Summer Trips 2017 Volume II, August

8/7-9/17 Meadow/Fire Mountain

Got started out about 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. on the 7^th, my birthday. Turned down about 150 dollars in overtime to do trip. Got to see Sacha and the kids before leaving, everyone was up by the time I left. Goal was 2 lakes on the east end of Lime Ridge below Fire Mountain. Lakes southwest of Lime Lake. Lower Lake immediately north of Fire Mountain. Upper Lake just northeast of Fire Mountain and lower lake. Both lakes provisionally mapped on USGS 7.5 minute quad so figured they qualified for my list though would have been just as happy to skip them. Had tried to get into these lakes the previous year when I went into the lakes on Lime Ridge but ran out of time before I could find a route to them. Another lake above lower lake and south of it and west of Fire Mountain not mapped at all but easily visible on satellite images from Google Earth common in most online mapping programs. Didn’t look like any extra effort would be required to get into this one so decided to try to get into it too. If all of this was successful, wanted to try off trail route to Fire Creek Pass and small pond there that shows up on Green Trails maps. I hadn’t had time to get to this small pond the previous year when I did Lime Ridge. Heavy haze from smoke from B.C. and maybe a fire burning over on the Suiattle. Felt really bad first several miles of trip. Don’t know if this because of poor air quality of psychological-always feel awful at start of any trip and trail followed road that was steep for about half a mile right of the bat. Recovered well but very tired by the time I reached camp spot, a small flat below Fire Mountain. Lots of bugs, horseflies, blackflies, mosquitoes, gnats. Looping soundtrack in head: Lauren Alaina “Road Less Traveled”, Judah and the Lion, “Take It All Back”, Old Dominion, “Song for Another Time”, REO Speedwagon, “Follow My Head or My Heart”, Maren Morris, “80’s Mercedes”, Rock and Hyde, “I Will” and Kygo and Selena Gomez, “It Ain’t Me”. First night noticed raw spot on right hip rubbed by waistband of pack. Also noticed raw spot on right side under watch pocket of pants where I had been carrying a watch that had lost its wristband. Day had been pretty hot and I had been sweating profusely-enough to soak shirt and pants and wet clothing bunching and rubbing had probably contributed to raw spots. Also had had similar problems previous year after getting some work done on pack. Never had such problems before. Either I couldn’t get pack readjusted properly or the repairs had caused a change in the way my pack fit. Up pretty early next day. Over the years had looked at maps of lakes I wanted to get into on this trip and they had looked fairly easy at the time. But had looked at maps again on eve of trip and noticed tight contour lines that I had previously overlooked. This is fairly common occurrence. When you finally get ready to do something for real, pay attention more closely and start to pick out little problems that you had glossed over before. Overall, my feelings about my chances of success were pretty dubious. But I had to try. Ate breakfast and put moleskin patches on raw spots and headed out. Initial part of trip pretty straightforward. Plan was to go up to saddle in ridge above my camp. If I could get to this saddle and through it, it looked like pretty decent travel to get to lower lake. Only potential hitches in plan were if ground turned out to be too steep to get to saddle and, if I did get to saddle, then getting down to lower lake from it and being able to navigate to mapped upper lake from it. Initial route to saddle pretty easy, lower gradient and vegetation relatively easy to move through not too thick and not too slick.  A little steep in timbered patch just below saddle but easily doable with caution. Once through saddle route was good. Maze of ups and downs through bedrock but no unnavigable cliffs. First disappointment when I was able to route that I had been planning to take from lower lake to upper lake. Where maps showed nearly flat area there was a steep cliff about 100 feet high dropping nearly vertically, at least from my perspective, into the lake. Just on the other side of this was a nearly verticle snowfield also dropping straight into lake. I wasn’t surprised. I had looked at satellite photos of this spot in online mapping programs and had suspected that it was much steeper than the maps indicated. However, it also looked like I might not even be able to get down to the lower lake. I went a little further along my route and saw a spot where it looked like I would be able to get down. I also saw a route into the unmapped lake above and to the south which looked easily doable. This lake wouldn’t really count for my project goals because it wasn’t mapped-either officially or provisionally but I was right there so I figured that I would check it out. Getting into it turned out to be a little harder that I first thought it would be but it wasn’t too bad. Once I was at this lake I could see that the route that I had planned to take into the lower lake would be a little too steep but I saw another good route down. I also spied a spot where it looked like I might be able to get down the side of the lake to the outlet which could be crossed to access easy ground to get into the provisionally mapped upper lake to the north. The upper lake to the south was still about half covered with snow and there was a thin sheet of ice over the open water of this lake even though the day was warming rapidly. I could feel cold air moving off the snowfield on the other side of the lake. Headed down to lower lake. Lots of loose gravel and scree made it a little tricky but it was well within my comfort zone. Got to lake okay. Lake looked fairly barren but there were lots of case building caddisflies in it-the kind that build cases out of small rocks. We called these periwinkles when we were kids but I think true periwinkles are marine organisms and aren’t insects but snails.  I had initially been pretty excited about getting down the side of the lake, across the outlet and up to the upper lake to the north but here my hopes were dashed. There was a route there that was within the realm of possibility. It wasn’t too steep but it was narrow and much of it was made up of the loose gravel and scree like the slope I had just come down. It is easy to lose your footing in this material. If this happened there would be a really good chance that I wouldn’t be able to stop myself before going into the lake, which looked very deep at that spot. I didn’t want to leave my pack behind and, with it on, I would probably sink like a rock. This route was marginally doable and I am sure there are many folks out there who would have tried it and been successful-I know some of them. However, I was by myself which often makes decisions harder-you don’t have anyone to back up your evaluation of any given situation-either to keep you from being overly cautious or to prevent you from doing something stupid. The route looked like a trap to me and I wasn’t going to chance it. And I couldn’t see all the way to the lake outlet so there was no guarantee that, if I did get through this sketchy spot, I wouldn’t be stopped by vertical rock just out of sight beyond a shoulder of rock. Very disappointing, ½ for 3 for long, overnight trips for the year so far. I started back up. My last chance to get into the upper lake to the north was to try to get down to the outlet from above. The chances of this didn’t look good. USGS map showed a lot of cliffs in area. But sometimes you get lucky in these places and find a crack or series of creacks that let you get down through a relatively steep area without too much trouble, kind of like a ladder. Once I was up out of the lower lake, I started down near the outlet. It look very promising at first. I found several rifts in the bedrock that let me get down a couple hundred feet pretty easily but then reality hit. Everywhere the rock dropped off sheer. I got to a spot maybe only a hundred feet above the outlet but from there it was straight down. Very frustrating. Could throw a rock and hit outlet, which would have been easy to cross to get to the easy ground that led to the upper lake to the north. No way to get down in one piece. I also saw what looked like a very good route to this area from Lime Lake, where I had been the previous year. If I had been luckier, or a little more persistent the year before, I would have probably gotten into these lakes and have been done with it. However, the previous year I had been pressed for time so I didn’t get to poke around much. And that day I had taken a rough route out of Mica Lake on another hot day. This sapped a lot of my energy at that time. I sat for a bit, disgusted, disappointed and a little discouraged. I would have to go by another route into Lime Lake, probably about the same one I had taken the year before and I would have to make another trip to do it. I found a spot where there was a good stream running from a snowfield and had lunch and took a long nap. I had budgeted extra time in this trip to try to get from this area to a pond above Mica Lake that I had missed the previous year. From what I had seen, the route I had planned didn’t look very practical or at least it would be very rough so I abandoned that idea. So I had a lot of time on my hands. The trip back to camp was uneventful but hot. Vegetation on mountainside reflected heat like an oven. It was still very hazy. The haze had increased since that morning. I looked at my pack thermometer when I got back to camp. It said 103 degrees Fahrenheit but I had been carrying it in a black pack so I set it in the shade. After letting  it settle, it said 80 degrees. A measurement in the direct sunlight read 90 degrees. It was plenty hot. I had enough time in the day to hike out to Meadow Lake but the initial part of this would be about 500 feet up in the direct sunlight, then lots of ups and downs and travel through meadows in direct sunlight. I decided to wait until morning to take advantage of the morning coolness and then walk all the way out. The next 4 hours until the sun went behind a ridge were pretty miserable. The bugs were swarming, black flies, horse flies, mosquitoes and gnats. It was too hot in my tent to be comfortable and I didn’t want to pull up the stakes on my tent and move to the shade. So I spent the time swatting and swiping bugs. It was impossible to get really comfortable but I could achieve a tolerable state. I captured and photographed an adult Cascades frog. I had assumed the tadpoles in the ponds in the flat were Cascades frogs but it is always nice to catch an adult in order to help verify which species are present. Finally the sun went behind the ridge and the day got cool enough for me to crawl into my tent. I took another nap and woke up just as the sun was starting to climb up Fire Mountain. I got up and cooked dinner and by the time I was washing the dinner dishes, it had gotten cool enough that I put my sweatshirt on. I was up early the next day to get a good early start out. After breakfast, I packed, put more moleskin on my areas of raw skin and started out. Conditions were definitely cooler but there were still occasional winds that were warm-felt like the high 80’s or low 90’s. It quickly got warmer as I traveled through sunny areas. It was still hazy and I couldn’t see very far. I stopped at the trail in Meadow Lake and headed to Meadow Lake, taking only camera, tripod, film, fishing pole to catch some fish for Sacha or mom or the neighbors or whoever wanted them. It was a little over half a mile into Meadow Lake. Fishing was really good and I was on my way back out with some fish in about half an hour.  I saw several Cascades frogs along the trail. Back on the main trail I stopped at the last stream the trail crossed on the hillside, about half a mile from the Meadow Lake trail. I saw an adult female tailed frog here. I hadn’t seen an adult tailed frog in a number of years. I also verified that I had indeed seen spruce (Engelmann) cones in this area on a previous trip. The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful through the heat. Several areas on the old road were open to the direct sunlight and these areas and walking through them felt like I was walking through an oven. I weighed my pack when I got back home-66.5 pounds. I seemed to have gained a pound or two in the weight of my pack even though I was packing essentially the same stuff as I always packed in previous years.  

Tadpoles, most likely Cascades frog (Rana cascade) in shallow pools in flat where I camped. 

Clusters of tadpoles. 

I took this photo and several like it because it show the tadpole's ventral surface which can be a clue to which species it belongs to. 

Sloan Peak from partway up the ridge I crossed to get into the Lime Creek drainage and the lakes that were my goal for this trip. The dark haze is smoke from forest fires. I don't know if this smoke was from British Columbia or from some on the east side of the Cascades. 

Sloan Peak, same view slightly zoomed in. One can also see the different treatment I gave this photo in Photoshop. In the previous photo, the smoke is much darker. I often have a hard time telling which version of a particular photo that I like. 

Looking down Lime Creek Valley from near its head. The smoke was so thick that you couldn't see down into the valley. But it generally stayed down in the valley and left the higher ridges and peaks visible. The peak to the right side of the frame is probably Green Mountain. 

Looking across Lime Creek Valley (foreground) and the Suiattle River Valley at Spire Point to the right, Sulphur Mountain in the foreground and Dome Peak behind Sulphur Mountain. I went over the ridges on Sulphur Mountain at least 3 times in 2015. If the coloration of this photo looks a little weird it is because I overdid something when I photoshopped it to make the mountains visible through the smoky haze. 

Looking across Lime Creek drainage and Suiattle drainage at Sulphur Mountain (foreground) and Spire Point (background).

Same view as previous photo zoomed in. The white lines in the rock in the foreground are dikes and sills which are quartz that was held in solution in superheated water and injected into cracks in the rock. As the water cooled, the quartz precipitated out to form the dikes and sills. All this occurred when the rock was buried deep underground. I remember the the sharp point in the middle ground in front of Spire Point. This is on a ridge running from Sulphur Mountain and I looked at it quite a few times in 2015 as I crossed the ridge just to the east of it (to the right in this photo). There is a large talus slope on its east face. 

Same view as previous photo zoomed out to show one of the lakes that was my goal for this trip, the one immediately north of Fire Mountain. 

Same view as previous. 

Unmapped lake south and west of Fire Mountain. This wasn't exactly on the itinerary but it didn't take much extra effort to get to it so I checked it out. 

Lower lake north of Fire Mountain. This view is looking roughly west at the outlet and  the headwaters of Lime Creek. 

On the shores of the lower lake looking northeast. I had planned to go up the small valley in the foreground but the ground was too steep to get to it in this direction. 

Looking about 180 degrees out from previous photo at outlet of lake. I might have been able to squeak by on the scree just below the bedrock and get to the outlet and cross it. At this point it would have been easy to get to the upper lake to the northeast. However, the scree was very steep, something this photo doesn't reflect very well, and it was very loose. I could picture myself sliding right down into the lake which was very deep at this point. With my pack on, I would have been in serious trouble. I decided not to chance it. 

More dikes and sills. I thought this outcrop was pretty impressive. 

Looking north at Lime Lake which is in the mid-distance. The lower lake is in the notch in the foreground. The ground broke off abruptly into steep cliffs in this area at the outlet of the lake. I was able to see a very good route from Lime Lake that I had missed on my 2016 trip along Lime Ridge. In retrospect, I probably wouldn't have had time to get into these provisionally mapped lakes and get as far along Lime Ridge as I wanted to on that trip. 

Rock rabbit (pika) (Ochotona princips) skull in stream that flowed through the flat where I camped. I looked up from washing breakfast dishes and saw it. The following photos are different views of it. 

Looking east at Glacier Peak and Whitechuck River Valley. There was a pretty heavy smoky haze during the whole trip. 

Hoary marmot (Marmota caligata), Meadow Mountain. 

Meadow Mountain. There are some good view of Mount Pugh and, I think, Whitechuck Mountain from here if not for the haze. 

Meadow Mountain, Mount Pugh center frame. 

Meadow Lake. 

Cascades frog near Meadow Lake. 

Adult tailed frog (Ascaphus truei) on trail just below first meadows on Meadow Mountain. Evidently these frogs are a more primitive type than our Rana species. The reader might not be able to tell from this photo but the eyes are a really cool metallic bronze color or maybe burnt sienna (like the crayon color) and have a vertical slit for a pupil. Our other frogs and toads have more roundish pupils. 

This is the first adult tailed frog I had seen in a few years though I regularly encounter tailed frog tadpoles. 

8/17-20/17 Upper Downey Creek, Bench, Woods, Slim Lakes

Started out Thursday. Turned down about 300 dollars in overtime to do trip. Head kind of a mess. Had gone over to Idaho previous week for Uncle Martin’s memorial services. Uncle Martin was probably one of my favorite people in this world. Lots of things over there mostly unchanged since I was a kid and created an illusion that I could actually go back. Spent a lot of time afterwards trying to reconcile myself with the fact that those times are past. Stopped at Darrington to get vials to take Cascades frog DNA and general amphibian chytrid samples on trip then headed up Suiattle. Day was overcast but supposedly no rain. Good weather for hiking. Pack was heavy but felt pretty good physically as I started up Downey Creek trail. A couple miles in got bad feeling that I had forgotten to lock up rig. No help for that now. Just have to trust that I wouldn’t get a bunch of stuff stolen. Pack really started to weigh on me part way up trail. No help for that either, just keep going. Got to Bachelor Creek in decent time, under 3 hours. Took long rest and had lunch. Route would take me just upstream on Downey Creek to confluence with Goat Creek then a short distance along old abandoned trail then straight up ridge between Downey Creek and Goat Creek on a fisherman’s way trail to Bench Lake. Route up ridge was pretty tough, miserable go. Had been up this twenty years before in 1997. Had also been up route the year before in 1996, my first time. Had been going to school at that time and had been way out of shape. Remember that by time I had reached Lower Bench Lake that year, I was only able to walk a few steps at a go before collapsing and resting. Still young enough then that I didn’t have problems with cramps. In better shape the next year (1997) when I also went into Woods and Slim Lakes. In good shape this go around so figured I would be able to get up the ridge okay but didn’t expect it to be fun. Ran into some folks at Bachelor Creek who were coming out from Ptarmigan Traverse. Talked with them shortly and started up Downey Creek. Had wanted to scout this route when I had been in here earlier in the year but had been too tired at that time. Had remembered it was fairly straightforward, to go up Downey Creek to Goat Creek, pick up the old trail and within a hundred yards or so start up the ridge. Little farther to Goat Creek than I had remembered and more logs in creek. Logjam that was a pain to navigate with a heavy pack. I think was there in 2005 when I had surveyed Downey Creek for USFS but I hadn’t remembered it. Finally got to confluence with Goat Creek. Wasn’t very far, maybe quarter mile but farther than I remembered. Found fisherman’s route up to old trail and then off it onto ridge. Big blowdown patch near bottom of ridge that was nightmare to navigate with pack. Finally got clear of it. Trail at bottom of ridge was kind of hit and miss to follow but nose of ridge pretty well defined so not too hard to keep on it. Farther up ridge, trail quite obvious in most places. Was occasionally hard to see. For the most part, this wasn’t a big problem on the way up. Would be a problem to get off trail on way down, lots of steep, nasty ground. Would have to pay close attention on the way down. Going was slow. Went 30, 40, 50 feet up before having to stop to rest. Then repeat. Was able to keep pretty steady pace at that rate though. Occasional waves of nausea while going up lower half of ridge. Landjaeger for lunch.  Used to love them. Now burned out on them. Get wave of nausea and burp and taste landjaeger. Finally, about halfway up, started to get a little edge of hunger and was fine from that point on. Legs had also felt pretty rubbery for much of trip and now seemed to a little better. Pack still felt plenty heavy. Topped out above Lower Bench Lake with plenty of daylight left. Trail continued up ridge in direction of Woods Lake, but I dropped down off it into Lower Bench and then back up a couple hundred feet to Bench Lake. Had to stop and rest more frequently that last couple hundred feet but made it into Bench Lake okay. At some point overcast had cleared off. Temperature nice. Not too hot in sun. A little bit cool in shade especially in sweat soaked shirt. Arrived about 6:00 p.m. or so. Set up tent and had time to explore a little before dinner. While cooking dinner couldn’t find P-38 to open can. Had to resort to less used blade on jackknife. Had seen lots of people do this but don’t like to because it is hard on blade. Sure enough damaged blade. Don’t know if this from current use or because blade hardly used and got corroded over time and multiple soakings. Took notes after dinner and caught a couple of fish to verify that they were westslope cutthroat, the same species that had been here 20 years ago when I was here. Turned in early. Very foggy in morning. Couldn’t see surrounding ridges when I got up at about 6:00 a.m. Puttered around a bit and decided to crawl back into sleeping bag. Main goal for day was to get into Woods Lake, a small pond south of Woods Lake, just over ridge from Slim Lake and then into Slim Lake. Would jump off from Slim Lake the next day to try to get into to small lakes/ponds at the head of Downey Creek. This last looked to be tough but wasn’t going to attempt it until next day. Had been over route to Woods, the pond and Slim Lake before and figured it would be an easy day and I had lots of time. So crawled back into sleeping bag and snoozed for another hour or two. Didn’t get started until almost 9:00 a.m. Fog had pretty much lifted at that point. Still very cloudy but visibility good. Quickly found out that route up onto ridge to east that would lead to Woods Lake was a lot steeper than I had remembered. Managed to get up onto it okay. Trail up ridge that went by pond/lake below pretty plain on ridge top. From ridge top could see route I planned to take the next day. Stopped several times to study it. Didn’t look promising. Encountered several obstacles on ridge that I also hadn’t remembered. Navigated them as well. Whole time my mind dwelling on times past when I was a kid and trying to bring myself to the reality that those days are gone and never coming back. Still very homesick, both for past and present Sacha and kids. Ran into another glitch at Woods Lake. Memory from trip 20 years previous that one got into Woods Lake by gradually coming down slope at outlet but that it wasn’t too hard. When I tried to get down slope at outlet, hit a bunch of cliffs. Tried going even farther down past outlet. More cliffs. Finally decided to check maps. Looked like best spot was a little uplake from outlet. Checked out several likely spots in that area and, sure enough, there was a little gap in the cliffs where I could get down. Same place I did in 1997. Evidently at that time I had kind of zeroed in on this spot right off the get-go because I was looking closely for potential spots to get down rather than relying on a faulty memory directing me to look for places that didn’t exist. Got down to lake at about 2:00 p.m. Ate lunch at outlet took some notes and caught fish to see what species present-westslope cutthroat, the same as in 1997. Wasn’t supposed to rain that day but sky pretty overcast. Started to small pond to southeast. Discovered blue tarp and bungee cords in talus at outlet of Woods Lake. Could imagine that person who used that tarp for camp reasoned that they would stash it so that they could use it if they ever came back. Mostly they just didn’t want to pack it out. Tarp torn and bungee hooks rusty. Looked pretty much like junk but I wasn’t in any position to pack it out. My pack was already really heavy as it was. Made it to pond without incident. Sky pretty dark at this point. Time was a little before 4:00 p.m. Day was running out faster than I had expected. Route was much rougher than I remembered and I had to relearn a lot of it. Planned to save some time by cutting directly around ridge and into Slim Lake, rather than go about half mile back up ridge and over saddle near Woods Lake as I had in 1997. Decided I had time to take some notes and photos and get some Cascades frog DNA samples. Figured I had to be heading out by 5:00 p.m. in case new route into Slim Lake didn’t work and I had to backtrack. Walked around pond and took notes and looked for good spots to catch frogs. Lots of frogs. Set up sample station on rock and caught five frogs for DNA samples. It was nearly 5:00 o’clock by the time I was done with last frog and decided to call it good. Packed up and headed over ridge. On other side of ridge saw open spot in distance that I took for an open spot, probably a rock cliff below which map indicated there was a lot of steep ground. Timber heavy and hard to see reference points across valley. Decided to go back the way I had come a little way and try to get down. Found what looked like a bear trail off ridge and followed it. Very steep. Had to descend cautiously holding on to vegetation and trees wherever I could. About 100 feet down decided this wasn’t the way to go. Still doable but very steep and looked like stayed that steep or maybe got steeper farther down though couldn’t see very well through heavy timber and brush. Scrambled back up on ridge and consulted map again. Was about ready and completely backtrack and use the route near Woods Lake. Ground more gradual near open spot so decided to try that first. I was a little disoriented. Thought the open spot should be farther down hill to my right but decided to get over to it and see if I could get my bearings. Bear trail led in that direction and I followed. As I got closer, I realized the open spot was a rock cliff at the outlet of Slim Lake. Slim Lake had been much closer than I expected. Cool, I thought. Piece of cake. Up to that point, was thinking that I might not make it to Slim Lake that day-should have taken the tried and true route that I had used in 1997. Now I thought I had it made. Unfortunately, as I got closer the ground got unexpectedly steeper. Last hundred feet or so down to lake was heavily vegetated bedrock that was nearly vertical.  Fortunately could see a potential route down through it if I was very careful. Aided by vegetation and tree limbs that I used for hand holds was able to slide down several areas of nearly vertical rock. Kids running through my head the whole time. I was a long way from help if I ran into trouble. Finally made it down to outlet of Slim Lake. Very relieved. Sky very day and misty rain falling. Wasn’t supposed to rain that day according to weather forecasters. Rain wasn’t enough to really wet anything yet. No place to camp at outlet. Needed to get up to inlet, 15 minutes to half an hour picking my way through big talus. Hoped it wouldn’t turn to heavier, soaking rain before I could get tent pitched. As it was, misty rain was refreshing. Finally got to wetland meadows at inlet of lake. Found relatively dry spot and pitched tent. Wasn’t sure if I was hungry enough to go to trouble of cooking dinner. Ate lunch late and wasn’t too hungry. Finally decided to cook dinner. Heard sticks breaking several times in woods above lake. Cleaned up after dinner and crawled into tent to finish up notes for day before going to sleep. Heard larger flat rock (flat rocks make distinct, kind of hollow sound) slide and fall and in talus above lake at about dark. Roughly same spot heard sticks breaking earlier. Didn’t look out of tent, too dark to see. Jangled nerves momentarily but was able to calm myself down and get to sleep. Ironically, when I had been in this same spot in 1997 the weather had been similar, kind of dark and foreboding and at dusk my thoughts turned to sasquatches, the thing I feared the most when I was younger when out in the woods and mountains alone. This would be the perfect spot to see one and dusk was the perfect time. I remember having to consciously reel my thoughts in so I could get to sleep. If I had heard the sticks breaking and rocks sliding at that time there is no way I would have been able to get to sleep. However, this time after the initial jangle to the nerves from the loud, unexpected sounds, I was able to calm down quite easily. Turned out to be good sleeping spot. Hadn’t checked it out very well because pitched tent in a hurry to try to keep from getting too wet if light rain showers turned heavy. Next morning clouds were low but could tell that they were breaking up and it would be a nice day. This was the day of the attempt to get into the small lakes at the head of Downey Creek. Got early start, a little after 7:00 a.m. Told myself that I had all day in the attempt and I should take my time. Picked my way through talus on east side of lake, same area I had come through the night before. Started up hill in timber opposite spot where I had come down into lake the night before. Ground timbered and steep here, enough that I needed to be careful, though not nearly as steep as the other side of lake. Followed bear trail up to small flat above lake outlet and started east toward head of Downey Creek. Talus in avalanche track made for relatively easy going for a little while. Could see timbered ridge ahead and spirits picked up. Looked like it might be safely passable without too much trouble after all. First route I wanted to try was to go straight up timbered strip and into meadow above then traverse meadow to next ridge, which looked like the most challenging one. Once past second ridge, I would be in relatively easy traveling in basin where lakes were. Ground in timber again steep enough that I needed to be very careful. Got to bedrock face/cliff that I had seen on air photos. Bear bed and big piles of bear scat just below it. Alternate route would be around the base of this rock face but first decided to try to get straight up past it. Very steep mini-chute on west side of face was route up. Looked like some kind of trail there. So steep had to use low hanging limbs of hemlock tree to pull myself up. Decided it probably wasn’t trail after all, just area where material sloughed down hill. Went less than a hundred yards up above rock face before deciding to abandon this attempt. Looked like ground getting steeper, still doable but sustained nightmare of cautiously choosing every step. Outlook immediately turned bleak. Picked my way back down to bottom of rock face and worked my way across. Slick meadow forbs, sitka valerian and  false hellebore being the worst, made footing treacherous. Got to other side of rock face and saw likely route. Quickly found this to be way too steep. Starting to get discouraged and thinking might have to abandon attempt. Picked my way back to other side of rock face and went down to bear bed. Noticed a possible better route a little below the rock and decided to try that as a last attempt. Turned out to be pretty good going. Picked up trail. Looked like used by the bear but also saw hoof tracks, deer or goat. Good indicator that there was a way through. Trails well defined and heavily used in areas where landscape constrains travel to small areas. Downside is if bear using it at same time as me might be bad. Got around rock and could see next meadow ahead and what looked like good route. Spirits picked up again. Then saw I would have to traverse steep rocky spot. Spot wouldn’t be a big deal to cross in a populated area where help was close by. Here it was different . Consequences of slipping serious or fatal. Lots of dead needles, cones and forest duff made footing look dubious. Hesitated for several minutes thinking about it. Lakes I wanted to get into looked like mostly dry basins on air photos. Weighed that against killing myself in attempt to get to them and what that would mean for Sacha and the kids. Finally legs started moving almost without my thinking about it. Decided to go very slowly and carefully. Got through okay. Looked like clear sailing ahead for a moment but then realized more area similar to one I had just come through. Took more time studying route and thinking about it. Area was series of small bedrock shelves off bedrock cliff above. Shelves vegetated and looked like some good handholds in most places. Animals had been using it for passage. Definitely doable but, again, consequences of slipping serious or fatal. Once again decided to push on, using extreme caution. Got through okay again. Strips of willows ahead along a stream course. This stream would probably be another obstacle. Many meadow streams, especially lower on slope like this one, cut very steep sides of nearly vertical, loose material that is nearly impossible to navigate. Sure enough, this was the case here. I had to go upslope to get to a place I could cross. I finally got to a spot where I could cross the stream and struggled up the other side. Now I was in more steep, slick meadows. Not extremely dangerous but I would still need to use a lot of caution and the going would be difficult until I reached a patch of talus and trees several hundred yards or maybe a quarter mile into the meadow. Travel better once I reached that spot. Meadows had more blueberries and heather from that point on. Still had to navigate minor obstacles. Next ridge looked like the most challenging spot of trip. Goal now was flat spot on ridge with a gully cutting down through ridge. Had spied a possible route there. For years had been eyeing a lower spot where it looked like there was a narrow band of moderate gradient ground between cliffs. Originally had planned to try that if flat spot didn’t work out. At this point though, had been through too many sketchy spots and was beginning to feel that I was pushing my luck too much, again, all jus to get into some “lakes” that were probably all or mostly dry. So if flat spot wasn’t workable, I decided I was done with this attempt. Got to flat spot and it was readily obvious that it wasn’t doable, at least not by me. Upper part of gully down from flat was almost vertical and covered with the same slick forbs I had been fighting earlier. It just got steeper and rockier lower down. I was done. I stopped and rested for a bit, looked at my maps to make sure I was in the place I thought I was. I looked a the lower route that I had planned to try for years and had a minor mental struggle not to try it. It wasn’t worth the risk. I dozed for a bit in the sun. Finally I got up and started picking my way back. Maybe there was a better, safer route into those “lakes” but I realized that I might not every get into them and had somewhat reconciled myself with that, though not completely. It just wasn’t worth the risk. At this point, I figured that I probably had time to get back to Slim Lake, assuming no mishap along the way, and get some frog samples and walk out to Woods Lake before dark. With any luck I could get all the way out the next day and save a day of vacation. It kind of hurt to use another day of vacation on a failed attempt. It also kind of sucked having to go back through all the stuff I had come through without reaching my goal. But it was better than going through even more of it. I kept telling myself that it wasn’t worth the risk. Several times on the way back I looked over at the lower route. It wasn’t very far off and it looked likely. Every time it took a force of will not to start over in that direction. It wasn’t worth the risk. I found a better route across the stream at the edge of the meadow but slipped and fell twice on slick valerian and false hellebore and nearly went into the gully. I picked my way back through the rest of the route without incident. I stopped at the stream flowing through the avalanche track in the flat above Slim Lake and had lunch. The trip back to Slim Lake was relatively uneventful. I had to be careful on the steep ground. In the mud at the outlet of Slim Lake I saw some large canid tracks. Interesting. I hadn’t seen any evidence of human presence in this area this year. Doesn’t mean someone hadn’t been there and I missed their tracks or camp. If no one had been there, then these tracks hadn’t been made by someone’s dog. Was about to walk on and had thought that I should take some pictures. Put notebook down next to track for scale and took several photos. About 2:00 p.m. when got back to tent. Decided had enough time to get frog samples and hike out to Woods Lake. Got both DNA and chytrid samples. Chytrid took a little more time which was why I hadn’t tried to get any on the day before. Rigged pole and fished for a bit. Caught three fish-rainbow trout. I recalled that there were westslope cutthroat in here when I was here in 1997. Either I remember wrong or the lake was stocked with rainbows since that time, definitely a possibility. Spawning habitat in inlet stream and saw fry sized fish there. Assume if westslopes were in there, they would have a successfully reproducing population. Also a  possibility. Possible that westslopes still there, I just didn’t happen to catch any. Packed up and headed out a little after 5:00 p.m. Took route up valley of lake to saddle or pass to north between that valley and South Fork Cascade River then up from that saddle to another pass to west on ridge between Woods Lake Valley and Slim Lake Valley. Small, unmapped pond just above pass between Slim Valley and South Fork  that I had passed a number of times over the years. Looked in mud around margins and saw bear tracks and those large canid tracks again. Still no sign of human presence. Made my way to Woods Lake, arriving at about 8:30 p.m. Route down on Woods Lake side of took longer than I expected, slick vegetation and sharp talus. Then took bad route too Woods Lake. Thought about sidehilling into lake from higher on valley but wasn’t sure if I would get cliffed out. Dropped into valley and back up outlet of Woods Lake and still got cliffed out. Had to backtrack and go up in another spot, coming in at the same place I had left the lake the day before. Almost dark. Quickly pitched tent and cooked dinner. Wasn’t best sleeping spot but slept okay, probably got back misaligned a little. Got early start next day, Sunday. Hoped to be able to make stop at small lake below Bench Lake and make it out that day. Still dealing with dregs of nostalgia on way out. Made it to ridgetop and down ridge to spot where trail was well marked with a few minor glitches. Didn’t really need to drop into Bench Lake and thought about trying to follow trail down ridge to point above smaller lake. Map indicated ridge wasn’t too steep and trail seemed to continue on in that direction when I had dropped off it to lower lake at the start of trip. Trail obvious for several hundred yards after ridge started dropping down but then got pretty faint. I decided to backtrack up the ridge and follow the route I had taken on the way in. This was the sure thing way. If the route down the ridge turned out to be a no go it would cost me a lot of time and effort. Made it down to lower lake via Bench Lake. Arrived a little before noon. After lunch, did walk around of lower lake and took notes. Had 4 vials left for frog DNA samples and seen quite a few frogs so decided to get last 4 samples. Didn’t think I had time to try to get chytrid samples. After collected samples and packed up, realized I could take another sample. One of the DNA vials had been dry so I figured I wouldn’t be able to use that for a sample. But, since I didn’t take any more chytrid samples, there was unused alcohol in the chytrid vials. I stole some from two of those vials to fill the last DNA vial and caught one more frog for a sample. There was a big frog at the inlet of the lake who had avoided me and hid several times. Every time I saw it, I already had a frog or it hid before I could get close. I had one more opportunity but this last time I didn’t even see it. Packed up and started out from lower lake at about 2:00 p.m. Ridge was steep and trail occasionally faint and would be very bad to wander off it. So figured it would take at least two, probably more like three hours to get down the 2600 feet to Downey and Goat Creeks at valley bottom. When I got to trail on ridge above lower lake, followed it for several hundred feet north towards Woods Lake. Sure enough, it was well marked so I could have stuck with it up above and bypassed Bench Lake altogether. Oh well, not the end of the world. Slow process down ridge to valley bottom. Didn’t want to hurt knees and didn’t want to get off trail and into cliffs. Got to valley bottom at about 5:00 p.m. Decided to try to walk around large blowdown patch at bottom of ridge. Don’t know it this was any better than just going through it. Waded Goat Creek and decided to cut through woods to get down to Bachelor Creek rather than go down Downey Creek. Route brushy and had to navigate several dry side channels but was better route than creek. Found well marked trail at end from log that had fallen across Downey Creek near its confluence with Bachelor Creek. Walked across this and was at main trail on Bachelor Creek. Ate some quick snacks for energy boost and started out. Usually once a year I end up doing a trip that takes me near exhaustion at the finish. This was the one for this year. Felt good first couple miles out on trail then legs got steadily more leaden. At end was slogging along with mind mostly concentrating on taking the next step. Got back to rig at about 8:00 p.m. Sure enough, had forgotten to lock it but luckily nothing stolen. Got home at about 9:30 p.m. Weighed pack-66 pounds. Shower, quick dinner and in bed. Didn’t sleep really well. Always restless when overtired which is what I was.

Bench Lake looking north on the day I arrived. 

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) at Bench Lake. I heard an osprey call several times but I didn't seeing. I have been seeing them with increasing regularity, usually once or twice throughout a hiking season, at high lakes that have been stocked with fish. 

West slope cutthroat (Oncorhynchus clarkia lewis) caught at Bench Lake. This fish was about 10 inches long.  

Bench Lake looking north from outlet, morning of second day. 

Bench Lake looking north from outlet, morning of second day.

Bench Lake looking north from outlet, morning of second day.

Bench Lake looking north from outlet, morning of second day.

Looking southeast at German Helmet and Spire Point from ridge between Bench Lake and Downey Creek. 

Looking southeast at German Helmet and Spire Point from ridge between Bench Lake and Downey Creek. The area pictured is at or near the head of Downey Creek.

Looking southeast at German Helmet and Spire Point from ridge between Bench Lake and Downey Creek.

Looking west at Mount Buckindy and Bench Lake from ridge between Bench Lake and Downey Creek.  Buckindy is so named because the north side drains to Kindy Creek on the Cascade River and the south side drains to Buck Creek on the Suiattle River. The glaciers on Buckindy pictured here drain to Goat Creek and Downey Creek as well. 

Looking southwest at Woods Lake from the outlet. 

Woods Lake near the outlet. 

West slope cutthroat caught in Woods Lake. 

Looking south at small pond west of Slim Lake. 

Cascades frog (probably) tadpole in pond. 

Looking west at pond. 

Cascades frog. 

Looking almost straight north at pond. 

Looking northeast at pond near outlet. 

German Helmet and Spire Point from Slim Lake. 

Upper Downey Creek in route on attempt to get into small lakes/ponds at head of Downey Creek on third day. 

Upper Downey Creek in route on attempt to get into small lakes/ponds at head of Downey Creek on third day. 

German Helmet and Spire Point at head of Downey Creek. 

German Helmet and Spire Point at head of Downey Creek. 

German Helmet and Spire Point at head of Downey Creek. 

Looking west at Woods/Bench Lake area from route into Upper Downey Creek. 

Area above Woods Lake. 

Upper Downey Creek. 

Area above Woods Lake. Woods Lake is visible at center right of photo. 

What appears to be a large canid track in mud at outlet of Slim Lake. There was no sign of any human presence for the year at the lake at the time this photo was taken so it probably wasn't someone's dog. I saw basically the same track in the mud around a small pond at a saddle above between Slim Lake and the South Fork Cascade River.  

German Helmet and Spire Point from Slim Lake. 

German Helmet and Spire Point from Slim Lake.

German Helmet and Spire Point from Slim Lake.

German Helmet and Spire Point from Slim Lake.

German Helmet from Slim Lake. 

German Helmet from Slim Lake. 

German Helmet from Slim Lake. 

German Helmet from Slim Lake. 

German Helmet and Spire Point from Slim Lake.

German Helmet and Spire Point from Slim Lake.

Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) caught in Slim Lake. 

Another rainbow. 

Approaching Woods Lake from Slim Lake along route that I took in 1997. 

Add captionApproaching Woods Lake from Slim Lake along route that I took in 1997. Woods Lake is visible near center frame. I was several hundred to a thousand feet above here in 2014 on a trip into the Long Gone Lake area on the South Fork of the Cascade River.

Spire Point near dusk from below Woods Lake. 

Spire Point near dusk from below Woods Lake. 

Spire Point near dusk from below Woods Lake. 

Spire Point near dusk from below Woods Lake. 

Waterfall below Woods Lake. 

Waterfall below Woods Lake.

Woodpecker (I'm guessing) feathers. I picked these up from a pile of feathers in the woods on the way up out of Slim Lake. 

Looking northeast at Mount Formidable on the Cascade River from the ridge above Woods Lake on the way back to Bench Lake on the morning of the fourth day. 

Mount Formidable on the Cascade River from the ridge above Woods Lake on the way back to Bench Lake.

Mount Formidable on the Cascade River from the ridge above Woods Lake on the way back to Bench Lake.

Looking down at Woods Lake. 

Large crack in ridge above Woods Lake. I have heard it speculated that these are sometimes signs of earthquake faults. 

Another view, looking north of the same crack. 

Looking north at Bench Lake. 

Looking west at Mount Buckindy from Lower Bench Lake. I actually dropped into this lake first on the way in but didn't take any photos. This and the following were taken on my way out. 

Mount Buckindy from Lower Bench Lake. 

Mount Buckindy from Lower Bench Lake. 

Mount Buckindy from Lower Bench Lake. 

Lower Bench Lake, looking southwest. 

Cascades frog at Lower Bench Lake. 

Lower Bench Lake, looking northeast. Bench Lake sits in the flat at center frame. 

Lower Bench Lake, looking north. 

Lower Bench Lake, looking west at Mount Buckindy. 

Lower Bench Lake, looking west at Mount Buckindy. 

8/26-28/17 Triad Creek Lake

Had planned on doing this trip two previous years but pre-empted by forest fires each year. Turned down about 150 dollars in overtime to do trip. Started out at almost 5:00 p.m. on Saturday. Had originally planned to leave on Friday but Sacha wanted to run the Cutthroat Classic and made more sense for me to stay and watch kids while she did run, then head out. Worked out well. Got to hang out with kids. Watered cows and walked Skyeball back to Diobsud Creek. Helped Vashti and Phoebe do their first ever wade-across stream crossing. Sacha back early. Didn’t expect her back until at least 5:00 p.m. Hadn’t gotten around to packing but only took a few minutes and I was on road. Route was up over Stevens Pass and Little Wenatchee River and up Chiwawa River to end of road. Planned to sleep night in pickup under canopy Saturday night. Sunday would be up to Buck Creek Pass then up Liberty Cap trail which would take me almost to the lake. With any luck, thought I might be able to make it in in a day and out the next but took extra day off because things hadn’t been going too well for me this year. Figured to get dinner at restaurant along the way and get something extra for breakfast the next day so I wouldn’t have to mess with making breakfast. Had a hard time deciding where I wanted to eat. Finally decided to get pizza. Pizza is pretty good cold. Stopped in Sultan and got pizza and had 4 pieces left over. Made my way over pass. Hadn’t been through this area since about 2005 or 2006 when I did a bunch of stream surveys on tributaries to the Skykomish River. Got dark as I headed up Stevens Pass. Not really familiar with road so didn’t drive too fast. Knew turn at Cole’s Corner beyond that, everything new. Had worked up Little Wenatchee in about 1993 but hadn’t the faintest idea where at this point in time. Road well signed and found my way to Chiwawa River Road without any problems. Quite surprised at how good road was. Last few miles on gravel pretty rough but, ironically, easier to drive in dark because all the rough spots showed up better in headlights. Going up unfamiliar road or trail takes forever. Finally made it to trailhead at about 10:00 p.m. Parking lot pretty full. Found spot and bailed into back of pickup and went to sleep. Slept very well. Up at about 6:30 a.m. Cold pizza for breakfast and on the trail while day was still very cool. On trail information board saw lake where I was headed labeled as Triad Lake. This was encouraging. Looked like at least a few people went to it and thought enough to name it. So chances of a doable route into it were probably pretty good. Trail pretty good, much better than a lot of the knee had felt fine after trip down off ridge from Bench Lake and then walk all the way out of the Downey Creek Trail but next day, it hurt. And it didn’t quit all week. Had kind of expected worst of pain to clear up in a couple of days because I wasn’t ground I had covered the previous week but I felt generally bad and run down. Right doing a lot of heavy walking or climbing at work but only improved slightly over the week. Another reason I thought it would be good to delay this trip for another day, to give knee a chance to get better. By time I started, it felt better but there was a light, constant ache to it, kind of like when something is nearly healed. This had me worried that I might hurt something worse. Ache didn’t seem to affect the performance of right leg. It seemed to be strong enough to pull its share of the load. On top of that, the pizza had made me thirsty and I was constantly burping pizza until lunchtime. So I continued on with this general malaise and minor misery. Made decent time. Fortunately someone had logged out the trail where the fire had burned the previous year. Still it takes forever to get where you are going on a new trail. First good views of Glacier Peak just before reached Buck Creek Pass. Not too hazy from smoke on this day but at time I reached pass, light was kind of flat. Have seen and have lots of photos of Glacier Peak in better light. This combined with my tiredness actually made the views of Glacier Peak on this day kind of unimpressive to me. I stopped and took a few photos despite myself though. Made it to Buck Creek Pass at a little before 1:00 p.m. and was pretty beat. Day pretty hot though didn’t measure temp. Found shady spot and had lunch and a nap. Maze of trails around campsites at pass. After lunch looked around a bit to see if I could figure out where trail up to Liberty Cap took off. After several false starts, decided to head straight up the hill to switchbacks I had seen from trail on way in. Several well beaten game trails led part way up the hill. Picked up trail near top of switchbacks. Saw bear down the hill as I started up the trail. It didn’t stick around for very long. Trail pretty good. Rest breaks more frequent. Several more switchbacks on Suiattle side of ridge to get past next knob past Liberty Cap on ridgeline. Trail cut back over to Buck Creek side of ridge and then back to Suiattle side at a saddle and there was the lake I was trying to get to. On map looked like there were several possible routes into lake but you never know until you actually look at it on the ground. I was hoping to get down into what looked like a nice flat just below the lake to the north. It looked like there would be a good water source and camp spot there and a good access route to lake. Couldn’t tell if I could get down when I first sighted the flat. Went down ridge to saddle to get a different angle and view of route. I was happy to see a route all the way down to the flat through the meadows. It was steep and I would have to be cautious but it was well within my capacity to get down there. There was also, as I had hoped, a good route up to the lake from the flat. There were several other potential routes down farther out on the ridge but trail headed back uphill to go that way. I still had enough in me to go that far or even farther but I was also very tired and ready for a rest. This route would be just perfect. I picked my way down to the flat. On the way down I saw several other routes. There were also several steep gullies eroded into the hillslope. A lot of the material in this area looked like it had been erupted from Glacier Peak. It is whitish and looks like porous stream gravel. It is rounded like rock that has been worked by a stream but I don’t think is stream rock. The roundness of it makes it very erodible. One large gully was eroded next to a large rock along my route but I was able to avoid it easily. The interesting thing about routes like this is that as you get closer to an area, the flat in this case, where walking will be easier and you don’t have to consider every step you take and make sure your footing is secure, there is a tendency to try to hurry up. Relief from the sidehilling is only twenty yards away and the sooner you get there the sooner you get to take a break. In these cases you always have to work hard to be careful with every step until you are actually in the “safe” zone. If you get in a hurry, there is a better chance you might fall or turn and ankle etc. As tired as I was, I had to put a little extra effort into going slowly. Finally reached the flat about 4:00 p.m. Everything looked good. Very nice, pretty spot, even if there weren’t any really good views of the surrounding mountains. Decided where I wanted to camp-lots of options and stretched out to test a spot to pitch tent where it would be comfortable sleeping. Dozed off almost instantly for half hour or so. When I woke up pitched tent. Left rain-fly off. Almost always put it on, never know when surprise storms will pop up and don’t like scrambling in the dark half-awake to try to get rain-fly on in the middle of a downpour. Weather looked and supposed to be dry and nice breeze, so decided to leave it off this time. When everything in order, forced myself to go up to lake. Had debated going up in morning but also wanted to get early start and try to get all the way out and back home and save a day of vacation. Best photos of this place would be from the ridgetop where I dropped in anyway. If I could catch it just as sun was hitting, potentially pretty good photos. Rock wall maybe 100 feet high on north side of lake and on south side of flat. Looked impressive and very steep from above. Not so steep once you were next to it, noticed several spots where a person might get up it but still impressive. Nice ramp, not too steep, up to lake on northwest end of rock wall, heather at bottom with one small steep spot with krummholz trees at very top. This spot navigable but nice area of talus on south side of this were I could get up. This spot wasn’t as steep. Saw lots of mountain goat wool on small trees and vegetation on way up. Lake pretty barren as I had expected. Most maps show it mostly covered with snow and ice. Completely snow and ice free when I was there but vegetation hadn’t had a chance to grow in much since becoming free of perpetual snow and ice. Saw water ouzel. Took some photos and explored lake along top of rock wall. Very weary. Several times just stopped and rested almost too tired to move anymore. Had to make conscious effort to keep moving. Headed back down to camp flat at about 6:30 p.m. Cooked dinner. In between taking photos of sunset made redder by smoke haze, finished field notes for the day and went to sleep. Slept well. Good spot. Up fairly early next morning. Did quick plant survey around flat after breakfast-oatmeal and nuts-starting to get tired of that. Got started out at a little before 8:00 a.m.  Made it to ridge top a little after 8:00. Nice views of lake and mountains from ridgetop and wanted to get some photos just after sun hit lake. Sun hit lake at about time I arrived at ridgetop. Lots of smoky haze but got some okay photos. Continued on trail. Nice views of Glacier Peak at next saddle but smoke too thick. Took some photos but Glacier Peak pretty much obliterated by haze in most of them. Headed for Buck Creek Pass. Found that trail came into pass about 10 feet from where I had lunch the day before. Live and learn. Stopped at pass to put knee brace on and moleskin on hot spot I had developed on my left hip the day before. Something going on with pack. Can’t seem to get it adjusted to where something in the hip/waist area isn’t getting rubbed raw. Right knee still hurting though not excruciating. Felt like that kind of “warm” feeling when something is on the mend but not fully healed yet. It seemed like the trail in was a pretty steady uphill which would mean steady downhill on the way out, a situation where I knew from experience that you can hurt your knees pretty easily. Turned out that there were a lot more ups and downs than I remembered on the way out. Barely felt any pain from part of knee that had been bothering me. Brace kept knee stiff. Skin on back of leg rubbed raw by back of brace though. Had expected fairly fast and easy day. Turned out that I was very tired and really started to drag about halfway out. Feet hurt and legs felt weak. Day pretty hot by the time I was in the burn. Remember at one point while going through the burn that this must be hell. The more I stopped to rest, the longer it would take to get out so I Ignored the pain and discomfort at as best I could and tried to keep steady pace on the way out. Most of the way out remember thinking that I needed a rest. It would be nice to take a rest. Really beat by the time I got back to rig. Hot under pickup canopy when I put my pack in and uncomfortably hot in the cab, especially since I jumped almost immediately in rig without cooling down from the hike. This trip first completely successful trip since July. Used to feel kind of ecstatic after successful trips. This time just tired, sore and wanting a break. Felt more like a chore and glad to be done with it. Trail so dusty that legs were coated with dust all the way to my crotch. Even when things are really dusty, dust usually doesn’t get above knees. Weighed pack at home;  64 pounds.  

Looking down at Buck Creek Pass from the Liberty Cap trail. The Suiattle River is to the left and Buck Creek which drains to the Chiwawa River is at the right side of the frame. 

Looking north from the Liberty Cap trail at upper Buck Creek. Buck Creek Pass is at the left center of the frame. 

Looking east down the Buck Creek drainage from the Liberty Cap trail. 

The lake on Triad Creek or Triad Lake from the Liberty Cap trail. 

Outlet stream of Triad Lake which flowed through the flat below the lake where I camped. 

The route I took down to the flat below the lake. I came down the slope to the left of the gullies on the way in and went up the slope near the second gully from the left on the way out. The slope was steep but doable. It was relatively easy to get from the flat to the lake. 

Mountain goat hair on krummholz tree on route to Triad Lake from flat below. 

Looking southeast at Triad Lake from near its outlet. 

Looking southeast. 

Triad Lake, looking southwest.

Looking northeast at flat where I camped and Liberty Cap Ridge from near the outlet of Triad Lake. 

Looking northwest down Triad Creek Valley and Suiattle River from berm above Triad Lake. 

Moon over Triad Lake. 

Looking down Triad Creek valley at sunset. 

Moon over Triad Lake. 

Looking down Triad Creek Valley after sunset. I shot this and the following photo while sitting in my tent. 

Looking down Triad Creek Valley at last light. 

Triad Lake, morning of third day (Monday) from Liberty Cap Ridge on my way out. 

Same spot as previous two photos, Glacier Peak visible through smoke haze at right side of frame. 

Glacier Peak from Liberty Cap Ridge. I had to do a lot of Photoshopping to make it possible to see Glacier Peak in this photo. The smoke haze was so thick by the time I reached the spot where this photo was taken that you could barely see the mountain. 

This photo looks a little weird because of the way I manipulated it in Photoshop. If I hadn't though, all that would be visible would be a thick brown haze. 

Buck Creek Pass from Liberty Cap Trail on Monday on my way out.