Roosevelt is one of those peaks I used to be interested in back when I was peak-bagging, but it always seemed a bit too far for an easy outing (like Snoqualmie or Kendall) but not really worth the trouble if I had the time for a whole day. So, it sort of went on the back burner.
So today I was feeling pretty caged-up, and decided to go do the SE rib of Guye peak, a good solo outing that's been on my to-do list for a while. But as soon as Maisie (the mountain Westie) saw me with my day pack, she went into such paroxysms of excitement I just didn't have the heart to crush her little spirit by leaving her behind, and so we went to do Roosevelt instead. In my hurry to get going, I forgot my camera, so this outing is unillustrated.
The route is pretty straight-forward. You take the Snow Lake Trail up to Snow Lake, and follow the trail up to Gem Lake, and then follow the ridge to the SE of Gem Lake, and wrap around the right of Roosevelt. The climb itself is class 2, mostly scrambling up heather. It's well documented in Becky Goldman's 75 Scrambles in Washington.
So, Maisie and I left the car at 11:05, and headed up the trail. It was sunny and hot (it was over 70 in Seattle before we left town) and we got pretty hot, and so we had to stop for water before even getting to the switchback on the trail. There were some other folks, and plenty of dogs up there, but compared to your average weekend, it was pretty quiet.
We saw some quails on the way in; they were in the brush about ten feet from us, down the hill from the trail. Maisie clearly saw them; they were rustling around in the brush, and making noise, and she was looking down there pretty intently, but she elected not to go after them. They're big, about the size of chickens, and I suspect she's had a run-in or two with the chickens down the street from our house.
I was pretty sorry I'd forgotten the camera, it was a beautiful day, with hardly any haze, and the lakes were just beautiful. I tend to think of Snow Lake as not being "worthy"-- after all, it's the most heavily used trail in the state. But it's a gorgeous lake, emerald green and clear as a swimming pool. Maisie had a good time swimming in it, she'd go out about ten feet, and then swim in five-foot circles, wagging her tail "flop - flop" and then come back in. I felt pretty good that she could cool off so thoroughly, since we were short on food.
I'd packed her a good-sized ziplock bag of dog food, but left it on the kitchen counter. So, all we had between us was one Clif bar, and one Luna bar. We split the Clif bar at Snow Lake, and split the Luna Bar on the way down at Gem Lake, and just made do.
The trail goes around the right side of Snow Lake, quite easy to follow, and then goes up to Gem Lake. The tough part is identifying the main trail among all the side trails.
At Gem Lake we stopped for water, and another swim in the lake. From here, you climb up the hillside to the ridge-top, where there's a nice boot-track among the heather, heading generally south-west, and up the mountain. The north face of the mountain looks like an interesting climb, probably mid-5th class, I'd guess, but we never got on anything tougher than class 2.
We summitted about 2:15, stayed up there just a minute (no summit photos to slow us down) and headed down. I looked around enough to think that the Roosevelt-Kaleetan traverse would be fun come winter, given cold enough conditions. Then, back down the hillside to the ridge, and back down to Gem Lake, a few stops, and back out again.
I brought a lot of water, at least three liters, and Maisie probably drank about a cup of it (she filled up at the lakes, and when I finished one of the water bottles, I filled it with lake water for her for the hike out) but even so, I got pretty dehydrated. I suppose part of it was a lack of food as well (two energy bars isn't enough for a 14 mile hike, really) but the last mile or two, my mouth was pretty dry and bad-tasting. I thought about drinking some of the lake water, but since Fred is currently undergoing medical treatment for Giardia, I decided not to.
Back to the car by about 5:00. Maisie was pretty bushed, she stretched out on the front seat and just slept all the way home. I stopped for a bottle of Gatorade and then drove home as quick as possible.
A fun day, a lot of fun for the lake dog, and some beautiful scenery. Got to see Glacier Peak from a distance, as well as (I think) Sloan and Pugh, and of course Thompson and the other Snoqualmie-area peaks.