Perry Creek — Friday, Aug. 27, 1999

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

The Perry creek trail up to the meadows is in good shape. There is snow in the meadow but the sun was hard at work and there are some dry snowfree patches. My goal for today was Mount Forgotten so after a brief respite in the meadow I shouldered my gear and headed out. There were others in the meadow contemplating the same, but I saw no one else leave the meadow in that direction. The trail drops abruptly and then disappears in some overhanging brush. It gives you the impression that it is going to continue to descend. I think this discourages many from going this way. Beckey says that this is only a 30ft drop. I'd say it is closer to 100ft. On the way out it seemed to have grown to more than a 1000ft. The trail is a climbers track from here and often just seems to disappear. Look carefully and you will find it again. I didn't encounter the snow again until I came around to the NE side. I was greeted by a small steep icy patch that I chose to climb around on its high side. This brought me to what Beckey describes as a scree gully. It is a steep icy snow chute still this year. I was glad I had my iceaxe. I began to kick steps as best I could in the hard surface. I began to question this approach as I considered the impending descent. I moved off the snow and climbed the rock and heather right at the melt boundary. I followed this same path coming down. Once above the snow chute the final approach to the summit is just a steep walk. I was quite glad to have finally reached the summit. I sat for a bit and took some pictures as the clouds began moving in. The summit register is missing. There were a few scraps of paper in the pipe and if they represent everyone thats been up here, its a pretty lonely summit. I think I counted eleven other people this year. I wrote an entry in a small spiral notebook that I had with me and donated it for use as the new summit register. It was now 5:30 and I decided I'd best head out if I wanted to be out before dark. Got back to the trailhead at 8pm. All in all it was a good day. I found a camera on my way back down the Perry Creek trail. If you can ID the make and model I'll do what I can to get it back to you.