Maybe the best day in the mountains ever.
- June 22, 2021
- Team: Dave
- see also: Cly-Tsum 2020
- Peak: The Beast, 8407'
- 7.6 miles, 3657' gain, Class 2, 7:49 c-c
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
Everyone else flaked for reasons both lame and legit, so it was just Dave and I. And Ruby of course. After driving for just over an hour, we were on our feet on an absolutely gorgeous day right at 8:15. Yurt on the left, Beaverdam on the horizon, pretty much center. If your eyes seemed dazzled, it was just one of those days. |
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It was quite a bit warmer up here than down in the valley. But despite the warmth, we were able to move pretty well and it wasn't long before we were looking into the Cly Basin. The peak on the left is The Beast, which I had climbed back in 2016. |
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Here we're looking more northwest. Down below, we could see a car or two in the Duck Lake trailhead. In the center, that's Burnside. |
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| On the right end of the ridge in the previous picture is Paintbrush Peak. Dave and I visited there last year. The little patch of snow means you can camp on the summit (add to list....) |  |
Julie wasn't with us today. So in her honor, here's some flowies. |
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We were headed IN, skipping Cly 1 and Cly 2 to go a little deeper, so It wasn't much longer and we were looking at what I call Cly 3. If the mirror of the lake is any indication, we're in for a hot summer. When Dave was here on July 1 a couple years back, the lake was still partly frozen. |
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Nothing to see here. Keep moving. The peak left of center is Humdinger. |
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| Looking up Cly 4. |  |
We saw lots of these. I caught one on my very first cast. |
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Then it was up and headed over the ridge to Cly 5. |
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Cly 5 behind Dave. Later in the summer it's just a mud hole. But today it was a real lake. |
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It's a beautiful and dramatic area. Those aren't even real peaks; just bumps on the ridge. But from there, we crested the ridge on our way to Tsum. |
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| We paused on the ridgetop long enough for me to change the plan and add a peak to our outing. So we worked our way around to and up The Beast. There we enjoyed summit sammies, pickles, and all the other classic summit celebrations, then got back to our plan to visit Tsum Lake. |  |
If you click to zoom, you'll find the lake low on the left. Can't find it? It's pretty much directly below Tsum Peak, the highpoint left of center. |
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Headed toward Tsum, with Mt. Horrendous in the background. |
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| Looking down Tsum Creek, sort of north-easterly. |  |
| Getting off The Beast. Taking our time and enjoying the rough country. |  |
After traversing a while across broken cliffy hillside, we're now heading down to Tsum Lake. |
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Tsum Lake. Why bother? |
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Fishies. This one would not hold still for a photograph. It was so dirty from repeatedly jumping out of Dave's hands that instead of taking a 'fisherman photo' we just threw it back in the lake. |
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| I like to "do an explore". I had this idea of climbing to the ridge above the lake, looping around, and coming back down a different gully. We swung right out of frame, then chased the treed ramp you see at about half height, although in the picture it looks to be most of the way up. That brought us out under the lowest notch in the ridge. | |
| One benefit of this exercise was a better view of Tsum Lake. |  |
| There wasn't a lot of snow left up high. A girl's got to make the best of these things. |  |
Tsum Lake from near the top of the ridge. From the notch in the top of the ridge, we could finally see off to the west where the clouds were darkening. And we were a couple hours from the car at this point. So we didn't do much hanging out or picture taking. Well, maybe a little. |
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We traversed around a rocky tower on the ridge, and then we descended this gully, which we had used previously. Local knowledge is power. And finally, a scenic walk back under skies turning blue again. And hot. We reloaded water in Cly Creek, soaked our hats, and trudged happily back over the final ridge to the car. |
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