VTrail

Maps:

USGS Snoqualmie Lake
North Bend Ranger District Map
Printable Topo Map

July 22, 2000:

I'd had my eye on this area for a number of months. From Nordrum to Pumpkinseed to Charlie Brown there are roughly 12 lakes of interest in the area, and with nine days off work I figured now was as good a time as any to get up there. I thought with a 4-day trip and decent weather Phil and I would have no problem knocking several of these off the list.

DAY 1:
We left the Taylor River about a quarter to noon and quickly made our way to Marten Creek and then to Big Creek about an hour and half after leaving the car. With plenty of time we dropped the packs and began to feed. While walking about with Pop-Tart in tow I happened to lean over the bridge railing and notice several nice cutts swimming about in the pool below. With little hesitation I whipped out the fly gear, perched myself on a strategic rock, and proceeded to pull two nice fish from the water. But, after a 30-minute siesta is was time for us to get moving; a short time later we were once again at the Taylor. Actually three distinct "creeks" here, we made it across via a log crossing and two rock hops respectively. Once across we began the long and steep 2.7 mile climb to Nordrum

. The trail in this section is rough as reported in earlier reports, but evidently the FS had hired a contractor to come in and finish what the WTA crew had started a couple months back. The trail has been nicely brushed out and logged all the way to the lake making the climb much much easier with our heavy packs. I believe we rolled into the lake basin around a quarter after five and quickly found the lone campsite on the north end. Actually a pretty big site; there's a nice fire ring and room for three tents, and believe me, every square inch of that site ended up being used by the end of the trip. After setting up camp, and a quick dinner we scurried into our tents around 9:30 anxiously awaiting Friday's off-trail explorations.

DAY 2:
We opted to head west this day in hopes of getting a look at the two Garfield Mtn Lakes, and if we were lucky, Charlie Brown too. We left camp with nearly full packs (less tent, sleeping bag, and some food) and headed back up the trail we came in on. We looked for the old trail that would take us up and over to the Nordrum outlet, but after several minutes of poking about we found nothing and headed strait up the small ridge running along the west side of the lake. Phil started up only 100 ft or so from me, but once on top he was no where to be found. I figured he must have beaten me up and was just ahead of me, so I continued south along the ridge. After only a minute or two I picked up the old trail and followed it as it weaved its way amongst small ponds and creek gullies. Extremely faint, it wasn't easy to follow and I ended up losing and then regaining it several times. The trail seemed to fade entirely near the top of some small cliffs just above the outlet, so I picked and slid my way down. Once down, I was able to peer through the trees and see fish rising in Judy Lake below; couldn't wait to get down there. Waited for Phil to appear for about 20 minutes, but nothing, so I headed down hoping he'd be there waiting. A nasty little descent to the lake amongst cedar and slide alder thickets, not to mention a few cliffs mixed in for fun; took me awhile to negotiate the hazards, but it all worked out. Judy

is completely thawed and has a healthy, but small population of cutthroat. After several minutes, I heard Phil's whistle back up on the ridge, so I called up to him and 30 minutes later he joined me at the lake.

Back on track, we plotted our next move which was to proceed around to the outlet and then up and down to Carole Lake

. No doubt, this is the easiest way to Carole from Judy, but the up from Judy to the ridge was terrible. More of a climb than a hike, high angle slopes and thick brush made this a serious upper body workout. We'd seen only one lake, and already I was feeling spent! Once on top, we had good views down to Carole, which I thought was the nicest lake of the entire trip. Yet another steep berry bash brought us to the northeast shores of the lake. We quickly spread ourselves out on some nice logs, ate lunch, and filtered some water. It was so nice at the lake I almost wanted to stay behind, wade around near the outlet, and do some fly fishing while Phil headed up to the saddle to the southwest of Carole. Yet, I knew I wouldn't be back anytime soon so up I went.

Down at Carole an assortment of cliffs and ridges made it tough to get a good look at the terrain we were heading into. We could see our destination (the low point just to the west of the lake at elev. 4662), but very little in between. Anyway, we headed west from the outlet then south and southwest all the way up. The most difficult up and down I've ever done. I'll never do it again. I'd do the "Rainy-Nine Hour Traverse" three or four times consecutively before I did this one again. The last 200-300 ft were snow covered and a cinch, but everything below was a nightmare. However, once at the top all worries were forgotten amongst spectacular views of the east face of Garfield

, down to Garfield Mtn Lakes

, across the valley to Dog Mtn, and if we were a few hundred feet higher we probably could have seen Marten Lake. After a couple photos Phil headed over to "Lake 4662"

while I enjoyed the views and stiff breeze atop the cliffs above the two Garfield Mtn Lakes. The upper lake was about 30% thawed, the lower about 70% and after several minutes, in the upper lake, I noticed a few ripples characteristic of rising trout. The open forest descent to the upper lake was intoxicating; all we'd seen all day were berries and slide alder. I contemplated the 1600' up and down, but figured the extra time would put us back at camp well after dark. So, I stayed put for a few minutes and enjoyed a power bar and another 32 oz. of water before heading off to find Phil. A short stroll put me on the west side of the small lake, which was 90% thawed, but too shallow to winter any fish. We were quite happy where we were and were reluctant to go through another 6-7 hours of hell to get back to camp. We thought about toughing it out for the night and then exiting back to camp via Green Ridge and Rock Lake the next day. However, the approaching clouds looked a wee bit intimidating and remembering the forecast for thunderstorms we retraced our footsteps back to Carole.

Made it back to Carole (bruised and severely battered) around 5:30. After a short food and filtering break, up and over we went to Judy arriving sometime between 7 and 8. With fatigue starting to really kick in, the last climb of the day out of the Judy Lake basin was a long and grueling haul. But, once up the cliffs and steep slopes we quickly found the old trail and struggled along it curious as to where it would take us. It ended up dropping us off just a 100' or so from the new trail, but faded entirely in the brush so there's no sign of it as you walk by, there wasn't even a flag for me to pull, geeze. We hobbled into camp just after 9 PM, 14 hours after we started. Definitely an unforgettable trip! Phil claimed it to be the most difficult hike he's ever done and I can only think of one that rivals it!

Waiting for us when we got back to camp was a poor guy wanting to know if we'd let him pitch his tent next to ours. Wow! Needles to say, the third and last place to pitch a tent was his. Too beat up to sleep, the three of us stayed up awhile and chatted. Roman kept us laughing with some pretty funny stories about hot springs and fording the MF Snoqualmie in December?! I think we finally dozed off around 11, man I was ready for day 3 and the hike up Pumpkinseed, ouch!

DAY 3:
Awoke around 8 to thick fog and drizzle. It was a real tough decision (yeah), but with the weather turning to crap we decided to bag the day 3 adventure and call it a trip. Besides, Pumpkinseed is best reached from the south. Roman rolled out of camp around 9:30, but had hitch hiked his way to the trailhead, so we offered him a ride if he was still there when we got there. We slowly got our gear together, and around 11:45 people started arriving at the lake. The first two were a couple of rangers, Professor Sparky (this guy gets around) and Pat (I believe was his name). We BS'ed with them for about 45 minutes, but in the meantime two more backpackers rolled in and a couple day hikers. Looks like we were getting out of there just in time! The hike back was quick and painless, and Roman was waiting when I arrived. Phil made it back to the car sometime later and the three of us headed back to Seattle. Roman's stories of being a sniper and chemical weapon specialist in the Polish army during the 70's were the only things that kept me from dozing off during the drive home, whoa!

Contributed by Randy Busch