Information about this hike provided in partnership with
Mountaineers Books.
Copyright © Craig Romano/The Mountaineers Books Headlee Pass and Vesper Lake
Featured In:
Day Hiking: North Cascades,
by Craig Romano.
A portion of all book sales from the links above benefits WTA and helps protect and maintain our trails. Built by miners over a century ago, nature has done its darndest to reclaim this trail. Rock slides, avalanches, washouts, and creeping greenery have kept modern-day trail crews busy assuring that the Sunrise Mine Trail No. 707 doesn't fade into history like its namesake. The trail begins in scrappy forest. Plenty of exposed roots and rocks will help keep your pace in check. So will numerous creek crossings, especially the one at 0.5 mile, where the South Fork Stillaguamish crashes through a rocky draw. In early season and after heavy rainfall, it may have you seeking an alternative hike for the day. Once past the gauntlet of roots and rivulets, break out of the forest to an open slope flush in thick tread-concealing vegetation. Work your way up the steep hillside, avoiding hidden obstacles like ankle-twisting holes and rocks. Stop and marvel at a huge and impressive landslide gully and contemplate the forces of nature that created it. Push through more brushy terrain before entering an attractive grove of big yellow cedars. Soon afterward, the trail comes to a forbidden basin flanked by steep rocky walls-a stark corridor deprived of the sun's warming rays for much of the day. Scan the encompassing sheer slopes for Headlee Pass. Surely this passage must be up there somewhere. Press on over rocky terrain and through cloisters of mountain hemlock spared from cavalcades of unforgiving avalanches, and toil into the high country so coveted by those who hastily built this trail. After a series of short switchbacks and a bit of scree hopping, the trail makes a sharp bend right, the passage out now revealed. The next 0.25 mile is extremely steep on tread periodically destroyed by heavy snows and tumbling rocks. Use caution to avoid threatening hikers below with dislodged rocks. Between breaths, stop to take in newly emerging views of Mount Dickerman across the South Fork Stillaguamish valley and of Glacier Peak in the distance. At 2.7 miles and after 2400 feet of climbing, reach Headlee Pass (elev. 4600 ft), a small notch of a gap between Sperry and Morning Star peaks. There's not much here to compensate you for your effort, so carry on following good but unmaintained tread. After a slight drop, the way resumes climbing, crossing a large scree slope. Carefully traverse the open rock heap coming to Vesper Creek. Then turn up slope to follow the churning creek a short way until-voila! A stark but gorgeous upper valley is revealed. Here beneath the snowfields and shiny granite slopes of Vesper Peak is sparkling Vesper Lake (elev. 4950 ft). Of course the miners weren't interested in any of this beauty, only in the precious gems and valuable ore that might have been hidden be-neath it. And while the surrounding hills no longer carry the sounds of grunting prospectors, occasionally low murmurs can be heard emanating from the alpine tundra. Keep your eyes open for white-tailed ptarmigans, a member of the grouse family that makes this beautiful but harsh alpine environment its home.
Driving Directions:
From Granite Falls follow the Mountain Loop Highway east for 29 miles, turning right onto Forest Road 4065 about 3 miles beyond (east of) the Big Four Picnic Area. Fol-low this gravel road for 2.3 miles to its terminus at the trailhead for Trail No. 707 (elev. 2400 ft). Recent Trip Reports
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Day hike
Features:
Fall foliage
Issues:
Snow on trail
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I read about this peak in a friend's blog. Looked up information on wta and on summitpost.org. Looked...
I read about this peak in a friend's blog. Looked up information on wta and on summitpost.org. Looked like it would be a fun scramble, and it might be the last good weekend for it for a while.
I arrived at the trailhead at 8:15 am, and no one else was there yet. Leave room at the end of the road to turn around and park on the side of the road. The Google Map directions will get you there perfectly. We began walking at approximately 8:30. The trail is steep. Just about every section, whether in the woods at the beginning, the open meadows below Headlee Pass, or the rock scramble up to Vesper Peak, you are moving straight up. It is fun, but it is a workout. There are a lot of cairns to mark the trail, but once you get to the snow and exposed granite on Vesper you can easily make your own way. It took me three hours to get to the summit, and two and a half to come down. I hike a lot and average over 2 mph when I have a light pack and the elevation is around 500 ft per mile. With a light pack on this hike, I averaged 1.3 mph. Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming | Fall foliage
Issues:
Blowdowns | Overgrown | Mud/Rockslide | Mudholes | Water on trail
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Flickr: http://bit.ly/headlee-pass
The original plan was to scramble Morning Star Peak, but I started having doubts about the scramble when we...
Flickr: http://bit.ly/headlee-pass
The original plan was to scramble Morning Star Peak, but I started having doubts about the scramble when we got to the trailhead at 10 AM with the not-so-partly-sunny weather. By then we only had about nine hours of daylight and from what I read on nwhikers and summitpost, it wasn't exactly a straightforward scramble. But we gave it a shot anyway and hoped for better weather rest of the day. The brush section was pretty nasty to say the least, with most places where ducking was the only way to move ahead. The bushes were still wet from the night before, and by the time we got through them we were half-soaked. Then the rain decided to hit the minute we got out of the brush, talk about great timing. The riverbed was a piece of cake compared to the brush section. When we reached the refrigerator-sized boulder, I decided to follow the report where the guy took the gully with a snowfield directly to the east of it. We started off traversing westerly, but half hour into the climb I began to wonder when, if at all, the gully would start heading southwesterly. Looking the steep gully filled with wet rocks, I realized that there was no way I'd be able to get the dogs up all those without the possibility of me falling and becoming a statistic for the day. We turned around an hour later and started heading for Wirtz Basin instead. We got back at the trail junction around 2, so there was still time to get up to Headlee Pass or even Sperry Peak before sunset. The trail was in great shape like last year with cairns throughout to point hikers in the right direction. Not surprisingly, the rain started to pour just as we got closer to the pass. We took refuge under the trees on Headleee and waited for the rain to subside, but there was no sign of it stopping anytime soon. After 20 minutes of changing into dry layers and putting on rain gear, I decided to call it a day. Scrambling up Sperry on a rainy day was absolutely not my idea of fun. On the way down we passed two groups of hikers and ended up talking to a newly wedded couple and walking back to the parking area together with them.
Headlee Pass and Vesper Lake
— Sep 26, 2011
— Bandit, Dick
Day hike
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Where shall I start? I'll start with three letters,WOW. On the 24th, a couple buddies and I...
Where shall I start? I'll start with three letters,WOW. On the 24th, a couple buddies and I went on a day trip to Vesper lake. Trail is very rocky, that just gives character to this wonderful place.I Recommend this trail.
Headlee Pass and Vesper Lake
— Sep 24, 2011
— Bandit, Dick
Day hike
Features:
Fall foliage
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Going to hike Headlee pass tomorrow!I'm looking so forward to it. Except I hate bears,...
Going to hike Headlee pass tomorrow!I'm looking so forward to it. Except I hate bears, so it makes me sligthly uncomfortable, being in that neck of the woods. I will let ya'll know how it was tomorrow.
Headlee Pass and Vesper Lake
— Sep 05, 2011
— Antelope
Day hike
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As others have said, the Forest Service road sign off the Mountain Loop, was hard to see. You have to...
As others have said, the Forest Service road sign off the Mountain Loop, was hard to see. You have to practically drive past it and look back hard to the right to see it. But anyway, our group of 5 left the trailhead around 8AM. Only 2 other cars in parking lot on this Labor Day. There were only 7 when we came out. (And Lake 22, Big 4 Ice Caves parking lots were jammed with cars parked out to the roadway as we headed home.) Saw only about a dozen people on the trail all day.
The trail was clear of snow all the way to Vesper Lake, though the lake is still 90% covered with snow/ice. The trail is, of course rooty and rocky with very little soft-stuff under foot the entire way. Not for those with sensitive knees. By the way, THANK YOU whoever cut back the vegetation from the edge of the trail going up the avalanch valley. Last time I was here, it was so overgrown you literally could not see your feet. The river/stream crossings were a cinch as the water is lower now. Climbing up the valley toward the final turn toward Headlee pass, we somehow got off the main trail and headed up into what looked like the way to Headlee, but we had turned too soon (following some cairns leading to . . . I don't know what) and dead-ended after expending valuable energy. We worked our way across so as not to lose elevation, re-found the trail by spotting some other hikers. In any event, once past clumps of trees the trail is all on rocky rubble, so it was especially important to keep a sharp eye out for the trail cairns. They are there, but sometimes not easy to spot. Then we were able to keep on the right trail as it goes nearly to the top of valley before it finally takes the hard right turn to Headlee. Last time I was here quite a few years ago, it had a lot of snow in it, so it was nice to see it clear. From there, the lake was an easy walk and a great place for lunch and where we turned around. From the lake to the summit there's a lot of snow all the way up. I would recommend an ice ax for going for the summit. Everyone we saw that was going to the top had one. Some probably could get away without it, but I think most people will feel more secure with one on the descent back to the lake. Weather was perfect. Some bugs, but really not bad. All in all a great day. |
A hiker wends his way up Headlee Pass. Photo by Paul Bestock.
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