The Skyline Divide approach to Hadley Peak has been described (75 Scrambles in Washington, Peggy Goldman, 2001. Since the approach from due north via Cougar Divide appeared to be more direct, that is the route that Barb and I chose.
Hadley Peak (7515') is a minor summit on the north flank of Mount Baker, 10781', the northernmost of the five volcanos in Washington. Cougar Divide separates Deadhorse Creek from Bar Creek and its tributary Dobbs Creek that flow north to the Nooksack River. The trailhead is at 4900', a good choice on a warm day will little wind. In keeping with its elevation and latitude, most of the approach is open with fine views. On a lovely Sunday in August, with perhaps dozens of parties on the neighboring Skyline Divide Trail, we meet three parties, one of which was a man and Bernese Mountain Dog.
The ascent to Chowder Ridge can be done on low angle snow. More direct is a steeper slope to the left on which I took a short fall before stopping easily with my ice ax. The mosquitos were fairly intense as we neared the parking lot late about 6 PM.
Mt. Baker (left, 10781') and Hadley Peak (7515') looking south from USFS road 33, near 3800' at 09:05.
Dobbs Creek drains the Hadley Glacer north and east into Bar Creek. This view is looking east from 5780' at 11:41.
Lateral moraines form along the sides of glaciers. This massive moraine indicates that the Hadley Glacier once extended hundreds of feet below its current terminus at about 6200'. This view of the lateral moraine below Hadley Glacier looking east from 6480' at 12:21.
To allow time for a brief lunch and enjoy the scenery, we turned around at this point, about 0.3 miles and 500' below the summit of Hadley Peak. This view of Hadley Glacier with Mt. Shuksan (9131') in the distance is looking east from 7020' at 14:44.
Icefall on the Roosevelt Glacier looking south from 7150' at 14:02. The ice cliff to the left of the ice fall and above the debris covering the glacier is 70' to 140' high. The small Bastile Glacier (lower right) covers the north face of point 7842', the summit of Bastile Ridge. At its upper edge is an excellent example of a bergshrund, a crevasse that forms at the boundary between the stationary ice attached to the headwall and the glacier ice flowing downward.
Sedum divergens, spreading stonecrop, an endemic succulent (6700' at 15:27).
Hadley Peak and glacier (left) and Chowder Ridge (right) looking southeast from 6390' at 16:10. Polygonum bistortoides, American bistort, and lupine cover the meadow in the foreground.
Looking north northeast along Cougar Divide from 5820' at 16:47. The three highest summits on the skyline right of center are Tomyhoi Peak (left, 7451'), American Border Peak (8026') and Mount Larabee (right, 7868'). The highest peak left of center is Mount McGuire (2019 m) in British Columbia. The long ridge in the middle distance is the High Divide.
Mt. Baker and Hadley Peak looking south from 5760' at 16:57.
This graph summarizes our trip. The horizontal axis is 24 hour Pacific Daylight Time. These data were logged by an altimeter watch. Our fastest hours were 920 ft/hour at 12:15 and -900 ft/hr at 16:00. We departed Seattle at 06:30 and returned at 21:40.
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Date created: 2003.11.13
Last modified: 2003.12.20
Copyright © 2003, Walter A. Siegmund
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