What a
fabulous trail on a gorgeous day! This trailis really a tough one, and taxes willpower to the utmost.Of course, that's my kind of trail! It starts off in2nd-growth, soon turning into old growth. A portion of this trailhas more roots per square meter than any I've seen. One tree'sroots provide a bridge across a creek! Fun! Soon after that,the fun is over and the trail tilts straight up arocky slope, sometimes more of a 3rd-class climb thana trail. There is no snow up to Headlee Pass.

Climbing beyond, I made it to Vesper Peak on muchmore reasonable tread. There is a bit of snow onVesper, but no ax is required as you can stay onrock. It'll all be melted soon. Great views ofhundreds of peaks from Rainier to Baker.

The hike down is almost as much work as going up,so save some energy... I sure with I had! Even on aMonday, there were 6-8 people on the trail. Expectcrowds on weekends.

7/17/98 Vesper Peak, Near Monte Cristo, Excellent Weather, but hot. 7 miles, 4200’ elev. gain. We started hiking at 7:20 am after a slight delay finding the Sunrise Mountain Road. (There was NO sign marking this turn off the Mountain Loop Highway.) Crossing the streams in the valley was easier than expected, as the South Fork Stillaguamish River was apparently lower than earlier in the season. The flow is not too high, and you cross on a 4"" dia. tree branch. The day warmed very rapidly as we worked our way up through lush brush which made the air very humid. Somebody had given the trail a once-over-lightly brushing. In this area (about 3000’ altitude) we heard the ""Quick, Three Beers"" call of the Olive-Sided Flycatcher. We then broke out of the brush to reach a talus filled basin. We lost the trail in a dry stream bed, and picked it again in about 1/8 mile to our right a couple hundred feet up the side of the basin. The talus rocks must be loose enough in this area for the trail to get obscured each winter. The trail is well defined from here on, and we proceed up the narrow snow-free couloir to Headlee Pass. The path that continues on west side of Headlee Pass drops a little then crosses a talus field, across a small stream, through heather, then over bedrock and snow to the summit at of Vesper 6214’. The actual summit consists of several large boulders, and Brian gets a picture of me straddling the highest one. The north face of Vesper is a massive planar face of bedrock, inclined at about 60 degrees, and a larger, lower part at about 55 degrees. Quite impressive. The view is primo. We can recognize over 20 mountains from the summit. After a leisurely lunch and enjoying the view, we decide to take a side trip along the ridge to the north west for about 1/3 of a mile. Out there, while I’m looking at the area near Little Chief Peak (northwest of Vesper), suddenly a large section of an icy snow finger breaks away. The area seems to be ten feet wide and maybe 20 feet long, and perhaps 8 feet deep.. I see this block silently cleave into about six blocks, each several feet thick, and the width and height of the area breaking away. A few second later the roar reaches us. Now slabs have broken into ice clods perhaps the size of washers and dryers, others smaller, tumbling down the mountainside, over a cliff and out of view. Sights like this are best viewed from above and a mile away. We almost return to the summit before making our descent. The snow field leading down twords Vesper creek is the perfect hardness, but a little too sun cupped for standing glissades, nevertheless, I use the opportunity to give my knees a break. Once we reach lower altitudes, I seek out one of the few huckleberry bush for a refreshing snack. All in all, we met 6 people on the hike, plus two more in the parking lot who are starting an overnight trip.

The Glacier Peak
Area - The main river crossing near the trailhead is a bit tricky, helped by use of an overhead branch. The trail to Headlee Pass is nearly snowfree and easily followed. The snow becomes continuous just shy of the lake (which is partially thawed) and extends to the summit, which itself is bare. The upper reaches of the snowfield are fairly steep, and definitely require an axe.

We planned to do Vesper
Peak, but ran into a couple of problems, one minor, and one impassable. There was a huge washout on the Sunrise Mine Road about 1/2 mile from the end -- it was being worked by a road crew, but we had to park even further back on the road to keep out of their way. The trail was in reasonable shape up to the creek that comes off Morning Star Peak. Here, the log which usually provides a crossing had been washed down-creek, and the flow from an overnight rain made it impassable. I'm not certain how crossing would be if it hadn't rained in the previous 24 hours, but it was definately not crossable on this Saturday. No options were found 150 yards up stream or 100 yards downstream.