Aug. 22. Start Time: 9:30 Distance: ~5.5 miles. Altitude/Elevation: 2400 ft gain (high point 7100 ft), 1600 ft drop – Lyman Lake Camp – 5500 ft.
Waking up and getting up, though related, are two separate activities, particularly the first morning on the trail. First light seemed to creep in around 6:30, though I don’t recall a conscious memory before 7am throughout the trip. On clear nights the temperature drops, so that once awake the mental struggle is between the comfort of a warm sleeping bag and the chilly morning air. For me, the balance is tipped by morning breath in a cocoon sleeping bag and by the call of nature… My normal morning routine is to get into my hiking clothes, stuff away my sleeping bag, roll up my thermarest, get everything packed and then climb out of the tent. It being the first morning, things moved slowly as I re-established the routine, but with a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of extra strong Nescafe Instant (blech) it didn’t seem to take too long before we shouldered our packs and were back on the trail again.
Enjoying the morning sun on Spider Meadow
View of the meadow from the base of Spider Glacier
We hiked north across Spider Meadow, recrossing the avalanche and Phelps Creek, then heading up on a steep traverse across a cliff face. The slope percentage quickly led us to coin the term “non-PCT grade”, since the PCT is largely limited to less than 5% grade whereas we were often pushing up much >10%. I couldn’t help thinking how a little experience has gone a long way, since on our first attempt to reach Spider Glacier in 2004 we turned back half way up despite not having packs on. This time around, while it took some effort, we (with packs) trekked up to Larch Knob at the base of the glacier. There were a few tent sites at this point, which explained the lights we saw the previous night. This vantage point holds a commanding view of the meadow and the valley carved out along Phelps Creek.
With this years snow pack, melt water trickled into rivulets that collected into creeks and dropped hundreds of feet over granite into rivers below. It was impressive to see (and hear) the volume swell as the sun and temperature rose during the day, and then drop off again as the evening cooled.
After a short break, we donned our packs again and started up Spider Glacier, heading for Spider Gap. The midday sun had softened the snow enough that we could kick in footsteps as we climbed up the glacier. This was the first time I wished for two pieces of equipment: some trekking poles and sunglasses. Until this hike, I haven’t really seen the need for poles, but as the slope increased and I spun out in the snow a time or two, I could see how the extra support would have been pretty helpful. The glacier climb took us up another 1100 ft over the course of ~0.5 miles of kicking snow steps. Just below Spider Gap we found a large rock in the middle of the snowfield where we kicked back and enjoyed a couple hours of snoozing in sunshine, with cool breezes coming off the snow.
Posing on Spider Glacier
Ken trekking to the top of Spider Gap
After our break, we covered the last stretch up to Spider Gap (7100ft) in short order, then headed down the snow field along the Lyman Glacier towards Upper Lyman Lake. The glacier sits in a north facing cirque and feeds a chain of blue green lakes that were still half frozen with chunks of ice bobbing in the water.
Looking down from Spider Gap on Upper Lyman Lakes
Looking down from the gap, an encampment of 7 tents on the shores of the glacier lake put me in mind of a exploratory colony on the moon. My new desire for trekking poles grew as we stepped/slid our way down the snow field. Fortunately, other than a minor hyperextension of my knee, we found our way to the trail (1256B) and as the wind picked up at our backs we made our way to a campsite on the north end of Lyman Lake.
The site we chose was a few hundred feet from the lake, at the junction with the trail to Holden. It offered good shelter in the trees, which came in handy as this was the one cloudy night, and we dealt with light showers throughout the evening. Despite the weather, I took a mini dip in Lyman lake, washing away some of the dust and sweat accumulated on the trail. After a fine dinner of rice and chicken, some tea and a delicious orange I turned in and was soon asleep.
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So many things that you are writing about are so familiar after our trek up to Diamond Head a couple of weeks ago. Like you, I so wished for some walking poles because the stress of going down in slippery snow was hard on the knees.