Road/Trailhead
I drove in the night before and camped at the Honeymoon campground, which is first come first served and is roughly 15 mins down the road from the TH. Much better option than camping at the actual th because there is more privacy and an actual pit toilet, which was very clean and stocked with TP (this is the last toilet before the th) The th itself does not have any facilities, it is marked by a trailhead sign, and there is room for roughly 10 cars in the small pullout. There were 5 cars when I arrived at 5:30 am, all from backpackers already at the lake.
The road itself is in good shape, paved until the last 4 miles, and then the gravel is also doable in any car, a few bumps and rocks to look out for, but overall great easy road. Watch out for deer and cattle though. I saw many deer driving in, and on the way out I encountered a small group of cows. So mind the speed.
Route
I took the direct ridge approach up and down Big Craggy. This report will cover that route, I didn't do the full traverse to west craggy.
Copper Glance trail
This part is very quick, nicely graded trail, only one small blowdown to negotiate. The copper mine is gated but it's cool to see inside as there are still the original minecart tracks.
Meadow and Forest
The point where this route diverges from the copper glance trail is when you reach the open grassy meadow on the right. Here is where I cut up to gain the ridge. This section was the most annoying for me, as there are a few plants with burrs that stuck all over my legs. The navigation isn't too difficult, just stay on the ridge and you're good. A few times I connected with a game trail or faint boot path, but mostly it's just a bushwhack. Not too brushy, especially once you get to about 6500 feet. The whole forest was a burn zone so it's pretty open. I saw a few deer and grouse in this section.
The forest thins out around 7000 feet and the views open up, more of a boot path emerges and it becomes easier to slog up.
Scree/Scramble
Once I broke the tree line I kept to the ridge then traversed slightly left to connect with a gully. Previous reports mentioning loose scree and choss are accurate. This is very loose and there is the potential to dislodge some larger rocks in a few spots.
As far as scrambling it was very low class 3 in just a few places. Really the bigger challenge is contending with the slippery terrain and loose rock. I was very glad to finally connect with the summit ridge.
Helmet is a must, the moment you get on some larger chunkier scree it's helmet time.
Summit
The summit is stunning. So remote with 360 views of pristine wilderness and forest. This is a double summit so there is an east and west summit about 500 feet apart. It's unclear which one is taller so I tagged them both. It's worth going to both because the view changes a little.
Didn't see a register(but I didn't go digging for it)
I spent an hour up there watching the clouds burn off and enjoying some well-earned summit snacks.
Return
Going down I opted to take some dirt/scree and ski down, this is more direct from the saddle just east of the east peak. This was a much safer and easier descent I think than reversing my exact route up. Also made things a lot faster.
The end of this landed me in a beautiful grove of larch trees. After that I traversed along the side heading back toward the ridge. After reconnecting I took the same route out.
I didn't see a single other soul on route all day, it was great solitude in the alpine.
Larch report
The larch trees are golden! I could see the whole copper glance basin and they all looked yellow, and the grove I passed through was also pretty much at peak. Really grateful to get a place like that all to myself.
Overall great day chasing Bulgers. One day I may return for West Craggy, it's certainly a place worth returning to.
Additional notes:
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Over half this route is off trail navigation
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Helmets are a must (and I wish I had brought my gaiters)
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I wouldn't climb this with a party any larger than 3, this is a good duo or solo climb. So much loose rock make this a hazard the more people are on it
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Skill level wise, while this is an “easier” Bulger I would not call this a beginner friendly climb, get experience on this type of terrain and with route-finding in the alpine before attempting
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