Don't attempt to go past Tin Can Gap if you don't have the equipment and skills. There were two search and rescue missions here in 2008.

The first 2.5 miles to Saddle Lake are usually soggy and sometimes feel like hiking up a stream. The lake is pretty and hemmed in tightly with trees.

The next two miles to Goat Flats start breaking out of the trees and are quite pretty. Goat Flats is a gorgeous meadow on top of a ridge. To the North are views down into a valley. There are a number of very nice campsites. Make sure you have something to keep the bears out of your food as bears are known to frequent the area.

The trail to Tin Can Gap follows the South side of the ridge and is mostly above the tree line.

At Tin Can Gap, the technical stuff starts. Ice axes are a must and crampons and a rope should be considered. Almost immediately, a small but quite steep snowfield must be crossed or skirted on the North side of the ridge. Late in the season you might be able to follow a small moat around to the high side for safety. If you cross the snowfield directly (the only way I have done it) I recommend chopping steps or wearing crampons. The rock on the far side can be rather thin (smooth) so be prepared to look for small hand and footholds. The trail will then cross the ridge and continue on the South face of the ridge.

After a bit, the trail will cross back to the North side of the ridge and you will run into the top of the Queest-Alb glacier. This is where one of the search and rescue missions occured. Most people continue onto the glacier and descend to where the trail crosses back to the South side of the ridge. This can be extremely slippery and dangerous. If you slip a best-case scenario is to slide about 200 feet into rocks. A worst case scenario is to miss the rocks and continue down several thousand feet to the crevasses at the bottom of the glacier.

Late season you can keep off of the glacier by staying in the moat between the top of the glacier and the rock. Finding the entrance to the moat can be a bit tricky in bad weather. Just before you reach the glacier there will be a sloping rock face to your right that continues along the ridge. Scramble up this easy face and you should reach a point where you can look down into the moat. At the time of this writing there was a handline tied to a small tree that you could use to get down into the moat.

Past the top of the glacier, the trail traverses back to the South side of the ridge and continues until you get to a snowfield below the summit. After crossing the snowfield you scramble on the rocks until you find the ladders up to the lookout. The three ladders are pure vertical.

If you have made it this far you will reach a very nice old fire lookout. It has incredible views and room for a few people to sleep. There is even some old fire spotting equipment.

The scramble book recommends 11 hours round trip. If you hike fast then you can make it up in about five hours and down in four.