Glacier Peak 100+, Glacier Peak Wilderness

Last winter I posted a number of ~100-mile routes in the North Cascades that might be good adventure runs. The Glacier Peak circumnavigation was the one I wanted to do most and luckily Ben was just as keen to partake in some scenic suffering.

Usually done as a backpack, there are a few different trails to take around the east side of the mountain (High Pass, Buck Creek Pass or Spider Gap), but only one route around the north, west and south sides. Both of us had previously covered all three options and chose Spider Gap-Lyman Lakes; it's just too awesome not to include and it means an additional climb up Little Giant Pass (great view of the Napeequa valley).

Our route went: White River to Boulder Pass trail to the Napeequa, Little Giant Pass to the Chiwawa River, Chiwawa River road and Phelps Creek to Spider Gap and Lyman Lakes, Cloudy Pass to Suiattle Pass and the Pacific Crest Trail, PCT southbound to Indian Pass and return to White River via Indian Creek. Between our GPS devices we came up with 106-107 miles with 27,000'+ of elevation gain. We completed the loop unsupported in 35 hours flat (Ben's file and my files #1 - #2). 

Our GPS track and elevation profile from The Glacier Peak 100+

By far this is the hardest thing I've ever done. 

More than the distance and elevation, it was the "small" things that became the most difficult to deal with: wet brush meant 90 miles of wet feet and painful maceration, a very slow pace at night not being able to see our feet because of said brush and a large number of difficult blowdowns on sections of trail we were expecting to be reasonably clear (PCT man! Since he's a trail crew leader I trust Ben's blowdown count: 36+ on the PCT section from Vista Creek to Fire Creek Pass and 60+ over the entire route). Of course the trails that have reputations for brush were brushy (Boulder Pass, Napeequa, Indian Creek), but since we were expecting that it wasn't as painful (except for Indian Creek which is a miserable way to end 107 miles around Glacier Peak). 

A big thank you to Ben for doing this with me; besides being incredibly difficult, it's also an insanely scenic tour of one of my favorite wilderness areas.

5:09am start; "Big trees down!"

White River trail blowdown

Lower Boulder Basin

Boulder Basin and Boulder Pass in the upper right

Looking back down Boulder Basin

SE ridge of Clark Mountain from Boulder Pass

Descent from Boulder Pass down to the Napeequa

Descending from Boulder Pass; Ben's photo

Ben descending from Boulder Pass

Flowery brush on the Boulder Pass descent

Welcome to the Napeequa!

Napeequa River ford; very shallow this year

Some boggy sections in the Napeequa

Napeequa valley, headed south toward the Little Giant Pass turnoff

Emerging from one of the thickets in the Napeequa; Ben's photo

The Napeequa river (little Alaska!), Boulder Pass visible in upper left

That view is worth the effort; the Napeequa from just below Little Giant Pass

Looking east to the Entiat range from Little Giant Pass

Keeping one pair of socks dry; fording the Chiwawa River after descending from Little Giant Pass

99 of 107 miles are in the Glacier Peak Wilderness

Spider Meadow

Looking back down on Spider Meadow from just below the snowfield; Seven Fingered Jack and Mt. Maude on the left skyline

Upper Spider Gap snowfield

Lyman Lakes side of Spider Gap

Ben's photo

Spider Gap and the Lyman Glacier on Chiwawa Mountain

Ben descending to Lower Lyman with Cloudy Pass, Cloudy Peak, North Star and Bonanza Peak

We both ate a lot of food...

From Cloudy Pass, looking back at Greenwood, Dumbbell and Chiwawa

Goode Mountain, Stormking and Booker/Buckner

Blankenship fire in the South Fork of Agnes Creek, closing the PCT

Notice posted at Suiattle Pass

Sample blowdown

Suiattle River crossing

7:30pm dinner time and getting ready for the night, on the Suiattle River bridge

Great old growth in the Suiattle valley

Headlamps on around 9pm while climbing up Vista Creek

1:32am: 18-minute nap

Sunrise around Glacier Creek (maybe?)

Kennedy Peak, Kennedy Glacier and the Scimitar Glacier on Glacier Peak; from Kennedy Ridge

Kennedy Creek bridge; Ben's photo

Wet brush for breakfast on the PCT, somwhere in the White Chuck River valley

Headed to Red Pass, the final climb 

Reaching Red Pass, "almost" done at mile 89; Ben's photo

PCT southbound from just south of Red Pass, showing White Pass in the center and Indian Pass center right behind Indian Head Peak

Descending into the massive brush-fest of Indian Creek

About five miles of this in many different brush shapes and sizes

A rare nice section of the Indian Creek valley, with quaking aspens

Ben looks unreasonably fresh for what we just went did...