Wright Mt.7.19.05

Today's goal was a summit of Wright Mt. which lies just NE of Gem Lake. I was priviliged to be joined with my Wife's cousin Scott visiting from Indiana. I needed something close because of the added time of picking him up and dropping him off in Seattle. We took off under warm and very sunny skies. Knowing that Scott has been training for a marathon I figured I would have a hard time keeping up. My fears were confirmed from the get go as we made it to the saddle above Snow Lake. As I suspected it was thankfully much cooler in the Snow Lake Basin. We rolled into Gem Lake in 2:14 which beat my guesstimate by an entire minute. We found a shady spot to let the dogs cool and for me to plan my route to Mt Wright's 5430ft summit. I was quite happy when Scott decided to join me. The route was quite straightforward. There is a small campsite on the Eastern shore of Gem Lake with a climber's trail that easily takes you the remaining 600ft to the summit. Views are amazing of the area peaks. Kaleeten is quite stunning from this vantage point. I struggled to keep up with Scott on the wayout as well finishing just under 6 hours car to car. I don't often get the privilige such engaging company, and look forward to doing something again. Sometimes seeing our state's beauty through someone else's eyes helps fan the flames of my love of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.