Vesper Peak, Headlee Pass and Vesper Lake — Saturday, Aug. 26, 2006

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

Note to self: DO NOT decide to do Vesper Peak with Trail Pair the morning after Kid 1 & 2's graduation party!!! Big mistake. But, Sadie was insistent! Much whining and pouting about not being out on the trail for almost two weeks. She was yearning for her alpine lake fix. So, after a slow crawl into bed @ 1:30 a.m. on Sunday it was an even slower crawl out of bed @ 5:30 a.m. on Sunday. The weather was fabulous. TP met up with us (Sadie, Clover and driver) at Lake Stevens. We all piled into the Highlander and off we went headed to the Sunrise Mine Trail. Never have seen a mine, but it must be there somewhere. This was the 2nd trip to Vesper for Sadie and the driver. We got to the trailhead at 8:45 a.m. and were surprised to see a group of about 10 getting ready - it was a Mountaineers Group. The trail starts out reasonable - through the trees and nice duff on the feet. But in a very short 1/2 mile or so, the REAL Vesper trail unveils itself. There are three nice creek crossings - the last one has a skinny board across it - but there is a rope hand-hold - not a problem really and the creek is pretty low - but full enough so that the girls could have a good drink. The trail is rocky and steep. But thankfully, a good section of the trail has been brushed recently by a WTA crew (we were told) - so thank you! In a scant 1 1/2 or so, you begin the slog up towards Headlee. We actually saw a few folks on their way out - 2 of the 3 said that they had overnighted above the lake; the third guy said that he had come in that morning and summited Vesper and was on his way out - this was at 10:15 a.m. - - - doubtful. One of the guys had a cute little Border Collie that he said was to freaked about going up the granite slabs of Vesper, so they hadn't summited. The views are quite nice just before reaching Headlee. But reaching the Pass gives you a feeling of accomplishment - even though you still have another mile to go. Somehow, the climb up to the summit doesn't seem so awful - the driver always enjoys rock scrambling - especially on those nice big slabs. The route is pretty straight forward. There are lots of cairns to guide you - actually, we took a route that was to the north of the route that I had gone up before - but we ended up right at the true summit. Sweet. We made the summit - had the place to ourselves - by a little before Noon and spent a good 45 minutes or so up there. The views are good - a little haze in the sky - but good views of the Monte Cristos - we had considered including Sperry, but glad we saved it, since none of us knew the exact route up the southern ridge. As we were heading down, the Mountaineers group was just reaching the summit. Clover and Sadie were promised a dip in the lake - so a brief sidetrack - there is still snow around the lake. There were spots of snow here and there on the way up to the summit -but nothing to worry about. A week earlier, someone said that they needed an ice ax - so we were packin' but it was unnecessary. Headlee was just as steep going down as I remembered it from 5 years ago! K and B hadn't been on this trail before and didn't know what to expect - but soon came to love the wonderful hip and knee grinder the route is. We did manage to rest our weary bones in a wonderful patch of huckleberries about mid-way between Headlee and the trailhead. We were surprised at the number of people (at least 4 different groups of 2) that were headed in on the trail and it was 3:00 p.m. Only 2 of the groups looked as if they were going to overnight. I sure wouldn't want to be on that trail in the dark! The rest of the way out was a slog - but at least in the shade. We made it back to the car by about 3:45 p.m. The dogs collapsed in the car - but with a smile! (bugs weren't bad at all - thankfully)