Legacy Auction Guided Hike #1

Rollie Perez was the winner of my "Guided Alpine Hike" from this year's Legacy Auction (benefiting the new Community Center at Eastside). Early Friday morning I picked him up at his house and set out for the Pinnacle Lake Trail off Mountain Look Highway. Shaun Wilson and my son Levi joined the party. We took two cars, dropping one the Mount Pilchuck trail head and then riding together to the Pinnacle Lake Trail head.

The weather was perfect and we arrived at the parking lot at 10 a.m. The rains of last Fall have washed out the road to the trail, adding a 1.9 mile hike to the trail head. Ascending through nice forests we arrived at Pinnacle Lake and enjoyed lunch while watching the trout cruising the shoreline.

From Pinnacle Lake we found our way along the rugged shoreline before beginning the long slog up Iodine Gulch. This was the most physically demanding part of the hike. To make things worse, mosquitoes were swarming. They especially seemed to like Rollie. Levi spotted a large marmot and was able to snap a nice photo.

Once at the top of Iodine Gulch we were rewarded with great views of Glacier Peak. From there we began following yellow paint which marks the difficult route from there to the summit of Mount Pilchuck.

A half mile from the top of Iodine Gulch we arrived at the breathtaking Bathtub Lakes. We counted nine lakes and enjoyed about an hour which was highlighted by some icy plunges off a rock into one of the lakes. This felt great -- as soon as you were out of the water. We had good cell phone coverage here so we called our families and stocked up on fresh water. We were the only people at the lakes.

Once we left the Bathtub Lakes we began the "scramble" route climbing the ridge that is high above Lake 22 and Heather Lakes. The views were awesome and the exposed cliffs added to the excitement. There were a few places that required a little climbing. Everyone was having fun and were doing well physically.

The final push to the summit was up a near vertical glass gully. The lookout was full of hikers but it cleared out as dusk arrived. We enjoyed Pad Thai, salmon, and Teriyaki Chicken for dinner. It tasted great! The sunset was amazing and we even saw fireworks from the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe.

We slept well -- clouds and drizzle arrived during the night obstructing any view of the sunrise. Our hike down was easy (2 miles or so). On the way out we stopped at the Monte Cristo Cafe (restaurant) for omelettes, steak and eggs and coffee. It was a great finish to a great hike!

MORE PHOTOS