The 2,149 m (6,020 ft) mountain is easily distinguishable by its heart-shaped summit …
At the base of the mountain a left turn onto the flat, good quality, Quaite Creek trail delivers us past a pristine swamp with mirror surface water and back to the car. The 11 KM (7 mile) loop …
Local hiking Guru Kelly Mock recommended that loop, due to an early winter snowfall, but in reverse. Finishing coming down the Hart Mountain trail. We parked at the the Heart Creek trailhead.
Steve had done the loop before, but in the normal direction. We set off looking to ascend on the Quaite Creek trail.
Only Sept 13th, there was much more snow than we anticipated. But we hoped the snow would have been blown off the ridges, once we got up there.
We tried bushwhacking through deep snow between trees to get up on the windswept ridge.
We tried.
If was tough going, postholing non-stop. For hours. Off trail. 😦
Here’s the highpoint reached.
Sadly slipping on that snowfield up to the ridge was a death drop. We turned back, the sun warm, the sky blue, the wet snow … turning to slush.
Yes. It was steep.
We scrambled off trail down a different route, eventually getting back to the regulation track after 8 hours.
Phoning Kelly Mock to curse his bad advice, it turned out Kelly had started the Horseshoe in the normal direction, hoping to surprise us half way round.
After a half hour Kelly quit. You’d have to be an idiot to try Heart in these snow conditions. 🙂
Lake Lovely Water is a Mountaineer’s and Scrambler’s Paradise. But it’s not for the inexperienced nor ill-prepared.
There is a 6.5 km (4-6 hour) hike to Lake Lovely Water. The trail is very rugged and steep. Good route finding skills and proper equipment and clothing are required. Weather can change quickly, causing limited visibility.
There are steep and rugged established trails leading from the cabin towards Niobe Meadows (approximately 2.5km one-way) and Lambda Lake Meadows (approximately 3.5km one-way).
Access to the Lake Lovely Water trail requires crossing the Squamish River. Jetboat service may be available out of Brackendale. Or you could chopper out of Squamish Airport direct to a hut. Contact Omega Aviation 604-898-1067 or Black Tusk Helicopters 604-898-4800.
I’ve heard of hikers canoeing across.
By reservation only, you could stay at either Tantalus Hut on the Lake (3850ft) or Jim Haberl Hut (6800ft).
Leor Pantilat seems to have invented his own high Sierra route:
The Roof of Yosemite Loop travels to the highest point in Yosemite National Park on 13,114 ft Mount Lyell and also includes ascents of 12,900 ft Mount Maclure (5th highest in the park) and 12,561 ft Mount Florence (9th highest in the park). …
The Roof of Yosemite Loop combines many of the highlights of this region into an aesthetic and highly scenic loop. …
In 1792, as Captain George Vancouver was exploring the Puget Sound, he named a large, protected bay Port Townshend. The h was eventually dropped.
One of the most hiked summits in the Olympics, and it’s easy to see why this peak is so popular. Easy access, a long hiking season, and unparalleled views of Puget Sound and the eastern half of the Olympics give Mount Townsend quite an edge. Of the three trails leading to its summit, Trail No. 839 is the route most taken. …
Most hikers intent on reaching the 6280-foot open summit opt to begin their journey from the upper trailhead. This saves 1.2 miles and 600 feet of elevation gain, but at the expense of missing a beautiful old-growth forest and Sink Lake, a small body of water that causes tumbling Townsend Creek to disappear. …
… The trail (conceived by Michel Fabrikant back in 1970) is long (even if you walk half of it) and tough. Don’t underestimate it! You need to be fit, well trained but most of all you must be highly motivated. …
The path is basic: i.e. there actually is no real path underfoot for 98% of the time. So much that on many occasions if you don’t see the next waymark or cairn you won’t know where to go. Seriously. In addition to that forget the flat path you’re probably used to; most of the time you’ll walk on rugged and tormented terrain, rocks, stones galore, granite slabs … you get the idea. Get used to it. …
The huts are basic. If we leave out the minor exceptions of the decent buildings at Haut Asco and Castel de Verghio, the huts are small rudimentary (some of them) bergerie-style buildings with small suffocating dormitories …
If you are talking to experienced Olympics hikers, you’ll very soon be talking about this rugged, interesting — very accessible — route.
The ridge is reached by a variety of hiking trails off of high Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park and offers spectacular views of the Olympic Mountains and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. In good weather.
Klahhane is a Chinook word meaning “outdoors.” It’s often misspelled. 🙂
I started from the Visitor’s Center up the Sunrise Trail. And followed the signs for Lake Angeles.
Soon I side tripped a mad scramble up Mt Angeles. Good fun.
The pretty trail winds steeply up and up.
The roadway up to Hurricane falls away below.
The higher you climb, the more rugged it gets.
At points you must guess where the trail lies, under the snow. I took the chance to do some glissading.
Klahhane is pretty. No doubt about it.
I was sorry to see the climb end.
Finally. A glimpse of Lake Angeles far below.
During the slippery, steep descent I fell once. Landing (correctly) on my backpack. No injury.
I’m no real fan of mountain lakes, mainly because of mosquitoes. The flying mini-vampires of Lake Angeles were the first that had pestered me in 5 days.
But I’m happy to have tented there. For some reason the campground was overrun by mountain goats. Altogether we saw 8. Mothers with new born young.
I speculated that some predator might have driven them towards humans for protection … Bears and cougars don’t want to be anywhere near people if they can help it.
Mount Angeles is the highest point between Hurricane Ridge and the Strait of Juan De Fuca in Olympic National Park.
It offers incredible views from Canada to Mount Olympus.
It is only about 15 miles from the town of Port Angeles and is a very popular climb, both in winter and summer.
Summer offers a hike and a scramble to the top while winter offers a nice fairly easy snowclimb with a short easy chute at the end to the summit. Because this is so close to the ocean, the mountains tend to dump a lot of moisture with nasty weather. It is after all how Hurricane Ridge got its name. …
The main trail is the Mount Angeles Climbers’ Trail which switchbacks up the south side before switching over to the west side and then up a chute to the summit. There is an option on the East Ridge that offers some scrambling up the ridge to the summit. …
I’d decided on a whim — after chatting with a descending runner on the Sunrise Ridge Trail — to try to climb the peak. Not knowing any better, I blasted straight up the face.
6454 ft
I took the “easy” way down. Slowly and carefully. Descending is far more dangerous than climbing.
No water. Some report mosquitoes though I had none the day I climbed.
Given its close proximity to the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center, the climbers’ trail route is frequently climbed by determined hikers, and even a few tourists manage to reach the summit, although the mountain is far too craggy and exposed to recommend it to any but experienced scramblers.
Accidents due to slips and falls on loose rock and snow account for many accidents on Mount Angeles.
The famed 7.7mi road from the Visitor’s Center to Obstruction Point trailhead 6150ft (1875m) was CLOSED for 2013 due to budget cuts. Lucky us.
A road’s a road.
But this CLOSED road is a wonderful ridge walk.
Non-stop magnificence.
Once departed the Visitor’s Center at Hurricane Ridge, I saw only 3 other people over 2 days. Two of those were trail runners.
Starting late in the day, I decided to stop at an unofficial campground near the P.J. Lake Trail turnoff. A nice quiet spot but one without water. We’re too high here.
Next morning I arrived Obstruction Point Campground.
Campground?
It’s nothing but a parking lot with a toilet.
No water. But I found a nice snow melt runoff stream nearby. No mosquitoes. 🙂
On the bright side, it was nice to stash pack with food in the biffy. Away from critters.
Ridge hiking out of Obstruction is unbelievable. I’ll let the photos prove my point.
Ptarmagin must be the stupidest birds on the planet. How do they survive?
This dumb mother was doing a terrible job of protecting her new chicks.
The only other hiker tenting at Obstruction that night was from Denmark. With the good weather report, he’d bought gear at REI and driven straight to Hurricane Ridge.
Found himself in Heaven.
Next morning I enjoyed coffee with a superb vista.
I’d hoped to take the GRAND Ridge Trail in the direction of Deer Park. … But Rangers had warned that it was probably impassable without an ice ax.
Yep.
After making an attempt to climb over the steep snow. And under the steep snow. I gave up.
related – Tantalust, Part V: Epilogue (heli hiking)
one of the best treks in the world
besthike.com 