Mount Judge as seen from the ridge at sunrise

This one has long been on my list. On Canada Day long weekend we decided to camp on the ridge for two days to get the best experience as the weather looked good. We had read trip reports about the scarcity of tent pads and the crowds so we were all a bit nervous.

Headed out at 6 a.m., it only took 1 hour 15 minutes of driving before we unloaded our backpacks at the nearly-full parking lot. Shaved some final body weight at the outhouse, I pressed start on my watch.

Knowing there were only 6 tent pads and a couple more flat spots on top, I was concerned about how many cars I saw at the parking lot so I forced my friends to hike at an uncomfortable pace. Soon we passed at least 15 people and it seemed that we would be the first ones on the trail heading up that day as I started to run into spider webs.

The trail started to get steep after about 6km of mostly flat walking. There were lots of climbing over roots and boulders, which could be tiring with a heavy pack on. Nonetheless we were having a good time, until we run into the bugs. They were just as horrendous as I read in almost every trip report.

The Majority of the last half of the trail

Working up the steep slope (camera doesn’t do it justice)

At last, we poked our heads out of the tree line and was rewarded with views and clouds of bugs. They are aggressive little monsters trying to get into my ears, my nose and even resting on my eyelashes. I was quite jealous of hikers coming down with bug nets.

Turning the corner, we were greeted with a nice breeze and a look at the summit. I love moments like this when you can see where you will be in the next few hours. At this point we have gained roughly 1000 meters. I know the last few km are going to be a bit tricky as we needed to traverse all the way over.

It turned out that I was right. After about an hour of steep incline that required us squishing through bushes and scrambling over rocks, we hit the final ridge walk on solid granite and snow patches. Some people were wearing microspikes but I think one will be perfectly fine just them.

Onto the final ridge traverse, views did not suck

Seeing there was another hiker catching up behind us, I sped through the last bit of scrambles and secured one of the last 3 tent pads (some are occupied by people who were there last night). my friends who came up about 5 minutes later also got one.

The campsite is luxurious with an emergency shelter and a urine-diverting outhouse. There was also a running stream just 20m away. A 270 degree view of the surrounding mountain ranges and Golden Ears true summit — which we will climb — was just behind us.

Me at camp with the summit just behind me

Tents were pitched, snacks were had and it was time to summit. I packed water, gummies and my camera. The way up looked a bit intimidating from far away but I knew that things are always worse in my imagination. We also picked up another hiker on the trail to head to the top with us together.

The first 1/3 of the route consists of a mixture of snow and rocks. I stuck to the rocks as much as possible but going up in the snow was also completely fine as it was soft enough for my shoes to have good purchase. Again some people had microspikes/crampons, it would definitely help but was not necessary. The sun was scorching and I would regret not putting sun screen on my legs a day later.

After the last snow section I put my poles away and started scrambling up. The rocks were good with lots of good hand holds. It was a really enjoyable process and there was little to no exposure.

Teren (our favourite random hiker) coming up with great view of the mountain ranges behind (Sorry if I butchered your name)

Popping over the last bit of rock, I was at the summit all of a sudden. The 360 view was probably one of the best in this region. Mountain ranges, the ocean and the city, you could see everything. I took out my camera and quickly snapped a few pictures.

Summit (1716m) view of Pitt Lake, boats looked very small from here

Bardeen and Stonerabbit Group seen from the summit

Looking down at where we were 40 minutes ago

We debated if we should wait for the sunset from here but the wind was picking up and it was getting chilly. Considering it also might be tricky going down in the dark, decided to go down before it gets dark. I did eye on an unnamed peak just beside us and I was taking a mental note. At around 4 p.m. we packed up and started our way down. Turned out that going down was indeed tricky and I got lost at some point and found myself over a cliff. Thankfully we circled around and found the obscured trail, after there it was just a gentle stroll on the snow back down to camp.

I took a short nap, cooked dinner and it was time for sunset-watching. I hauled my camera up to a little hill just above our campsite and waited. It turned out that it would be even more gorgeous than I had imagined, and, the BEST part was, that by some miracle the bugs were gone.

Bardeen and Stonerabbit Group in alpine glow

Everything in pink, it will be cool to stand on top of the peak on the right

Temperature was dropping quickly after the sun set and the wind was picking up. We headed back and crawled into our tents, I did a bit of stretching, set the alarm for 5 a.m. and went into my sleeping bag.

Alarm went off and I quickly unzipped my tent, put on a jacket, went to the hill where we watched the sunset and waited for the sunrise. It was cold but beautiful. I especially enjoyed the quite during the morning as most people were still in their tents.

Looking far away, I really liked the different layers of mountains

The summit we were yesterday on in alpine glow, shelter in the left corner

There was not exactly a plan for what were going to do on the second day. Most campers are leaving and I was happy that it got a bit more quite. I went back to catch some extra sleep and had a slow breakfast. Did some yoga and relaxed for most of the morning. It was hotter and a lot less windy, which means that bugs were again horrendous but it was also too hot to stay in the tent.

After lunch I decided that I needed to do something to stretch our my legs. Me and my friend decided that we would head back up to the summit and I would like to check out the peak that I saw yesterday. Bagging an extra peak is always fun.

Upon reaching the top again I thought that the other peak was quite doable since I could see an meandering trail. I dropped my backpack and went for it, It was a ton of fun. A couple of a bit more technical moves with some exposure for some added spice, it was a class 3 scramble at most and I think most people wouldn’t have any issues doing it. Although apparently it was a bit horrifying to watch from what my friend told me (but things always look worse from afar).

30 minutes later I came back and was pleased by the experience. I did really wanted to get a picture of me standing on top but my friend’s phone was not working. After some consideration I gave my phone to her and headed back up again.

Me seen at the unnamed peak, I worked hard for this one for sure

Feeling sunburned, we made our way down again

Again going down was not easy, but we made sure that we didn’t get lost this time

Made it back to camp and I repeated my routine same as yesterday. Nap, stretch, dinner and sunset. I was excited to see the moon rising from the back of Mt. Baker again. I headed up to the same spot with my camera, it was gorgeous just like yesterday but the bugs were much worse.

The sunset was again breathtaking, but the moon still did not show up. I was quite confused by where it went as it should be at roughly the same spot as it was yesterday. I got a little cell service so I video called my mom. Just when I was talking to her I saw a bright spot on the horizon, I was again confused as the sun has already set. It suddenly hit me that it was actually the Moon rising! There was an Australian couple just about to leave this hill and I yelled, DID YOU GUYS SEE THE MOON?! They were equally astounded but sat down again as we watched the moon outlining the mountains far away,

Sitting there for another 15 minutes, I headed back but couldn’t help looking back every step of the way and almost tripped over multiple times. I knew that this one would be in my memory for a long time.

The alarm again set off at 5 a.m.. I again was up for the sunrise at the same spot. There was a bit more clouds than yesterday and there was a lot more details in the sky.

Not wasting any time, I quickly carried out my morning routine. Before 7 we were all packed up and ready to head back to the parking lot. I took one last look at the surrounding mountains and mentally prepared myself for some inevitable knee pain on the way down.

The descend turned out to be better than I had expected but it was not easy either. We took a dip in the stream by Alder Flats. Feeling refreshed, the last 6km was a breeze back to the parking lot. The entire trip was just about 30km with about 2500m of elevation gain. As always, a great trip with amazing views, great people and a bit of suffering.

Golden Ears Summit

the Matterhorn

Immenstadt - Oberstdorf (Southern Germany)