Buck Mountain (Glacier Peak Wilderness) - Aug. 31 - Sept. 2, 2019
Every once in a while, I go out on a trip that’s executed so flawlessly I can’t help but think about it for weeks on end once I’m back in the safety and comfort of my apartment. This past Labor Day was one of those trips. My friend Tobin and I climbed Buck Mountain in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. Oddly enough, it was only our second hike together, the first being Luna Peak two Labor Days ago.
Our original plan was head to the Chilliwacks in the North Cascades – I had even been extra careful to remember my passport for the border crossing – but a poor weather forecast caused us to reconsider at the last minute. I threw out the idea of a leisurely three-day attempt at Buck Mountain and Tobin assented. And even though this trip felt like a consolation prize at first, it actually ended up being my favorite hike of the year and even one of the best hikes I’ve done in the Cascades.
The first day was hot in the morning but became chilly as the cloud cover increased once we were at Little Giant Pass. I worried out loud a few times that we’d get caught out in the rain – the clouds were getting thicker and dropping lower, and I knew rain was forecast further west – but Tobin was hopeful it would pass us by. We began bushwhacking around 4pm and were 1000 ft up brushy slopes when the clouds opened up and the squall began. At one point, Tobin turned around and just gave me a look. I shrugged and just stared blankly back in response. What was there to even say? Our legs and feet were completely drenched but we were so close to our destination that there was no point in really stopping or turning back now.
Our campsite at the base of Buck Mountain was as tranquil as they come and we had a good night’s sleep as our reward for making it. Come morning, our bear canister had a nice layer of ice over it and our boots and socks were frozen. We caught sunrise that first morning. I think a part of me had been hoping that everything would be socked in the clouds so that I could sleep in, but the skies were crystal clear and I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t force myself to wake up. Sunrise turned out to be cold but spectacular.
We spent an hour taking photos and had to hike a long, cold half mile back to our campsite, which still wasn’t in the sun yet. I don’t think I was feeling particularly enthusiastic about scrambling up a mountain, but my spirit was rejuvenated once the first rays of sun hit our tent around 8am. We both realized that we’d actually have dry clothes to sleep in tonight – morale boost!
Tobin in the upper basin of Buck Mountain.
I would not describe the route up Buck Mountain as “fun” necessarily. The lower slopes consist mostly of pumice which was spongey and easy to ascend. The upper slopes consisted of loose scree and talus, none of it packed hard enough to be concerning. A loose, low class 3 move got us to the upper basin which was surprisingly flat. Now, an ascent of Buck Mountain over Labor Day was my idea so I had done most of the research on the route, which really just meant that I had taken screenshots of the SummitPost page and some random internet trip reports. I say this because in the upper basin, all three summits of Buck Mountain are clearly visible. South summit appears to be the highest but consists of steep class 4+ rock situated above a 100-foot snow/ice headwall. We both agreed that if that was the true summit, our chances of a successful ascent were slim (to begin with, we had no snow gear and some parts of the snowfield looked like they were down to bare ice this late in the season). We turned to the middle summit which looked much more doable but we were again hesitant to ascend the snowfield. The north summit looked most inviting of all.
At this point, I just pulled out my phone and let Tobin read the SummitPost route description, at which point it all became clear to us. The highest summit was middle summit after all. Oops. I probably should have done more thorough research. We were still hesitant about going up the snowfield, so we opted to ascend north summit instead. The slopes were again moderately loose scree and talus with a class 3 move at the final block. Tobin did the final move to reach the summit register while I opted to stay behind and grab some more photos. It didn’t take much to convince ourselves that middle summit was also worth tagging.
Middle summit (foreground) and south summit (background) of Buck Mountain
We arrived back at camp in the afternoon and I convinced Tobin to go back to our sunrise spot to take more photos. Our camp was a little under half a mile away and about 200 vertical feet above said spot, and this would have been our third trip down there. The lighting was hazy and gorgeous and we easily spent another hour taking photos and soaking in the sights before turning in for the evening.
On the last day, we made sure to get an early start and were packed up and moving by 7am. The descent was by no means pleasant, especially considering we’d have to regain about 2,000 ft of elevation over Little Giant Pass before we could truly start cruising down. I rarely ever listen to music in the backcountry but both of us took out headphones and kept them in for the entire hike out. Somehow, we were back to the car by 2pm and cruising back to Tacoma.
All in all, this was one of my favorite outings in a year when I felt really uncertain of myself and my skills in the backcountry. I spent two weeks in Washington in July as usual, with big plans to do some fairly intense trips, many of them solo. I had to bail on my attempt of Summit Chief half way, then weather ruined many of my other plans, which left me feeling like I’d done boring frontcountry hikes. Buck Mountain has just the right amount of cross country, alpine, and trailed terrain that I felt challenged but enjoyed every aspect of the trip (in retrospect!).
