Background
This year my affinity for the Stuart Range (in the summertime) has blossomed, not just because the terrain itself is quite marvelous, but more so because I’ve been welcomed into a truly amazing community over in Leavenworth. Stephen, Corrine, Jenny, Alex, Ryan, Steven, Nick, Tracy, Walt, Nate, Ben, CJ, Maya (no particular order here) . . . there’s a lot of really high quality humans on the eastside of the mountains that bring a smile to my face. I feel sandwiched between two beautiful communities, my eastside family and my westside family.
This ‘soft’ fall (the early days of fall, before the colors really get going. . . I stole the term from someone) has been quite temperate, with lovely sunny weather and nice days aligning with weekends for galavanting. Again, without a strong plan, I wanted to head over east and spend time with friends. I knew I could come up with something fun to complement the days with. As the week matured, a rough plan hatched, centered around my desire to scout the beginning part of the Stuart Range Traverse from Cashmere to Stuart. While it’s not the most technical section of the Stuart Range Traverse, from what I’d heard it still has some complex sections that could benefit from some first-hand experience.
After getting my ass kicked on Outer Space on Saturday (thank you Jenny and Alex for being uber patient), Wyatt and I met up Sunday to romp around and see what we could manage on this initial section. There had been snow in the high country from a storm Friday, so we anticipated some pivoting might be necessary. Our third for the day had car troubles and sadly wasn’t able to make it :/
Trip Report
Wyatt and I got met up at the Leavenworth Park-and-Ride and rallied our way up to the Eightmile Lake trailhead. On our way I chose to stop and give a ride to two PCT hikers who were looking for a hitch up to Lake Stuart TH; after receiving numerous rides this year, I felt it appropriate to begin paying back the karmic balance I owe.
We started by 830A and began running up towards Windy Pass, with nobody in sight. The trails were quiet and the day quite serene, with a light breeze in the alpine and clear signs of snow on ridgetops. We enjoyed the scenery around Windy Pass, the large open basins and signs of colors turning. Winter is coming…
As we neared Windy Pass we discussed whether we wanted to head out towards Cashmere or not; we opted to forego it, saving time for the section past Eightmile towards Jack Ridge and Horseshoe Lake. That part would be new terrain to both of us and we were more psyched on it.
We made quick work along the ridgeline between Windy Pass and Peak 7211′, fairly simple travel that afforded lovely views. I was awestruck by the NW face of Eightmile, with the prominent couloir cutting through the face, a line that I’d read about but never seen in person. One day. . .
Wyatt and I mosied our way towards Eightmile, dropping off the ridgeline proper to take more pleasant low angle terrain across. We punched more directly up the east face than our friends’ tracks had, finding less snow and reasonable terrain. Before long, we were atop the summit plateau enjoying the position of Eightmile in the range, staring directly at the proud north face of Mount Stuart.
Looking to the southwest we noticed more and more snow as we got closer to the Stuart massif itself; we discussed continuing onward versus bailing off Eightmile and down to the lake. Ultimately, we still had time and stoke and opted to keep it going, feeling that we had reasonable options to bail if need be. The ‘crux’ of the route we were on, as described to us, was getting up and over Peak 7,792′, which has a steep summit block that required care. We could tell there was snow and ice on the northside of the ridge, so we’d need to find a way on the drier south side of the ridge to gain passage.
We managed to find an improbable ledge system just to climber’s left of the summit block that led us through the difficult final feet. We fist bumped, stoked that the ‘crux’ had been managed without issue. We again re-assessed our progress and motivation, keeping the momentum going. We dropped off the southwest side of Peak 7,792′ via a dirt gully (that would be an AWESOME ski), pushing our way towards Jack Ridge.
The terrain between Peak 7,792′ and Jack Ridge was incredible; I’d love to go back there with skis or on a backpacking trip. There’s a particular tarn that is just marvelous, with a gorgeous view of Stuart. I doubt anyone but myself will read this report, so I don’t feel bad about ‘blowing up the spot’.
We topped out Jack Ridge without issue but then looking south experienced a moment of pause. Wow, that’s a lot of snow…and this terrain looks pretty complex. The ridgeline stretching south from Jack Ridge steepened, dropping off sharply on the west side and not having an obvious feature on the east side to give passage. Personally, my stoke took a sharp dip; I wasn’t psyched to trudge through snow and/or make committing scrambling movements on potential slick surfaces. I went into the day not wanting to push the envelope from a risk perspective, and thus far hadn’t felt undue risk present, but wanted to keep it that way.
Wyatt kept the stoke alive, as he often does, and charged ahead finding an improbable sequence of ramps that just kept ‘going’ easily. Around each corner we’d wonder, does it go? And then quickly enough, foot by foot, it would without pause. We kept pushing south, aiming to get to a cross-over in the ridge right around Dudley Spire that would take us down to Horseshoe Lake. We had synchronized moments of mentally adding up the minutes and hours remaining, realizing that headlamps may be in the cards for the end of the day. I love it when two people are thinking the same thing at once, yet no words are uttered. Telepathic partnership.
We wove our way through deadfall and boulders on the east side of the ridgeline south of Jack Ridge, keeping pace with our ‘headlamps free’ goal. Soon enough, we were dropping over into the basin above Horseshoe Lake, snacking on leftover pizza that Alex had graciously wrapped up for me from the night before. It was quite the place to nosh on it, with Mount Stuart towering above.
We were hoping for a slightly better trail to exit out from Horseshoe Lake, but alas. . . there was quite a bit of deadfall and many acrobatic maneuvers required. Many logs were at the perfect awkward height, mid-hip to belly-button, where you aren’t sure if you should be going over or under. Without too much trouble, though, we reached more cruiser trail near Lake Stuart and began running in earnest down towards the car. We NEED to make it out in time for Heidleburger, I emphasized to Wyatt. I always forget what time they close and then this mad dash ensues, trip after trip, I noted. 8PM, I’m tattooing 8PM into my brain now.
We made it to Heidleburger at 7:45 PM. Mission accomplished.