Converse in the North Cascades: Summer Trips 2018 Volume II, August, Early September

Otter Creek Flat Aug 13th

Didn’t get out previous weekend. Ended up running errands Friday, worked Saturday and helped with Community Club Salmon Barbeque and then had kids while Sacha went to training. Had planned on trying to get into head of Downey Creek this weekend and changed day off from Friday to Monday to try to get better weather but forecast changed at last minute to include possible thunderstorms. Decided to do other things. One thing to deal with thunderstorms if they are kind of unexpected but another if they are forecast and you go out anyway-kind of like borrowing trouble. Lots of moisture in air and temperatures hot that weekend-good conditions for thunderstorms. You can start to lose muscle mass in a couple of weeks if you don’t exercise so I wanted to get at least a decent workout trip to maintain my legs. Decided to still take Monday off and try to get into big flat south of Otter Lakes (Hamar and Enjar). Had been to this flat in about 1993 and tried to get in twice last year but was thwarted both times. Illabot Creek Road still open which made it possible to get into the flat and out in a day. Got pretty early start and was on the trail at about 9:30 a.m. and was at Slide Lake at about 10:00 a.m. Saw two osprey there. Got to Otter Lakes at a little after 12:00 noon and ate lunch and took a break. Day was fairly warm but not hot and there was a cool breeze. Actually got a little chilled after lunch. Took short nap and continued on. Wanted to contour around and try to maintain elevation to within about a hundred feet. Figured route would be pretty brushy and it was. Oval leaved blueberries (or blue huckleberries as we always called them) chest high most of the way. This type of brush isn’t as bad as vine maples or tag alders but still requires a lot of effort to push through. On top of that, sidehilling is also harder than just uphill or downhill. Had been worried that some spots might be really steep-contour lines on map looked pretty close but overall, going was pretty good. Slope of hill well within my comfort zone. Made it to flat in about 45 minutes and spent a couple of hours there looking around. This is another example of how something can be misremembered. My memory of this place from 1993 was of a pretty barren place with lots of exposed mud flats and not much in the way of views. Flat I found was well vegetated and pretty good view of part of a glacier on Snowking Mountain on one side and an unnamed (as far as I know) peak in the Arrowhead/Whale Lake vicinity on the other side of Otter Creek valley. Could have probably gotten some pretty cool photos if it hadn’t been so hazy. Contoured back out and made a little better time. Got to Lower Otter at 4:30 p.m. Decided to dedicate half an hour to fishing. No luck. Headed out, had told Sacha that I would be back home sometime between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. There was no way I was going to make that but I didn’t want to be way late. Trail back out seemed a lot longer. Legs were feeling pretty rubbery. Got a little worried that I might have overdone my training trip. Was planning to go out again on Friday but the way my legs were feeling, I was pretty sure I would be sore. Hopefully the three days between Monday and Friday would be enough recovery time. Got back to trailhead about 7:00 p.m. and back home a little after 8:00 p.m. Legs sore next couple of days but not too bad.

Looking west from the head of Slide Lake.

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) at Slide Lake. There were at least two. I heard them first then saw this one flying.

Zoomed in view of osprey. Over the past ten years or so I have seen a number of osprey at high lakes such as Slide Lake which are naturally fishless due to migration barriers but have fish in them because they are stocked. It would appear that fish stocking may have allowed osprey to expand their range. There are some bad effects from fish stocking in high lakes but it would appear that not all effects are bad depending on your point of view, assuming an increase in osprey population doesn't have unforeseen consequences in other areas.

Looking southeast from the outlet of Otter Flat at Snowking Mountain. As is obvious, it was very smokey that day. I had been into this flat in about 1993 and remembered it as being kind of muddy and barren. It is also obvious that my memory was flawed. A lot of this flat is wetland which might have left the long term impression on my mind of mud flats.

Same as above with a little different angle. I had thought the views in this flat wouldn't be very interesting but I found them quite impressive. I may try to make it back some day when the air isn't so hazy.

Salamander larva in small pond in flat. I think that this one and several others I saw were Northwestern salamanders (Ambystoma gracile).

Salamander larva and Cascades frog tadpole apparently feeding on old salamander egg mass.

Looking southwest.

Looking roughly west.

Sedge wetlands.

More wetlands. A large are of this flat was covered with such meadows. I didn't see a lot of sign of big game, a few deer tracks and some bear sign. I don't recall seeing a lot of sign in 1993 either which might have also left and impression on my mind of barrenness.

Cascades frog (Rana cascadae).

Looking north towards outlet of stream draining flat.

Tadpole cluster. These are probably either Cascades frogs or western toads (Bufo boreas). They appeared to be feeding on something, possibly a carcass of a dead frog or toad etc.

More tadpoles.

Large log near center of flat. There were a number of logs quite a distance out in the flat. I assume that they were carried there in avalanches off Snowking Mountain.

Slide Lake on the way out. The haze was much thicker(obviously) later in the day.

Upper Downey Creek Aug 17th thru 19th

Goal two lakes at head of Downey Creek. Tried high route via Bench, Woods and Slim Lakes last year but failed. Years ago, friend had two nephews out visiting and they wanted an adventure and we thinking about a route up Downey Creek to these two lakes. I mentioned that I thought there was a better route, knowing that the proposed route would be pretty brushy and end in cliffs. Now I found myself pursuing the same route. Figured it would be rough and I would likely get cliffed out but it was the next possibility for me. I was pretty sure I could get in there via another route but that would involve glacier travel which would mean I would have to either round up some help or get myself attached to someone doing the Ptarmigan Traverse. Had to run a few errands in Concrete first. Figured I would have enough time to make it to a good spot to camp that day and try to get into the lakes the next day. Got on trail a little before 11:00 a.m. This particular trail has a fairly hard start, a steep stretch right off the bat. Lungs were burning for about first half hour of walking. This isn’t unusual for me until I get into stride but today seemed worse because air was somewhat smoky-though not as bad as previous days. Felt kind of weak and sluggish all day and once had to stop because I got nauseous. Don’t know if this was because I had overdone it on Monday going into Otter Flats-legs still a bit stiff when I started Friday, or because I had eaten too much or I had too much coffee etc. Sky fairly clear which was a change from haze of past week or more. Pushed myself on. Downey Creek Trail has hard start but, after that, not too bad. Had lunch and took half hour nap at creek draining Downey Lake. Had planned to take a break again at Bachelor Creek which wasn’t too far up the trail but felt okay by the time I reached that point so pushed on. Old trail went up Downey Creek on right bank (north side) above Goat Creek. Walk part of it on route to Bench Lake. Thought I would follow it until it ran out, at an avalanche track I figured, and then head up the creek. Had surveyed Downey Creek up to this avalanche track in 2005 and my memory of it was that the going wasn’t too bad. Lost and found trail several times but finally got above some big waterfalls into the flat above. Hadn’t hit the avalanche track yet but decided it would be just as easy to go up creek. I was wrong. When we had surveyed the creek in 2005 we were carrying light day packs. It was an entirely different prospect carrying a full overnight pack navigating all the log jams and brush. Finally decided to get out of creek. Climbed up to flat above the steep slope of the creek valley. Now several hundred yards from creek but going much easier. Still had to navigate myriad windfalls and small springs and wet areas choked with devil’s club and salmonberries but these weren’t as thick as they were along the creek. Off-trail travel best measure in time rather than miles because it sometimes takes hours to travel one mile. It probably took me over two hours to travel a mile. I have also heard it said that travel in old-growth forest is easiest. In my experience this is wrong. In old-growth forest there are lots of windfalls of all sizes to navigate but some of the hardest are the large diameter old-growth logs 3 to 5 feet in diameter. You have to crawl over or under or put in extra steps to go around them. Then there is often heavy underbrush that resists your motion or trips you up. Almost every step is a struggle as ground shifts or brush trips and resists you movements. The best walking, in my experience is a second-growth forest 50 to 60 years old, big enough that the stems have thinned out a bit and the lower limbs on the trees are gone. Usually a stand of this kind has such a closed canopy that there isn’t much undergrowth to wade through. Made my way up valley pretty much out of creek until finally steep hillside forced me into creek. Fortunately nice large, open gravel bar that got me several hundred yards up the creek until I could dive off into the timber in the flat again. Finally reached a spot in the valley that was above the outlet of Slim Lake. I had originally wanted to get a couple miles farther up but I was pretty much worn out at this point. It was 6:00 p.m. so I had a couple more hours of daylight to continue to push on. I debated for about half an hour and finally decided that this was a good spot to camp that I might not find further up and that I was close enough to get into the lakes and back out in a day (assuming I could get into them). If I stayed here, then I wouldn’t have to carry a full pack any farther and I could get a couple more hours rest. This turned out to be a good call. I scouted a little farther up the route I thought I would be taking to see if there was a better camp spot a little farther up and to see if I could see anything familiar on the route. I had been studying it on Google Earth. I didn’t find a better camp and still nothing familiar though I knew I should be coming up to an avalanche track soon. The valley was beginning to steepen which I expected and fit with where I thought I was. Next morning got a pretty early start. Always a struggle to get up and get going in the morning. Got started a little after 7:00 a.m. and reached the end of the flat in about half an hour. I followed what I assumed was Downey Creek seemed like flow was still about the same. Soon ran out of timber on flat which transitioned into tag alders along creek. Tried to stick to timber on sidehill but too steep to be practical. Strip of timber running up other side of creek and debated bashing through tag alders and following it up as far as I could before diving into the tag alders for the rest of the trip. This looked like it would only gain me a couple hundred yards so decided to work my way to the creek from where I was and then up it through the tag alders.

Struggle, up creek, across creek, out of creek pushing through tag alders, back in creek. Lots of loose rock, several close calls. Got to a spot up valley where I could look back down and saw the avalanche track that I had expected to pass near the bottom of the valley. This was my first opportunity to recognize that I had made a mistake. Instead, I thought that the map was wrong, which does happen but is fairly rare with USGS Quads, usually I am the one at fault. But apparently my head was into making my way up this valley so I continued on. Finally hit open area near bottom of cirque. Better here because no brush but lots of dried soil on rocks that tended to collapse when I stepped on it or collapse under larger rocks I stepped on. This made for constantly shifting footing. With almost every step I took, I was never really sure where my foot would end up when it stopped moving. Stopped again and looked at map. Things didn’t look quite right but it was fairly close to what I expected. There were solid rock valley walls and a cirque, though there were more moraines than I expected and less solid rock. I could also make out some steep peaks and glaciers through the thick smoke at the head of the valley. This didn’t seem right but I chalked it up to my reading the map wrong. Saw two possible routes up above the cirque. One was a moraine that the main stream had cut down through, the other was another moraine that was relatively intact. Decided to go with intact moraine because stream cut meant a lot of loose rock and possibly an impassible cliff or waterfall. Getting to intact moraine required working through several hundred more yards of tag alders which I managed to do. When I stepped on the moraine I thought I had it made. I was almost celebrating and I was making plans on what I was going to do with the rest of the day. Finally, after about 4 hours of bashing brush and dodging rocks, I reached a flat spot. It was very smoky and disorienting and I could barely see the peaks and glaciers above me but it was also obvious to me that nothing looked like it should if I was where I thought I was. It finally sunk in that I was in the wrong place. I put down my pack and, sick to my stomach dragged out the map again to see if I could figure out where I was and if I could somehow salvage the situation. It didn’t take much to realize that I had followed the creek draining Spire Glacier (not to be confused with Spire Creek which drains to Sulphur Creek in the next drainage up the Suiattle). It was also painfully obvious that there was no way into the lakes at the head of Downey Creek short of scaling some serious cliffs. I had some really choice words for myself. All the work and dangers to this point basically for nothing and I had to go back down through that nasty mess to get out. To top it off, it was about 11:00 a.m. so the day was shot. By the time I worked my way back down, hopefully still in one piece, it would be too late to try the cirque at the head of Downey Creek. More choice words. I really felt like an idiot. There was no help for it though, so I had lunch and took a short nap. I did notice an interesting thing. There was western red cedar growing on the moraine where I was sitting. This wasn’t necessarily out of the ordinary, I was at about 4400 feet which is within the range of western red cedar but the barren aspect of the moraine made it seem much higher. I would have been expecting Alaska yellow cedar in this setting. Though, interestingly, there was quite a bit of mountain hemlock which isn’t supposed to grow much below 5000 feet around my camp below at about 3000 feet. None of this was much consolation, I still needed to get my stupid ass out of there in one piece. Starting a little before noon, I mad my way back down to the avalanche track at the bottom of the valley in about 3 hours. I realized that if I had gone to the strip of timber I had thought about, I might had realized my mistake because it was right on the edge of the avalanche track and it would have been relatively easy to check my location at that point. I decided to explore up Downey Creek and see how the going would be. I found it to be much easier than I had expected and made my way much farther up the valley than I thought I would be able to without wading through tag alders. That was about all I had time for. I couldn’t quite get far enough up the valley to see the cirque and if it might be possible to get past it. Made my way back to camp and realized that I had camped almost directly across from the confluence of Downey Creek but it was hard to recognize as a confluence of two streams and not the main stream and a side channel with all the brush. Got back to camp at about 5:00 p.m. I could probably have made it back to Downey Creek Trail in three hours but decided to rest up and try to get an early start in morning. Slept pretty well that night though heard footsteps outside tent at some point in the night. Sounded more like hooves than pads so I wasn’t too worried. Pads mean predator types. Even after 11 or 12 hours of sleep, still had a hard time getting out of sleeping bag in morning so didn’t get started until after 7:00 a.m. A little disappointed in myself though not at the level of my screw up of the day before. Stayed on south side of creek all the way out and found the going decent. Made good time and probably saved half an hour over the trip in. Very smoky. I was looking for Goat Creek Valley on other side of Downey Creek as a position marker but I could barely make it out. I was pretty sure I was there because I could also hear the falls on Downey Creek but it wasn’t a for sure thing. Sure enough, was at Bachelor Creek shortly. Rest of trip out was relatively uneventful. Seemed like I had plenty of energy now though I wasn’t spared the sore shoulders and feet that seem typical of any trip out of the mountains. Picked up some burritos on way out beside trail. Saw them on the way in. Looked like someone had accidentally lost them. Imagine they were pretty disappointed when lunchtime or dinnertime came. Obviously didn't eat them. Dumped the biodegradable parts and pocketed the plastic for disposal later. Pack weighed 65.5 pounds at end of trip.

Looking downstream at maybe a half mile up the stream from the timberline.

Looking upstream from same spot as above. The travel alternated between areas of bare rock, many of which were loose and tag alders growing through the same loose stream rounded rock.

About half way up the creek to the cirque above. This was another place that would have been much more impressive without all the haze.

Near the final run up to the cirque. The traveling was a little better towards the top. There was more bare rock which was easier to move over that the brush even though of lot of this rock was still loose.

Looking upstream from the same spot as above.

Looking downstream from near bottom of cirque. The soil covering the rock in the foreground was treacherous. It looked solid and you couldn't avoid stepping on it but once you did, it would dissolve into numerous small pebbles that caused your foot to slip.

Looking upstream from about the same spot as above. I had to cut over from the open area of the stream into the brush at the left side of the frame. After fighting through about a hundred yards of the brush, I got into a talus slope that led me right up over the cirque.

Above the cirque. It was here that I finally realized that I had come up the wrong stream valley. It would have been a pretty impressive spot if it hadn't been so hazy. Still I wouldn't have gone here just for a few pictures and I doubt I will ever go back. An interesting note: This area is well over 4000 feet in elevation and there were a lot of small cedars growing here. However, most, if not all that I saw were western red cedar (Thuja plicata) rather than Alaska yellow cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis) as I would have expected. It is not uncommon to find red cedar at this elevation but usually, with some notable exceptions, there is also a good bit of yellow cedar present as well and the yellow cedar is often the dominant species at these elevation. P.S. I guess they have changed the genus of yellow cedar to a name that starts with an "X" but I am too tired and lazy at this point in time to look it up.

Looking west on my way back out of the cirque. I sure wish it hadn't been so hazy. You can just make out the lower reaches of Spire Glacier.

Bachelor Creek on the way out. This day was actually clear but the haze was so thick that it appeared to be overcast.

Head of Downey Creek Aug 31st thru Sept 2nd

Spent previous weekend with family in B.C., went into Poland Lake there. Wanted one more stab at the two small lakes or ponds at the head of Downey Creek that I had failed to get into on the weekend of the 17th through 19th of August. Wanted to try again this year because knew a route at least to cirque below lakes and route would be the same so would be a little easier to get there. If waited a year, route might change a bit and might not remember as well. Had to run some errands in Concrete before starting out. Hit Downey Creek Trail at about 11:00 a.m. Air very clear compared to previous weekend and lungs felt much better and legs seemed to have more energy. Probably two reasons for this, better air and I made conscious effort not to over-coffee and eat too much. Temperature very nice for hiking-mid 70’s Fahrenheit. Made good time. Fire on mountain about 5 miles up. Hit smoke from that and thought I might be in for it but got clear of worst of smoke in about half a mile. Made Bachelor Creek at about 3:00 p.m. with stop for lunch and a nap. Went up Bachelor Creek trail to spot where I had hit it on the previous trip and dove off. Had been dreading this part of trip. Hard to describe off-trail accurately. Except for rare instances where ground is clear for a little distance or you have a good clean walk log, every step is work. Ground shifts underfoot or you slip on stems of brush. Brush resists your every movement and plants like devil’s clubs and salmonberries stab and scratch through even heavy clothes and leave stickers behind. Even worse on areas of bare skin. Brush and sticks trip you up. Sticks catch your feet at weird angles that you couldn’t duplicate if you tried a hundred times and trip you up. Have to constantly choose route, strategizing several hundred feet ahead which way the easiest travel will be. Also where I hit a wall. All of a sudden I was out of energy. Figured to be at spot where I camped on previous trip by about 6:00 p.m. but wasn’t going to make it if I didn’t keep moving. Forced myself to slog on. Made to camp spot at about 6:00 p.m. Funny thing, felt more worn out than on previous trip even though I was able to capitalize on knowing the route better and the air quality was much better. Probably mostly psychological. Camp spot was excellent and probably thinking about how nice it would be made it harder to slog through off-trail walking. Cooked and ate dinner and turned in at a little before 8:00 p.m. Next day would be moment of truth whether I could get past cirque and into lakes above. Felt fairly optimistic about my chances but the next day would see. Slept really well. Didn’t want to get up in morning. Common for me even at home. In mountains more pronounced. Hard to leave warm sleeping bag where you are relatively safe to put on shoes wet from wading the creek the day before and crawl out into the cool morning air to go on a quest where you will be risking injury or worse. Thought about Sacha and the kids a lot. Hoped I would survive the day intact and seriously questioned the value of what I was doing. Still managed to crawl out of my tent and was going by a little after 8:00 a.m. Usually feel much better about things once blood is flowing and this day was no exception though I still felt rather sluggard for some reason. Took route I had scouted on previous trip and dove out of timber and into creek at a point across from a large talus slope with some trees growing in it. Had to go through large patch of tag alders to get to creek but these weren’t too bad. Evidently hadn’t been hammered by avalanches too much so they were fairly upright and not too hard to move through. Hit creek at a little after 9:00 a.m. at a 10 foot high cut bank and had to go up a bit to find a spot into the creek bed. Realized I should have gone a few hundred yards farther up before hitting creek but this was okay. Would take that route on way out. Creek pretty low and lots of nice open bars of cobble and boulders to walk. Loose rocks constant hazard as well as algae slick rocks when crossing creek. I should have been able to see the cirque at this point but low clouds were obscuring it. The forecast was for a sunny day that day and I hoped the clouds would lift because I wouldn’t be able navigate inside a cloud. Not to mention that, if I got into flat above cirque, (actually area wasn’t flat but much flatter than cirque and much easier to navigate), it would likely be in a spot where I had to find the exact location again which would be difficult in a fog bank. I have seen forecasts for clear weather that turned out to not end up with precipitation but ended up with low clouds all day so I wasn’t sure if I wouldn’t be weathered out this time. Made it bottom of cirque in about half an hour. Took break for about ten minutes and tried to gather myself together mentally. Had been looking at this spot on air photos for over a year and now I was finally here and things didn’t look good. Low clouds finally lifting and I could see some of the features of the cirque. Had in my mind two routes that looked likely from air photos and one other one that looked like a brush bashing nightmare. One route on north side of cirque by waterfall that I had thought likely and would be most direct route to area above cirque was definitely out. It was vertical cliffs. There was a spot that looked possible on the other (west) side of the waterfall. If I could get across the creek at the waterfall, it looked like I could follow an inclined flatter spot between cliff bands and kind of switchback above the cirque. This area was choked with scrubby evergreens, mountain hemlock and Alaska cedar, among others. These had been hammered nearly horizontal by avalanches and would be thick and miserable to get up through. Decided to try route on south side of cirque where maps indicated that ground should be gradual enough to get up. There were several stream chutes there or the ridges of ground between them that looked promising. Standing there looking at it directly I was a little skeptical but decided to try it. Sometimes you have to be right up to something in order to tell if you can get past it or not. Not too much brush to get to approach but a lot of forbs and loose rock that made for slick footing and a lot of slips and falls. Had thought most likely route was ridge of ground between two stream chutes but this looked a little steeper than I wanted to try. The stream chute that had looked most promising on maps and air photos had small vertical wall at bottom just high enough to stop me. Tried other stream chute and made it up about 50 feet before also being cliffed out. Worked my way back down. Attempt had cost me about 45 minutes and was disheartening. Took a lot of work to get to this point and I was in danger of using all my time in failed attempts. Decided to try route on north side of cirque on other side of waterfall. This involved sidehilling through slick forbs and loose rock then working through several patches of tag alders and getting across stream with nearly vertical sides cut about ten feet into a deposit of boulders and gravel. Then I was in a talus slope just below the waterfall. Talus was easy traveling but had more brush at top in order to get to waterfall. Got to waterfall at about noon. Dropped pack and scouted route across. Found it steep going across waterfall and then very steep sidehill through thick trees to what had looked like an inclined spot between nearly vertical rock faces. This was also steeper than I wanted to attempt. If I got past the small strip of larger trees near the waterfall I would be in the thick avalanche hammered brushy scrub trees and it didn’t look like I would be able to see where I was going very well. Scrapped that plan and worked my way back to my pack. Now I was really disheartened. Looked like another failure and I would have to regroup and make an attempt the next year. While I was mulling this over at an open spot watered with waterfall mist I spied the gap, or what looked like a gap on the east side of the cirque. Had eyeballed this spot several times while traversing the cirque and had decided it looked more promising than I had thought earlier though still very brushy. Decided to try this spot in order to try to salvage all the heavy work I had put in to this point. It was a little after noon so if this attempt failed I was done. There was another possible route a little farther down the valley near where I had dropped into the creek but I wouldn’t have time to try that this day. So it would be some other day in some other year probably. I started out sidehilling through tag alders and small open areas of bracken ferns and forbs. I stuck as closely as I could to a vertical, or nearly vertical rock face. Often the brush isn’t as thick in these places though I found myself faced with a wall of tag alders and vine maples before long. It was hard working my way into the tag alders because I was going against the grain or lay of the brush. Once inside it wasn’t too bad. It is a little easier going up or down through that type of brush especially because you have a lot of good hand holds to help pull yourself up. Of course there were a few spots where I had to go against the grain to go around particularly thick interwoven brush but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I will say though, that it was definitely not easy. Hit another small open patch, followed by a small stream that I had to go up for a few feet. Had to go past large rock that looked like it was just perched there. Rock big enough to pin or crush me. Tried it and it seemed solid so squeaked past it trying not to touch it. Little flat area 20 or 30 feet above and then more steep ground. Ran into some steep rock bluffs but looked like I could get past them which I did using abundant brush for handholds. Small patch of talus and looked like one last run of steep ground to the top of the cirque. Looked like several possible routes. Chose one and went for it. At one spot on this route had to pull myself up past a chest high ledge with scrubby mountain hemlock limbs but made it okay. Would have to be really careful here on way back. Spot wasn’t too exposed, lots of brush to hang on to but potential to get overbalanced and have a very bad rolling fall. Trees on top of cirque just above me now. Pulled myself up the last 20 or 30 feet and crawled through last scrubby krummholz trees to see the Promised Land, an almost flat pile of talus. I had made it. I took careful note of the spot where I had come up. There was a silver fir that had had its top broken out years ago and now sported twin trunks about 15 feet tall and just up from it was a mountain hemlock that had had similar damage but had grown out at a weird angle. Between me and the talus pile there was a large red rock. It would be a pretty easy spot to find again. Made my way out onto talus. Could see the flat where the lower lake sat. It was a little before 2:00 p.m. Sat down and ate lunch. Had a hard time eating wanted to get done and be on my way. Figured I had enough time to get to both lakes. The route to lower one was obvious from where I was and wouldn’t be a problem. I could see part of the route to the upper lake as well. According to my maps, the route to upper lake shouldn’t be a problem either but I wasn’t counting on that. Time was tight and if it turned out that I ran into some navigation problems I might run out of time and I didn’t want to make this journey again. Finished lunch and made my way 400 feet up to lower lake. Very pretty spot. Took photos and made tour around lake which was actually more of a flat with a stream running through it. Even though USGS Quad indicated a lake here, if there ever was one, it had filled in. The water surface in the flat was fairly level but there was not standing water it was all moving. Not a lot of vegetation around lake mostly moss and sedges. Didn’t see anything in the way of aquatic life though I am sure there were lots of aquatic macroinvertebrates there. Retrieved a balloon that had floated away from someone’s birthday party to become litter in the wilderness and started for upper lake a little more than 400 feet above. Route wasn’t bad. No surprises. A little steep in spots with more slick forbs that footing slippery but made it okay in about half an hour with a couple stops to take photos. This lake also wasn’t much of a lake though there was a small pond of standing water in the flat next the stream flowing through it. Goat wallow on small hillock-probably a moraine above the lake. Lots of goat tracks in dried out mud around pond. Took a lot of photos of an unnamed (as far as I know) peak to the south that I found quite striking. Started working my way back down a little before 4:00 p.m. At this point I had been to every mapped high lake and pond in the Suiattle River drainage but I still had a lot of rough ground to cover to get out safely. It wouldn’t mean much if I didn’t make it out. Of course these two lakes could hardly be described as lakes but according to the criteria I set for myself on my project, they were mapped as lakes. And, they were actually the first lakes of the year, besides Poland Lake in B.C. that unquestionably fit my criteria. Gamma Hot Springs that I had gone to earlier weren’t really lakes or ponds and the lake on the east end of Lime Ridge was only provisionally mapped and wasn’t mapped at all when I started my high lake project. Flat where stream meandered about a hundred feet below where I needed to start back down the face of the cirque. Considered looking it over for a moment, often find interesting things in such flats. And there was actually another spot of flat water though it wasn’t a pond just a pool or wide spot in the stream. Decided against it. Time would be tight getting back to camp before dark and I didn’t want to rush, especially coming down face of cirque. Trip out was rough. Harder to go downhill a lot of the time. Found spot where I came over edge of cirque pretty easily and worked my way carefully down. Had rock faces to follow for reference so it wasn’t too bad as far as keeping my bearings but I had a lot of minor falls and managed to bash my shin on a tag alder at a perfect spot where all the brush I would have to walk through for the rest of the trip would rub. Developed hot spots on the tops of both pinky toes and another toenail felt jammed and I figured I would likely lose it. Once I got to bottom of cirque going was easier though I fell a couple times when dry soil washed or slid down in the spring or early summer collapsed underfoot or under rocks I was standing on and took my feet out from under me instantly. Travel down creek was good, nice open boulders and cobbles, only had to be wary of occasional loose rock. Reach spot to cut through brush to timber at about 6:00 p.m. Picked spot where creek was closest to timber and dove in. Lucked out and hit the bottom of a fairly fresh slide that I couldn’t see from creek. This was a nice open spot of bare boulders and cobbles that allowed me to cross about half the distance I needed to in order to get to timber. Once in timber traveling was really good and straightforward. Made it back to camp a little after 7:00 p.m., just before dark. First thing I did was get my SPOT GPS to send message to Sacha that I was okay. But I couldn’t find it in my pack. Tore compartment where I keep it apart and still couldn’t find it. Finally looked in tent and found that it was under my sleeping bag. Good thing I didn’t get into trouble on my journey. I would have had a rude awakening when I went to send and S.O.S. with the SPOT only to find out that I didn’t have it. One reason I don’t completely trust technology. You can forget it somewhere or it can break down on you at a bad time. Also why I always try to be as careful as possible as if I didn’t have a device that could bail me out of bad decisions. Years ago when small cell phones first came out mom gave me one before a trip and I acted like an idiot, making several bad decisions. Then I dropped it in the creek while cooking dinner that night. I don’t know if it was the dousing or I just didn’t have reception (most likely the latter) but it didn’t work. And I had been counting on it bailing me out of my bad decisions. If I got into trouble this time I would have just had to figure things out…..or not. Which is why it paid to be careful up front. After dinner, spent about half an hour writing out and correcting notes from day before going to sleep. Slept well and got started at a little after 8:00 a.m. the next day. Trip out wasn’t too bad had a good idea of best route though did get sucked down into one bad devil’s club patch that I had fought the trip before and resolved not to make the mistake of going through it again. Well I went through it again and it was just as big a hassle as the trip before. Worst part about trip was psychological. At some point, I decided I was farther along than I actually was. I thought I heard falls on Downey Creek which meant I was getting close to Bachelor Creek and the trail. Sound was different in clear air though. The heavy smoke on previous trip seemed to dampen sound just like fog and falls made a distinct sound. This time when I thought I heard falls it was actually just the regular stream noise, probably as it picked up gradient a bit. The rest of the trip to the trail seemed to take forever after than point and everything seemed harder and seemed to hurt more. Unlike last trip, had good visual on ridgeline across creek. Knew when I got across from Goat Creek that I would almost be there. Finally heard falls on Downey Creek when I was getting close and sky opened wide across creek as I passed Goat Creek Valley. Hit trail at a little before 11:00 a.m. Came in a little lower, by several hundred feet, than I had left. Ran into a couple guys I had seen on the way in on Friday who were going to scout around Cub and Itswoot Lakes. Talked with them a big and continued on. Had been looking forward to getting to Bachelor Creek and taking a break but it felt so good to be on a clear trail where every step was unimpeded and I didn’t have to constantly think about the best route through a particular spot. Off-trail pure misery when you are in the midst of experience but it all magically melts away once you are back on regular trail. Though looked off trail on way out and realized that I was breezing by areas in a few minutes that would take 15 minutes or more to traverse off-trail. Of course pack started to wear into shoulders and rub sore spots after a couple of miles of the new rhythm on the trail. Short stop for lunch and then continued on. Interesting that I felt pretty good about stiffness and soreness when I started out that morning but I was much stiffer and sorer after a short lunch break. Got to rig a little before 2:00 p.m. Interesting phenomenon that I think I have mentioned before. Coming out of backcountry goes in stages of increasing comfort and pleasure which is a novelty when you first experience but then novelty wears off and then you hit a new level of comfort and past discomfort is largely forgotten. Feels so good to hit maintained trail after traveling for several hours off trail. Then after a while the novelty of the maintained trail wears off and it becomes another slog full of discomfort. Then you get to your rig and, all of a sudden, you are rolling along effortlessly much faster than you could walk or even run. After a while of that, you get tired of dust, washboards and dodging potholes, then you hit the pavement and you are rolling along smoothly. Within a few hours I had made my greetings to my family and was taking Skyeball the dog for a walk. I was a little stiff and sore in spots but it was hard to imagine the discomfort I had been experiencing off-trail mere hours before. Pack weighed 65 pounds at end of trip. Weird medley running through my head for the entire trip dominated by Taylor Swift “Delicate” and Black Keys “Sister” with O.A.R. “Shattered” some oldies from the 70’s Jerry Reed “Amos Moses”, The Kings “Switchin’ to Glide” and “Magic” by a band called Pilot mixed in with odds and ends of contemporary popular music. Five years ago I would have really been psyched to have finished this trip. It wasn’t the most difficult trip I have done in the mountains by far but it definitely ranked pretty high on the difficult scale. I did feel a little elated for a few days but I have reached a point in my life where I was happier to just check this trip off my list so I can finish the project and move on to other things, family being top of the list. I have come to question the actual value of what I am doing with this project and whether it is worth orphaning my kids over it. I regularly take notes of the flora and fauna I observe but doubt any of it will be earth shaking. I am so close to the end I will probably slog along. I don’t know if I can afford to take a decade or more off from the project at my age. If I did, more than likely I would never finish. And I would feel weird not being in the mountains in the summer. The little hit of elation I got over this trip will soon fade, just like the pleasure and novelty of coming off-trail to a maintained trail and all of the rest of the process of coming out of the backcountry fades. Just after it does, I know it will be replaced by the drive to check out the next place in the mountains.

Looking north from outlet of Poland Lake B.C.. This day was hazy too but it was also overcast and I ended up getting rained on shortly after starting back.

Looking roughly west at Poland Lake B.C.

Tailed frog (Ascaphus truei) tadpole in upper Downey Creek. This was one of the first things I saw after wading through a sea of tag alders from the timberline to the creek.

Clouds and fog lifting from the cirque at the head of Downey Creek. One of my routes to attempt to get above the cirque was up the ridges and gullies on the south side pictured here. They proved to be too steep, even though they might not appear to be in this photo. At least they were steeper than I wanted to attempt.

Waterfall on Upper Downey Creek on the north side of the cirque. Another possible route I had planned on trying was here, near the waterfall but this proved to be too steep, or steeper than I wanted to try as well.

Looking east at the cirque and the lifting clouds. This photo was taken from the waterfall previously pictured. After working through a lot of brush, I was finally able to get up above the cirque at the low notch to the left center of the frame here.

Looking west at Mount Buckindy from above the cirque at the head of Downey Creek.

Looking north from near the spot where I got above the cirque. The South Cascade Glacier is over this ridge/mountain.

Small waterfall just below lower lake at the head of Downey Creek.

The lower, southern "lake" at the head of Downey Creek. This "lake" was more of a flat spot in the stream but it was mapped as a body of standing water so it was on my list to do.

Looking west from lower lake, Mount Buckindy in the distance. The talus patch lower in the frame towards the center is where I got above the cirque.

Looking west from above outlet of lower lake zoomed in on peak between Bench and Woods Lakes. This particular peak doesn't have a name that I am aware of. Mount Bruseth is just visible above the ridgeline to the right side of it.

Looking north from above outlet of lower lake.

Looking east at lower lake.

Lower lake.

Looking west at lower lake.

Looking north en route to upper lake/pond.

Looking south en route to upper lake. This peak dominates the area but doesn't have a name that I am aware of. White Rock Lakes are on the other side of it to the left or northeast. I took a number of photos of this peak and have included many because I thought it was really interesting how its look changed as the light changed as the clouds drifted over.