Vesper Peak — Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025

Wow, what a hike! I'd had Vesper on my list for a long time, and Cable<3 and I finally got to it on a sunny August Saturday.

The road to the trailhead is mostly fine for any car. There are a few large potholes within ~1/4 mile of the trailhead, but also pullouts where you can park if you'd prefer to avoid those while driving a low clearance car. Around 10:30am, we parked in one of these pullouts. This added ~1 mile to the hike, but the forest road is relatively flat, so the extra mile felt trivial.

The trail starts off in the forest, and you cross three streams before you emerge into a valley. All three of the streams are running low and can be crossed by hopping on rocks (including on the way back). Without rock hopping, the streams were probably ~1 foot deep at most. As you work your way into the valley, the trail also works its way upwards, and gets rockier.

Soon, you do some sidehilling across a rocky slope, until you reach a gully up to Headlee Pass, with tight switchbacks all the way to the top. We'd brought helmets with us not knowing what the scramble would be like, and decided to put these on around the start of the switchbacks up through Headlee Pass. We were happy about this decision - with people hiking above us, it would be easy for someone to accidentally dislodge a rock and send it flying down the gully.

Once we reached the pass, we got our first glimpse of Vesper. It looked like a shimmering sea of granite emerging from the skyline. Also - it looked far away! And steep! Nonetheless, we pressed on. The trail once again side hilled across a rocky slope, and then up to the outlet of Lake Elan. This area was really beautiful - rocks were strewn about in that typical sub-alpine way, and the stream felt like a protected oasis in an otherwise rugged environment. We took the opportunity to filter and fill up water here. Somehow, I'd already drank 2.5L of water even though we'd only traveled about 3 miles (unusual for me).

On the other side of the stream, a trail starts up through the trees, to the base of the granite slabs that define Vesper Peak. We found the trail easy to follow, and the views continue to open up as you ascend. Once at the granite slabs, it's a bit of a choose your own adventure situation. There are a variety of cairns (or "three stones" as we heard another hiker call them), but they seem to refer to more than one route up the slope.

We attempted to choose the path of least resistance, which was usually "center" or "more left." At times, we used our hands/feet to scramble up, or re-calibrated our route if needed. I grumbled here and there, but overall the route felt fine for someone comfortable with light routefinding and occasional use of hands/feet to ascend. Once we reached the summit, the views were spectacular. You can see Glacier Peak, Mount Pugh, Copper Lake, and many more peaks in what feels like all directions. It is a feast for the eyes!

We shared the summit with some other hikers, and even two impressive climbers who reached the summit from Ragged Edge! After some nice conversation and snacks, we started the journey back. The granite is so grippy, going down was faster and easier than going up (especially with an occasional butt scoot). The cairns were also easier to spot from above, and a smooth route revealed itself more readily than on the way up. 

The rest of the journey back to the car was not especially fast - most of this trail is rocky or rooty, without cruiser sections - but it was lovely to hike in the early evening light, watching the grasses and flowers sway in the breeze back in the valley. Nearing the trailhead register, we also discussed ideas for how to make trailhead and summit registers into ultra analog dating classified services and/or "missed connections" for the outdoors inclined.

Cable<3 and I agreed this was a five-star hike. Although it lacks solitude (we saw many parties throughout the day) the views are hard to beat. I'm already thinking of making it an annual destination!