Hoo doggie, this was a big day. Proxie's last trip report from 10/6 sums things up well. I've been scrambling some this summer, but I hit a point on the route up to Black Peak where my comfort level got maxed out and I decided to call it. Got to near the top of the Black Peak gully and just didn't feel comfortable continuing up. I hit around 8,600 or 8,700 ft (about a .2 away from the summit). Alas--but hey, that's also okay! My goal today was Wing Lake, so hitting Black Peak was just extra credit.
TR-wise, the initial part of the Maple Pass trail was good. Wide, well maintained, and not too many people on it at that hour. I started the hike around 7am, but detoured at Ann Lake (very worth it) on my way in. I hit Ann Lake at 7:30, and lingered a little bit to watch the morning light fall across the ridge. Backtracked Ann and kept making my way up toward the Lewis Lake turnoff. I was on the trail to LL by 8:15. Hiked down, traversed a bunch of boulders, and made my way over to Lewis Lake. There are cairns across the boulder field that make it easy to follow in, but for whatever reason I had a hard time tracking them and the trail on the way out. I probably wouldn't recommend this trail to anyone with difficulty balancing etc.
Lewis Lake was beautiful, larches were popping and in full swing. Didn't linger long, and just continued up the (rather steep) trail up to Wing Lake. Passed a lot of backpackers making their way down. Hit Wing Lake around 10:30 (much stopping on the steep way up). I skipped lunch at the lake, and just figured I'd see how high up the trail toward the Black Peak saddle I could get before turning around. Hah! Made it all the way up that miserable gully to the saddle. (Put my helmet on somewhere around the middle). The gully was work, to be sure--1,000 feet of gain straight up absolute junk over a half-mile. I wouldn't have done it without poles. Hit the saddle at about 11:45 (I was moving slow in the steep kitty litter). I sat at the saddle a while and ate my lunch and regrouped, tbh probably until like 1pm. I hadn't been dead-set on summitting Black Peak, but I hadn't ruled it out either. After much wavering over the issue, some rest and some food, I just decided to give it a go, with an agreement that I could turn back whenever. As mentioned in previous reports, there are cairns marking the route; there's also a bootpath that pretty easy to track. The gully got a little sketch, I turned around somewhere around the top of it, at about 2pm. Poles were helpful on the downhike/downscramble.
Descended from the saddle (the top part just below the saddle is probably the most sketch -- steep, rocky, slippery with the loose gravel crud sitting on top of rock), and made it past the main downhike from the saddle by about 3pm. Trail back was mostly easy, except retracing steps through the boulder field. I was over it by then, I guess, and it was just brutal slow-going. Did have some candy to perk me up a bit, though.
Once back on the main trail, I made pretty quick work down to the parking lot. Got into my car around 6pm. Long day.
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