Trap Lake 7/20/04

I had hoped to camp at Upper Thunder Mt lake and climb Nimbus Mt as well as Thunder Mt. Too bad for me I didn't fully read the warnings at the trailhead. I thought they were left over from last year. I started early for me and blazed to Hope lake in much less than an hour. The weather was cool and cloudy with quite a bit of wind and there was plenty of water for the dogs on the way to Trap Pass. I made the pass in just under 3 hours. My intention was to follow the climber's trail to Slippery Slab Tower and then skirt the east side of that to some easier ground to take me to the small pass above Thunder Mt Lakes. I was quite dismayed to find warning signs posted not to go into the Icicle Creek drainage. I dropped pack and scouted the climber's trail for about 1/4 mile. It appears to be much easier if you stay on the west side of the ridge. I returned to my pack and downclimbed to Trap Lake. There is a good sidetrail that leads to plenty of campsites. I chose one with a good view of both Slippery Slab Tower and K9 to the NE. I set up camp only slightly annoyed with not being able to achieve my goal and only slightly more annoyed with the bug situation. I returned to the sancitity of the tent for a short nap. I awoke 4 hours later, much to my suprise, I guess I was more tired than I thought. I gave some thought to climbing K9 on the way out, but with the weather unsettled and the route involving a long vegetated gully I thought the downclimb might be dicey if it where to rain. I made great time on the way out passing a party of 10+ as they were just starting out. I think that is more than the total of people I have seen for the entire year.