Turned out to be a great morning up the end of the Cle Elum River Valley, and the ridge walk on the Deep Lake Ridge trail to get over to Peak 5880 was spectacular. Highly recommend taking this ridge trail at Cathedral Pass, as this ridge sits in between so many jagged peak!!
I got started at 7:45am from the Cathedral Pass Trailhead which is just down the road from the Hyas Lake Trailhead. The trail up to Cathedral Pass is in great shape. There is a bit of snow up at the small lake near the intersection of the PCT just below Cathedral Pass, but it is less than an inch, and just for a short section. Great view of the snow free Cathedral Rock from this lake.
Once at the top of Cathedral Pass where the PCT starts to drop and where the climbers path goes up towards Cathedral Peak, look for a trail that heads to the left(south). This is the Deep Lake Ridge Trail. This trail runs the top of mostly a wide open ridge going up and over numerous high points. It fades in and out at times, but it keeps going at least to Peak 5771(Peak 5745 on Caltopo). So many peaks visible the entire ridge walk!! The
Once past Peak 5771 the trail pretty much disappears and there is some route finding to get down some rock faces on some very steep and loose dirt and rocks. At the second high point past Peak 5771, there is a slot in the vertical rock face that needs to be scramble down to get to the saddle for the final ascent up to Peak 5880. The views from this high point are as good as they are at Peak 5880, so if you don't want to go further, you are really not missing any of the outstanding views.
Once down at the saddle below Peak 5880, I had the steep 440ft ascent up to the summit. I followed the NW ridge, and at 5800ft I had to cross the ridge, as there was no way to continue up the ridge, as the final 80ft up to the summit was all vertical rocks. I traversed around to the west, and found a straightforward scramble up to the summit. You can also traverse around further to the south, and it is a walk up. I signed the newly placed register that was placed earlier this year, as this summit is now a Mid-State Miler. From this summit I went over to Peak 5866 to see it it was taller. My GPS had it about 4ft shorter.
I pretty much retraced my steps back down, but when I was past Peak 5771, I spotted a nice trail that went down to the right(east) towards the Trail Creek drainage. What could go wrong! Haha!. I lost it for a bit, but found it again, and it ended up being an excellent trail. I took a side trail to a upper lake that is above Squaw Lake, but then backtracked and followed this trail all the way down to the Trail Creek Trail. Nicely built trail, but there are a few blowdowns, as I assume this trail is not maintained. This trail met up with the Trail Creek Trail at the intersection with the trail that goes to Squitch Lake. Once on the Trail Creek Trail, I took it to the Cathedral Pass Trail, and hiked out. This way saved me a couple of miles. It started to rain a bit, so I was glad I took this trail, and also glad it worked, and I didn't have to bushwack down.
I finished at 2:40pm. Excellent hike!! 13.9 miles with 4678ft gain
Comments