I hiked Vesper Peak this morning for the first time. I started about 5:45am and was, surprisingly, not the first on the trail. The 3 water crossings are all in the first mile or so and were a bit of a balancing act, but not too sketchy. Water level seemed similar on the way back.
For those who haven't done this trail before, I definitely suggest using a GPS map, ideally with a known-good GPX track. It gets so rocky below Headlee pass that keeping on the trail is tough.The area right below the pass still had some snow on the trail which was a little sketchy for me and others I passed on my way down, but not too bad. You hit snow at the lake, which is still frozen over, and it's pretty much snow from there until right below the summit. The lake/creek is your last good water source before the summit.
The snow was soft today, but I wore microspikes and they seemed to help. Having an ice axe also made me feel a bit more confident on the steeper snow sections, but I'm sure I could've made it up with poles.
I made it up to the summit in just under 3 hours, but that seemed like a very quick ascent compared to the other parties I'd started around. It was also a bit earlier than the people camped near the summit had apparently expected visitors...
I was worried a few days of low winds and fireworks smoke would impede the views, but they were spectacular. Baker, GP, Rainier, and Adams were all visible with only Saint Helens missing the Volcano party.
Gray-Crowned Rosy-Finch and Horned Lark were nice to see and a singing Ruby-Crowned Kinglet becomes one of the only July records for this species in the county.
Comments
I plan on doing this tomorrow Monday with microspikes, ice ax, and AllTrails map + GPS to guide for the snow sections. For the steeper sections, was there more of a danger of drop offs if one were to slip? Also was there any visible single boot path to the summit?
Posted by:
proxie on Jul 07, 2024 06:09 PM
That's basically what I went with although I also had a trekking pole with my axe. The snow is soft, especially as the morning wears on, but the microspikes did seem to help. The final push from the lake to the summit can be done with minimal risk if you do it right.
There were a lot of boot paths, but that makes it a bit tricky to know which one is best to follow. About 2/3 the way up the mountain there's a big section of rock exposed and surrounded by snow. Some of the boot paths go to the right side and cross this rock section and then ascend above it. That what I did, but that's NOT what I would recommend. Instead, I would suggest going under the rocks towards the left and then heading straight up. This makes it so you have nothing but snow with a shallow runout below you so if you fall the absolute worst case scenario would be that you slide for a bit and stop. Based on my experience glissading down this section you actually need to work pretty hard to slide, so that's probably not a risk. You can't see it from below, but from the peak down the ridge to the south (left side looking up) is all exposed rock that may be easier to walk on then the snow so you don't need to aim straight for the summit.
Alltrails GPS should work for you. The only tricky navigational thing I had was the scree field leading up to Headlee pass. It's so rocky that it becomes difficult to follow the "trail" so GPS was helpful there. Also, right below the pass, as it gets narrow the trail has some switchbacks that are kind of easy to miss if you get tunnel vision. They make it a much more pleasant experience compared to going straight up. I had multiple people miss them coming up when I was headed down until I pointed them out.
Good luck, have fun!
Posted by:
Exmoor on Jul 07, 2024 07:38 PM