Banshee Peak
8-19-12


Fires in Idaho canceled my big backpacking trip of the year. An overnight trip was canceled when my car died in the Denny Creek trailhead parking lot. Still time for one day hike this weekend. Gary suggested  Banshee Peak. I had done it twice. The first time was in 2009 and then again in 2010. Much to my surprise, John had done it once. It is a great trip and reports of peaking wildflowers at Summerland convinced me. After several 90 degree days the morning was cloudy and cool. We had light misty rain much of the way from Auburn to Greenwater. Nearing Mt. Rainier National Park the clouds grew lighter. We found half the small Fryingpan Creek parking lot empty when we arrived at 7:40 am. Ten minutes later we were on the trail. Six weeks earlier we hiked the first part of this trail on our way to Goat Island Mountain. There is a lot less snow now.

We set a good pace to warm up then slowed down a bit. We hoped that the sky might be clearing by the time we left the forest. We passed one group of around the mountain backpackers and two day hikers. That was it until Summerland. At 3.4 miles we reached the bridge over Fryingpan Creek. There was a lot of monkeyflower blooming by the creek. We saw a lot of both the yellow and pink variety along the route. The flower show began soon after the creek crossing. Blue sky also occurred. It was getting warm at 9:15 am. Many flowers in bloom and a few past their peak. Columbine, lupine, paintbrush, monkeyflower, and asters were in abundance. Our pace slowed down much more.

Just where the switchbacks up to Summerland start we saw a few avalanche lilies. Most are already finished. There were a few more patches on the switchbacks but not many. The hillside up and down the slope was ablaze. Red, white, yellow, and blue in all directions. We were right about the peak for most of the wildflowers. That alone would have made the trip very worthwhile. We still had much more to see.

While the sky was getting clearer Rainier was still lost in white. We could see Little Tahoma.  Looking back to the slopes of Goat Island Mountain, we saw a sea of blue lupine. It was clearly visible from a mile away. We crested the hill and entered the main Summerland meadows. The smell was overpowering. The sweet smell of wildflowers. Lupine, paintbrush, and so much more. A field of solid yellow was all cinquefoil. We stopped to apply a lot of sunscreen. We would not see any shade for another 5 1/2 hours. Thanks to our early start it was only 10:00 am when we had covered 4.4 miles to Summerland. We dropped down, crossed the creek,  and began to climb once again.

Gary was last in line and alerted us. A big rock next to the trail had an inquisitive marmot looking over to us. I guess he had been sunning himself. He agreed to hold the pose until we all had taken enough photos. The trail was snow free most of the way up to the log bridge. Just a few places where snow lay across the trail. The recent hot weather must have really cleared the trail over the last week.  Ahead of us we saw a large group just across the bridge. As we neared we saw why. A small creek was lined with flowers. Bright colors on the rocky terrain. Heading up the moraine we saw a number of small flowers. Nothing grows far above the ground. After near solitude earlier we now saw a number of folks. Most had large backpacking packs. One tarn was melted out and the other one mostly still snow covered.

There is more dirt trail than I was expecting. The snow was soft enough to allow good traction. I had steep hard snow on my August trip in 2010 so we chose to bring ice axes. They never left our packs. The last part to the gap was comparatively wide and smooth. No problem at all. That may change as snow melts or if it was icy but we had no trouble. That was the last snow we crossed on the way to Banshee Peak. We took the boot path as it rounded the hill to the left and dropped down heading due east. A few big patches of orange paintbrush along here. The slog over to easy enough. The hard part is that it is six miles to Panhandle Gap. Add another 1 1/2 miles to get to Banshee. A long 12 mile hike to the gap becomes 15 miles to Banshee round trip.

Lupine grew in some big patches. A veritable sea of blue.We saw some more shaggy headed western anemone too. One surprise was a patch of gentian. The snow has probably only been gone for weeks and a fall flower is in bloom. Heading up we saw four hikers coming down. They were the only others we saw beyond Panhandle Gap. We reached the ridge top to see Mt. Rainier was clearing up behind us. It was well past noon and I stopped for a food and water break. We reached the summit at 1:00 pm. All the photography added a lot of time to our hike. To the south Mt. Adams was in haze and low clouds covered the valleys. A hazy Mt. St. Helens was visible too. Rainier had a cloud cap. It was clear in most other directions. There was a steady cool breeze to offset the heat. It was almost perfect. We stayed for nearly 1 1/2 hours. At around 2:30 we headed down.

Easy walking down to the flats and a short climb back to Panhandle Gap. Not many folks at the gap. I managed to get in a couple glissades on the way down. There was a steady stream of folks heading down but less than on my other visits. We stopped to treat water at Summerland. The lighting was different and we took time for more photos. Once across Fryingpan Creek and back into forest we sped up. We were back at the car by 5:30 pm. This was my third visit to Banshee in the past four years. Each one was fantastic. Great flowers,Great views, not very crowded, and great weather. A good way to end a really lousy week.

005
Crossing The Creek
007
Yellow Monkeyflower
008
John At Work
013
Flowers Line Trail
018
Sitka Valerian
022
Asters
027
Little Tahoma
030
Avalanche Lily
039
Lots Of Lupine
041
Great Colors
055
Lousewort
062
Summerland
066
Backpackers
070
Summerland Lupine
073
More Color
074
Gary At Summerland
076
Lots Of Lousewort
078
Paintbrush Too
079
Many Colors
085
John & Gary
091
Flowers & Ridges
092
Tahoma & Meadow
094
Wow!
095
Thick With Lupine
098
Western Anemone
108
Posing Marmot
113
Heading Up Moraine
116
Pink Monkeyflower
121
Near Creek Crossing
123
John On Bridge
130
Color & Creek
140
Creek Exits Snowfield
145
Melted Tarn
148
Gary In Moraine
155
Goat Island Mountain
160
Approaching Gap
161
Almost At Gap
162
Panhandle Gap
169
View Of Banshee Peak
173
Red & White
174
Marmot In Lupine
176
Marmot On The Move
178
White Lupine
182
Lupine Field
187
Wind Blown Grass
192
Gentian
197
Four Hikers
210
Banshee Summit
229
Jim On Summit
232
Meadow Below Peak
233
Cowlitz Chimneys
239
Mt. Rainier
259
Even More Lupine
264
Tarns In Moraine
269
Descending Snow
273
Sparkling Water
275
Glissading
276
John & Flowers
280
Flowers Along Creek
298
Flowery Slope
Click on thumbnails to get larger pictures.

Trips - 2012

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