The Lake on Baekos Creek

The weather forecast for Labor Day weekend was a little vague. Early in the week Saturday was supposed to be good, then later in the week, Sunday as well. I had hoped to piggyback a free vacation day with some time off work to do a long trip in the Upper Whitechuck and North Fork Sauk rivers. Since the weather was supposed to turn bad on or after Labor Day I decided to do a shorter trip instead.  

For a number of years I had been looking at a lake at about 6280 feet in elevation on Baekos Creek, which drains to the Whitechuck River. I figured that this would be a tough lake to get into. There are a number of lakes on the upper Whitechuck just to the south that should be easy to access and I had thought of trying to get from them into the lake on Baekos Creek on a four or five day trip that would include several other lakes in the area. The idea was that if the attempt on that trip failed, I could do a trip focusing just on the lake on Baekos Creek later. I decided on making an attempt to get into just the Baekos Lake over Labor Day.

This whole trip turned out to be an exercise in psychology. I had been looking at maps of this area and trails for years and had it in my mind that, the lake on Baekos Creek notwithstanding, this was going to be an easy area to do. There was good access, two trails up the North Fork of the Sauk River as well as the Pacific Crest Trail so there would be very little off trail traveling.

In many ways trail walking is much easier than off trail walking. You don’t have to figure out a route and your way is usually pretty free of obstacles. In other ways trail walking is harder than off trail walking. You need to be able to pace yourself to the trail and rest at the appropriate times, kind of work the trail I guess would be a term for this.

I had never walked any of this trail before and, as usual, I had an ambitious agenda. In my mind, as I started up trail 649 up the North Fork of the Sauk, I wanted to get into the headwaters of the Whitechuck and then down the Pacific Crest Trail to camp near Baekos Creek. The next day I would go into the lake there and hopefully there could be enough time to get into the four easy lakes to the south of Baekos Creek as well as some small ponds in the Whitechuck Cinder Cone. Much of this agenda had been made up years earlier before I had ever seen or experienced the actual conditions on the ground.  

Trail 649 is fairly flat with some relatively minor ups and downs for the first 5 miles. Then it goes up 3000 feet in a little less than 3 miles. My average trail pace on flat ground is about 2.5 miles per hour. I got to the Mackinaw Shelter at about 5 miles before 11:00 a.m. Instead of taking a good rest, I pushed on hoping to have lunch at a little after noon at the junction with the Pacific Crest Trail, another 2.8 miles further, according to my Green Trails map.

What I didn’t take into account was that 3000 foot elevation gain and my unwillingness to stop and rest when there was an open way in front of me. I pushed myself too hard and, in my mind, I was going to have lunch at a little after noon near the trail junction so I didn’t stop for lunch either. I didn’t reach the trail junction until after 1:00 p.m. and I still didn’t stop for lunch until almost 2:00. It was well after 3:00 by the time I reached the Whitechuck Cinder Cone on the headwaters of the Whitechuck River. At this point I was worn out and decided to rest and regroup.

I decided on a different plan. I would camp at the headwaters of the Whitechuck and go into the ponds at the Whitechuck Cinder Cone and go down to Baekos Creek the next day with a light pack and attempt the route up the creek and consider the trip a success and be happy if I could at least get into that one lake on Baekos Creek.

It was hard to get up the next morning. Then I moped and dawdled down the trail, dragging my feet like kid after tantrum, a little tired and feeling sorry for myself and dreading the off trail brush bash up Baekos Creek. This mindset and resulting behavior probably added a couple of hours to my trip down the trail.

I reached Baekos Creek and started up. Despite all my dread, I had been looking online at a new type of map the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has. It is a 7.5 minute quad or 1:24,000 scale map with the contour lines that indicate how steep the ground is superimposed over an aerial photo. These new maps give a lot of additional information not included in the old style maps about things like what kind of vegetation is on the ground.

According to the aerial photo map I looked at of this area, there was a lot of brush near the stream but, in the immediate vicinity of the stream, the ground was fairly bare. I was hoping this bare ground would be a series of gravel or boulder deposits that would make travel fairly easy. This was the case in the lower part of the creek for about half a mile.

Then the boulders gave way to bedrock which quickly became very steep sided and covered with numerous seeps and algae, too steep and slick to navigate. So I hit the brush which was mostly tag, or slide alder (Alnus sinuata). I find that tag alders are actually easier to navigate than vine maple. So they are the lesser of two evils but, according to a quote I read somewhere, “the lesser of two evils is still evil”. I had just figured out what time I would need to turn around in order to make it back to camp that day when I hit the tight scrubby forest growing in an old avalanche chute.

The trees were growing so tight in some places that it was like walking through brush and there were thick growths of oval leaved blueberries and white rhododendron in the open areas that made walking difficult but it was much better than the tag alders. I stayed in this, following the creek up and veering to the right up a side valley when I reached a large tributary stream that entered the creek on the side opposite me. In about half an hour, I reached an avalanche chute further up that was more active with a bunch of trees that had been knocked down within the last several years.

There was a fairly large tributary stream flowing through the edge of this avalanche chute and I was able to follow it and then a smaller stream up into some talus slopes right below the lake. From there it was a matter of just getting up the rock slide without getting hurt.

I reached the lake in about three hours from leaving the trail. I found it to be quite a pretty spot though it appeared to be quite barren. The lake had a blue color from glacial flour and there was not a lot of vegetation growing in the area. I didn’t see any amphibians. I am sure there were a number of species of aquatic insects inhabiting the lake but these are often difficult to see without specialized sampling equipment. I did run into a couple of Cascades frogs along the trail on the trip out.

I also saw that, at least from the Baekos side, the route from the lakes to the south looked fairly easy. There was also a route that looked pretty easy down off a spur ridge of Glacier Peak.

Hindsight being 20/20, I realized that I should have tried the route from the south first. If I had succeeded then I would have gotten into those lakes as well as the one on Baekos Creek. I didn’t want to try to go back that way because time was tight. I didn’t know what it looked like on the south side of the pass. The route might not have been doable from that side and I would have to invest a bunch of time I didn’t have in order to find out. As it was, I got back to camp just before dark going out the way I came in.

As per usual, I saw a lot of people on the trails. The Pacific Crest and the North Fork Sauk are both pretty popular trails and this was Labor Day weekend and the weather was good. Off trail up Baekos Creek, I didn’t see anyone or any signs of human presence. I find this to be very common. I did see a lot of whistle pigs or hoary marmots and a lot of rock rabbits or pikas in both the areas where there were a lot of people and where there weren’t a lot of people.

The clouds rolled in rapidly Sunday night, covering everything in about half an hour.  I expected it to be completely socked in on Monday morning but the clouds rolled away shortly after sunrise and the day was quite beautiful on the way out.

There were several points of interest during this trip. The first was along the trail on the way in. Just past Red Creek and then just past the Mackinaw Shelter, the trail goes through a burn or two separate burns that are probably 80 to 100 years old. Between Red Creek and the Mackinaw Shelter, the forested areas are old growth in a late successional stage.

These areas provide an almost textbook example of succession in western hemlock or Pacific silver fir forests. In the old growth area there are very few Douglas-firs. This species is shade intolerant and its seedlings can’t grow in the heavy shade of a forest canopy. So the most of the trees in this area are western hemlock and Pacific silver fir along with some western red cedar all of which can grow in the shade. In the burned area, probably close to half of the trees are Douglas-fir. The disturbance caused by the fire created enough open area that these trees could get established and thrive.

The other point of interest is the Whitechuck Cinder Cone which, from a distance looks like a barren brownish sand dune in a sea of greens.

The last point of interest is a waterfall and bedrock constriction in lower Baekos Creek which I will illustrate in the photos that follow. 

The Mackinaw Shelter at about 5.5 miles on the North Fork Sauk trail 649. 

The Mackinaw Shelter front view. This is probably not long for this world unless some work is done on it. The roof is going bad and there are mushrooms growing out of one of the rafters-always a bad sign. In addition, there apparently was no foundation put under this building so the posts are rotting where they contact the soil. This isn't surprising. I don't think many of these shelters were build with longevity in mind. A really cool building. 

North Fork Sauk Trail breaking into the open in an avalanche chute. Large amounts of snow accumulate in the winter on the bare ridges above now green with meadows. 

Three avalanche tracks viewed from the Pacific Crest Trail. The previous photo was taken in the avalanche track to the far left of this frame. The steep ground and lack of tall vegetation here make this area prone to avalanches. 

The headwaters of the Whitechuck River viewed from Red Pass on the Pacific Crest Trail. 

Whitechuck Cinder Cone viewed from the Pacific Crest Trail. 

Whitechuck Cinder Cone. 

Whitechuck Cinder Cone. 

Whitechuck Cinder Cone reflected in a small lake or pond on its south side. 

Rock forming Whitechuck Cinder Cone. This rock had a strange feel underfoot and was a weird to walk on. The smaller stuff slides very easily underfoot while the larger stuff is quite solid but is actually hard to walk on. Only a few species of plants were growing in this rock and only one of them seemed to be common here.  

Glacier Peak with Whitechuck Cinder Cone in the foreground. 

Glacier Peak reflected in a small lake or pond on the north side of Whitechuck Cinder Cone. 

Blue grouse or sooty variant of the blue grouse a.k.a. sooty grouse (Dendragapus fuliginosus).

View down the Whitechuck River Valley from the Pacific Crest Trail in the morning. 

Waterfall on Baekos Creek near edge of main Whitechuck River Valley. 

View downstream in Baekos Creek 180 degrees out from previous photo. The bedrock constriction that helps form the waterfall also restricts water flow which increases pressure and energy available to move sediment, kind of like putting your thumb over the end of a garden hose only on a much larger scale. This results in a natural "blow out" where lots of sediment moves through the constriction then falls out in large deposits or bars when the energy dissipates as the area of the stream channel increases. The large deposits or bars cause the stream to run all over the place, cutting new channels or into existing stream banks. 

View downstream in Baekos Creek just above the waterfall. The constriction in the stream slows the water above it decreasing its energy and ability to move sediment. The area above the waterfall is fairly flat so again the rock and sediment fall out and are stored above the constriction with the same result of the stream running and cutting all over the place. All of the sediment movement and storage and stream cutting occur at different points during flooding. 

View downstream from part way up Baekos Creek. 

View upstream from same point as previous photo. Just out of sight, the stream banks became steep, slick bedrock and I had to go into the tag alder brush on the other side of the stream and from there into some fairly well grown up avalanche chutes. 

Near the top of the avalanche chute I followed up. I followed the stream to the left of center of the frame for a short distance then got into a smaller side stream running into it from the right side of the frame. My destination lake was just beyond the notch at the center of the frame. 

Unknown (to me) insect, looks like a beetle of some kind on a rock with dikes or sills (the white stripes) encountered en route to the lake on Baekos Creek. P.S. I have been informed by a comment that this insect is a true bug and not a beetle. Thank you for the information.  

View west at Black Mountain and Lost Creek Ridge from near the outlet of the lake on Baekos Creek.

My destination, the lake on Baekos Creek. Glacier Peak is at the left side of the frame. There is probably a much easier route from this direction than the one I took into the lake. 

Looking northwest over outlet of lake. Whitechuck Mountain is near the center of the frame. 

View north from the lake at Glacier Peak. 

View north from the lake at Glacier Peak.

View west from lake at Black Mountain. 

View south from the lake. The other route I had been considering was over the snowfield and pass at center/left center of the frame. It doesn't look too bad from this side of the pass but I didn't know what it looked like on the other side.

Whistle pig or hoary marmot (Marmota caligata) below a subalpine fir standing on its hind legs to get a better look at me. This is on a moraine just below the lake. I saw two of them in the same burrow here and heard several others in the area. 

View down Baekos Creek at Black Mountain. 

New Pacific Crest Trail bridge over the Whitechuck River. 

Old Pacific Crest Trail bridge over the Whitechuck River. Photo taken from the new bridge. I don't recall which 

Cascades frog (Rana cascadae) encountered next to the trail. 

Headwaters of the Whitechuck River near my camp. The low clouds rolled in within about half and hour and covered everything. 

View from my camp the next morning. The clouds rolled away around sunrise. 

Cadet Peak and Goblin Mountain from Red Pass. 

View from Red Pass. Cadet Peak, Foggy Peak, Sloan Peak and Bedal Peak. 

View up the North Fork of the Sauk River from the Pacific Crest Trail near Red Pass. Johnson Mountain near the center of the frame. 

Whistle pig or hoary marmot (Marmota caligata). I saw and heard a lot of these on this trip. 

Sloan Peak from the Pacific Crest Trail between Red Pass and White Pass. 

Bedal Peak from the Pacific Crest Trail between Red Pass and White Pass. Mount Forgotten is in the distance to the right of the frame. 

White Pass from the Pacific Crest Trail looking southeast. Indian Head Peak is in the background. 

Sloan Peak from the North Fork Sauk Trail 649. 

Mount Forgotten Pond

I returned from my trip up Pearsall Creek on Monday, the 19^th. On Tuesday, we started working ten hour days at work. This necessitated me getting out of bed at 4:30 a.m. every day when I could have used all of the rest and sleep I could get to recover from the trip.

I had planned to do a four day trip the following weekend from the 23^rd to the 26^th. The weather forecast was a little sketchy for that weekend. Possible showers both days. I don’t mind getting wet every now and then but quite often, when there are wet weather systems moving through, the clouds are so low that they obscure the landscape.

I have read in several photography books that, under these conditions, you can get some of your best dramatic photos. This is true but sometimes you don’t see anything but a fog bank.  I don’t mind getting wet every now and again but I don’t like getting wet and not being able to see anything. A fog bank looks like a fog bank and I have gotten past the point in my life where I want to invest a lot of time and effort just to look at a white out.

At the beginning of every hiking season, I look at the calendar and figure out how many potential weekends I have to do trips into the mountains. This year, I figured it to be about 13 weekends. Several weekends were used to do hay and then several more for day trips to get in shape and one burned trip to Upper Noisy Creek.

I was hoping to get a lot done in August but ended up with one aborted trip up Sonny Boy Creek and the trip up Pearsall Creek that was an unsuccessful attempt. So I was nearing the end of August without having gotten into any lakes or ponds that I had not already been to. And it looked like this weekend was going to be iffy or an outright washout.

In addition, at work, we were supposed to work overtime over the weekend and Sunday was Sacha’s birthday. As a compromise I decided to take Friday off work and do a day hike into a little pond at about 5500 feet in elevation on the east side of Mount Forgotten. This way I would be available for work on the weekend and I would be around for Sacha’s birthday.

The little pond on the east side of Mount Forgotten drains to the Sauk River and it was one of the few remaining day hikes remaining where I could somewhere that I hadn’t already been. I had hoped to combine it over several days with a trip into South Lake which is nearby, below Stillaguamish Peak but this wasn’t possible at this point. The day was kind of cloudy but the nice thing about this area is that it isn’t too remote. So I figured that if everything was socked in, I could come back under nicer conditions some other day.

I took the Mountain Loop Highway over Barlow Pass and hiked up the Perry Creek trail. Trail walking is quite easy compare to off-trail walking with one exception. I find it hard to pace myself. Off trail, you have to stop frequently to figure out where you want to go or how you will deal with some obstacle. On a trail, the way is already figured out for you and most of the obstacles have been cleared so you, or at least I, end up resting less.

Sacha had mentioned something about a climber’s route up Mount Forgotten and a sign at the trailhead made mention of the area’s use by climbers and, sure enough, when I got to the point where the map said the trail officially ended, a trail continued on through some small meadows and on toward Mount Forgotten.

I assumed that this was the climbing route but I didn’t know where it started up the mountain to the summit. I didn’t really want to go all the way to the top of the mountain and have to double back to get to the pond so I cut off the climber’s route and went around the west and north sides of the mountain. I figured that if the climber’s route did go past the pond I could always follow it back. The off-trail route I took was fairly easy going but required going almost all the way around the mountain from where I cut off the climber’s route.

Sure enough, when I go to the pond, there was the climber’s route. I followed this back and easily cut an hour off my travel time.

I didn’t see any amphibians at the pond. I did see lots rock rabbits starting at about 2000 feet along the new section of trail all the way up to 5400 feet on Mount Forgotten. I also saw what I thought were goat wallows on the west side of the mountain on the off trail route.

The views were pretty good but the clouds were pretty low, hiding a lot of what I could have seen. Glacier Peak is supposed to be visible from the meadows near Mount Forgotten but it was hidden from view the whole time I was there.

The rock in this area is interesting. It looks like the rock one finds around old volcano craters. Two such craters that I know about off the top of my head are Round Lake over by Mount Pugh and the area around Hannegan Pass and the head of the Chilliwack River.

I’m not really good with identifying most rocks so I don’t know if this stuff is basalt, breccia or volcanic tuff or maybe a little bit of each. A lot of this rock has an interesting erosion pattern. The eroded rock is very angular but its edges are not usually sharp. There is also a lot of what looked like pumice lower on trail, very porous rock that looks like swiss cheese. This rock is quite heavy though as compared to some pumice which is so light that it will float. I am sure there has been something written about the geology of this area. I may have even read it once but, if I did, I don’t remember it.

On another note of interest, the new section of the Perry Creek trail goes through a burn 80 to 100 years old. In some spots there are a number of surviving large old growth Douglas-firs, some probably 6 foot or more dbh with fire blackened bark mixed in with the second growth trees many of which are around 3 foot dbh. The are also a couple of old logging units about 50 to 60 years old near the section of road that is now blocked off from the Mountain Loop Highway and where the trail takes off from this abandoned road.

In all, I probably did about 12 miles Friday. I didn’t get much of a rest when I got back. We were working overtime and the weekend on a ten hour day schedule. This meant I needed to get up at 4:30 a.m. when I would have rather been sleeping. To make things worse, the second night I was back, a bunch of coyotes started howling right next to house at about 2:00 a.m., making it pretty much impossible to sleep until it was time to get up. I wrote first draft of this post that evening in a foggy mental haze even worse than my normal summertime foggy mental haze.  

I don’t know if cancelling the long trip this last weekend was the right call. There was no real rain on Saturday but the clouds were very low everywhere, obscuring much of what one would see in the mountains. Most of Sunday was nice but it clouded up and rained hard at night and again on Monday. I spent a lot of Saturday and Sunday grumbling because the sun was shining, thinking I could have been out. Of course I didn’t grumble as much when I saw how low the clouds were and I grumbled even less when it started raining.

P. S. Another sign of the season. I saw the first humpy or pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in Diobsud Creek while walking the dog on Monday night. There is more rain in the forecast. Often if the rain increases stream flow, the salmon really start to move in to spawn. In a few more weeks and I will have to keep a very close eye on Skyeball because she loves to roll in rotten salmon carcasses.

Why I try to avoid going out if it is likely to be socked in. This is King Lake in up near Illabot Creek. I took this on my way out from a trip into the head of Illabot Creek and Buck Creek in 2010. I was on my way out.  

This was taken while I was on my way into Ninety-nine Basin up near Hart's Pass also in 2010. Doesn't look much different from King Lake, at least according to this photo. 

New section of the Perry Creek trail. This is an old burn probably 80-100 years old. 

New section of the Perry Creek trail. Two Douglas-firs 4 to 5 foot in diameter that survived the fire as evidenced by the fire blackened bark. 

New section of the Perry Creek trail. More fire survivors. These Douglas-firs are also 4 to 5 feet or more in diameter. 

New section of the Perry Creek trail. Two fire killed western red cedar snags. 

New section of the Perry Creek trail. Second growth forest in the old burn. Note all (4) of the fire killed Douglas-firs snags. 

New section of the Perry Creek trail. Second growth forest in the old burn with a fire killed old growth western red cedar snag. 

New section of the Perry Creek trail in the old burn. This is a second growth Douglas-fir snag.  Not every tree that germinates reaches a large size. Natural thinning processes kill trees in forests of all ages. This tree may have been killed by a number of causes including pathogenic fungi, insects, drought and being shaded out by larger trees. This snag has a number of woodpecker holes made as the woodpecker searched for insects that were eating the dead wood of the snag. I am not sure which species of woodpecker made these holes. The holes that pileated woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus) make that I am familiar with are usually larger and rectangular with corners that look square. These hole may have been made by one of our medium sized species like the hairy woodpecker (Picoides villosus) or the northern flicker (Colaptes auratus). I think each species makes a unique hole so any relatively sharp birder would know what made these holes at a glance. 

New section of the Perry Creek trail in the old burn.  This is a patch of second growth Douglas-fir that has been killed by some agent. Patches like this let more light into the forest floor encouraging forbs, shrubs and seedling shade tolerant trees to grow, eventually creating a multi layered canopy typical of old growth forests. 

New section of the Perry Creek trail near where it connects to the recently abandoned road. Second growth forest in an old logging unit 50 to 60 years old. 

Perry Creek trail beyond the recently abandoned road. Second growth forest in an old logging unit 50 to 60 years old. 

Perry Creek trail beyond the recently abandoned road. Second growth forest in an old logging unit 50 to 60 years old. The Douglas-fir stump near the center of this frame has been notched probably for a guy line for a spar tree or a logging tower. 

Perry Creek trail beyond the first talus slope the trail goes through. The last logging unit ended at the first talus slope in the valley. 

Perry Creek Falls. I had to get off the trail and walk down a bit to get his photo. This is the upper falls. I was standing at the top of another waterfall as I was taking this photo. 

Old growth Douglas-fir snag with shrubs growing in its broken top. 

Close up of previous photo. I think these shrubs may be fool's huckleberry (Menziesia ferruginea) or some other member of the family Ericaceae which includes blueberries and huckleberries. Many or most members of this family have mutualistic relationships with fungi that allow them to grow on very nutrient poor substrates like dead wood. 

Mount Forgotten from the area where maps indicate the trail end. The trail continues on all the way to the mountain from here. 

Lewis Peak shedding clouds. This photo was taken from meadows near Mount Forgotten. 

Wildflowers in meadows near Mount Forgotten. The blues are arctic lupine (Lupinus arcticus), the yellows are probably Arnica, an aster or sunflower and the whites are American bistort (Polygonum bistortoides).

The north twin of Twin Peaks with Bedal Peak in the clouds in the background. 

The off trail route I took along the west side of Mount Forgotten. 

Close up of some of the rock of Mount Forgotten. 

Rock eroded from Mount Forgotten.

A patch of granite amidst the other rock eroded from Mount Forgotten. I don't know if granite is considered volcanic in nature by geologists. It is formed by magma that is not erupted and cools very slowly over millions of years when the source of new magma is cut off. 

The very tip of Stillaguamish Peak just visible over a ridge from the west side of Mount Forgotten. 

Mountain goat wallows on the west side of Mount Forgotten. 

Close up of rock eroded from Mount Forgotten. The lighter rock I think might be breccia or welded tuff. It is a kind of conglomerate with larger rock particles (black and white) in a matrix of fine particles. Note the surrounding reddish brown rock is very angular but it edges are not sharp. This looks very similar to me to rock that I have seen around old volcano craters in other areas.

The Sauk River from the east side of Mount Forgotten. Mount Pugh is hiding in the clouds just to the right of the center of the frame. Whitechuck Mountain is in the clouds to the left side of the frame. 

My destination pond at about 5500 feet on the east side of Mount Forgotten. 

The climber's route goes up the draw at the left side of this frame. 

Whitechuck Mountain in one of the few moments it was cloud free. 

Mount Pugh still hiding in the clouds. I never did get a photo with the clouds relatively free of Mount Pugh. 

Sloan Peak hiding in the clouds. The view of Sloan Peak is probably quite nice from here. Glacier Peak is also supposed to be visible from Mount Forgotten (I am sure it is because it dominates the landscape in these parts) but I didn't see any sign of it. 

Natural bonsai tree on cliff edge along climber's route. Bedal and Sloan Peaks in background. 

Mount Forgotten from nearby meadows. 

Dickerman Mountain to the right and Lewis Peak in the clouds in the background from the meadows near Mount Forgotten.