After my 5 day trip with Fay through Bannock Lakes and the Hanging Gardens, I anxiously awaited Jim’s arrival to Image Lake so we could climb some of the peaks I had marveled over the last few days. I knew he had a long
day of hiking with lots of elevation gain so I had no idea when he would arrive.
I was going to wait at the lake until 5pm at which time I would pack up and move uphill, closer to where I had setup camp. This would allow Jim to avoid dropping into the lake basin.
As I was packing up, I heard a familiar hoot from the other side of the lake. My heart leaped and I hooted back, Jim had arrived. We had just enough time for Jim to jump in the lake and shed the dust of the trail, then we hiked up to Miners ridge. Along the way, we got some wonderful even light which showed why so many people have photographed Image Lake.
I had setup camp on the north side of Miners ridge on a high heather bench. Our camp had great views of Bannock, Sitting Bull, and Plummer. Not to mention the Bath Lakes traverse with Stonehedge and the Great Wall.
We enjoyed a long dinner while I told him all about Fay and my adventure. We watch 2 deer in the basin below munching on berry leaves. In the morning, we saw a bear in the same basin filling up on blueberries. The berries were perfectly ripe and very yummy.
Sitting Bull is on the ridge between Plummer and Bannock mountain. It is a complete vertical mass from the east but on the west you can climb steep heather slopes ….
until you are faced the final 300 feet which is class 4 rock with dirt and rocks scattered in. Exposed and a bit a nerving.
Jim and I had decided to use a short rope with limited pro. Though it wasn’t much, it made us both feel a lot better.
Jim lead out. I was glad to be on a short rope since there was almost no way to avoid rock fall. We climbed slowly with a lot of communication.
About the time we ran out of gear, the mountain eased back and got a lot more solid and clean. The final pitch was exposed class 3 but solid.
Our plan was to camp two nights at Miners ridge to enjoy the views but since the smoke had come in and the forecast for rain had been moved from tomorrow evening to mid-day, we decided to pack up camp and move closer to Plummer. Our goal for tomorrow.
Along the way, we got to pass through the Image Lake basin as the sun was going down.
We ended up camped at Lady Camp. The horse camp for Image Lake. It has a full on view of Glacier Peak. We could only see parts of Glacier since smoke was rolling in from one of the remaining forest fires.
Though Plummer has cliffs and rock ridges on three sides, the fourth is a field of heather which takes you within 100 feet of the summit. After traversing a little rock…
Jim arrived on the summit.
Though the smoke made pictures of most peaks impossible, we did get a great view of Sitting Bull. Glad we never have to go back there.
We didn’t stay on the summit long. The wind was icy cold and we knew the rains were coming in.
After packing up camp, we took a nice long break, strategizing how to add this camp site to another trip in the future. We really felt that we missed out on the full experience of Glacier Peak from here.
We were able to drop down to Dry Camp under Image Lake before the rains came. They were off and on the rest of the day. Luckily, it was not raining when we setup camp about 4 miles from the trailhead.
It rained during the night but when we woke in the morning the rain had stopped. We packed up in record time and quickly headed out to the car, arriving just as the rain was returning.