Distance: 22 mi.
Elevation Gain: 6700 ft.
After almost 3 years since my last backpacking trip, the awesomely amazing Bailey Range Traverse, then growing and having a baby, I was ready to get back out for an overnight! With Craig taking on childcare duties, I headed out with my friend Nancy and her dog Riley. We reached Surprise Creek TH at about 9:30 AM on a Saturday and we nabbed one of the last spots at the actual trailhead, although there were probably spots further back on the road. We had a steady climb for 2200 feet to Surprise Lake, where we stopped for some lunch. There were several tents set up at the lake already.
After lunch we backtracked along the lake until we reached the unmarked Surprise Creek Trail at a sharp right (southwest), and then climbed about 300 more feet until we met up with the PCT, turning right (south), and then dropped down a steep spur trail marked for the privy when we reached Glacier Lake. We set up our campsite at one of several remaining nice spots with a view of the lake, and headed back up to the PCT, turning right. In our usual fashion, Nancy and I got to talking and totally missed our intersection toward Surprise Mountain, which was noticeably marked by a sign stating “Trail Abandoned”. So we had to backtrack down the PCT a bit and then crossed a boulder field back over to the steep climbers trail. When the trail reached Surprise Gap, we turned right (southwest) onto an obvious climber’s trail along the ridge to Surprise Mountain. We continued southwest for .3 mile, then turned back north for another .4 mile until we reached the summit, which boasted some debris from the dismantled lookout tower and awesome views back to Glacier and Surprise Lakes.
We descended the 1500 feet back down to Glacier Lake and settled in for the evening by 6PM, dipping our sore legs into the lake and enjoying some canned wine. The obvious sites did fill up by the end of the evening, but it was a lovely quiet night at this pretty alpine lake.
The next morning we broke down camp and returned to the PCT, where we turned left (north). We stayed on the PCT until we reached the marked trail split toward the Surprise Creek trail, where we stashed our overnight gear in large boulder. We then continued north on the PCT up numerous switchbacks until we reached a small clearing with a view of Trap Lake at about 5700′. From here there was another obvious boot track to the right (southeast) toward Thunder Mountain Lakes. After having such a chill night at Glacier Lake, we were absolutely astounded at the incredible number of campers and dogs we passed as they left the Thunder Mountain Lakes area, especially considering that this trail was easy to lose in spots as it crossed boulder fields marked by sparse cairns. We must have passed at least 50 people heading out. When we reached the lake we could see that there were quite a few nice campsites, but not enough sites to support that number of campers, and also no privy. If you’re planning to backpack in this area, I would definitely suggest to go on a weekday.
We walked around the first Thunder Mountain Lake to scope out Thunder Peak, but after deciding it didn’t look like a straightforward enough climb to tack onto our day (supposedly just a third class scramble?), we settled down for lunch at the lake. The lake sported vivid blue water and incredible views toward the Enchantments. On our way back out from the Thunder Mountain Lakes region, we decided to climb Nimbus Mountain. The boot track wasn’t especially obvious so a GPS track would be helpful. It was a 2nd class scramble with a couple third class moves and we didn’t bother with helmets, but they would have been useful for Thunder by the looks of it. The summit of Nimbus featured a large boulder that I suppose we could have maneuvered onto, but the actual summit was completely coated in mating flying ants so we decided to leave them alone and call it good, since our heads were above the summit from the next boulder over.
The climb back down Nimbus, back to the PCT, back to our stashed gear and then back out to the trailhead was straightforward but very tricky on these cranky old knees, plus the weather had gotten a lot hotter from the previous day. We were stoked to reached the TH at about 4:30 PM and then grab sammies at LouSkis deli in Skykomish before sitting in the typical Sunday afternoon Route 2 traffic. We made it back to Seattle around 7PM.
(Download the free Gaia GPS app on your phone to view tracks and then get a Gaia GPS membership if you want offline access. Discount below!)
Recommended brew wine: The Original House Wine
Gear:
- Backpacking tent
- Ursack
- GPS
- Overnight pack
- Sleeping pad
- Summer sleeping bag
- Stove
- Trail runners
- Trekking poles
- Water filter
Post may contain affiliated links