In late August, the smoke / weather forecast created a perfect window for Jim, Brooke, Andrew and I to do the Buck Creek Pass / Spider Gap loop. I have been wanting to climb Fortress Mtn since I first saw the north face of it from Suiattle Pass 6 years ago. We have been trying to get Brooke to Image Lake since 2020. The winds aligned and we were off on a 6-day adventure.
We opted to hike the loop clockwise so we wouldn’t be in Spider Meadows on the Labor Day weekend. I also liked the idea of climbing Fortress Mtn early in our trip because the weather forecast was stellar. I have done too many summits with smoky haze lately.
Day 1 was pretty uneventful. One creek crossing due to a washed out bridge.
A hike through an old burn. (The Buck Creek fire from a few years back. One advantage is we now had views.)
And then just before we came to Buck Creek Pass, we left the main trail to camp in the basin below Pass-No-Pass. Clouds rolled in that evening. It was cold and rained a little but then in the morning something majical happened. We woke to blue skies and no smoke. I haven’t seen views this clear for a month.
I ran around taking pictures. Super excited to get going.
I was the first person to leave camp as we headed up the basin toward Pass-No-Pass. Our first objective on the climb of Fortress Mtn.
Pass-No-Pass is a funny name but it makes sense. From one side it looks like a beautiful pass but then the other side is a cliff.
I took my time climbing the ridge. Enjoying the views. Jim, Brooke, and Andrew were behind me. I had all the time in the world. As I meandered toward Fortress Mtn. I could hear Jim ahead of me. Their route had brought them under me.
We reunited in the rocks below the daunting Fortress Mountain summits.
We worked our way up the boulder fields stopping occasionally to discuss what we thought the route was.
Our route up was not the best but it sure was pretty.
We were all excited when we reached the summit. Not sure anyone was as excited as Brooke.
Our descent route was much more efficient but quite loose.
At least the views made it all worth wide.
We took a route halfway between Jim’s up route and mine. It was better than either of our initail route choices.
We reached camp before 4pm so we opted to pack-up and move camp a few miles down the trail. This would make reaching Image Lake the next day, that much easier. We would have made it farther down the trail but when we reach Buck Creek Pass it was full of ripe, wild huckleberries. Our progress pretty much stopped.
We made it another mile or two before we crossed a creek with a nice forest camp. This would be home for the night. We all soaked our feet in the creek. The steep loose rock of Fortress Mtn was not very kind on our bodies.
In the morning, we hiked up and over the near by ridge. As we descended, we were treated to views of Plummer Mountain and the route to Image Lake.
Jim and I were both super excited. The last time we had been to Image Lake, Glacier Peak was blocked by wild fire smoke. Today was clear skies.
Since it was Labor Day weekend, we sent Brooke and Andrew ahead to secure a campsite at Image Lake. After Jim and I passed Lady Camp, I kept stopping to turn around and take in Fortress Mountain. It was amazing from this angle.
When we found Brooke and Andrew at Image Lake, they had already setup camp and were relaxing in their tents. Ah, to be 30. Who am I kidding, I was never as fast as they are.
After Jim and I setup our tent, we gathered up our dinner supplies and headed off to hike above the northside of the lake for dinner. Not sure Brooke and Andrew thought this was a good idea but for some reason, they will follow us anywhere.
As we climbed the hillside behind the lake, they figured out our plan. This view was going to be a spectacular sunset.
We still had some time before sunset, so we climbed over Miner’s Ridge to look at the Bath Lakes Traverse. This was our original plan until they closed the Suiattle road for fire potential.
When we figured it was time to find water and the perfect spot for dinner, we hiked back over to the Image Lake side. This basin is so amazing.
The perfect spot for dinner with a view. Plus we had no bugs and mild temps. A magical evening.
As the sunset on Glacier Peak, a few more people joined us on the hillside to take it all in.
The next morning, we hiked over to the Miner’s Ridge Lookout. Jim had never been there and it was high on his list.
360 degree view. Great spot for a photo shot.
After packing up camp, we were off to Cloudy Pass. Our plan was to climb Cloudy and North Star Peak this afternoon. Brooke still had time to stop and do some grazing on her way to Lady Camp.
As the morning turned to afternoon, the clouds continued to settle on the high peaks. By the time we crossed over Cloudy Pass, the cloud layer was thick and low hanging. No climbing for us. Our main reason for climbing North Star is to get the views.
We setup an early camp in Cloudy Basin. We would be setup to climb Cloudy and North Star in the morning if the clouds lifted. Jim and I spent the afternoon picking Huckleberries while Andrew and Brooke hung out in their tents. The temps had dropped considerably and if you weren’t moving, you definately needed to hide out.
We woke to clouds all around us but blue sky above us. I hiked up to the ridge to see if I could get above the clouds. It was beautiful but there were no distant views to be found.
We had a slow morning in camp, hoping the clouds would lift. Instead they kept pouring over Cloudy Pass. Hopefully as we hiked east, the clouds would break up.
After hiking down from Cloudy Basin, we got views of Lyman Lakes. One of the highly coveted alpine lakes in Washington.
As we began our hike along the lakes, the clouds started to break up.
As hopeful as we were, the clouds never broke up enough for us to get a view of Bonanza Peak. I guess we would have to come back.
Above Upper Lyman Lakes just below Spider Gap, we left the trail and started working our way up through the rocks trying to avoid the ice left by the Lyman Glacier.
Spider Gap was the high point of our traverse and marked a great place to stop for lunch.
The descent from Spider Gap is a bit tricky. The exposed rock is loose and my boots are not good on ice. For future trips, I would opt for earlier in the season and more / better snow.
Once we cleared the snow, we came to the Spider Bench camps which over looked Spider Meadows. This was our planned camp for the night but since we didn’t climb Cloudy and North Star this morning, it was way too early in the day to camp so we headed down.
After a steep trail decent, we found ourself in Spider Meadows and the first smoke in a week. Though there were several people camped in the meadows, we were going to try and get out of the smoke.
When we passed over Leroy Creek, we had a group discussion on whether or not we should hike all the way out tonight. The drive home was 3-1/2 hours. The young ones were game to get home at midnight. Jim and I have done too many of those trips and definitely didn’t want to have dinner at a gas station. We were too old for frozen burritos. In the end, Jim won. After all, he had the car keys.
The next morning, we had a quick breakfast and were at the car in under 2 hours. We stopped at Red Robin for lunch as a consolation for not driving home the night before. Pretty sure Brooke and Andrew still wished we had driven home the night before, but they did enjoy their endless fries.