Over the weekend I linked up Bacon, Hagan, and Blum peaks. In typical fashion for this year, my laziness and a bunch of lawn jobs through the week meant that at 6pm on Friday night I was wondering about my plans for the weekend. Without a partner lined up and a lack of condition research, I settled on the Bacon-Hagan-Blum Traverse. With little time to pack and whatnot, I forgoed most beta or research and downloaded a single GPX track off caltopo. I recalled climber kyle mentioning it as 10,000’ so in two days it’d be a breeze. I called the parents for permission, and went on my way. My Pater’s E-bike was stashed deep in the woods near Baker River TH and I set an alarm for 4:45
The day started by driving up Anderson Lakes Road. I was a bit surprised by the road closed sign but with cars clearly having driven past it, I figured I’d test my luck. But 2000’ and 6 miles from the TH, I came across a massive washout. I almost considered turning around but given that it was(from what I knew), only 5k per day, what was an extra 2k total? I left the car at 5:30, spent 40min navigating the destruction to cross 100ft, and began my ways. I followed the road, then the trail, then cut around the melted Anderson lakes before finally putting my skis on to contour below Watson. From there I rode my first nice-ish run down to upper Diobsud Lakes.
My GPX told me to contour up through brush to the bacon creek drainage so I blindly followed it. And I soon fucking regretted it. I was soon climbing class 3-4 bushwack with skis on my back, hoping moss footholds didn’t slip and tree branches didn’t snap. The 0.7 miles from the lakes to the drainage cost me 3hrs and my sun glasses. After cussing out the forest, a gentler skin and ridge traverse led me to the summit of bacon. Blum looked exceptionally far away but I enjoyed the pickets views for a moment before riding the rolling terrain of the Diobsud and Green lake glaciers. Around 8pm I arrived at Hidden lake where I threw down a thermarest, popped in my sleeping bag, and after devouring some pizza(dominos deals are stupid good), promptly fell asleep.
Day 2 was simpler, I awoke to dew over all my shit but since my feet were already soaked from the day prior, I didn’t care much. moving at 5:30 I bushwacked into the Hagan basin where I threw on ski boots and crampons to bring me near the summit. I enjoyed a exposed class 3-4 scramble in trailrunners to the top at 9 before heading back down. I put my splitboard together and made my way slowly over to Bacon. Some more scrambling and then skinning brought me to the summit of Blum around noon. From there I rode down to the lakes and suffered through the endless shwack “trail” down to the bike, arriving at 6. An hour on the bike got me to the car where I greeted my sandals and finally freed my feet of 2 days of soaked socks.
The total stats ended up being 16,400’ of gain and 33.3 miles, a bit longer than I had expected. The road closure added about 3hrs to my trip, and I’m sure there would be a better way to navigate from Diobsud Lakes. From a ski traverse perspective, the route is out of condition. I probably spent as much time, or more, on bare dirt as I did on snow. Lakes were also too melted for skinning. Nonetheless it was a memorable trip, and in a spring where I’ve failed to get out as much I’ve hoped, mostly because of a lack of partners, it's one I’ll be proud of.
The day started by driving up Anderson Lakes Road. I was a bit surprised by the road closed sign but with cars clearly having driven past it, I figured I’d test my luck. But 2000’ and 6 miles from the TH, I came across a massive washout. I almost considered turning around but given that it was(from what I knew), only 5k per day, what was an extra 2k total? I left the car at 5:30, spent 40min navigating the destruction to cross 100ft, and began my ways. I followed the road, then the trail, then cut around the melted Anderson lakes before finally putting my skis on to contour below Watson. From there I rode my first nice-ish run down to upper Diobsud Lakes.
My GPX told me to contour up through brush to the bacon creek drainage so I blindly followed it. And I soon fucking regretted it. I was soon climbing class 3-4 bushwack with skis on my back, hoping moss footholds didn’t slip and tree branches didn’t snap. The 0.7 miles from the lakes to the drainage cost me 3hrs and my sun glasses. After cussing out the forest, a gentler skin and ridge traverse led me to the summit of bacon. Blum looked exceptionally far away but I enjoyed the pickets views for a moment before riding the rolling terrain of the Diobsud and Green lake glaciers. Around 8pm I arrived at Hidden lake where I threw down a thermarest, popped in my sleeping bag, and after devouring some pizza(dominos deals are stupid good), promptly fell asleep.
Day 2 was simpler, I awoke to dew over all my shit but since my feet were already soaked from the day prior, I didn’t care much. moving at 5:30 I bushwacked into the Hagan basin where I threw on ski boots and crampons to bring me near the summit. I enjoyed a exposed class 3-4 scramble in trailrunners to the top at 9 before heading back down. I put my splitboard together and made my way slowly over to Bacon. Some more scrambling and then skinning brought me to the summit of Blum around noon. From there I rode down to the lakes and suffered through the endless shwack “trail” down to the bike, arriving at 6. An hour on the bike got me to the car where I greeted my sandals and finally freed my feet of 2 days of soaked socks.
The total stats ended up being 16,400’ of gain and 33.3 miles, a bit longer than I had expected. The road closure added about 3hrs to my trip, and I’m sure there would be a better way to navigate from Diobsud Lakes. From a ski traverse perspective, the route is out of condition. I probably spent as much time, or more, on bare dirt as I did on snow. Lakes were also too melted for skinning. Nonetheless it was a memorable trip, and in a spring where I’ve failed to get out as much I’ve hoped, mostly because of a lack of partners, it's one I’ll be proud of.
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