Spider Meadow - August 22-26, 2022
Paul and I spent four days exploring Spider Meadow and the trail up to Spider Gap in the Glacier Peak Wilderness in the North Cascades of Washington. Despite a TERRIBLE road it's a very popular destination but we managed to avoid the hordes except for the many people coming in as we were leaving. There were quite a few bugs though they seemed to thin out near the end of the trip. Some wildflowers were still in bloom. Except for out last night we camped well away from others and had a quiet stay. Oh, and the afternoons were hot, very hot, and our site wasn't shady so we had to head into the trees. There was a good thunderstorm early on Tuesday evening but the next day was no cooler.
We day hiked to Spider Gap and the view there is one of the best I've ever seen and more than worth the hike. Parts of the trail might bother those who don't like heights and drop-offs. Nothing that bad though. Crossing Spider Glacier is a gain of around 800' elevation but except for one crevassed the glacier is more like a long snowfield. One morning, from camp, Paul spotted a black bear across the canyon. We watched it for a couple of hours. It did start to roam toward camp but banging a cooking pot seemed to cause it to turn back. There are no unicorns allowed on the trails there.
We day hiked to Spider Gap and the view there is one of the best I've ever seen and more than worth the hike. Parts of the trail might bother those who don't like heights and drop-offs. Nothing that bad though. Crossing Spider Glacier is a gain of around 800' elevation but except for one crevassed the glacier is more like a long snowfield. One morning, from camp, Paul spotted a black bear across the canyon. We watched it for a couple of hours. It did start to roam toward camp but banging a cooking pot seemed to cause it to turn back. There are no unicorns allowed on the trails there.