It was the first weekend on Larch Madness in Washington, and I was looking forward to getting out for a day trip. I had spent precious little time in the Chiwaukums and figured they would be a great place for larches and solitude. I settled upon Big Jim and Big Lou (named after Jim and Lou Whittaker) as a big day.
I headed out early from Seattle, making it to Hatchery Creek Road in good time. I had read some reports that there was a rough section of the road about a mile from the trailhead but hoped that the Highlander was up for the challenge. The road was in beautiful condition until I came upon the infamous spot, which was heavily rutted. I’m a pretty wimpy driver and don’t like to push my car too much, so I gave it a half-hearted effort, but ultimately decided to just park my car and walk.
To my surprise, another car pulled up shortly after I parked and offered me a ride! The driver was a nice guy who had just moved to Washington and was checking out potential hunting spots for later in the fall. His higher clearance truck handled the ruts no problem and the rest of the road was perfectly fine to the trailhead.
I thanked my kind driver and soon jetted off, knowing I had a big day in front of me. The sign at the trailhead warned of a horror show of blowdowns ahead (I think they counted some 300+), but honestly, I didn’t find it to be too bad. There were definitely a fair number, and some were larger than others, but for the most part it was better than the trailhead warned.
The trail climbed steadily through an old burn, which explains the high concentration of blowdowns, before improving dramatically as you crest the ridge at 6000 feet. Here the trail becomes very pleasant and traverses some nice open meadows on a much more level trajectory. The trail remained easy and scenic for the entire way to Lake Augusta, with good views of Cashmere and the recently snow-dusted nearer peaks.
Lake Augusta would be an excellent place to backpack. It is remote enough to see very few visitors compared to some of the nearby larch destinations, and still packs a good punch of scenery.
I was trying to move pretty quickly, so I didn’t linger for long and quickly set off up the slope to the north of the lake. It was easy class 2 boulder hopping for the most part, followed by an easy walk on the broad summit ridge. I arrived 3 hours and 20 minutes after leaving the trailhead. The north-facing aspects of Big Jim and its surroundings were blanketed in a nice coating of fresh snow, which really added to the view.
My original plan for the day had just been Big Jim, but since I was so far ahead of schedule, I decided I could tack on Big Lou as well. I had done no research about the ridge connecting them, but from my view it seemed like it would work, albeit with a little bit of snow to spice things up.
I set off blindly across the open ridgeline, which felt very un-Cascadian. I encountered some light class 3, which was made a bit more difficult with the snow, but I was pretty much always able to either skirt below cliffs on the more melted out east side of the ridge, or just stay on the ridgeline. It was pretty fun movement and felt very isolated. I had yet to see another human all day except for my hunter friend at the trailhead.
I eventually made it to the saddle between the peaks and began my ascent of Big Lou. Since this was a north-facing slope, it had an inch or two of slick snow on it, which made the scrambling a little more tenuous. It was a relatively chill slope, and everything felt good to me, so I pressed upwards and topped out at 11:50, which meant the traverse between the two summits took just a bit under an hour. The views of the Enchantments, Chiwaukums, Mount Daniel, etc. were great!
I reluctantly returned the way I came, taking care on the slick snow, and descended back to Lake Augusta via the Icicle Ridge trail. Here I took a nice break amongst the larches, enjoying the lake and the solitude.
It wasn’t until I was way back in the burn zone before I saw my first hikers of the day, a few groups of backpackers heading up to the lake. It was amazing how quiet the area was, knowing that the Enchantments were probably a zoo a few miles away.
I dealt with the blowdowns again on the way down, although the task seemed a bit more daunting on the way down to my tired legs. When I emerged back at the trailhead, it was a quick mile jaunt back to my car below the ruts. The walk wasn’t bad, and I was happy to have saved the Highlander from any unnecessary wear and tear. My roundtrip time was just under 9 hours – which I felt good about.
Final Stats: 20.66 miles / 6192 feet of ascent
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