Horseshoe Basin — Monday, Jun. 11, 2001

North Cascades > Pasayten

We arrived at Iron Gate in the afternoon, with no precipitation and generally dry conditions. Our intention was to hike into Sunny Pass, put down camp for a couple of nights and explore some of Horseshoe Basin. About two miles in, we hiked into a significant snow fall - which continued most of the way to the basin below Sunny Pass. As we approached the 4 mile point, we became very aware of the strong NNE winds in the tops of the trees. The trail is in good condition, with only one small remnant of avalanche snow across the trail at about mile 3.5 - it required only a few steps to cross. We chose to camp in the basin just short of Sunny Pass to avoid the wind that was roaring across Horseshoe Basin and the low cloud that obscured Sunny Pass - and found a very comfortable camp with some clear ground at about 6,950 - even though most of the area was covered with about 6"" new snow. Wednesday we awoke to brilliant sunshine on Pick Mountain, blue skies beyond - and still air - with a temperature of about 28 deg F. The roaming up through Sunny and environs was very pleasant - although best accomplished out of the snow filled trails which were running with melt water under several inches of rather wet new snow. The flowers have begun to bloom and by afternoon Wednesday the new snow fall had melted sufficiently around camp for many to show through the snow again. By Thursday morning, most of the snow had melted, and we had another dry and beautiful day - with only some high clouds - for our afternoon hike back to the vehicle.