After returning from Wyoming, Matt and I were looking for a short overnight trip to combine with some additional weekend activities. We had been helping Adam with work on his cabin outside of Rockport, so the Glacier Peak Wilderness seemed like it would offer easy access to some fun loop options. We ended up setting our eyes on Lost Creek Ridge, dropping my car at the North Fork Sauk trailhead, and we completed the loop by traveling off trail from Lake Byrne over Black Mountain, Magenta Peak, and Painted Mountain before plummeting back down to the trailhead. This ended up being a great half+half day trip, above treeline almost the whole time!
We set off from the Lost Creek trailhead at 3pm, sweating as we cruised up the many switchbacks on a good trail before popping out above treeline. The meadows were beautiful in fall colors and the late afternoon light, and it was remarkable how much more autumnal everything felt than 2 weeks earlier, before I left for Wyoming. We hurried to make it to Lake Byrne before dark, enjoying great varied views along the way.
Black Mountain and Painted Mountain across Lost Creek to the south.
Sloan Peak in the distance from the forest above Camp Lake
Matt is a blur running towards Glacier Peak in the last of the evening sun
We reached Lake Byrne just as the sun was setting, lighting up Glacier Peak
We found a pleasant campsite near the shore of Lake Byrne, and enjoyed great views of the alpenglow on Glacier
After a pleasant night at Lake Byrne, we got up and moving before sunrise. We traveled off trail to the south, climbing up to Pt. 6338 as the sun popped above the horizon, then worked our way down steep heather and cliff bands into the ~5,500 foot meadow just NW of Pt. 6534. We crossed the rib WNW of the aforementioned point, and side-hilled without much trouble on rocky slabs until due west of the summit of Black Mountain, then climbed some remarkably chossy steep dirt to hit the south ridge of Black and then up easy scrambling to the summit at 10, about 3 hours from Lake Byrne.
Happiness is a toasted Uncrustable for breakfast
We were on the ridge above Lake Byrne when the sun popped out from behind Glacier Peak
Descending steep heather meadows below Pt. 6338, with Black Mountain in the middle of the frame
Matt scrambling up to the summit of Black Mountain, with Sloan in the distance and Painted Mountain at right
We retraced our steps back down the steep dirt bullshit west of Black, then traveled easily on more slabs to the saddle between Pt. 6824 and Pt. 6716. Climbing the ridge to Pt. 6716 was the crux of the traverse from Black to Painted, but it was mostly steep heather with a few moves of class 3/4. It was nice to be going in this direction so we could see the steep terrain instead of descending it blind.
Matt descending the steep dirt on Black Mountain
Eyeing the route over to Magenta Peak. The saddle between 6824 and 6716 is the low point below Sloan Peak
Matt scrambling the exposed ridge just below Pt. 6716
Matt on the summit of Magenta Peak
Once past Pt. 6716, it was easy walking to the summit of Magenta Peak (Pt. 6735), and then pleasant heather romping down to the Painted/Magenta saddle. Matt absolutely dusted me on the last 1,000 foot climb up to the summit of Painted Mountain, where we saw our first other party since leaving Lake Byrne. It took us a bit over 2.5 hours from Black to Painted. From the summit of Painted we followed the well-flagged climbers’ trail down to the old lookout site, absolutely plummeting as we ran down the steep hillside, dropping almost 4,500 vertical feet in 2 miles. It took about an hour to reach the car from Painted Mountain, leaving just enough remaining daylight to head up to Blanchard for a quick paragliding lap to cap off the weekend!
Matt commencing the plummet into the Sauk River valley, with the Monte Cristo group at left and Sloan at right.