Vesper Peak — Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

People at nwhikers.net recommended this to me. I was initially going to do this trip with just my dog. But when I told my daughter about the plan, she wanted to come along. We both want to climb more mountains and this looked like a good new experience. We arrived at the trailhead at 8:30. The peaks looked nice and impressive. It was still really chilly in the shadow of the mountains, just 34F. Frost on the ground. There were two other cars and one solo hiker just taking off. We quickly got ready and were on our way by 8:45. The first part is a fun forest trail with lots and lots of tree roots and rocks. There are a couple of stream crossings that posed no problem at all. The water level seemed really low, and I guess it would be a different story earlier in the year. After the streams you get to an old rock field that stay in the shade most of the day this time of year. There is a lot of frost on the rocks and it's all rather slippery. We were hiking with poles and that really helped us on the way down when the legs are a little wobbly. It switchbacks up a bit, goes through another piece of forest and then comes around the corner to give you a glimpse of Wirtz Basin. Wirtz Basin is impressive and pretty at the same time. And the legs appreciate the reduction in steepness. The cliffs on all sides are rugged and almost vertical. There seems to be no way out anywhere. But we've read the trip reports and we know that the trail will get us there. About halfway down the valley the trail angles up the west side with some short switchbacks. And then it is one huge tallus field. Good thing people build cairns. Finally you see some chutes on the right (west) side. The last one carries the trail. It seems way too steep. It is steep. And there are a lot of switchbacks. Never ending switchbacks. It is a dangerous area. One small rock rolled down and bumped into a larger one that careened down the slope. Good thing this was at the start of the chute and there was no one below us. Fresh snow made Zoey the dog very happy. The steepness didn't faze her a bit; she had to roll herself in the snow. Somehow she managed to stay on the trail. Laws of physics don't apply to dogs. The other side of the pass is just as steep. but instead of going down, you traverse the talus field on that side. There is a nice path. I don't know how people do this in the winter. After traversing the tallus field you get to some larger rocks that open up to a beautiful lake. The water is so clear! Time to check out the destination. It doesn't seem so far anymore. You need to cross the outlet where you left the tallus field to gain access to the ridge that takes you to the summit. Some tough vegetation is trying to survive here. More snow and a steep trail. And then the vegetation gives way to marvellous granite slabs. There are a lot of routes through these slabs. All have cairns indicating the way to go. Just keep going up and when you run out of up, you're at the top! And what a view! Granite and Baker are prominently there, Big Four shows its south side, Copper lake has a strange colour, the valley to the south. Lots to feast your eyes on. And hanging over the edge to look at the north face is fun. That's a long ways down! We arrived at the summit around 12:30. Time for lunch and chatting about the hike and other ones to come. And soon it is time to go back down. We chose a different route down that Zoey seemed to prefer. I thought she was just wandering where she wanted to go, but halfway down I found that she actually followed a scent trail of some other hikers. We saw two other solo hikers make it to the top. On the way down we saw two more groups, but they were rather late and decided not to try for the top. Good decision as it was cooling down quite a bit by the time we got back to the car. This is a great hike. Lots of diversity to keep things interesting. And a great summit to enjoy the surroundings from.