Vesper PeakRecent Trip Reports
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Vesper Peak
— Oct 25, 2011
— austineats
Day hike
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Good conditions and fresh snow made this super enjoyable. The "big" river crossing early in the hike is easily navigated...
Good conditions and fresh snow made this super enjoyable. The "big" river crossing early in the hike is easily navigated this time of year.
Snow is solid from the beginning of the hike up to Headlee Pass. The trail is easily followed to the lake. From the lake follow shelves up and left of the lake. Much of the upper hike to Vesper is on remnant snow from last year. The fresh snow on top makes for a moderately good base. Winter is coming! Photos are linked to below. http://www.kodakgallery.com[…]mages&_requestid=658836 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 | Ripe berries
Issues:
Snow on trail
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One of the most beautiful and varied hikes I've been on. I'll skip the details since they're well covered...
One of the most beautiful and varied hikes I've been on. I'll skip the details since they're well covered elsewhere.
The trail up to Headlee Pass is obvious most of the time; look for kairns when crossing talus. Once at the outflow of Sperry Lake, take the ridge on the left to the peak; should be pretty obvious. The lake was still mostly frozen and there was snow most the rest of the way up,except in one area of the rdige with shrubby trees. Our day was warm and sunny and the snow soft and grippy, but I think the nights are cold enough now that you might encounter ice on the snow fields. Though we didn't use crampons or ice axes, they may be needed very soon. There's a terracache box at the summit. If you want to particpate, bring something to exchange!
Vesper Peak
— Sep 03, 2011
— wolfwoman
Day hike
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Beano and I decided on Vesper today....one of my favorites. The trail is a rooty, rocky mess as usual, but...
Beano and I decided on Vesper today....one of my favorites. The trail is a rooty, rocky mess as usual, but what trail isn't on the Mt. Loop? This one is a bit worse than most. It's not much fun on creaky knees, but the scenery is so gorgeous that one hardly notices. The stream crossings are a cinch, but the third crossing and largest requires a look upward to a couple of logs that take you safely across. On the way in we followed the trail directly into the stream and crossed on conveniently placed, but extremely slippery rocks. The better choice is to go up a few yards to better crossing. No problem here. From there it's the familiar slog up rough trail and then even rougher rocks to the pass. The snow is finally gone here. In fact, no snow is encountered until past lake Elan, and after a bit of patches and heather, you are on continuous snow until the summit. What a year! More like late July than Sept. Still, the snow was soft for us this afternoon and I didn't even take my ice ax off my pack, although we encountered another couple who used axes and even crampons. Seemed unnecessary to me. We spent hours on the summit looking at everything we'd done this year and lots of stuff we'd like to do in the future. Then we walked down the ridge a bit scouting out possible routes to Copper Lake below. This is a great time to do this hike. The snow makes the going easy as it's consolidated and easy going. There were some bugs which were ferocious! Maybe trying to get in their quota of blood before fall. No problem though if you kept moving. A great time was had by Beano and me with a stop at Omega Pizza in Granite Falls for Grinders and Mac and Jacks. Best food and beer around bar none!
Vesper Peak, Headlee Pass and Vesper Lake
— Aug 07, 2011
— Kalman Brauner
Day hike
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Weather: Mixed - clouds, fog, sun; no wind; warm.
Wildlife: two ptarmigan; a marmot, and mosquitoes lower down (though not bad)
Crossing...
Weather: Mixed - clouds, fog, sun; no wind; warm.
Wildlife: two ptarmigan; a marmot, and mosquitoes lower down (though not bad) Crossing of South Fork Stillagamish: piece of cake - a flat, non-slippery log with room for both boots and poles with one side log on each side if one desired a "handrail." The crossing log was not far above the water. Snow: continuous snow from a bit below lake between Vesper and Sperry to Vesper's summit. Headlee Pass: A little dicey in the morning as the snow was a bit crusty and firm. The afternoon was fine. Ice axes were necessary in both directions. Other parties used crampons - we didn't. The remainder of the trip: piece of cake. Times: car to summit: 3-3/4 hr; summit to car: 3-1/4 hr; car to car: 8-1/4 hr. Companions: Hans, Manisha, & Amy. |
Vesper Peak. Photo by Trail Pair.
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