High Pass, Twin Lakes (North Cascades), Yellow Aster Butte, Tomyhoi Peak & Mount Larrabee — Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023

Road/TH:

The road up to yellow aster butte was better than expected and our subaru crushed the road pretty well. There were still lots of cars from backpacking the night prior when we got there at just past 5. Lots of parking space but. be careful and leave enough space for others to safely drive through. 

Twin Lakes Road:

I ended up hiking up most of the road after YAB to twin lakes as I was unsure about the road. However It was better than expected and once again a subaru or all wheel drive vehicle can make it up with little problems. Lots of people camping up at the lakes.

High Pass/Mount Larrabee:

I very much enjoyed the trail up to high pass, it was very pretty and didn't see anyone the whole time. I got up to the turnoff for Mount Larrabee after about 1 hr 20 or so from where I parked. You could see the route to the ridge but was totally fogged in after that. So I waited for about an hour & half to see if things would clear (they didn't, they actually got worse). So I messed around on where the trail ends tried to scramble up a sub peak. 

High Pass -> Tomyhoi Peak:

I put together this route kinda last minute but was super stoked to give it a go. In my quick online search I hadn't seen any evidence of someone linking these up so I was curious how the offtrail section was gonna go. It starts out a little brushy then opens up into the valley before just a lot of sidehilling with no hint of a trail. Then theres one final pretty thick bushwhack section before reconnecting with the Tomyhoi Lakes trail. From theres its pretty easy to follow the trail up to the first of a couple false Tomyhoi Peak Summits.

Theres a pretty clear spot where most people were turning around but I kept going. Really the best way is to take the third gully down and scramble up that before hitting a couple cairns then following the ridge over to the next section. Then just scramble up the face starting to head left then finish by turning right (it's easier than it looked). It was a little more intense than I had expected but felt pretty confident the whole time even being solo & without any extra gear. However if your in a group I'd recommend a helmet due to the looseness of some of the rocks. Summit is incredible and even with the clouds clearing there were some incredible views! Follow the same route all the way down!

Summary:

I'm incredibly stoked that this route ended up working out and had just about everything with nothing being sketchy or too hard. I'd highly recommend if your wanting to knock off two classic Mount Baker area peaks and experience some incredible terrain! I'll provide my gpx track and I'd recommend downloading it for the traverse from High pass to YAB & picking the best route up Tomyhoi. Hopefully someone can grab Larrabee as well! 

More Information on this Trip Report

• https://www.strava.com/activities/9635974862/overview