Lewis Lake,Wing Lake,Heather Pass,Lake Ann,Maple Pass,Black Peak
Aug 19, 2001
- Type of Outing
- Day hike
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: Black Peak
- Region: North Cascades -- North Cascades Highway
- Avg Rating: 3.00
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: Lake Ann (Rainy Pass)
- Region: North Cascades -- North Cascades Highway
- Agency: Mount Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest, Mount Baker Ranger District
- Trails: Maple Pass (#740), Lake Ann (#740A)
- Avg Rating: 4.31
Black Peak 8,970’ August 19, 2001
The trailhead is off Highway 20 at Rainy Pass at 4,840’. The Park Service was cutting some trees at the picnic area, so we had to park across the Highway at the Pacific Crest Trailhead. My first mistake was to look at the map and think that the trail to Lake Ann branched off of the PCT. Doerte and I backtracked, and found the Lake Ann, Heather Pass, and Maple Pass Trailhead nearby.
After a mile a branch of the trail heads for Lake Ann at 5,475’. A gorgeous lake, and a favorite of dayhikers. We took the right fork to Heather Pass, 6,040’. There is no camping within a quarter mile of Heather Pass or Lake Ann. On beautiful Heather Pass we had a fantastic view of Black Peak in the distance, wrapped in the early morning clouds.
We crossed several rockslides of various sizes, losing 300’ on our way to Lewis Lake. Staying near the bottom of the slides allowed us to take advantage of some bits of trail. Cairns mark a higher route. It is .75 mile from Heather Pass to Lewis Lake at 5,702’. There are a couple of nice camps there, still in the trees.
A good climber’s trail took us up the moraine to Wing Lake, 6,905’. Doerte ate some nice, ripe, and plump Huckleberries along the way. There were lots of friendly Marmots and Picas to entertain us along the trail. Wing Lake is just at the top of treeline, and has many nice camps. Most summit parties camp here and make the ascent the second day, hiking out the second or third day.
Becky’s perennial snowfield was mostly a combination of scree and talus on this August day after a dry winter. Slowly we worked our way to Black Peaks’ south ridge at 7,900’. The last 300’ was a struggle of loose scree.
We ascended the South Ridge, staying on the ridge for as long as we could, moving in the scree filled gully when forced. Near the summit we traversed to the right and went up to the false summit. Traversing right some more brought us to a route to the summit ridge, and then over a short exposed notch to the narrow summit at 8,970’. There is no register. The smoke from the Lake Chelan fires obscured the views to the east and south. We had nice views to Boston Basin and Jack Mountain.
Far below we could see two climbers coming up the Northeast Ridge. This route is class 3 and 4 and has one class 5 pitch. Lage Wernstedt and Whitey Shull first climbed Black Peak in late summer 1926. Hermann Ulrichs climbed Black Peak solo in 1934 via the South Route.
The smoke got worse as we descended, burning our eyes and filling our noses. We picked up our packs on the ridge and descended the talus and scree back to Wing Lake. The climbers trail was a welcome sight. However, the 300’ gain back to Heather Pass of the talus slopes was torture! One large boulder came down from above as we were crossing the slope giving us a scare. We knew it was coming, but couldn’t see it.
We were back at the trailhead at 7 p.m. for an 11.5-hour day. 4,730’ gain. A nice tough scramble to a big peak just 30’ short of being a 9,000er!
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