Hope Lake to Deception Lakes via Trap Pass, Pieper Pass (PCT N to S) - July 22, 2022
This was a full day on the PCT from camp at Hope Lake to camp at Deception Lakes, passing over Trap Pass and then Pieper Pass, going north to south. According to Google Maps, this was 8.3 miles, but felt more like 10 due to navigating over snow. It was 2,615 ft of elevation gain and 1,975 ft of loss. It took about 9.5 hours of hiking with about 1.5 hours of breaks. Pace was slow due to heavy packs and one injury. This was in late July, but we dealt with difficult snow due to the PNW having an unusually long spring with a record cold and wet June.
We started on the PCT from Hope Lake at 9am. It was foggy and cool. By 9:45am we reached the 5,000 ft elevation marker on the trail and we had already encountered small snow patches, which were easy. The views after a couple miles were starting to feel very PCT, and we heard some squeaking pika on an old talus slope. We stopped for lunch at 11:45 about 1/2 mile north of Trap Lake in a wetland area and saw some marmots. On the way to Trap Lake, we looked for the path down to the water, but it was likely obstructed by a large avalanche. This avalanche was difficult to walk over with all of the fallen trees and snow. By the time we left the snow, we were already above the lake and starting up Trap Pass. The view from Trap Pass is unbeatable.
The path down Trap Pass towards Glacier Lake is steep, and this is where my backpacking buddy rolled her ankle. There was also some blowdown and a recently fallen tree that required us to pass our packs through and crawl under/over. We kept hiking and made it to the Glacier Lake area around 2pm. On the way out of this area we lost the trail twice, blaming the snow and the little trails that campers have made over the years. We eventually found it and made it to the rocky valley north of Surprise Gap.
We passed a few hikers in this valley, each warning us of the snow ahead on Pieper Pass. We trekked over the snow at the bottom of the valley and started up the rocky switchbacks, slowly. After that first set of switchbacks, there was nothing but snow to the next set of switchbacks, and we lost the trail. We think it was on the slope to our right, but we didn't want to hike on that steep of a snowy slope without cramp-ons, so we kept close to the floury, blue, unnamed lake on our left. We did not find the trail again until a break in the snow, after which we could clearly see the path that others took over the snow going downhill. A reminder, this was late July and it was 85 degrees out, still snow. There was one more set of switchbacks and these were intermittently covered by big 4-6 ft heaps of snow, which meant unnecessary ups and downs on the already ups.
After we made it to the top of Pieper Pass, my hiking companion realized her ankle injury was a bit serious, but luckily it was all downhill from here. This part of the trail is the entire west side of Surprise Mountain. It gets lots of sun so it was completely snow-free, quite arid actually. This section had some of the prettiest wildflowers of the day and we saw some marmots playing on the rocks. We made it down to Deception Lakes by 7:30pm and took a campsite on the isthmus between the lower lake and Daisy Lake.
Tough hike, but beautiful. I would have liked to do it with spikes or cramp-ons, definitely glad we had good trekking poles. We each drank about 7 liters of water over this 9 or so miles in the heat. There were plenty of options to refill. I would do this section of this PCT section again if I had a lighter pack and was in a little better shape. The views are some of the best I've ever seen. I'd give it a 4/5.
Comments