Glacier Peak Wilderness East to West High Route 80 miles, 31,000 feet vertical gain Joe Catellani scribbled a shorter segment of this route on an Art Wolfe postcard and planted a seed in my mind. It was nurtured by countless hours gazing at topographic maps. A series of week-long trips blossomed from that seed, each trip connecting dots and lines on a map. To the best of my knowledge a continuous east/west linkage has never been attempted and would require support from food drops and car shuttles. Starting at the North fork of the Entiat River, hike to the crest on the Pyramid Mountain Trail. Traverse below Cardinal Mountain to Snow Bushy Creek and along 45 Mile Sheep Driveway to the col at Pinnacle Mountain. Head northwest along the ridgeline to Dole Lakes before dropping down the abandoned Wilson Creek Trail into the headwaters of the Entiat River below Seven Finger Jack. Ascend the Ice Lakes High route and descend into Phelps Creek. From its end at Spider Meadows, traverse the Fortress Mountain High Route to Buck Creek Pass where the High Pass High Route extends into the Napeequa Valley. From the Napeequa, hike up the Boulder Pass Trail to start the Clark Mountain High route that connects with the Lightning Creek High Route which extends to the Pacific Crest Trail at White Pass. (Alternately one could leave the Napeequa valley via
the Honeycomb Glacier High Route and reach the Crest Trail at Red Pass.) Completion of the traverse is via the Black Mountain High Route to the Lost Creek Ridge Trail which exits near the base of Sloan Peak. ••• The geographic orientation of the North Cascades tends to promote travel in the north/south direction.
thin pencil line is drawn to mark the intended route and the commitment is made. Anticipation of future views across alpine meadows towards glaciercovered peaks makes the tedium of hours of training more tolerable. Campsite Below Kitling Peak, Ragged Ridge Traverse. Photo by Bob Kandiko
One exception lies in the Glacier Peak Wilderness where a ridgeline runs in an east/west orientation from Lake Chelan to near Darrington. Though the peaks lack the notoriety of the National Park summits, there are a lot of very high summits here. Twelve of the peaks along the way are among the highest 100 in the state. The terrain surrounding Glacier Peak is not as severely rugged and its glaciers are not as massive as their northern counterparts, making travel less technical. However, the combination of broader ridgelines and volcanic soils has led to lush alpine meadows with luxuriant flowers in contrast to the heather and blueberry ridges more common in the National Park. The same rewards of wilderness solitude and demanding high country travel can be found without requiring the extra weight of hardware such as helmets, ropes, and possibly even crampons.
Our tents are perched on a cornice left from last winter’s snow. It barely clings to the lee slope of the col and provides the only semblance of flat terrain we have seen in the last five hours of arduous travel. The August heat may release this overhanging snow in a few weeks but for now it provides a wild aerie from which
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