Chikamin Peak
July 28th, 2024
Hi we're the Mountain Goats and today we climbed Chikiman Peak. We decided to take the Mineral Creek route, which starts at the Mineral Creek Trailhead. The trail up to Park Lakes was pleasant, as you go through forest and brush. Brush completely covered much of the trail, but even so route finding was easy up to the lakes. From Park Lakes we began heading up towards the pass above us. Right before we hit the top of the pass, we got on the PCT West. We decided to take the PCT route up to Chikiman and the Glacier Lake route down. After following the PCT past the 4 Brothers we began looking for a climber's trail around 5,475 feet. Once we found it we began steeply ascending it heading towards Chikiman's south ridge.
Park Lake
On the PCT
Up we go
The route up was brutal, the trail was hard to follow and there was a lot of holding onto brush to keep balance. The route goes straight up, but heads slightly left. There's some pretty tough class 3 scrambling so be prepared. Once at the top of the ridge (6,200') the trail flattens out as you head north towards the main trail. Simply hop over the rocks slightly heading right until you meet up with the main trail (at around 6,500').
Back on the main trail
Once on the main trail gain another few hundred feet up to the bottom of the summit block. From here it's a simple class 2 scramble up to the summit. The view from the summit is spectacular. Lemah looms above, and Stuart is visible in the distance. The glacier on the back side is also beautiful. After enjoying the view for a bit, we began our descent.
Summit shot
Such a rugged area, looking towards Lemah
Once back down at 6,500' we headed left, taking the Glacier Lake route down. At this time the Blue Angels flew right above, which was super cool. Simply head left as you descend towards the tarn above Glacier Lake. There're flat rocks with great footholds the whole way down, so it wasn't too difficult. Once at the tarn, enjoy the view before following the trail as it heads towards Glacier Lake following a creek. Once at Glacier Lake you're back on the main trail and it's just a slog back to the trailhead. Climbing 500' vertical feet back up to the ridgeline through the mosquito-infested meadows wasn't fun, but once on top of the ridge it's all downhill.
Stunning Alpine tarn
Hidden Pool
Glacier Lake
Overall, this is a great hike in the Alpine Lake wilderness. If you take the Glacier Lake route, you'll never experience anything worse than a class 2 scramble, which really isn't bad. This would make for a great overnighter, but even day hiking it was extremely enjoyable, and I would highly recommend this climb.
Final Stats: 16 Miles - 5,300 Elev Gain - 12:20 Car to Car time
