Swan peak loop

After an enjoyable hike above Glen lake with my two favorites on Saturday, the news started coming in from Charlottesville.  Unbridled racism, hatred, fear that a new status quo has arrived where armed factions seeking to oppress are normalized and equated with those seeking relief from oppression.  I was sick to my stomach.  The night brought only restless sleep.

It that context, it was a little intense rolling out of town in the dark, with an acrid odor of smoke in the air.  But we rallied.  The forecast was mixed, with thunderstorms in the afternoon, and I was glad that Conor and Jeffrey were amenable to shelving more ambitious plans for a better weather day.  Even with a few wrong turns on the road, we jogged out from the Squeezer creek road gate at a respectable 7:30.  The adequately maintained user trail had been cleared this year, and was remarkably enjoyable all the way to the lower lake.  We followed the normal summer route to the upper lake, then up Swan peak.  The route up the Southwest ridge was just steep and craggy enough to be interesting and enjoyable.

Approaching the lower lake.  All photos: Conor Phelan

Water getting high on Swan peak.

From the summit, we began the ridge traverse to Lion creek.  The initial descent was fast and beautiful.  The morning was sunny and warm, and views down to Sunbeam lake and out to the Bob were striking.  Soon we were in the thick of it, negotiating tricky snow moats, rock steps up to stout 4th class on crap rock, and scrappy vegetation.  I kind of lead the whole way and did my best to keep everyone safe as we worked through the technical difficulties.  It took over two hours to summit the high point on the northeast corner of our loop.  The terrain looked quicker getting to the final unnamed peak, and I was cautiously optimistic that we would beat the impending rain showers to the trail.

Fun terrain dropping off Swan peak.

I think it goes

I think it goes.

I think it goes.

Instead, we spent the next few hours finding creative ways to pass cliff bands along the ridge.  I had hoped to climb the last peak directly from the pass, but there was too much uncertainty with steep terrain for my liking.  Plus, it was already raining lightly.  So it was an easy sell to instead climb a loose gully east of the peak.  When we topped out on the gully, the weather was holding, more or less, so we pushed to the summit.  On top, we speculated how many people summit each year.  Conor thought a handful at least, I thought we might be the first this year.  Jeffrey, still recovering from a hard race last week, sucked down water and ate food.

Looking out to the last peak. We climbed the gully on far looker's right.

Jeffrey glad to be about done with the loose gully.

On the last peak in the rain.  Good times.

The descent to the trail was not ideal.  It was loose the whole way, and it took a long time to pass a large cliff band.  In the future, I would try staying on the crest.  But we eventually made it.  My legs felt surprisingly wonderful all day, and I enjoyed pushing a bit on the eleven mile trail exit.  The Lion creek trail is a great, runable trail, and waterfalls and Cedar forests kept us in awe as we clicked off the miles back to civilization.  We did take a major deviation into an outfitter camp, but eventually figured it out.  Plus, it rained, which felt great after 50 days without precipitation.  It would have been easiest to drive two cars and do a short shuttle, but we instead closed the loop on foot by piecing two road systems together along the face of the range.  At this point Jeffrey and I were both pretty knackered, but Conor seemed unphased, so we just tried to keep up.  We wandered a bit linking the two roads, but figured it out eventually, and were soon back at the car, 11.5 hours after leaving.  The day was not quite as elegant as I had hoped, so thanks to Conor and Jeffrey for patience and level heads as we pieced the route together.  Our watches said almost 30 miles and over 10k of vert for the day (although I think 8,500 is more realistic).

Trying to keep the pace up on the Lion creek exit.

Thoughts:  I would go back to Swan peak, but I don't know if I would do this route again, especially since there are so many other things to do in the immediate area.  A simple out and back climb from Squeezer creek would be a fun, relatively simple day.  A long trail run over Lion pass and around to Cooney pass would also be a long but potentially rewarding outing.  And, I need to finally go and investigate the crest from Union peak to Cooney pass.  Been on my list for a few years, and I am running out of excuses to not do it.  On a more out-there note, it is hard to not start wondering about doing a monster Swan to Pyramid full traverse someday.  It seems conceptually possible in two very long days.