Surprise Mountain, Surprise and Glacier Lakes & Deception Lakes — Sunday, Jun. 30, 2019

Note: this is a report for a trip Sunday, June 30, 2019. The snow warning above is specifically for the way up and down Surprise Mountain; any of the lakes mentioned above are perfectly fine and snow-free. Bugs were TERRIBLE. Bring spray.

The lake portion of the hike, specifically Surprise and Glacier Lakes is easy (strenuous in that you're walking uphill for miles, but it's very straight-forward and in good condition). BUT, you want to go to Surprise Mountain.

To get up (then down) Surprise Mountain, I'll recommend Gaia GPS on your phone for mapping. Unlike most destinations, the default Gaia mapping layer is insufficient. You'll need the USGS topo map (for the way up the old Cascade Crest Trail), the USFS 2016 map (to get from Surprise Gap to the summit of Surprise Mountain), and the OpenHikingMap (to get down to the PCT from Surprise Gap) layers. Once the snow has melted out, no maps will be needed, but it's currently very easy to lose the trail due to snow cover.

I'll link to my GPS track, but in quick description:
Follow the PCT beyond Glacier Lake. You'll reach a flat around 5000'. Surprise Mountain is directly in front of you, with a metal pole visible on its summit if you squint. As you face south, the PCT goes to hiker's right, with a "Trail Abandoned" sign in front of you, and what looks to be a passable mountain... uh... pass in front of you. The abandoned trail is the Cascade Crest trail, and it goes directly up the (climber's) left side of the mountain to Surprise Gap. As of now, with lots of snow remaining, the trail is impossible to find after about 100' from the "Trail Abandoned" sign. BUT, the trail is 100% exactly where the OpenHikingMap layer says it is, as long as rocks and snow are cooperating with you. As you get about half-way up the pass, the trail is visually obvious, but with some snow interludes. So, some notes on the snow:

I don't want to use the "A" word, but on my way up, about 75 feet to my right, there was some snow that freed itself from higher elevation and made its way down the mountain. The amount of snow in question would've resulted in "that was mildly annoying" had it hit me, but it did kick up some bowling ball-sized rocks which went on unpredictable paths, and would not have been just "mildly annoying" had one bounced in my direction. The other issue with the snow is nasty snow traverses in two or three spots with downhill, off-camber snow bridges across the switchbacks of the pass. You can creatively work your way around these, but they are incredibly dangerous if you try to be a hero and go across them. I'm not your mom, but you might not want to go up this route (the "Cascade Crest trail" per the USGS maps) until the snow melts. The worst of the snow is 4-5' deep and north-facing, so it might take awhile. If you're reading this far, you know that the main hassle with Surprise Mountain is how far it is from anything. Avoiding this nasty section of the trail makes it even longer.

So, you get up the pass to Surprise Gap. Check out the USFS map, and you'll see a rather clear path to the west and uphill. That will take you to the summit. The USFS map isn't line-to-line accurate, but it's generally correct, and more importantly, the trail is very obvious the entire time, and you don't really need a map.

Find the metal pole at the summit. Mt. Daniel is to the south; Spark Plug and Thunder Mountains are the big ones right by you; if it's clear, you'll see Glacier Peak to the north. Get your summit time in, then follow the trail you came up back down to Surprise Gap. Once the snow melts, going down the pass is the obvious, right answer. With the snow, this isn't the right answer. Prepare to put in some miles.

At Surprise Gap, three trails meet: Cascade Crest ("abandoned" - the way you might've come up), USFS #1063 which, from there, goes downhill then eventually connects to the PCT, the Surprise Mountain Trail which you took to the summit of Surprise Mountain. Take the #1063 trail down to Deception Lakes and connect to the PCT. The 1063 trail is currently snow-covered near Surprise Gap and very difficult to follow. (as you can see in my track). It's exactly where the OpenHIkingMap layer in Gaia says it is, though. Once you reach Deception Lakes, the PCT then goes back up the "back" of Surprise Mountain with an alternate way down which eventually connects to the flat where you saw the "Trail Abandoned" sign.

There are some "not great" snow sections on this way down, but nothing like the nastiness of the Cascade Crest trail route to Surprise Gap. Whew. You're basically back to the "Surprise and Glacier Lakes" portion of the trail and you're set for marching back. Bad news: it's a 17+ mile day from car to Surprise Mountain to car.

Most of the above is routing and map planning. Some general discussion: this is a strenuous but "easy" hike (again, in the "walking uphill for 4+ miles" kind of way) until it's absolutely bonkers (the Cascade Crest/scramble up the pass to Surprise Gap). After that, it's just marching again, whether uphill or downhill. The Surprise and Glacier Lakes portion of the hike isn't a conveyor belt by any means, but you'll see a fair amount of people (it's a very pretty area, generally easy to get to in terms of driving, and not too crazy from a hiking perspective); expect to see very few people beyond Glacier Lake. I think I was the first person up Surprise Mountain this year (based on snow footprints and the summit register hiding under a rock under the metal pole at the top), and based on how far it is from anything (6+ miles from parking, even without the crazy snow-rerouting I did), it probably won't be until the PCT thru-hikers start showing up in August or September that it gets appreciable traffic. Do it! (but be careful)

More Information on this Trip Report

• https://www.gaiagps.com/datasummary/track/cd9c3a5029bf3aaa48ddcffd53a1529e/?layer=caltopousfs2016