3-day bp in Glacier Pk wilderness

“After the really long drive up FS 6022, I hit the trail towards Spider Meadow at noon last Sunday, August 8th. I took it easy, and made the meadow at 4:30. Then it was up through the meadow and some woods to Phelps Basin, a gorgeous rocky bowl surrounded on three and a half sides by cliffs. I had a great campsite on grass next to a giant boulder. The stars were crystal clear and bright, and I saw a few "early birds" for the Perseid meteor shower. Day 1 stats: 6 miles, 1,900 vf up, 0 vf down.

Monday morning I saw a bear on the hilside to the east. He was foraging or something, then about two minutes after I got my binoculars on him, he bailed at high speed into some woods and disappeared. I "wasted" about two more hours waiting to see him again, but no luck. I broke camp and headed up at noon to the knob at the base of Spider Glacier, about 1,000 ft up the cliff. The trail is rough and steep and hot, but only one mile. The whole place was deserted, so I picked the best campsite and set up my tent on the pinnacle of the bluff. By now it was 3 pm, so I high-tailed it up to Spider Glacier. Man, what a cool area, all rocks and ice and falling water. There are several crevasses in the glacier, and climbing up it was tough but fun. You climb 900 vf on the glacier. At the top is a quiet little bowl where the glacier originates, under the peak of "Pt 8134". I took a right turn and scrambled over to a viewpoint down into Phelps Basin, then came back and crossed over Spider Gap. The views of Lyman Glacier, Lyman lakes, Glacier Peak, etc, are just stunning. I stayed for three hours, watching the Lyman lake basin fill with smoke from the Railroad Creek basin below. I feel bad for anyone who spent the night at Lyman on Monday. The glacier I had struggled up for over an hour I descended in fifteen minutes. The sunset from the knob 1,600 ft above Spider meadow was very worthy. Day 2 stats: 3.5 miles, 1,800 vf up, 900 vf down.

Tuesday I hung out on the knob, milking any shade I could find, and wandering up a couple of nearby uber-knobs. At 2 pm the sad realization set in that I had to leave. I went down the short, steep way to the meadow, then started the long, easy miles back to the car. I made the trailhead at 7:30, and got back home at 11. Day 3 stats: 7 miles, 0 vf up, 2,700 vf down.

Trails and roads are in good shape, bugs weren't bad except for some black flies on the trail before Spider Meadows. I applied DEET once in three days.”

“cool report, Slug, where in Wa. you from? Must be right over the border (idaho) in order to get home when you did. Go through LIbby?”

“Damn, the way you described it was sweet, but pics would be sweeter! Nice TR, spounds like an awsome place.”

“BB, there are a four pictures posted at nwhikers.net, trip reports section, my report is now on page two.

Mtnmom2, the "Glacier Pk Wilderness" I was refering to is IN Washington state, in the national forest wilderness area associated with Glacier Peak. It is easily confused with Glacier National Park in Montana. I live in Lynnwood, north of Seattle but south of Everett. Glacier peak is one of the last true wilderness volcanoes in the lower 48. No road goes anywhere near it, and many trails to/near it have also been recently destroyed by floods last October. Even the PCT has had to have major re-routes through the area, affecting many thru-hikers. But that just makes the area more appealing to solitude-cravers like me!lol”

“You mention smoke. Were there big fires there?

Thanks for the trip report!”

“I don't know how big the fires were, but they were apparently upwind of Lyman lakes. They filled the entire Lyman valley with smoke too dense to see through in just a couple of hours. I was glad to camping on the other side of a ridge devoid of vegetation. What would you do if the place you were camping suddenly filled with smoke in the evening? Sit tight and hope for the best, or high-tail it out, maybe in the dark, without any real knowledge of the fire's location or direction? I think I will start bringing an AM radio on backpacking trips during fire season. The info available before a trip starts may be useless after a few day's backpacking.”