A mid-September venture into the Glacier Peak Wilderness was on the schedule and we couldn’t be more excited. This trip promised meadows, big mountain views and plenty of fall color.
Katie and I made the drive out to Trinity and got started up the Buck Creek Trail at around 2 pm. Our only goal for the first day was to get a few miles up the trail and find a good place to camp. The weather was misty and drizzly, and we were in no rush. After 5ish relatively uneventful miles, we came upon a great campsite in the woods with room for a few tents. At this point the rain had picked up, so we quickly pitched our tent and set up camp. The weather was supposed to start clearing the next day, but this was definitely get cozy in the tent weather. We made some soup, and after an unfortunate incident where I sat on my Camelback hose (why do I always forget to lock it??) and had to dry out the bottom of our tent, we called it a night.
The next day dawned, and the weather wasn’t quite the clear blue sky I was hoping for. Our campsite was near the edge of a meadow, and we could see the big cliffs of Cleator Mountain rising into the clouds. The whole scene was awash in morning light sneaking in from the east, and it got me excited for the day ahead despite the cloudiness.
It wasn’t long before we were shouldering our packs and making our way toward Buck Creek Pass. The trail is very well graded, so it is never too hard of work. We could start to make out brilliant blazes of red and orange fall color up ahead, and even start to see some of the mountain tops. Maybe it would clear like we expected? Eventually we rounded the corner into the pass and were met with a stunning view of Glacier Peak and the wide, arcing Suiattle River Vally.
One very interesting part of this trip that we failed to account for was the fact that it was hunting season. We felt like these views that we had of unspoiled mountain wilderness were hard earned after 7 miles on the trail, so it was startling to see a huge camp set up for hunters that had been bought in by horse or mule. It was even more startling to see the hunters walking around in bright orange toting their rifles. It cast a weird vibe onto the pass, and we scurried through and past on our way to High Pass.
The next section was stunning. The clouds had lifted, although high clouds remained, and at this point we had reached beautiful subalpine meadows that were awash in red and orange color. The trail was also narrow and traversed on either side of a ridge that offered big views of Glacier Peak, as well as the other tall peaks of the wilderness area, like Fortress, Fernow and Maude. I would rank this traversing path as one of my favorite stretches of trails ever! Views toward Buck Mountain, our eventual objective, were also directly in our face now. It was still early in the day, but the peak looked intimidating and quite far away still.
After more beautiful hiking, we eventually rambled into the High Pass area. This spot is another gem of the Cascades. It has views towards Clark and Luahna, with their beautiful glacier-clad north faces, as well as beautiful (unnamed as far as I know) lake a few hundred feet below. There were a few rock walls for tent sites at the pass, but the wind was blowing pretty hard so we thought we could find a more sheltered location on the other side of the pass.
We descended on steep, sandy scree into the basin east of High Pass and found a nice sandy bench at the head of creek to set up our tent. The nice weather day we were promised never quite materialized, and it was quite cold as we set up our tent. We still had a big day ahead of us as the plan was still to summit Buck that afternoon, but that plan was looking less and less likely by the minute. It was early afternoon by now and Buck was still a big trip from where our camp was located. Nevertheless, we began the journey that way, with the goal to see how far we could get.
We passed through the relatively flat creek valley and up and over a big jumble of boulders right before the terrain falls away to the Napeequa Valley below. From there, we followed faint human and/or marmot paths around and up to the col below Mount Berge. At this point we took in the view and discussed out options. Buck, with its intimidating looking steep north face was still quite a way off, and it was windy and cold and late in the day. The choice was clear, we should retreat to camp. I was a bit disappointed by this because we had come so far into the Glacier Peak Wilderness only to be turned back by weather and timing. Not all was lost though, because we were still in a stunning mountain landscape, had a fun night of camping ahead of us, and I thought I might just have time to sneak in a summit attempt in the early morning the next day if I played my cards right.
From the col we retreated to our camp, admiring the bright red fall color and the amazing views of Clark and Luahna on the way. There we relaxed and hid from the wind for a bit. The calm and clear weather forecast had to come to fruition the next day, right?? I certainly hoped so if I had any hope of making it out to Buck in the morning.
Around sunset I wandered back up to High Pass. It was still cold and windy, but it turned out to be a beautiful night with the dramatic clouds in the direction of Glacier Peak catching the light of sunset. After taking it all I in I ambled back to the tent, and we settled in for the night.
My plan for the morning was to wake up and be moving around 4 am to give myself the best shot at summiting Buck and still leaving time for the LONG hike out. I ended up leaving nearly on time, and lo and behold the clear skies had finally come. It was a beautiful cloudless morning, and the stars were shining brightly. With the clear skies came cold, however. It was so cold that there was a layer of ice on our tent rainfly and the small creek we were camped next to had frozen overnight. Making a mental note to keep on the lookout for ice, I set off into the darkness.
It helped a lot to have already done the walk to the col in the daylight. Without this experience I would have been much more uncertain of myself, but I was able to make it up to the col in relatively short order. I tried to push my speed to give myself the best shot of being back to camp at a reasonable hour.
From there it was a journey into the unknown. Which was made more interesting by the fact that it was still pitch-black outside. I set out to traverse the basin at around 7600 feet, picking the easiest route through boulders, finding traces of footsteps occasionally in the sandy soil. I could tell that finding my way down into the Louis Creek basin below would be tricky in the dark. There was cliffy terrain to my right, and I was curious to see how this would go. I accidentally went a little past the GPS track I was following and encountered some loose steep terrain that I didn’t feel comfortable downclimbing solo in the dark, so I had to backtrack a bit to find the correct route. I eventually was able to piece together a way down that wasn’t too tough with a few scrambling moves. From there I was able to pick up a more defined use path on much flatter ground. It practically felt like I was flying I was moving so fast into the larch-filled basin.
The basin was a very pretty place to be, with still-green larches, a beautiful creek running through it, and big mountains all around. It is a place I would very much like to explore further with more time. I had gotten used to the slight downhill grade into the basin, so it took a bit of getting used to going up again after I had crossed the creek at about 6700’. From there, I wasn’t really sure what to expect as I ascended the flanks of Buck Mountain. What I found was relatively easy travel with some sections of pumice from what I can only assume was an ancient Glacier Peak eruption. After a bit of scrambling past a trickle of water that was frozen solid in beautiful dagger-like patterns, I reached a large flat expanse of frozen snow and ice above 8k. I’m not sure if this area is a dying glacier, or just a big permanent snowfield, but regardless it was slippery and icy. I had traction with me but opted to just shuffle my way across carefully. In retrospect I should have just put on some microspikes because I felt like with every step I could easily end up on the seat of my pants if I wasn’t careful. Thankfully this section was short and mostly flat, and I was across before I knew it. At this point I had reached the final summit scramble. From a distance, the true summit of Buck is very deceptive. It looks like it could be any of three distinct rocky points, and even knowing for sure which one it was I was still doubtful. I proceeded up the class 2-3 scramble and was treated to amazing views, with the sun working its way down Glacier Peak. Clark and Luahna and the entire Dakobed range looked amazing in the morning light, as well as Fernow, Maude, Bonanza and friends to the north. I also loved the view straight down from the summit that included a broken-up glacier and King Lake.
It was quite cold on the summit, so I took in the amazing views for around 10 minutes and began my trip down. It was interesting to think about how much distance could be saved by heading straight down towards Buck Creek from the summit area. I knew of people who make this decision, but also heard tales of a steep bushwhack with some sketchy route-finding, so I was more than happy to make the long hike out through some of the most beautiful terrain in Washington.
The scramble down was uneventful, and for some reason I neglected to put microspikes on for the icy, slightly downward sloping snowfield. This resulted in a somewhat painful but ultimately harmless slip onto the hard surface. In this case my pride came before my fall literally! After I dusted myself off, I made quick work of the steep pumice-y slopes down to the Louis Creek basin. There were places where I could almost plunge-step down. At this point the sun was finally hitting the basin and the larch trees were lighting up with morning light. It was a wonderful place to be, and I took a moment to savor it.
My attention now turned to the steep looking climb out of the basin and back to the col below Berge. It didn’t seem like I had descended that far into the basin this morning, but now looking up the climb seemed intimidatingly long. I tried to push myself as much as I could but was beginning to feel a bit gassed at this point. I’d already covered a ton of ground this morning and it was still early. I wound my way up through the scramble that was a big tricky to downclimb in the dark. It was easier in the daylight and whil heading up, and I was soon back to the col. I took a moment to look back towards Buck, it was a LONG way out there and I was happy with my effort.
I then continued back down the now familiar route to our camp below High Pass and got back to our camp at around 9 am. Katie had just started to walk out to come meet me, so our timing was impeccable. We then took a bit to make a hearty breakfast and relax and enjoy the beautiful weather. We had been waiting for sunny and windless conditions all weekend!
After a while, it was time to pack up and begin the long journey home. It was a long day ahead just to get back to the trailhead, so I was prepared to be pretty tired by the end of it. We took our time at High Pass to savor the views. The lake below was a stunning deep blue. We then continued on, traversing the beautiful meadows and ridges back to Buck Creek Pass. This area is one of the nicest trekking areas I’ve ever seen. The red meadows were a stunning foreground to beautiful views of the aptly named Glacier Peak.
We again saw a huge camp set up for hunters at the pass, and quickly scurried through the area. Once past, we took some time eating our fill of huckleberries before heading back into the woods. There was one more epic view of Buck and the entire valley before we entered the trees. At this point it was just a matter of slogging out the 7 or so miles back to the car. Both of us were tired but happy by the time we arrived at trailhead. The final trip stats were 38.5 miles and 10,028 feet of ascent with 19 and a half hours of moving time. We soaked our sore feet in Phelps Creek for a bit and then made the drive out along the notoriously bumpy Chiwawa River Road.
Overall, I loved this trip. It is one of the most dramatically beautiful areas of the Glacier Peak Wilderness and especially incredible with fall color. Buck Mountain is a beast from whatever direction you approach it, but a very worth destination in my mind. I can’t speak to the direct route up from Trinity, but I would recommend approaching from High Pass, if you don’t mind some extra (beautiful) trail miles. The views are incredible, and the approach is interesting and varied once you hit Buck Creek Pass. It was a place I certainly didn’t mind seeing twice and had no bushwhacking whatsoever and relatively easy travel. It is a long way out, but I could see myself returning to this area again and again in the future.
Final Stats: 38.47 miles / 10,028 feet of gain
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