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)

I purposefully picked a trip off the Mtn Loop Hwy since I wasn’t about to let the events of last weekend have a lasting negative inpact. I managed to convince Ace to head up Vesper Pk. We started early because with the warm weather here, we wanted to beat the heat. We started up the Sunrise Mine trail at about 8:30am. For me, these lower stretches of trail heading up to Headlee Pass are blah…just a trail (if it can be called that) which is in poor condition. It’s steep and is basically a path that winds it’s way over a boulder field that is very overgrown with brush. It is difficult making fast progress on the trail because you are worried about where you are placing each step for fear of rolling an ankle or stepping in a hole. But the trail does make steady progress. After emerging from the brush the trail meanders over a boulder field before entering the tight gully leading up to Headlee Pass (3 mi, 2600’). After Headlee Pass the views improve a lot. There are more boulders to skip as you approach the tarn below Sperry and Vesper Pks. But if you are heading for Vesper, you pass right by the outlet to the tarn. Instead, you look for this really pleasant looking east facing ridge. For our trip the lower stretches has patches of snow then onto dirt trail, then back to snow. Finally, I don’t recall the elevation, the route is solid snow. The snow was a bit harder, more consolidated, than expected. But it definitely made for fast progress up the peak. The final part of the trip to the top was snow free. Views from the top are grand. Sperry across the basin. Morning Star and the Monte Cristo peaks. We saw all the big ones, Rainier, Glacier, Baker, Adams. Really impressive is a view down the shear north face of Vesper. It really doesn’t get any smoother than that. If anyone is headed up Vesper…take a new summit register and register tube. The old tube is missing one end and the register is a mish mash collection of business cards and scrap paper. We took our time on the summit chatting with other hikers. Then we started the trip down. I don’t think either of us was looking forward to that brush. It was going to be one long hot hike out. Stats: about 8 miles and 4600’ gain, 7 hours (round trip).

We took ice axe and crampons but really only wanted ski poles. We were able to avoid snow while climbing to Headlee Pass, and the snow from near Vesper Lake up to the peak was not too steep. What nice views! Quick descent on snow, both from the peak, and down in the basin below Headlee Pass. The bugs are coming out down lower.

Trail clear to the base of Headlee Pass. Snow to top of pass. We did not need ice axes. Snow was soft. From Headlee to the base of Vesper there was a short stint of the trail that was free of snow. The rest of the hike up Vesper was under about 3-4ft of snow. We skinned up the shoulder of Vesper to the top. Ate some lunch, took in the views of Baker, Glacier, and Rainier, and had a great ski/snowboard down. Great trip. The river crossing was doable. A rope is tied at the narrow foot tree crossing. Water is running high though.

Though we got a late start (11a), there was still ample time for a nice scramble up Vesper peak. The stream crossings were not a problem - the last, and largest, was made easier by a crossing log with rope line for hand that was already in place. Plenty of snow piled up in Wirtz basin, with obvious avalanche leftovers. The acsent to Headlee pass was a bit tricky as it is quite steep and still snow-covered, so we didn't reap the benefit of any switchbacks. However there had been two parties up before us so we had the benefit of some kicked steps in the snow. After gaining Headlee Pass everything was quite straightfoward to the summit, all snow after the lake, which isn't even close to melting out yet. The summit itself is snow-free, and we found the (former) summit register which is missing one of its caps and lacking paper. Several pencils though. No clouds made for fantastic views from the top. The trip down was glorious as we had many good glissades, essentially all the way from the summit to the lake, then traversed around to Headlee pass and did some more glissading from there. The first 500' of descent from Headlee pass were a bit dicey as it was difficult to plunge-step on the steep and packed snow, but a bit sketchy for glissading as the slope had a rocky bottom. Basically only a semi-controlled descent that we were relieved to be done with. Then we traversed around to the back of the basin for some rather bumpy glissades on the massive amount of avalanche-deposited snow. Highly recommended scramble with the ascent to (and descent from) Headlee pass being the most challenging part. We made it from car to summit in 4.5 hr, descent took 2.75 hr; with 45 mins. on the summit it added up to exactly 8 hr. round trip.