. One step at a time. [17:16] 1. 2. 3.... 48. 49. 50... [17:18] 10 second break [17:18:10] 1. 2. 3.... 48. 49. 50... [17:20] 10 second break [17:21] Holy crap, I'm not going to make it am I? [17:22] Shut up, you've got this. Just keep moving. Shorter breaks. ...... [18:02] FUELLLL IS PUMPING ENGINES [18:03] 16. 17. 18... [18:04] GIMME FUEL GIMME FIRE GIMME THAT WHICH I DESIRE [18:05] 44. 45. 46 ... .... [18:15] AND ON I BURNN [18:16] why do I have Metallica stuck in my head?? ... [18:33] "OH MY GOD THOSE ARE THE PICKETS" as I finally catch up to Eve at the top of the couloir, the first real views come into sight. Fourth Wind mode activated

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The summit! and our traverse

last push to the col

[18:44] I am amped. The views are real and we beat Ilia's two hour estimate by 15 minutes. the traverse over to the col does not look bad. And I have a lot of confidence in my scrambling. For the first time in a long time I am actually convinced we're going to make it to the top. Also for the first time in a long time, I'm ahead of Eve, who for some reason has decided to futz with her boots. (Turns out her ankle was bleeding and rubbed raw from her Evos... I was completely out of tune with everything at this point and had no idea. Great climbing partner I am.) This has me going at a good speed so that I can actually stay ahead of her. But this only lasted for as long as the traverse was flat. Once we started to go uphill again. I was back to zero-energy Brad and Eve was setting all the steps. Oyyy vey. But can you blame me for not being able to keep up with an ultra runner? [19:44] We reached Luna Col in half the time Ilia estimated. And boy, oh boy are the views mind bogglingly awesome. I can't contain myself. This is worth every second of suffering.

finally at the col. and it is good.

Col Pano

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[19:48] We drop off all our overnight gear at the campsite and head for the last leg of Luna -- TO THE SUMMIT! Fifth Wind mode engaged At first, I'm cruising alongside Eve, but then the colors start happening and I have to keep reminding myself that it will only get better as sunset approaches and that I need to get to the top. The other climbers at Luna col keep hooting and hollering and we respond with hoots of our own. Wait. Am I having...fun?

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oh sh##

[20:52] I meet Eve at the false summit ridge to an explosion of Golden Hour colors. My mind is going 1000mph trying to decide if I should be photographing every square inch of everything or if I should keep going to the summit. Summit fever prevails. Eve lets me go first because apparently I have no fear of exposure. (It was definitely exposed, but everything felt very secure. Only a few easy class 3 moves. Mostly just balance walking.)

And an inversion to boot

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hola, Baker

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Those two choss piles must be Hozomeen?

Feeling on top of the world

[21:15] WE DID IT! WE EFFING DID IT! AND HOLY CANNOLI THIS VIEW IS THE GREATEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN. now let's get off this rock while there's still light

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that marine layer though!

traversing the ridge

hold on tight!

tighter!!!

Eve's "HOLY F*****NG S**T" face

we out here

Some familar names

I thought this might be American Border Peak, but apparently it's Slesse Mountain. And whoa is she a beut

I can't believe I'm appeasing a Bruins fan. Go Hawks!

[who-cares-o'clock] Descend back to camp. I realize I forgot to bring a sleeping pad. and a headlamp. oops. Luckily the ground is dirt and flat and quite comfortable. We make dinner and pass out. I woke up once in the night to take star photos, but it didn't turn out that great, as to be expected with a nearly full moon.

After sunset

looking back down at camp

a dark look at the choss gully we descended

Window to the Pickets

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attempted milky way

[Sunday. 03:59] Wake up to the ugliest sounding bird I have ever heard. One minute before our actual alarm. Thanks bird.

The next morning

still pretty dark on Fury

Time to move

I'd take this any day.

Can we go back?

Already forgetting about the bushwack.

What bushwack?

Little marmot prints?

I like this picture.

Descending the couloir basking in the golden hour light

----- 6 hours of zombie-ing later --- [09:51] Cross big Beaver again. We found some semblance of a bootpath on the north side of access creek that got us down faster. It came and went often, but was helpful when it existed. We finally took our first decent break as we arrived at Luna camp. Cassie and Kyle were long gone. In fact, everyone was gone. Not a soul to be found. [10:48] We left Luna camp, what, like 90 minutes ago? 39 mile camp has to be coming up soon. I need to poo [11:04] oh come onnnnn where is this campsite ----- 1 hour of clenched cheeks later ----- [12:18] Arrive at 39 mile camp. Ascend wooden throne. Breathe sigh of sweet, sweet relief. [12:25] I take off at a break-neck pace because once again, I am on a mission. And that mission is to jump in Ross Lake the second I touch that dock. We took one more break and my feet decided not to work afterwards. So the fast pace was over, and I hobbled the last mile to the dock [14:23] I finally get to take my shoes off and jump into the most refreshing body of water I've ever experienced. It was so cold, but it felt so right. Our climber friends emerged at the dock half and hour later and had in-reached a boat to come pick them up at 15:30, so Eve and I hopped aboard instead of waiting till 17:00. A weekend well-spent. Also noteworthy: I got so many mosquito bites on my elbows that they just looked like they had measles. Damn bugs bit through my long sleeves and I must have swatted a hundred of them trying to suck more blood out of my elbows. Why would mosquitoes like my elbows so much!?

[Matt]

Glad to see you made it up Luna. It's a wonderful place. And your photos of the area are just superb. That's a long way to go in a day. I've always ended up camping at Luna Creek, because I needed all my energy the next day to get up to Luna col.

[OwenT]

Beautiful

[Malachai Constant]

Wow dats fast. We took ten day to do the traverse up Easy, Impass, and back to Hannigan.

[awilsondc]

Thanks for the report, especially the timeline! Luna is a goal for me this year and this report should help. Awesome photos too, as usual.

[mbravenboer]

Very nice! Hope to do this one day, but those creeks brrr ...

[mike]

Best views in the Cascades !!

[raising3hikers]

very nice TR it is such a great summit

[rubywrangler]

Welp, your trip report and Eve's hilarious blog post have persuaded Julia that Luna is worth the trouble, which I have been unsuccessful at doing so far, so... thanks! Beautiful photos. (Except that Bruins flag. Go Pens!)

[geyer]

hey thanks everyone! Yeah it was a little too fast for my taste. Well, I guess the speed was fine, but the timetable was just too short to really savor the area. We got to appreciate the scenery during daylight for approximately zero minutes. also, I probably wrote too much in this TR and no one actually read it all. But that's ok if you liked the pictures @Malachai Constant - 10 days in the Pickets is living the dream!

[Brushbuffalo]

[omhk]

Glad you made it up there! That gully up from the basin looks more pleasant with snow, but I have to say that one little steep sideways traverse across the grass and heather right after getting to the top of the gully looks even worse with snow cover. And those pictures of the bushwhack Fantastic shots!

[geyer]

[Bob2005]

I clicked on a photo and then went through the photostream. Amazingly beautiful photos!, and I felt like I was there, vicariously. Thank you.