Over three days, our party of four hiked into Thunder Mountain Lakes via the Tunnel Creek trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. We moved camp to Surprise Lake on day two and hiked out via Surprise Creek on day three.
(We did not visit Glacier Lake; it's in the title because the website lumps it together with Surprise Lake.)
Elapsed time going in, Tunnel Creek Trailhead to northern Thunder Mountain Lake: Seven hours including breaks.
Roads: No problem getting to either trailhead with an old van and a newer Pilot SUV. A low-slung car could probably handle it. We left vehicles at both trailheads. (Afterward, we saw a report of a smashed window on a "fancy Jeep" on July 15 at the Tunnel Creek Trailhead, at https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1285579#1285579.)
Bugs: No bother for me personally while hiking. There were few black flies. The mosquitoes would have been annoying in camp, particularly at Surprise Lake, but with a head net, long sleeves, long pants, and pre-trip soaking of all my clothes in 0.5% permethrin solution, they didn't bother me.
Fully soaking my pants and shirt in permethrin solution (and letting them dry completely, of course) seemed to work better than merely spraying them. I watched a mosquito tentatively start trying to penetrate my permethrin-permeated pant leg. It instantly recoiled and started frantically wiping its probiscus. I could practically hear it yelling "eeeeeeeew!" Very few other flying bugs even landed on my clothes, let alone trying to bite through them.
Snow: The trail was snow free except for a few small patches, easily crossed or bypassed, on the unmaintained trail from Trap Pass to Thunder Mountain Lakes. That stretch had running water from melting snow.
Trail condition: Excellent, with only one set of fallen trees we had to hike around, near the east shore of Surprise Lake. The unmaintained portion wasn't as smooth as the PCT and the trails along Surprise and Tunnel Creeks, but it was very distinct, appears to get a lot of use, and is shown on the default proprietary topo in GaiaGPS. From Trap Pass, it contours steadily upward almost all the way to the northern Thunder Mountain Lake.
Crowds: Monday through Wednesday were good days to visit. I saw nobody else at Thunder Mountain Lakes and on the way trail between there and Trap Pass. One other small party was camped at Surprise Lake. On the other trails we encountered only a few through hikers and day hikers.
Flowers in bloom included yellow tiger lilies, red Columbines, lupine, penstemons, and several others.
Wildlife: I saw marmots and chipmunks. A few fish rose in Surprise Lake; I saw none in North Thunder Mountain Lake. One of the other guys reported a brief and polite nocturnal visit at his bivy by a curious mountain goat.
Views: The benches adjacent to North Thunder Mountain Lake had dramatic southward views of Mt. Stuart, Mt. Daniel, and Mt. Hinman. We also got views of Glacier Peak and Mt. Baker.
Berries: Salmonberries were ripe at the Surprise Creek trailhead. I noticed no ripe blue huckleberries.
Comments