Beano and I decided on Vesper today....one of my favorites. The trail is a rooty, rocky mess as usual, but what trail isn't on the Mt. Loop? This one is a bit worse than most. It's not much fun on creaky knees, but the scenery is so gorgeous that one hardly notices. The stream crossings are a cinch, but the third crossing and largest requires a look upward to a couple of logs that take you safely across. On the way in we followed the trail directly into the stream and crossed on conveniently placed, but extremely slippery rocks. The better choice is to go up a few yards to better crossing. No problem here. From there it's the familiar slog up rough trail and then even rougher rocks to the pass. The snow is finally gone here. In fact, no snow is encountered until past lake Elan, and after a bit of patches and heather, you are on continuous snow until the summit. What a year! More like late July than Sept. Still, the snow was soft for us this afternoon and I didn't even take my ice ax off my pack, although we encountered another couple who used axes and even crampons. Seemed unnecessary to me. We spent hours on the summit looking at everything we'd done this year and lots of stuff we'd like to do in the future. Then we walked down the ridge a bit scouting out possible routes to Copper Lake below. This is a great time to do this hike. The snow makes the going easy as it's consolidated and easy going. There were some bugs which were ferocious! Maybe trying to get in their quota of blood before fall. No problem though if you kept moving. A great time was had by Beano and me with a stop at Omega Pizza in Granite Falls for Grinders and Mac and Jacks. Best food and beer around bar none!

Weather: Mixed - clouds, fog, sun; no wind; warm. Wildlife: two ptarmigan; a marmot, and mosquitoes lower down (though not bad) Crossing of South Fork Stillagamish: piece of cake - a flat, non-slippery log with room for both boots and poles with one side log on each side if one desired a "handrail." The crossing log was not far above the water. Snow: continuous snow from a bit below lake between Vesper and Sperry to Vesper's summit. Headlee Pass: A little dicey in the morning as the snow was a bit crusty and firm. The afternoon was fine. Ice axes were necessary in both directions. Other parties used crampons - we didn't. The remainder of the trip: piece of cake. Times: car to summit: 3-3/4 hr; summit to car: 3-1/4 hr; car to car: 8-1/4 hr. Companions: Hans, Manisha, & Amy.

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.

On a blue sky Tuesday Dean, Ann, and I set off on the Mountain Loop Highway to climb Vesper Peak. Conditions were near perfect although this trail is rough, tough, steep, and very rocky. All creek crossing were quite easy in late August and although there is still some snow high on the route to the peak it is easily avoided. The steep pitch to Headlee Pass is in as good of shape as I can remember and snow free. The small lake (Headlee or Vesper Lake, take your pick.) at the base of Vesper is melted completely but as always provides one of the most beautiful outlet streams in the Cascades. (see pic below) The views from this peak reward the hard work and effort to reach the top. (And the return to the car.) We did not find a log book to sign but while looking for one Ann accidently discovered some kind of "Secret Box" that we concluded must be part of an ongoing GPS game. Round trip about 7 miles with nearly 3,600' of elevation gain by my estimate.

No snow in the chute below Headlee or between Headlee and the lake below Vesper. The lake itself was about 95% snow free! A side effect of the heat. For a change I took the granite ridge to the top. This was very nice, sun-warmed granite. Believe it or not, it was actually cold due to the wind on top and I put on my hat and gloves. The snow-fields are diminishing fast and the glissade opportunities were not that great. There were a few mosquitos down by the lake but overall the bug situation was benign. Creek crossing was mellow due to low flow. A few unusual things were seen. I am wondering about the wilderness area designation of the lake area below Vesper accessed via Headlee. There was evidence of several campfires, areas of broken liquor bottles, and a few dogs. But what really seemed new was the backpacker with the rifle strapped to his pack. I don't claim to know anything about gun laws and the party was pleasant and all, but this was a first for me in this area. The topographic map associated with the WTA web site seems to show a checkerboard land use pattern. Comments?