Backpacking Archives | Page 3 of 7 | One Hike A Week / 每週一行

Northern Picket Traverse / 橫貫北尖樁

Picket traverse = Mount Challenger + Phantom Peak + Crooked Thumb Peak

Five years had passed since we climbed the Sawtooth Slam via he mixed-use Crater Creek Trail.

Compared with its west fork counterpart, East Fork Buttermilk Trail (#420) felt much like a walk in the park.

West Fork Buttermilk Creek Valley was the first area in Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness we had visited

Coincidentally, the late afternoon start time was the same as our first trip from six years ago.

Five miles in from the Cedar Creek Trailhead, we crossed a good size stream at 4,500′.

This outing was our last backpacking trip to wrap up the climbing season.

After witnessing the beauty of the Picket Range from Luna Peak earlier this season, I couldn't wait to see more from another perspective.

Over the last few years it had become somewhat of a tradition to do a bigger trip over Fourth of July weekend.

This trip was my last-minute plan, and it ended up being one of the season highlights.

By climbing these two peaks earlier in the season, we had the advantage of better snow coverage over the cruxes.

Due to the damage from Goode Fire, North Cascades National Park officials had closed off access to Park Creek Trail.