March 22-23, 2007, Stevens Pass to Deception Pass
3/22/07
WA Stevens Pass
4078
5
Mount Daniel from Surprise Gap on Friday morning. Within three hours it was starting to rain.
After skiing the
Paul (left) and Lowell in the tent Friday morning near Surprise Lake.
After a night of light snowfall, we awoke Friday morning to clear skies. Elated, we packed up and skied to Surprise Gap, the high point of the route. We admired the view of Mount Daniel to the south and Glacier Peak to the north, but watched as a thick blanket of clouds approached from the west. Heavy snow gave us poor skiing down to Deception Lakes. In the woods of Deception Creek, the snowy trees that looked so pretty the previous day began dripping heavily on us. Near Deception Pass, the clouds began dripping as well. We descended to Hyas Lake in our rain gear and skied a tedious three miles to the end of the Cle Elum River road.
In planning this route, I always thought of the Squaw Lake trailhead as the end of the trip, since that's where it joins my previous traverse from Snoqualmie Pass. Paul and I glossed over the real situation in our phone and e-mail conversations. But at the road end we were still thirteen miles from our car, there was no sign of recent snowmobile traffic, and it was now raining in earnest. We ducked into a Forest Service toilet to rest, eat, and prepare ourselves for the final push.
About 4 p.m. we started down the road. We soon found fresh snowmobile tracks, but the valley was so flat that we couldn't glide much. I set my GPS to indicate the distance to our car. It showed ten miles as the satellite flies, but the true road distance was more and those long miles passed at a crawl. Finally, about half-way down the valley, the slope increased and we could start gliding. Near dusk we reached Paul's car, soaked to the skin. We were tired but satisfied. Our window of opportunity for this trip had been little more than a peep-hole, but it was enough.
Paul Ekman climbs toward Surprise Gap. In the distance, Glacier Peak is partially obscured by the approaching clouds.
Great timing and pics Lowell. Any chance you got one of Spark Plug Mtn from where you camped? Also, how much snow was on the Cle Elum River Rd; do you think it's down to dirt(mud) after all this rain today?? Thanks, Boot
I took photos of Surprise Mtn and Thunder Mtn, but not Spark Plug Mtn. The road is very long, and the upper reaches won't melt out for months yet. The lower reaches will melt out sooner, but it should still be continuous for a while yet. The Cle Elum River road melts out in patches. Already there are places where stream crossings have cut through the snowpack, but they are few. The Fish Lake snotel site is handy for monitoring the snow depth near the end of the road:
http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/snotel.pl?sitenum=478&state=wa
http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/snotel.pl?sitenum=478&state=wa
Awsome trip! -- how was the Scatter Creek crossing ?
Scatter Creek required a little detour because the snowpack had collapsed around the creek there. As I recall, I found a skiable detour while Paul took his skis off briefly. It was not a signficant obstacle for us. I might be confusing it in my mind with another stream where we both took our skis off and walked a few feet.
Thanks for the TR 8)
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