Western Washington had been plagued by near consistent wildfire smoke during the exceptionally dry September and October of 2022. I had been monitoring the smoke forecasts and was cautiously optimistic about clean air in the Chelan Sawtooths. I figured the larches would be a bit early for peak color but was still excited about the chance to camp at a larchy lake and knock off another Bulger via a seldom-done route. I had heard tales of horrific bushwacking from late season attempts on Reynolds Peak, and I had high hopes that this would be more scenic and less painful way to do the peak.
After a night in the back of the car at the Williams Creek Trailhead up Twisp River Road, Katie and I got started at around 7 am. The Williams Creek trail has tons of gently graded switchbacks that seem to go nowhere fast. It is frustratingly mellow and takes much longer than it should to reach Williams Lake (in reality it is just over 7 miles and took about 3.5 hours). On the hike up I tried to focus on the stark beauty of the (recently burned) area instead of the seemingly endless switchbacks. I was also thankful I wasn't hiking this exposed trail in the heat of the summer!
Eventually we left the burn zone behind and coasted into Williams Lake. It is a pretty lake that is nestled in a larch-filled bowl. The larches were decidedly pre-peak but still golden enough to provide that enchanting yellow glow in the sunlight. It is always a spectacular sight to see. There were a number of great campsites on the east side of the lake. Some of which were clearly used by horse-campers, with churned up ground and massive firepits. Katie and I got to work setting up our tent at one of the less huge sites. I wanted to climb Reynolds and be back in daylight to relax and enjoy camp together, so I knew it would have to be a quick turnaround for me. I eventually packed some food and warm clothing (which was extra weight on this unseasonably warm day) and set off up towards Williams Butte around 11:30, leaving Katie to read and paint in her private larch wonderland. I couldn't help but be a bit jealous.
My goal was to do Reynolds roundtrip from Williams Lake in 5 hours, which I figured was an ambitious but achievable goal. There is a trail that is marked on the map heading up towards Williams Butte, but it quickly peters out amongst some larch groves, and it is a choose your own adventure up to near the pass from there. I was able to pick up a bit of a path again through the scree at around 7200 feet, which led me over the shoulder of Willams Butte. From there the whole route was laid out before me. Reynolds looked simultaneously far away and close enough that my plan could be possible, so I set off quickly downhill. I performed a diagonal traverse through open country to the ~6900 foot saddle below. One frustrating part of this route is that it involves a lot of up and down on the ridge between Williams Butte and Camels Hump. The travel is all relatively open and easy, though, so it is mostly an aerobic challenge.
After cresting Pt. 7225 I began my descent to the next saddle before Camels Hump. When I first looked at approaching Reynolds from Williams Lake on a map, I had initially thought I would stay on the ridge, climb the subpeak of Camels Hump, and drop down due north to join the south ridge of Reynolds. After reading trip reports and studying the map further, I discovered this way was steeper than I had originally thought and might involve some dicey, exposed scrambling. It might be possible, but I didn't want to risk descending blindly on something I hadn't climbed up, so I instead took an obvious gully down off the ridge at ~7070. There is a clear path through the scree in this area, and it is the only obvious way down through the cliff bands on the north side of the Williams Butte-Camels Hump ridge.
This section brought me down into a basin and I was faced with a bit of boulder hopping before beginning a steep climb up to regain the ridge before me. I chose to ascend the obvious rib instead of either of the loose gullies in the hopes of finding more solid ground. This was a pretty good choice for my purposes, and I made relatively quick work of it. I was starting to feel my body complain a bit on this section and the realization of how big of a day this was going to be began to set in. I was still jazzed to be out in this area on a beautiful, smoke-free day, though, so I continued on up the ridge towards Reynolds, encountering some loose rock along the way. There is a beautiful larch basin on the other side of this ridge, as well as tantalizing views towards the North Cascades and Lake Chelan from this vantage. There is a lifetime of exploring to be done in this area.
Looking at the topo beforehand, I was hopeful that the final bit of travel up to the summit block of Reynolds would be nice wide, easy ridge, a la Robinson Mtn. This was unfortunately not the case, as I was confronted with some annoying gendarmes that forced me off the ridge and onto an annoying loose sandy traverse below them. This was a mental setback, but I was able to get through it relatively quickly and moved up to the final scramble on Reynolds!
The scramble was fun but way too short. I was able to keep everything class 3 max and quickly scooted up to the summit - my 47th Bulger. The views were great all around and I was able to find a summit register.
I was also right on schedule to get back to the lake in time! My body was feeling the big day, though, and I needed to keep some gas in the tank for the ups and downs on the way back to the lake. I took in the sights for about 10 minutes and then reluctantly made my way down, reversing my route back to the saddle between Reynolds and Camels Hump. From there I chose to take the rib down, even though it is likely that you could do some scree-skiing in either of the gullies. The gain and loss on the way back to Williams Butte, made me realize why this route isn't done all that often. I was still having fun and it was super scenic, but my body was starting to rebel a little on the ups. I was ready to get back to Katie and our cozy camp at the lake.
I eventually crested the final pass and descended down to the lake, reaching camp exactly 5 hours after leaving it - as planned. I was proud of that time, and happy to have nothing to do but relax for the rest of the day. We cooked dinner and played some cards in the tent before calling it an early night. One thing about Williams Lake is that it is nestled in a bowl, so on falls days when the sun is lower in the sky, you lose sunlight early!
The next morning, we slept in and enjoyed the warm sun at the lake once it finally hit us. There were a just few other parties around, but it was nothing compared to the madness that was surely happening at Heather Maple Pass or Blue Lake this weekend. I took a shockingly cold swim before packing up and hiking out. The trail was just as obnoxiously long and switchback-filled as the way up, but good conversation and a sense of accomplishment after a solid trip made it go pretty quick. We were back to the cars and made it to the Mazama store before they closed at 3, unfortunately just missing out on sandwiches in the process.
Final Stats: 21.92 miles / 7545 feet of gain
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