The first weekend in October, Matt mentioned to me that he had been scheming about an idea for a weekend trip with his friends Jenny and Alex. He sent me a .gpx file that I was scared to look at… “Anyone can draw a line on a map!”
The proposal was to start on Highway 20 and climb Silver Star via Burgundy Col, then work our way south along the crest of the mountains east of Lake Chelan for 3 days, hopefully tagging 14 Bulgers before heading out Foggy Dew Creek. Since we had to cross the Twisp River, we’d leave extra food to resupply from in Jenny’s van, which would also let us drop off our crampons, which we’d want for the Silver Star Glacier, but wouldn’t need elsewhere. Alex estimated our odds of success at 30%. I was worried I’d slow down the group of very fit folks, but I was excited to have a big weekend out in the mountains in the midst of peak larch season. In the end, we didn’t come close to pulling off the whole trip: we were a bit slower than ideal on the first day, and after thrashing up atrocious brush along Reynolds Creek, we skipped the middle section of the trip (and skipped Gardner, Reynolds, Oval, Hoodoo, and Raven Ridge). We still had three wonderful days out, tagging 9 Bulgers, and enjoyed endless spectacular views along the way.
After driving out and logisticating the night before, we set off from Highway 20 just as it was starting to get light on Saturday morning. We made quick work of the climbers’ trail up to Burgundy Col, then charged down some steep mud on the far side. The Silver Star Glacier was pretty darn bare, but a combination of cramponing up the ice and groveling along the rocky margins got us to the top without too much trouble. We dropped packs at the col at the top of the glacier, and then scuttled up to the top of our first summit of the trip.
From the col below the summit, we descended due south, running down the first of many steep sandy slopes, into the basin at 7,200 feet. From there, we made a rising traverse across a few ribs to wrap around the south side of Big Snagtooth before dropping our packs once again to tag our second summit, where ran into two gentlemen who kindly let us use their rope as a handline to descend. From Big Snagtooth, we ran southwest down a beautiful sand slope into the West Fork Cedar Creek drainage, then made our way cross country through mostly open terrain to hit the Cedar Creek trail.
Matt and Jenny working their way up the Silver Star Glacier
Running down sandy slopes from Big Snagtooth into the West Fork Cedar Creek drainage. Half Moon (middle) and Big Kangaroo (upper right) in the distance. Gilbert Peak at left.
After popping out onto the Cedar Creek trail, we ran ~3 miles down the valley, then crossed Cedar Creek and bushwhacked through post-burn forest up Shelokum Creek enroute to North Gardner. I had last climbed this route in 2019, before the Cedar Creek fire had burned the whole valley. It was definitely a bit depressing seeing how much of the terrain we passed through in the first half of our trip had burned in the past decade. Once out of the burn, we worked our way up to the North Ridge of North Garder, heading to the west of the ridge crest around 7,200 feet to avoid some steeper terrain. It was late afternoon by then, and the light was starting to get beautiful as we continued up fun easy terrain, high above the mountains around us. We wasted no time on the summit of North Gardner, running south along the beautiful high ridge towards the other Gardner, but, with only 30 mins of daylight remaining, we opted to skip the next summit and descend directly into Wolf Creek. We ran down into the valley in the gorgeous evening light, hopping over logs as it started to get properly dark. We looked for a climbers’ trail up to Abernathy Lake, but didn’t pick one up as we headed up the valley by headlamp. We decided to camp at Abernathy Lake and save Abernathy Peak for the daylight.
A cool view of the shadow of North Gardner as seen from the summit, with Gardner at right.
Heading down into Wolf Creek in golden evening light. Abernathy at right, above Matt’s head.
Jenny and Alex trotting down the gravely slopes of Gardner on our way down into Wolf Creek.
Sunday morning we were off again just as it was starting to get light, heading up the valley above Abernathy Lake as the sun rose. I dawdled behind the rest of the group, unable resist the urge to photograph the larches in the clear morning light. Eventually, we reached the base of the North Ridge of Abernathy, and, after stopping briefly to look at some old mining relics, made a flat traverse around the west side of the mountain on steep slopes before punching due east up to the summit. Scatter Lake looked incredible surrounded by larches, and we sprinted down more sandy slopes to the lakeshore, where Matt took a quick dip before we jogged down the Scatter Lake trail to Jenny’s van, another trail that had burned since I had last hiked it.
Sunrise above Abernathy Lake.
Jenny approaching the head of the valley west of Abernathy Lake.
Running down from the summit of Abernathy, with Scatter Lake below, and the Twisp River valley in the distance.
A refreshing dip in Scatter Lake to cool off before the dusty run down to the Twisp River.
At the trailhead, we ate, packed up more food, and then continued onwards. Jenny and I were feeling lazy, and opted to drive the three miles to the Reynolds Creek trailhead, while Matt and Alex kept their honor intact by running the road. (A wrong turn turned their three mile run into five - not sure if this bolsters or diminishes their honor.)
Jenny took a quick nap while we waited for the boys to arrive, and I poked a short ways up the trail, another one that had burned since my last visit. What I found was not encouraging: the trail seemed to have received no maintenance since the 2018 Crescent Mountain fire, and was totally overgrown. Nonetheless, I kept my mouth firmly shut, not wanting to discourage anyone. Once Matt and Alex arrived, already hot and dusty, we set off up the trail, making heinously slow progress under the hot midday sun. It didn’t take long for us to realize that this was a fool’s errand, and after 30 or so minutes we pulled the plug and headed back to the trailhead.
Hard bail on Reynolds!
As we rolled down the Twisp River road, there was plenty of indecision about what to do next. I suggested that we head up the West Fork of Buttermilk Creek to Fish Creek Pass, which would at least let us tag Courtney and Star, and then regain our originally intended route. After a blind vote with one abstention, Matt, Jenny, and I decided we’d go for this plan, while Alex chose to support us emotionally while doing his own thing. So at ~2pm, we set off up Buttermilk Creek, making good time through the pleasantly cool (and mostly un-burned) forest. We reached Fish Creek Pass under beautiful clear skies, and dropped our packs to go tag the summit of Courtney. I dilly-dallied on top while Jenny and Matt headed down to Star Lake to find a campsite amongst the larches. I joined them shortly before the beautiful sunset, and we had a pleasant night of sleep.
Jenny heading up Courtney, just above Fish Creek Pass. Star’s false summit above.
Matt and Jenny heading down Courtney towards Star Lake, tucked into the lach forest.
Once again, we got off as it started to get light, working our way around the shore of Star Lake as the sun began to light up the clouds above us. It was a beautiful sunrise as we headed up the climbers’ trail towards the summit of Star. After tagging the summit, we descended directly southeast down more loose slopes before traversing back over to the lower part of the South Ridge of Star, which we followed down into the forest to hit the summit trail. We followed the trail south, through pleasant forest, then crossed Prince Creek and continued up to Chipmunk Pass.
Jenny enjoying the sunrise from Star Lake
Morning light on Baldy Mountain, as Jenny heads along the climbers' trail towards the summit of Star. Finney Peak at left.
Jenny and Matt observing an old shelter in the Prince Creek drainage.
We ran the trail from Chipmunk Pass to just below Hoodoo Pass, then set off cross country to tag Bigelow. (We opted to skip Hoodoo and Raven Ridge for the sake of having a strictly Type 1 day :) From Bigelow, we made a descending traverse back towards Boiling Lake, now in familiar terrain. We headed up the trail to the west of Cheops, then made a rising traverse to the summit of Martin, then headed over to Switchback, our final summit of the trip. I had last done the Martin-Switchback traverse in early season, when the entire ridge was snow covered and I was in a foggy whiteout, so it was fun to get to do this part in beautiful weather and with great views. It’s a really lovely easy ridge.
Heading across meadows towards the nondescript summit of Bigelow.
Matt descending talus below Bigelow
Jenny heading up the trail above Boiling Lake.
Running along the the ridge towards Switchback Peak.
From the summit of Switchback, we hopped down to the trail just a few hundred feet below, and started running down into Merchants Basin. The last 7 miles of trail out to the trailhead along Foggy Dew Creek were far more pleasant than I expected, gently downhill with nice views, and before I knew it we were at Matt’s truck, with enough daylight left for me to snap some sunset photos!
Matt and Jenny running through Merchants Basin
Even though we didn’t come close to tackling the whole ridge, I still feel lucky to have made some new friends and gotten to spend time outside in a beautiful place!