Vesper Peak — Friday, Jul. 5, 2024

I left Edmonds near 9:30, and started on the trail at about 10:00. I half kept track of my times, so here are some averages. It took me 4 1/2 hours to get to Vesper Lake. My return was Under 2 1/2 hours. It was a long day and i don't hike a lot, so my legs were spent, and I took my time.

The trail was very nice and clear up until the switchback shoot, prob 2 miles up the hike. The trail first starts covered in trees. You'll pass x3 streams and do some minor rock jumping to get past them. There are normal trial roots, and some trees in the way to climb over. After the tree's you enter an open field of shrubs that heads up into another small tree patch. After the tree patch the rest of the climb is over a rocky open valley till you reach the heavy steep switchback shoot. The shoot was snow packed and I wasn't able to use all of the switchbacks. I had to scramble up the right side for half of the shoot. Once at the top you've reached headley pass and continue on toward Vesper Lake, and Peak. Its prob half a mile to the Lake in open rocky almost shale like minor ascent to the lake. There was no snowpacks or any type of snow up until you get to the lake. Once at the lake its heavy snow almost everywhere, all up until the top. I only made it to the lake but could see heavy snow at Vesper Peak. The lake was frozen over, almost 95%.