After a trip into the Pickets 5 years ago, our friend Tony started planning a trip to the Olympic Mountains. Something he knew Jim and I would enjoy. Tony has climbed in the Olympic Mountains for many, many years. Too many to count. This trip marked his 17th summit of Mt Olympus and who knows how many trips into the Bailey Range. Tony put together a 10 day, high traverse starting with Mt Olympus and ending with Mt Carrie. The entire traverse was in the alpine zone with views galore. The middle section was a route Tony had never done but had been looking at for years.
Our climbing group consisted of Kevin, Tony, Eric, Greg, Jim, and I. Greg was new to our climbing group and Eric had only climbed with us once. They are both strong climbers and were willing to follow us where ever we went. Good thing they both have a sense of humor because nothing ever goes as planned on one of our adventures.
Day 1 – We all met early afternoon in Port Angeles at one of Tony’s friend’s home. Tyler had agreed to be our drop off and pick up. Critical since we went in the Hoh River Trail and planned to come out the SolDuc River Trail making a horseshoe shaped traverse.
We arrived the Hoh River Trail around 4pm. After shouldering heavy, 10 day climbing packs ranging from 48 lbs (mine) to 72 lbs, we headed up the trail through the rain forest. We had 9 miles on a flat, good trail. I enjoyed the enormous trees that grow in a rain forest.
The miles went quickly until the last one. We arrived to our campsite just before dark.
Day 2 – Today, we were back on the Hoh River Trail taking it to the end. Camping at Glacier Meadows. The trail immediately started to climb and trail conditions worsened. After about an hour, I saw Tony hiking without a pack. Where did it go? When a group in their mid-20’s passed us on the trail, Tony told them he would pay them $70 to carry his pack to Glacier Meadows. One of the guys took him up on it. How lucky for Tony.
I think Tony felt bad because I was still stuck with my pack so he offered to take turns carrying my pack if I split the cost of his pack. Best $35 I have ever spent. Tony and I spent the rest of the day hiking with a 20 minute alarm. One of us would carry my pack for 20 minutes while the other walked behind packless. Then the alarm would go off and we would switch.
My next lucky break of the day came when we reached the trail washout just before Glacier Meadows. There was a rope and ladder leading you down the slope. It was during Tony’s 20 minutes so I was able to downclimb the slope packless.
We arrived Glacier Meadows camp early evening. We seemed to be the only ones there so we had plenty of room to spread out in our 5 tents.
Day 3 – We woke to a 3:30 alarm. Tony promised this would be our only day getting up in the dark. We had a very long day ahead of us if we wanted to climb Mt Olympus. Climbing Mt Olympus was very high on my list so I eagerly got up and hit the trail.
Before long we were hiking through meadows covered with wildflowers then heading up the moraine. When we crested the moraine, Mt Olympus was in full view.
Took us almost an hour to downclimb the moraine and reach the Blue Glacier. But before long we had crossed the Blue Glacier, ditched our big packs, and headed up Mt Olympus towards the Snow Dome.
After the Snow Dome, we traversed the glacier under the summit. This glacier was very flat but contained several large crevasses.
From the glacier, we got our first look at the Bailey Range across the valley. This would be the second half of our trip.
There was a breach between the glacier and the snow field which required the use of a picket and some careful climbing. On the way back down, Tony slipped and punched a leg through the snow into the crevasse.
After another 30-minutes of snow travel, we crossed under the false summit and located the dirt ramp leading over to the summit block on Mt Olympus.
We had heard the day before that there was a new breach in the snow directly below the summit block which was impassible making the climb of Olympus all on lose rock. There was definitely a very large and convoluted breach but Kevin was pretty sure he could get around it. We had plenty of snow pro and it was time to use it. Snow conditions were excellent and soon we were all working our way around the breach.
Jim volunteered to lead the Class 5 rock pitch to the summit.
One by one we all arrived on the summit and took in the views. Day 3 was definitely a success.
After a long summit stay, we rappelled down, back tracked around the breach, and headed for camp. Our downtime was a quarter of our up time. Love descending snow.
We setup camp just below Mt Olympus in the rocks. Tony called the camp area CalTech. It was great having someone who knew the area so well. I really didn’t want to camp on the glacier.
Day 4 – After a long day 3, we all slept in and had a leisurely morning. We decided on a taking a short day and simply moving our camp over to Camp Pan. This would give us the afternoon to rest before heading into an area Tony had never been.
We only had 800 feet of snow to climb to reach the pass leading to the Hoh Glacier. Upon reaching the pass, we all decided we needed a long break. The first 3 days of our trip had been so hurried, it was nice to finally stop and kick back.
On the way down to the Hoh Glacier, we stopped for water. The access was a bit difficult so Jim decided to set up a fishing pole. I was shocked at how well this worked and drank my fill.
Once down on the Hoh Glacier, we realized that crossing it was not going to be as easy as it used to be. Lots of crevasses have developed. Tony’s rope team was leading through the mine field. Tony punch through once so we changed course.
I was in the back of the group crossing in everyone else’s steps. To my shock, I punched through just before we finished crossing the glacier. This was my first time punching through into a crevasse. Very weird feeling when your leg is in mid-air and you have no leverage to get out. After semi-rolling out of the hole, I looked back to see nothing but deep blue. This is why we rope up.
Once we crossed the glacier, we had to climb a crapped dirt ramp in order to reach Camp Pan. Tony couldn’t believe how much the snow had melted in the last two years.
We arrived Camp Pan early afternoon giving us plenty of time to setup camp and relax. Jim and Greg chose to take the opportunity to take a snow bath. I decided to put that off until tomorrow when I could bath in a stream. Little did I know it would be another 2 days before that would happen.
Tony set up a sun shade so we could take in the views and keep for baking. This made for a great area to have dinner.
The evening gave us time to dry out gear and take plenty of pictures.
We went to bed early knowing we had a long day tomorrow. Tony had beta on a high route to Bear Pass. This would eliminate us having to drop down into the valley floor and bushwack up to Queets Basin. We were all in.
Day 5 – We were all ready to head out early. Eager to explore the High Route Tony had been looking at for years.
The limited route beta we had from Steph Abegg said it took her 3 hours to get from Camp Pan to Bear Pass. We were pretty sure we could repeat the route in no more than 10 hours. We started by heading up the snow slope leaving Camp Pan behind.
Before long, we found ourselves at the key notch in the ridge allowing us to easy access the rock slope on the south side. We were making good time so we took a break and reviewed the route beta.
From the notch, we began scrambling on the rocky south slope which turned out to be covered with wildflowers and lose rock. We couldn’t believe that we hit the wildflower season at its peak. What a wonderful surprise.
Traversing the lose, rock slopes was tedious especially with full packs.
After what seemed like an hour, we finally crested the shoulder on the rock slope…
… dropping us back on a snow field. No one was more excited than Eric to be off the lose rock.
Greg did his own celebration.
Back on snow, we quickly descended keeping our eye out for the next key notch marked in the beta which would take us up and over the next ridge line. Once in view, we realized there was a break in the snow. From Stepp’s photos, we could see that she had continuous snow. We were not sure what this would mean for us.
First, we had to climb the steep snow slope then we could evaluate the dirt ramp.
The dirt ramp turned out to be very lose and very hard dirt. Tony did an excellent job of leading the 100 foot pitch. He actually needed to use 2 pitons. Didn’t realize anyone used pitons any more.
It took almost 3 hours to get all of us safely up the dirt ramp. Yes, that’s the same amount of time it took Steph to complete this entire section. We were not going to make our 10 hour estimate.
Once around the corner of the dirt ramp, we found a snow finger which lead us to a snow field that lead us to a notch in the ridge.
Just before we reached the ridge, a cloud / fog came in. By the time we were all standing on the ridge crest, our views of where to go next were completely blocked. Out came our GPSs.
Good thing about a GPS is you can see where you are stand and the direction you need to go. Bad thing is you have no idea what the current conditions are. Where the steep snow is? Where the breaks in the snow are? What snow is continuous?
Soon we roped up and Kevin slowly lead us down the slope. Kevin quickly encountered a very steep slope that we would have to protect and downclimb facing in. One by one, we worked our way down the slope. The cloud was so thick that you could hear the person on the end of the rope but you couldn’t see them. Great time to be tied to each other.
After another 15 minutes of snow travel, we decided we need to give up on the day and find a place to camp. Kevin dropped us down about 700 feet. We got out of the cloud and he found a nice basin with gravel bars and running water. Pretty sure we were the first group to ever camp here. We were all excited to be camping off the snow.
Just as we were getting ready to climb into our tents for the evening, the clouds began to part reviling the nearby mountain range.
Day 6 – Morning light revealed yet another blue bird day. This was something we were getting accustomed to on this trip. Not the normal Olympic Mountains weather.
On the way out of camp, I had to take a picture of this huge snow cave. Too bad we didn’t have time to rope someone up so we could explore it further.
To start the morning, we had to regain the 700 feet we lost the day before. Just above that was the notch in the ridge, we would have gone over the day before if the cloud hadn’t come in and blocked our view. From here, it was a long stretch of gentle snow slopes and we could see the Bailey Ridge High Route in the distance. It looked like our ridge run would be free of snow.
After a few hours of easy snow travel, we crested the ridge and took a break above Queets Basin. If we had taken the standard route, we would have camped in the basin last night. Might sound funny but I enjoyed our route better. Nothing like trying to puzzle together a route through the high country.
After a lunch break, we headed off to Bear Pass. It took Steph Abegg 3 hours to get from Camp Pan to Bear Pass. It took us 17 hours plus an overnight camp. What a different good snow cover makes. And 30 years. Our group’s average age was around 55 years old. I think Steph was 25 when she completed the same route.
From Bear Pass, we could look back at where we had come from over the last 5 days.
The rest of the day was spent hiking along a rolling ridge with views in both directions, wildflowers galore, and crystals under foot.
Eventually, we were looking down on Lone Tree Pass and camp.
Day 6 – We all slept in. At breakfast, we discussed our options. We were back on Tony’s high route traverse across the Bailey Range. I say Tony’s because he actually was the first person to tease it out and he added it to the Olympic Mountains Climbing Guide.
After a long discussion and a vote, the decision was to take a break from our heavy packs and stay at Lone Tree Pass for another night.
Eric opted to stay in camp for the day and welcome visitors. We hadn’t seen anyone since Day 2 but today we saw 2 different parties of 2 within 10 minutes of each other. We didn’t see another person until very late on Day 9.
The rest of us headed out to search for crystals and climb a few peaks.
We all found ourselves stopping to take pictures of the wildflowers. We were all amazed at how bright white these bunches of flowers were. Looked more like fresh snow than flowers.
No one was very motivated to climb but we did get up Ferry Peak.
I am amazed at how many different types of summit rocks you can find in the same mountain range. The rock on Ferry Peak resembles tree bark.
Jim and I were back in camp early enough for me to clean up in a near by stream and take an afternoon nap. Around 5pm, our temps began to drop. Very quickly. By dinner, we were all in all the clothes we had brought. Soon after dinner, a very heavy, cold fog was blowing through camp. It would be a very cold and wet night. Fog like that creeps through the netting on the tent and gets everything wet.
Day 7 – We had hoped to be on the trail early but when we woke, the chilly fog was still there. We all agreed to go back to sleep and try again in a couple of hours. Just before 9am, the fog started to lift. We quickly packed up and headed out. Before long, we were dropping into Upper Ferry Lake.
By the time we reach the other side of Ferry Lake and began dropping into Ferry Basin, the clouds had lifted and we were enjoying another blue bird day.
Ferry Basin is made up of multiple basins and lakes. Beautiful place. I expected to see deer frolicking every where. We were only in the basin a short time before Tony turned up hill and we were once again heading for a notch in the ridge.
Once we gained the ridge, we spent the rest of the day weaving back and forth across the ridge following game trails.
Camping goal for the night was Stephen Lake. Our route crossed only 200 feet below the summit of Mt Stephen so of course Jim and I had to climb it. It was an easy snow climb with a fun scramble at the top. Well worth the 30 minute, detour.
Once again the afternoon fog was coming in so we spent very little time on the summit. The 800 feet drop to camp was on mostly snow and quite enjoyable not to mention fast. Before long, I was cleaning up in a tarn below camp.
Once again, we were camped below the cloud layer which was nice but blocked our mountain views. We all hoped for a clear morning.
Day 9 – We got our wish and woke to blue skies. I found myself running here are there trying to capture the beautiful lake shore before we had to pack up and head out.
Greg and I headed out before the rest of the group so we could explore the upper basin and take pictures.
As we climbed out of the lake basin, we all marveled at how beautiful this area was.
We soon found ourselves cresting yet another ridge and looking down the Fairchild / Carrie Glacier. Tony knew the glacier would be full of blue ice so we were completely prepared for the double rope rappel that would get us below the blue ice, head wall.
Once over the headwall, it was a long 2 mile traverse of the glacier ending with a 700 foot, mile long climb on the hogs back. The Hog Back was so much longer than it looked.
The Hogs Back ended at the ridge crest on the shoulder of the summit of Mt Carrie. This would be our last ridge crest of the trip. I was delighted to see Mt Olympus and wildflowers as I scramble over the rock ridge.
It was a short hike to the summit of Mt Carrie marking the successful completion of the Bailey High Route. Everyone celebrated in their own way.
Greg found a big rock to lay down on and finally relax.
Tony broke out his celebratory cigar and made a cup of iced coffee in his newly acquired “My Little Pony” cup.
Jim and I had climbed Mt Carrie 10 years ago but not by this route.
It was difficult to tear ourselves away from the summit but we still had far to go before we could camp. Tomorrow would be our last day of the trip and we had to make it to the trailhead in time for everyone to drive home.
The last obstacle between us and a maintained trail was the infamous Cat Walk. Most of us had done the Cat Walk before but some how it was harder than any of us remembered. But bad memories are typical amongst climbers.
Once on the maintained trail, we all hiked off at our own speed. This section of trail follows just below the ridge and rewards hikers with wonderful views of Mt Olympus. Amazing to think we were all the way over there just 6 days ago.
We ended up camping at Swimming Bear Lake without a permit. Water is very limited in this area and we definitely need to camp near water. We had no time to melt snow. As it was, we set up camp and had dinner in the dark.
Day 10 – We got up early but still took time to enjoy our last breakfast together. What a great group of people to spend 10 days with. It was amazing how well we all got along even with the stress of an adventure of this nature.
The trail out lead right past Heart Lake. This is where we started to see people again. Half our party stopped to take a swim in the lake after waiting for the bear to finish their swim first. The other half of us watched the bear as he strolled off eating grass as he lumbered along. Reminded me of a cow. Not a care in the world. Olympic black bears are a unique experience.
We all left the lake on our own schedule. We had just over 9 miles of trail to hike in 4 hours. Eric flew by Jim and I shortly after we left the lake. He beat the rest of us to the trailhead by an hour and half. After meeting Tyler in the parking lot, Eric got cleaned up, changed clothes, and started hiking back up the trail to meet us. Not one of us recognized him. So funny.
As we loaded back into Tony’s van in the parking lot, we watched people walk by us in face masks. It was nice to escape this world for a while. We all talked about not going home and just heading back into the mountains avoiding whatever had happened while we were out of touch.
Here is a link to our route track (you might need to click “View All Tracks” on the right hand side of the screen)…Â https://share.garmin.com/EileenBrisbine
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