Suiattle Pass, Upper Lyman Lake, Buck Creek Pass & Spider Gap - Buck Creek Pass Loop — Friday, Aug. 23, 2002

Central Cascades

My nephew Peter (the mid-western mountain goat) and I had three days to see some of the glories of the Glacier Peak Wilderness. Thursday, 8/22/02 we left the Phelps Creek trailhead a few minutes before 10. The trail up was easy, and free of logs. After a quick lunch, we hit the ascent up to Spider Gap, enjoying the great views of the meadows looking back south. Heading up the snowfield we saw signs that people had been sledding down on their air mattresses! Peter (mountain goat that he is) stopped at the top of the gap to walk to several promontories for more pictures and views Coming over the gap, we came down the snowfield to the Upper Lyman Lakes -- the highest lake was pretty large for this late in the year, with several icebergs (calved from the glacier) floating prettily in the lake. After picking our way along the edge of the upper lake for a while, we rejoined the trail and headed up then down to Lower Lyman Lake to set up camp just before sunset. Along the way, we could barely keep our eyes on the trail as Bonanza Peak kept catching our attention. Unfortunately the trees sheltered us from the wind, which had been the only thing keeping the bugs off of us. After a quick meal we were fast asleep. The next morning we set out for Cloudy Pass, meeting a Freshmen Trip from Whitman College. The weather was perfect, and we had great views of Lower Lyman Lake, Lyman Falls, Upper Lyman Lake, Lyman Glacier and the snowfield from the day before. Crossing over Cloudy Pass we picked our way to Suiattle Pass. The short trail was clean and dry -- good as it's more appropriate for goats than backpackers. Crossing over Suiattle Pass we got our first views of Glacier Peak that was to dominate the rest of our day. Wow. We went down to miner's camp, up to Middle Ridge, down to Smart Creek and up to Buck Creek Pass. A long day with 3 noticeable uphill climbs, but worth it. The campsite at Buck Creek Pass was pretty full for a Friday night. The sunset was spectacular, and the views of Glacier Peak and the ridge to the south phenomenal. Several of these trails had blow-downs that hadn't yet been cleared. The bugs were substantial. We picked the highest possible campsite at Buck Creek Pass -- it wasn't as buggy as the rest, but it turns out we were tenting just a few meters from a Pika's den. Our last day we sadly said goodbye to Glacier Peak and walked down Buck Creek trail back to Trinity. Note: the Green Trails map indicates that it is 9.6 miles back -- our finely honed estimate indicates that there's another mile in there at the end. It took us about 5 hours to return -- a bit sore, but thrilled at a great trip.