any other hikers here?

[bartruff1]

Mt Stuart (in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness) is not a hike....it is a climb and in Oct the weather is dangerous.... I do not know what the current permit system is, but they can give you all that info at the Leavenworth Ranger Station....

I have never climbed Stuart, but I have been in the Enchantments from both Snow Lakes and Assgard Pass.....

You might get a copy of Fred Beckey's Alpine Guide....the south side is different from the north side and rock fall is a problem when the snow is gone..

[seacatfan]

I've climbed Stuart. Are you going via Cascadian Couloir on the south side? Much of the couloir is loose dirt and kinda tedious. Gets more fun higher up on the mountain. Multiple options toward the end. I think all involve a little bit of scrambling (at least class 2 or 3), but if you take the wrong line you can definitely get into class 4 or 5 terrain.

[seacatfan]

I love the Sawtooths. Done a few trips over there, some day hikes and some backpacking. While some of the trails are somewhat popular, it's all relative. They certainly aren't anything like popular trails near Seattle. I don't think the Sawtooths are in much danger of becoming completely overrun. People from afar are more drawn to the national parks in Wyoming and Montana if they are visiting the Northern Rockies, and there just isn't a large population near enough the Sawtooths to be a huge problem.

The Seven Devils and Bighorn Crags are other cool areas in Idaho I've checked out at least a little bit.

[DZ]

I love the Sawtooths. Done a few trips over there, some day hikes and some backpacking. While some of the trails are somewhat popular, it's all relative. They certainly aren't anything like popular trails near Seattle. I don't think the Sawtooths are in much danger of becoming completely overrun. People from afar are more drawn to the national parks in Wyoming and Montana if they are visiting the Northern Rockies, and there just isn't a large population near enough the Sawtooths to be a huge problem.

The Seven Devils and Bighorn Crags are other cool areas in Idaho I've checked out at least a little bit.

Agree with above 100% re; SNRA. The view out from Galena summit on done to the Stanley Basin remains my number 1(a) of the most beautiful on earth 1(b) is the view over the Golden Gate with SF in the backdrop.

[gu03alum]

Mt Stuart (in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness) is not a hike....it is a climb and in Oct the weather is dangerous.... I do not know what the current permit system is, but they can give you all that info at the Leavenworth Ranger Station....

I have never climbed Stuart, but I have been in the Enchantments from both Snow Lakes and Assgard Pass.....

You might get a copy of Fred Beckey's Alpine Guide....the south side is different from the north side and rock fall is a problem when the snow is gone..

I hiked through the enchantments when I was 18 or so. That was a beautiful hike.

I've climbed Stuart. Are you going via Cascadian Couloir on the south side? Much of the couloir is loose dirt and kinda tedious. Gets more fun higher up on the mountain. Multiple options toward the end. I think all involve a little bit of scrambling (at least class 2 or 3), but if you take the wrong line you can definitely get into class 4 or 5 terrain.

I think we are doing the southern route. I was told there would only be scramble and no climbing.

[bartruff1]

Back in the mid 80's I hiked thru the Enchantments with your old boss....Bob Gates.....long story...

One place I always wanted to go is the Napeequa Valley north of Lake Wenatchee......I got close a couple times but never made it....has to be one of the wildest places in the Cascades...

[bartruff1]

The Owhyee mountains and the northern Nevada mountains around Jarbidge are very much under appreciated, far more room to roam up there than most would guess and it's definitely off the beaten path. Still, the SNRA has plenty of open space if one is willing to pack in for a bit and stay off the well-known day hikes like Independence Day Creek. Beautiful area, was going to be the "third" original national park with Yellowstone and Yosemite but Idaho's delegation blocked it - smart, I think, except it had as much to do with keeping ranching there than keeping it hidden.

Ya Jarbridge....with any luck you will run into a Hungarian Partridge or a Bundy cousin....

[gu03alum]

Back in the mid 80's I hiked thru the Enchantments with your old boss....Bob Gates.....long story...

One place I always wanted to go is the Napeequa Valley north of Lake Wenatchee......I got close a couple times but never made it....has to be one of the wildest places in the Cascades...

That sounds like a story worth telling.

Napeequa Valley sounds bad ass LINK

There’s a hidden valley in Washington’s Glacier Peak Wilderness that some have likened to Shangri-La, the fictional utopia of James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizon. Hilton’s Shangri-La was an earthly paradise … beautiful and nearly inaccessible to the outside world. Washington’s Shangri-La is the Napeequa River Valley. And perhaps the best place to look down on the Napeequa is from Little Giant Pass.

To get the view, one of the finest of the Cascades, you gotta do some leg work first. Your first obstacle is just a few feet from the parking area—a bridgeless crossing of the Chiwawa River. You’re not a bird, so you must wade the river. September is a great time to cross, as the river is at its lowest flow of the year and shouldn’t be higher than knees or thighs, but always be on the lookout for water currents and depth. From there, the 5-mile trail to Little Giant Pass isn’t far, but it is a bit steep. In season, berry breaks help temper the work, and soon enough you’ll see it, the lovely Napeequa Valley. The long valley sprawls out beneath you … as deep as it is isolated, as lush and green as it is wild. The icy Clark Mountain, a peek at Glacier Peak, the steep walls of Chiwawa Ridge and the snaking course of the Napeequa River all help complete the visual explosion. It doesn’t get more idyllic than this, so sit back, drink in the view and imagine your own Shangri-La.

[seacatfan]

Back in the mid 80's I hiked thru the Enchantments with your old boss....Bob Gates.....long story...

One place I always wanted to go is the Napeequa Valley north of Lake Wenatchee......I got close a couple times but never made it....has to be one of the wildest places in the Cascades...

The Napeequa looks beautiful from above. I've seen it from Little Giant Pass and right on the edge of the steep drop off to the valley beyond Triad Lake and High Pass. Haven't been down into the valley myself, like you.

[DZ]

Ya Jarbridge....with any luck you will run into a Hungarian Partridge or a Bundy cousin....

Go about 25 miles south of there and it's all black helicopters and men in black these days. Actually, it always has been, or at least since the Chenowith golden era, circa 1998.

[gu03alum]

I'm so excited about Napeequa now. It sucks it's closed due to fires.

[bartruff1]

You might consider Tieton Basin/Conrad Basin/Warm Lake and Gilbert Peak in the Goat Rocks Wilderness.....you have to hike thru the cow pies and flies and dust in Conrad Mdw. at this time of the year, but once you get to the Wilderness it is sublime ....a wildflower paradise and it is a hike and not a climb to the top of Gilbert.

A good family hike in the same area is from Section Three Lake out to Bear Creek Mt...from there you can look into the Goat Rocks....the last mile or so is steep but well worth the view.....the first couple miles are in a alpine mdw. full of wildflowers....you need some sort of high clearance vehicle to get to the trailhead from Pinegrass Ridge..

[seacatfan]

Glad you mentioned the road Bart. The water bars on that one are brutal. My Subaru wagon bottomed out multiple times getting to that trailhead when I was there several years ago.

[bartruff1]

The soldier boys did that...a Humvee must have been the design vehicle.....

[gu03alum]

I hiked the Rachel Lake trail today. It was a great day for a hike. I went to Rachel Lake first.



Then I hiked up to the Rampart Lakes. I brought my swim trunks and went in up to my chest. Holy crap it was cold. I had planned on swimming, but had to get out. It felt good, but I don't think I could have stayed in too much longer.