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Forum Index > Trip Reports > Bull's Tooth, Doughgob, & Lemool, 9/13-14/2014
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Matt
Tea, Earl Grey, Hot

Joined: 30 Jan 2007
Posts: 4308 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline

	Matt Top Tea, Earl Grey, Hot
	Mon Sep 15, 2014 12:00 am Top

Dates: September 13-14, 2014 Party: Sadie's Driver, Middle E, Matt Hiking to camp at Chain Lakes:

Arriving at Lower Chain Lake; Bulls Tooth real summit is at far left

Gorgeous camp on a rock slab at the head of Middle Chain Lake

Bulls Tooth

Which one is the summit?

Looking down on Chain Lakes from Bulls Tooth

The summit rocks

Suzanne arriving near the summit

Summit photo

Casting a shadow out toward Chiwaukum & Snowgrass

Looking over at the more tooth-shaped summit

Evening Colors

Reflection in Middle Chain Lake

Another reflection

Rocks turning red

Bright red light on Suzanne's bird-shaped rock

Early birthday celebration

Big Dipper over the lake

Doughgob

Three marmots

Doelle Lake

More Doelle Lake

The colors on Doughgob were incredible in the morning sun

On top of Doughgob:

Running the ridge to the true summit

and Bulls Tooth in the background

Group photo

Looking across to Chiwaukum

Looking the other way to Lemool

Returning

More colors

On the way back:

Swimming in Doelle Lake

Industrious Pika

Doelle Lake & Doughgob

Upper & Middle Chain Lakes

Lemool

Lemool summit photo

My camera battery died at this point.

“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien

HitTheTrail
Member

Joined: 30 Oct 2007
Posts: 5463 | TRs | Pics
Location: 509

	HitTheTrail Top Member
	Mon Sep 15, 2014 5:52 am Top

Nice fall colors.

I love that place and it does not get a lot of traffic (at least not much traffic coming from the Frosty Pass side). Back in the day my wife and I went in there several times. Once on the original trail that went up Doughgod Creek. Too bad that trail has gone back to nature.

Magellan
Brutally Handsome

Joined: 26 Jul 2006
Posts: 13116 | TRs | Pics
Location: Inexorable descent

	Magellan Top Brutally Handsome
	Mon Sep 15, 2014 6:22 am Top

Gorgeous!

iron
Member

Joined: 10 Aug 2008
Posts: 6392 | TRs | Pics
Location: southeast kootenays

	iron Top Member
	Mon Sep 15, 2014 8:50 am Top

looking good matt. that's a beautiful spot tucked in there.

puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks

Joined: 13 Feb 2007
Posts: 7221 | TRs | Pics
Location: Stuck in the middle

	puzzlr Top Mid Fork Rocks
	Mon Sep 15, 2014 10:36 am Top

Beautiful area. Good to see the fall colors starting.

Mid Fork Rocks • flickr

chiwakum
not credible

Joined: 29 Jun 2009
Posts: 980 | TRs | Pics
Location: Ballard

	chiwakum Top not credible
	Mon Sep 15, 2014 11:26 am Top

olderthanIusedtobe
Member

Joined: 05 Sep 2011
Posts: 7725 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline

	olderthanIusedtobe Top Member
	Mon Sep 15, 2014 12:46 pm Top

Matt wrote:

Three marmots

Nice capture. All 3 appear to be looking at the same thing. That's an interesting area. I got in there once many years ago. I sorta had a notion to climb the Bull's Tooth but got confused about which peak was actually it and didn't summit anything.

contour5
Member

Joined: 16 Jul 2003
Posts: 2964 | TRs | Pics

	contour5 Top Member
	Mon Sep 15, 2014 6:57 pm Top

Nice colors!

Sadie's Driver
Sadie's Driver

Joined: 24 Apr 2006
Posts: 1763 | TRs | Pics
Location: Welcome Pass

	Sadie's Driver Top Sadie's Driver
	Mon Sep 15, 2014 8:41 pm Top

Matt wrote:

Dates: September 13-14, 2014 Party: Sadie's Driver, Middle E, Matt

And now, for the rest of the story - the details that Matt left out!

I was surprised when Matt said that he had never been to Bulls Tooth or Chain and Doelle lakes. I told him that I would be more than happy to show him the USGS Bulls Tooth – the same one identified by Ira Spring and Harvey Manning in the 100 Hikes in the Alpine Lakes (pg. 50) as being Bulls tooth – all 6807’ of it. Trail Pair, Clover and I found that one Labor Day weekend 2007 Bulls Tooth 2007 . Barry and I went back in 2011 No Bull to do (supposedly) the REAL Bulls Tooth (6840’ & where the summit register is) as a day hike and to leave the NW Hikers Traveling Summit Register. Well, the winter winds of 2010 foiled us and after struggling mightily to clamber over/under/around/and through blowdown, we gave up after about 1/10th of a mile from the Icicle Creek crossing. It was overwhelming. Alas, the traveling register didn’t make it up there – in fact, the last anyone saw or heard of the traveling register was when we put it on Mac Peak and it disappeared. Anyway, back to this weekend’s adventure. The three of us agreed to this trip, since Barb, Elle, Ragman and Denali Girl (and Izzy) were headed to Thunder Mountain Lakes and Thor. Since we had just done that trip (plus Thunder Mountain and Nimbus and K-9) the year before, the three of us opted for a new summit for all of us. We met at the Stevens Pass Nordic Center and headed up the Mill Creek Road to where you don’t want to go any farther – that’s just beyond the hairpin (where Matt parked) and where the road starts heading much more steeply uphill. There is a pull out here and one car already was parked there when we arrived. Just north (back down the road) of the hairpin is where you can find the trailhead for the cut-off/connector trail that will dump you out onto the PCT. We actually took a shortcut to the cut-off trail (a little steep) that's closer to the hairpin, but eventually we hooked up with the connector route and soon landed on the PCT where Matt looked for the sign that says “Yield To Thru Hikers.”

In a short distance, you are at Lake Susan Jane and stay on the PCT South and head up to reach the Icicle Creek trail #1551.

Avalanche slope - lots of debris left around here

Lake Susan Jane as seen from the PCT

The junction of the PCT and Icicle Creek trail

We passed four Thru Hikers – this guy was quite affable and seemed to be having a good time.

PCT-Turtle looking strong

He figured it would take him another two weeks to finish. He was from Northern California and started his journey March 31. Didn’t seem to be in a particular hurry – but was looking forward to meeting his wife at Stevens Pass. He has a story and a blog http://pctturtle.com. A couple of other guys we met seemed ready to be done. I said that some of the best part of the hike is yet to come through the North Cascades. To which they quipped, “All flat and meadows the rest of the way, right?”

We were on our own mission – passing the tarns just off the PCT and dropping down to Josephine Lake.

On the Icicle Creek Trail

Matt getting a first view of Josephine Lake

Looking down on Josephine Lake

Josephine Lake

Junction of Icicle Creek and Whitepine trails

Man among the tall timbers

It was phenomenal to see the tree parts that still bordered the trail . . . not surprising we didn’t make it farther in 2011.

Now I understand why we had a tough time getting through here in 2011

A mess left by the 2010 windstorm

We wouldn’t see anyone else until we got just about to the Chain Lakes turn-off where we met a guy with his dog heading out.

The 1800' climb from Icicle Creek starts here

The grind begins as you take the Chain Lakes trail #1569 up 1800’. We were within about 1 mile of the first Chain Lake when we met up with a guy and his three donkeys coming down

Donkey butt

He was “recreating” he said – not carrying anything but a small hand saw to do some pretty random trail maintenance. The donkeys were friendly. Finally at Chain Lakes, the views open up to spectacular!

Heading into the Chains

The colors, they are a changin'

No words needed

Just in case you couldn't tell

We finally settled on a “home” above the 2nd Chain Lake

Chain Lake #2

– deciding to do Bulls Tooth today and Doughgob Peak in the morning and then (maybe) Lemool on the way out. We settled into our camp site and then headed out for Bulls Tooth, with a vague idea of our route.

That bird on the right was there in 2007, too - still looks pretty healthy

Chain Lake #3 - the shallowest of the three

Boulder hopping

Looking back down at Chain Lakes - from near base of summit block

This way . . . they think

It’s no wonder that the Bulls Tooth summit register only has a few pages of entries. First placed on the summit in 2001 by Jimmy Jeans, there are some years no one has visited. The route is ambiguous for one - and add to that the climb itself. For 2014, we were only the 2nd party. It's a bit of a sporting scramble after you get up the gully and then circle around the SE side of the summit block to the top – there also is this nasty hole you have to negotiate because you would drop a bit with a misstep - and that's right at the summit. But you can’t beat the views – and today, it was crystal clear and pleasantly warm. Matt stood on top of the highest summit rock – I was satisfied merely touching it! So, I guess I get to claim BOTH Bulls Tooth summits now!

Matt on the summit of Bulls Tooth (actually - the rock on the right side of this photo is the tallest point - I didn't get a shot of Matt on top - darn)

Glacier Peak zoom

Mt. Baker zoom from top of Bulls Tooth

Looking across from the 6840' summit to the 6807' USGS summit of Bulls Tooth (to the southwest)

We headed back to camp, amazingly ending up at the bottom of the boulders just about where we had started.

Barry heading down the "obvious" gully

Matt at the base of the Bulls Tooth summit block

Matt coming down the heather and boulder fields from Bulls Tooth

It was such a pleasant evening.

Tent with a view

Evening reflection

Last of the sun for today on Pt. 6604

Fading light on Bulls Tooth Ridge

Dinner time

We even had a little early birthday celebration for Matt, since I won’t be available next weekend to celebrate his real birthday.

Party table

Matt celebrating a #55 a little early

The stars were magnificent. Supposedly, we were going to be able to see the Northern Lights Saturday night – but somehow I slept through it, if, in fact, it did appear. (David/Opus got a beautiful pic of the Milky Way at Thunder Mountain Lakes on their trip Saturday.) We did see an AMAZING shooting star/meteor, however. At about 8:30 p.m., low on the western sky there was the bright-bright flash of light and then burn-out. Too quick for the camera. NOTE: I guess this is what we saw: Comet over the Northwest The next morning was surprisingly mild – I expected it to be freezing because of the clear skies. We were up and on the trail before 8:00 a.m. – but it would be slow progress up to the ridge notch at 6200’+ because of lots of shutter delay for guys like this.

Chubby Marmots on the rocks in the early morning (before the sun hits)

And then, once at the notch, even MORE shutter delay because of the morning sun. It was still chilly enough for their to be frost in places.

Moon above Point 6604 on the Bulls Tooth Ridge

Ice crystals on the trail as we head down from the Bulls Tooth ridge

Barry was impatiently tolerant of our snail’s pace.

Barry (im)patiently waiting for the shutter bugs

We circled around the north side of the first Doelle and made our way to the Doughgob ridge. Today’s adventures had a lot of ups and downs. But the morning light was spectacular.

Matt and Barry heading up the Doughgob west ridge

Looking east down the Doughgod Creek drainage

Morning sun on Doughgob

The west ridge leading up to lesser (Doughgirl) Doughgob

Bulls Tooth Ridge as seen from the Doughgob Ridge

The back of the bird next to what really looks like a tooth!

A zoom looking back to Bulls Tooth Ridge

What I want to know is how the peak became known as Doughgob and the creek valley as Doughgod? A typo, perhaps? First we came to Little Doughkid;

This is the summit of Doughkid

then the mighty Doughgirl;

Matt coming up to Doughgirl with Doughgod Creek below

Driver on Doughgirl summit

before dropping to the east and down a little to make our way back to the ridge

Summit of Doughgob

Looking back at the gnarly ridge from Doughgirl to Doughgob

Last little climb to the summit of Doughgob

and up to Doughgob proper – which in this picture, doesn’t look to be the highest point – but it is.

Doughgob summits and ridges - believe it or not, the summit to the left (north) is the highest!

Driver attempting to find a non-existent summit register

From here, we looked down towards the Whitepine Creek drainage and spied two hunters in full garb. Glad I had on my orange shirt! More views from the summit looking north to Glacier and Baker and even the Mountain Loop peaks.

Sloan on the right with his neighbors

Heading back to the ridge, Matt decided to take the more direct, western slope off of Doughgob

Matt on the Doughgob Ridge looking back to the Bulls Tooth Ridge

While Barry and I retraced our steps

Heading back to Doughgirl from the summit Doughgob

We actually caught up to Matt near where one route takes off towards Frosty Pass. Our goal was to visit lower Doelle Lake-

Lower Doelle has a horse camp

And where Matt considered taking one of his swims

Matt assessing his swimming location

But we went on up to Upper Doelle where we ran into a hiker who wasn't quite sure where he was going, but he thought he would come out on the Whitepine Creek trailhead

Good luck! We parted ways with Matt at the Upper Lake so he could take his swim.

Looking from the west end of upper Doelle Lake to Doughgob

Matt getting ready for his swim in upper Doelle lake

As we were coming down the Chain Lakes side of the ridge – two rotund Marmots scampered across the trail in front of us – not sure if they were our posers from earlier in the morning or not. We got back to camp, packed up and had a quick snack – it already was after 1:00 p.m. (so much for the Seahawks game) – and headed out. As we were travelling around the north edge of Chain Lake #2, Matt was on his way down from the ridge. He was contemplating a swim in Chain Lakes (you should have waited Matt – there were some naked women in Chain Lake #1 as we went past on our way out – Barry didn’t notice

. . . ). Matt also was exhibiting his OCPBS* and was planning on an ascent of Lemool – all 600’ of it above the trail out – which we figured we could miss. Said our good-byes again and headed out - back down the Chain Lakes trail, with a water break at the crossing of Icicle Creek, then back up to Josephine Lake (only person we saw all the way back to the car was one guy at the lake). We got back to the car by about 4:30 p.m. – taking us 1 ½ hrs. less time to get back than it took us to get into the lakes. I left a note on Matt’s car saying that I would have the trip report up before he got home . . . my little ploy worked, he got the trip report up first . . . now he has time to work on that report from three weeks ago to Glacier Lake/Chikamin/Lemah-1/4 Brothers!

Fun trip as the seasons change color in a beautiful area that doesn’t get much traffic - thankfully. *Obsessive/compulsive/peak bagger syndrome

Four-paw buddy lets me tag along!

Kim Brown
Member

Joined: 13 Jul 2009
Posts: 6900 | TRs | Pics

	Kim Brown Top Member
	Mon Sep 15, 2014 10:35 pm Top

Matt - no summit tea photo? We were up there with Torok years ago; we scrambled up something; I thought it might have been Bull's Tooth. I don't know, though ( Isn't this a fascinating post?

)

"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area." Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert

Middle E
no more moustache

Joined: 10 Feb 2008
Posts: 432 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle, WA

	Middle E Top no more moustache
	Wed Sep 17, 2014 6:00 pm Top

Sadie's Driver wrote:

there were some naked women in Chain Lake #1 as we went past on our way out – Barry didn’t notice

Huh, there was more than one??!! I have heard numerous tales about the Driver climbing the wrong Bulls Tooth, rivaled only by those about climbing the wrong Thunder Mtn.

That said, it was not obvious that we were on the right summit until we were actually standing on it!

On to the next lake

Middle Chain Lk.

That looks like a tooth

Looking down on Chain Lakes

Matt heading off to find color

Sunset afterglow

Upper Doelle Lk. and Pt. 6604

Route to Doughgob

Looking back to Bulls Tooth

Doughgob summit

Rock, Howard, Mastiff & Arrowhead

Matt at lower Doelle Lk.

Heading down to Chain Lakes

pithy yet insightful signature

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