In July of 1999 I joined four friends and followed the Ptarmigan Traverse in the North Cascades National Park. My companions are Garry Stephenson, Keith Garlinghouse, Pam Otley, and Bill Saur, all members of the Chemeketans, a hiking and climbing club in Salem, Oregon. This was the first time any of us had taken this route. It was a memorable alpine adventure.

Diary

24 July 1999 (Saturday)

Garry Stephenson leaves his pickup at the Downey Creek Trailhead. I check out the weather forecasts and Ptarmigan Traverse trip reports at the Marblemount Ranger Station of the North Cascades National Park. It is drizzly at the Ranger Station, reportedly wet at Cascade Pass. We decide to wait out the weather until tomorrow.

The five of us, Garry, me, Keith, Pam, and Bill rent a mobile home at Clark’s Cabins off the highway. Since we pay with Garry’s credit card we name this “Camp Stephenson”.

25 July (Sunday)

We begin our Ptarmigan Traverse at the Cascade Pass Trailhead. We hiking to Kool Aid Lake (6100′) via Cache Col (6900′). On the way we meet a party of four (from the Portland area) at Cache Col who had spent a wet night camped above Cascade Pass.

Later we make camp on snow beside a snow-covered lake. That afternoon we climb to just below the summit of Magic Mountain, but turn back due to steep snow since we left our ropes and crampons at camp.

From camp we note the Red Ledges just ahead of camp on tomorrow’s route, the crux of the traverse according to a ski party two weeks earlier.

26 July (Monday)

First thing in the morning we climb through the Red Ledges to find the Portland party breaking camp. From there we traverse steep snow to the Middle Cascade Glacier and climb it to the Spider/Formidable Col (7320′).

I note a steep traverse below Le Conte Mountain to reach the Le Conte Glacier tomorrow. We descend to Yang Yang Lakes (5830′), crossing wet, steep snow to reach the lakes.

Here we camp on heather at the partially frozen lake, noting also the steep snow gully above camp. The Portland party passes by in the evening and ascends the snow gully above, apparently unroped.

27 July (Tuesday)

We start the day by climbing up through the gully, then traverse below Le Conte Mountain to the Le Conte Glacier. Here we meet the Portland party and another party before climbing the Le Conte Glacier to Sentinel Saddle (7280′). The Le Conte Glacier is just starting to open up but is not a problem to cross.

We traverse above the South Cascade Glacier until below a snowfield leading upward to Sentinel Peak. Bill and Keith climb Sentinel Peak, but Garry and I turn back below the rock to avoid crossing above a deep moat without a rope. We rejoin Pam and wait for Bill and Keith to return.

After their return we continue on to Lizard Pass (6800′) and drop down steep snow to White Rock Lake (6200′) to our campsite. This steep descent would likely have been a problem in the morning, so we are glad to have pushed on to the lake rather than camping in the sunshine above.

Also, it gives us ample time to puzzle out how we are going to try to reach the Dana Glacier tomorrow morning. The easiest approach seems quite steep from camp, and we are concerned about tomorrow’s route.

28 July (Wednesday)

In the morning we leave White Rock Lake ahead of the Portland party. We drop down looking for a trail but find steep icy snow slopes instead. Bill and I start traversing one steep slope without crampons, but advise the others to use crampons before very carefully continuing across the icy snow above a cliff band.

From here we traverse down further to access the Dana Glacier and discover the slope is much less steep than it appeared from White Rock Lake. We ascend the Dana Glacier to Spire Col (7760′) which we identify using a GPS and map. Here is our first view of Glacier Peak and it is very impressive and scenic.

We drop down the other side of the Col and find a campsite on Itswoot Ridge (about 6300′). We have finished the high traverse and feel very satisfied.

29 July (Thursday)

In the morning we climb Dome Peak from our Itswoot Ridge camp. We return to camp where the Portland party has arrived.

We break camp and descend steep snow to Cub Lake, then climb over the pass to drop
down into the Bachelor Creek drainage. Here we try to find a campsite at timberline, but don’t find anything pleasant. We find the trail leading further down the drainage and follow it to a campsite along Bachelor Creek lower. We have light rain that evening.

30 July (Friday)

In the morning we continue down the Bachelor Creek Trail. We fight brush, then discover that we need to ford the creek. The creek is high and flowing fast. We decide to keep our boots on and wade across one at a time. After the wet crossing we empty out our boots on the other side. then follow the trail downward to Downey Creek.

At Downey Creek I mistakenly think we need to cross the creek to find the trail out to Garry’s truck. We try to ford Downey Creek with arms locked, but the water is too high and Pam is getting lifted off her feet. We find a large log across the creek and shuffle across one at a time.

Once across, we check the map and discover we should not have crossed Downey Creek after all, so we retrace the crossing and find the trail just downstream of where the Bachelor Creek Trail ended.

The Portland party catches up with us and leads out. We were warned of a lot of downed timber along Downey Creek, so I begin to count each tree we need to step over or squat/crawl under. I count 68 trees. Pam counts more.

We finally arrive at Garry’s pickup and enjoy a celebratory beer. What an adventure!