Tomyhoi PeakRecent Trip Reports
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Overnight
Features:
Ripe berries
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After a high summer visit to Yellow Aster Butte in 2008, Natasha (a.k.a. Faisel) and I arranged a late summer...
After a high summer visit to Yellow Aster Butte in 2008, Natasha (a.k.a. Faisel) and I arranged a late summer backpacking trip there this year. To get to the trail, head north to Canada, east on 542 in Bellingham, and then north on the unpaved road just past the highway maintenance buildings at about 12 miles east of Glacier. Five miles up on a decent dirt road brought us to the trailhead parking area. In contrast to July-August parking nightmares, lots of space was available, even at 9 am on a Saturday.
Once sufficiently caffeinated and packed, we embarked on the initial switchbacks, with pleasant views and fireweed going to seed. After half a mile or so, the way enters the forest as it aims towards the meadows below the Yellow Aster Butte-Tomyhoi Lake trail intersection. With full packs our progress was slow, and slowed further by numerous patches of perfectly ripe blueberries and huckleberries. Yum. At the two mile intersection, we took the westerly track to Yellow Aster. This stretch runs under the ridgeline, with super views to Shuksan and Baker, a snowfield crossing, fields of moptops (anemones), and groupings of purple penstemon, yellow monkey flowers, and white pearly everlasting. Purple-blue asters were plentiful, but Natasha found only one or two small gatherings of yellow asters. Hmmm. Prior to the three mile mark, the route curves around a shoulder of the butte and opens to views of Excelsior Ridge and numerous lakes. Shortly thereafter, a side trail leads to the surprisingly steep short switchbacks down to the lakes. Several tents were visible in the basin, but the gods were with us: Natasha and I claimed the premier campsite on the hillock just past the first lake. Views were unimpeded. Twirling clockwise we could snap shots of Shuksan, Excelsior Ridge, Tomyhoi Peak, and the American Border Peaks. Below reposed the nearest meadow- and rock-bound lakes. After setting up, Natasha napped while I filtered water. Then we visited lakelets, wading in cold water in the warm afternoon. We since discovered that Carol and Greg, friends who coincidentally were on the butte, took long distance photos of our campsite in the late afternoon, but we never crossed paths. Near dusk, during cocktails and dinner, a fireball shot across the western sky, too fast for a comet, too bright for a meteor. Web reports corroborated our observation and have implicated an asteroid. Very cool. Later, Natasha and I collected wishing stars. I quietly put mine to use. Then we slept under the Milky Way. Sunday ascended with bright sunlight and tons of huckleberries and blueberries in our morning oatmeal. We dawdled till eleven and then wended our way past lakes to the east, towards the steep path zig-zagging through grass, flowers, and berries up the first shelf to Tomyhoi Peak: we were happy to have our hiking poles here. Once up this steep stretch, every other step showed new panoramas. Shuksan, Excelsior, Baker, Tomyhoi, Yellow Aster, American Border, and dozens and dozens of more distant North Cascade Peaks took stage. We ate lunch on Tomyhoi surrounded by them and collected ice from one of the few remaining snowfields before heading down. We wandered past our campsite towards Excelsior Ridge, finding the remains of a small quartz (?) mining operation above one of the Western lakes. Natasha picked glitttering stones while I gathered berries. We carried our respective treasures back to camp and admired them over now iced cocktails and dinner. Natasha showed me each wishing star as it came out, and I put all mine again in a single basket. After that, we took to our sleeping bags and constellations took over the sky. We slept late Monday morning, partly because the basin had become a bowl of fog. After coffee, berries, oatmeal, and packing up, we retraced our steps steeply up to the shoulder of Yellow Aster Butte, and along the long foggy slide back to the trailhead. We stopped for a pleasant early dinner at Graham's in Glacier, and recounted each minute of our wonderful trip. Natasha and I will be back. Wishing stars will see to that. Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Snow on trail
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Day-hiked the Yellow Aster Butte trail up to the summit spire of Tomyhoi Peak. This was my first time on...
Day-hiked the Yellow Aster Butte trail up to the summit spire of Tomyhoi Peak. This was my first time on the this trail I found it pretty spectacular.
The initial hike up open slopes are quite brushy. Past there conditions are near perfect the rest of the way. There were a few groups on the trail but it appeared that most of them stopped before even reaching the basin below Yellow Aster Butte. The views are already pretty good from here so I can understand why. However, this trail just gets better and better as you go and I recommend taking a full day to make it all the way to the top. It's a walk-up all the way to the final summit spire. That's about a 1-pitch rock climb that wouldn't offer any better views if you climbed it. Some lingering snow patches along the way but nothing to worry about. It just means water is still available. http://www.flickr.com/jasonracey Day hike
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A beautiful Wednesday to hike. No other cars at Trailhead when I arrived at 9:15. I did see a total...
A beautiful Wednesday to hike. No other cars at Trailhead when I arrived at 9:15. I did see a total of 4 people before the day was over. This was my second trip to Yellow Aster Butte and this time I wanted to hike up Tomyhoi Pk. Just follow the climbers path from the upper tarns in the basin. (See Photo) It took a little over two hours from the tarns to reach the South Peak of Tomyhoi. The fall colors are fantastic up there right now! I estimate the distance from car to summit to be about 6 miles and it took me 4.5 hours to go up and 3.5 to return.
Yellow Aster Butte #699,Tomyhoi Peak #699.1
— Aug 01, 2004
— Achyknees
Day hike
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Nearby car camping allowed an early 7am start for this hike, after parking at the trailhead already rather crowded...
Nearby car camping allowed an early 7am start for this hike, after parking at the trailhead already rather crowded with cars left by overnight hikers. The trail climbs through beautiful forest, eventually reaching the fork with the Tomyhoi Lake trail (Yellow Aster Butte is left). After traversing around the entire basin, grand views of Baker and other peaks open up. Continuing around the butte one enters the realm of small tarns and meadows below the Butte itself. A steep bootpath leads right to the summit of the Butte, while another trail leads left down to the tarns and many nice camps.
Tomyhoi Peak
— Jul 24, 2004
— Mike Collins
Day hike
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My friend had an idea to beat the 95 degree temperature in Seattle. We would go far north in...
My friend had an idea to beat the 95 degree temperature in Seattle. We would go far north in Washington and climb Tomyhoi as it would be cooler near Canada. We were only about 1 mile south of Canada and it was breezy enough to blow my sunhat off and it did feel cooler. About 12 miles past the town of Glacier is a road on the left side of the road which is the Twin Lakes Road. Turn in there and drive to the trailhead for Yellow Aster Butte at about 3,700 feet elevation. The trail starts in forest which provided needed shade for the first 1,400 feet of gain. It is well maintained and has recently been brushed back by a volunteer work party from WTA. I wore trailshoes for the entire outing without difficulty. The trail takes you over a false summit and continues closer to where you can look at the summit pyramid. The route will be down 150' to a saddle via Class 3 rock. Once at the saddle the route to the top is via an exposed Class 3 rock climb immediately on the left (west) side of the saddle. The rock is sound and the route can be followed easily. It is difficult to envision this route when up above looking down at the saddle. It really only becomes apparent when you drop down to the saddle. If the rock is wet or certainly if there is snow on it then choose a different day to summit. The downclimb was more difficult than the ascent for the summit pyramid. We used ice axes for a 100 foot traverse on a snow finger but four people who summited at the same time did not use ice axes. I think it is prudent to bring them. The snow at present is soft and crampons were not needed. The peak offers close in views of both Canadian and American Border Peaks. A small section of the border swath is also visable. Car to car was just under 8 hrs which included relaxing time on the summit and a refreshing dip in one of the cool lakes above. There is water up high so with a filter you can lighten the water load in your pack. |
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