Cloud Cap CG to Lamberson Butte

This forum is used to share your experiences out on the trails.
User avatar
longboard16
Posts: 34
Joined: June 10th, 2022, 12:45 pm

Cloud Cap CG to Lamberson Butte

Post by longboard16 » August 14th, 2022, 6:35 pm

My first official trail report. On Friday, I took to another section hike of the Timberline Trail. Someday will backpack the whole thing but for now just little chunks. Nice fairly clear day, although the distant views of the other snow cap Cascade Mountains were hindered by haze or smoke. First part of trail, as others have said was uphill and pretty much in the wide open spaces. Crossed about a dozen patches of snow, ranging from a few feet across to perhaps the length of a football field. Proceed to the high point of the TT, which on my app was 7,329 feet and then down to the back side of Lamberson Butte to the point where I turned off the trail two weeks ago and went up to the top for lunch. On the way back to Cloud Cap stop for lunch and the fantastic view from an overlook of the upper Newton Creek canyon and the various waterfalls. Not a lot of flowers as most of trail was rocky but there were some exceptions.
A batch of wildflowers.jpeg
Some of the wildflowers
The endless trail.jpeg
The trail goes somewhere
Tail of old and new trees.jpeg
A view of old and new trees overlooking the canyon
One of the larger Snow crossings.jpeg
One of the larger snow crossings
Newton Creek Waterfall.jpeg
The right most waterfall
Newton Canyon Overlook1.jpeg
Nice lunch view
Once I got back up to the high point it was all downhill from there, which is a lot better than an uphill slog at the end of the day.

User avatar
bobcat
Posts: 2764
Joined: August 1st, 2011, 7:51 am
Location: SW Portland

Re: Cloud Cap CG to Lamberson Butte

Post by bobcat » August 17th, 2022, 10:39 am

Thanks for the debut trip report! It's great to see clear blue skies well into August. Sort of missed that these past few years.

User avatar
greglief
Posts: 640
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Location: Northern and Western Hemispheres
Contact:

Re: Cloud Cap CG to Lamberson Butte

Post by greglief » August 17th, 2022, 1:17 pm

Thank you very much for the trip report!

Greg

keithcomess
Posts: 132
Joined: April 24th, 2019, 8:04 pm

Re: Cloud Cap CG to Lamberson Butte

Post by keithcomess » August 18th, 2022, 10:42 am

Thanks for the report and the photos. If you're contemplating the complete loop, consider the Elliot Creek crossing carefully before proceeding. It's been reported here as even more hazardous now than in past years and it was dangerous (my opinion, based on two circuits of the mountain) before.

User avatar
longboard16
Posts: 34
Joined: June 10th, 2022, 12:45 pm

Re: Cloud Cap CG to Lamberson Butte

Post by longboard16 » August 18th, 2022, 6:38 pm

Thanks for the heads up on Elliott. It seems others have had the same concern, especially about the down and then up adventure, besides the actual crossing. I’ll probably put that circuit off to next year as we are about to head to Glacier, Yellowstone and the Tetons for a month. If the weather is still good in late September I may do something around the Three Sisters or the Wallowas.

User avatar
retired jerry
Posts: 14395
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: Cloud Cap CG to Lamberson Butte

Post by retired jerry » August 19th, 2022, 6:08 am

maybe do Eliot crossing in the first half of the loop and turn around if you don't like it

and it sounds like CCW is better

I've done that many times in the past but not this year (yet). I've found it to be obnoxious but not dangerous. Unless maybe someone above you knocks a rock off and it hits you. It's not like a cliff that you can fall off of. Just a bunch of loose material that's hard to get up.

Maybe the old upper crossing is better?

User avatar
drm
Posts: 6133
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Location: The Dalles, OR
Contact:

Re: Cloud Cap CG to Lamberson Butte

Post by drm » August 19th, 2022, 6:57 am

retired jerry wrote:
August 19th, 2022, 6:08 am
and it sounds like CCW is better . . . Maybe the old upper crossing is better?
That's also a good way if you want to check out the old crossing because it is so close to the trail as you descend towards Cloud Cap. TT loop is on my maybe list for Sept, and if I get to it, that would be my plan.

User avatar
retired jerry
Posts: 14395
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: Cloud Cap CG to Lamberson Butte

Post by retired jerry » August 19th, 2022, 11:50 am

or, you can go to Cooper Spur shelter, then go over to Eliot on that trail. Good trail down to Eliot. But then you have to cross over the foot of the glacier, and then up the west side which is about as bad as any other place.

The west side out of Eliot is bad everywhere

User avatar
Chip Down
Posts: 3037
Joined: November 8th, 2014, 8:41 pm

Re: Cloud Cap CG to Lamberson Butte

Post by Chip Down » August 21st, 2022, 4:27 pm

Wait, I'm confused. How can the Eliot crossing be difficult? After years of waiting and planning, we received a glorious public-works project, presumably at great expense, with a new trail that required substantial elevation penalty through tedious viewless terrain, in order to establish a much-improved crossing. Yay!
But now I'm hearing it's no better than the improvised upstream crossing? But...but...but...U$F$ always makes our lives easier and our hikes more enjoyable, right?

But anyway, yeah, nice to see your debut TR, may it be the first of many.

User avatar
pinecone
Posts: 47
Joined: August 26th, 2021, 2:50 pm
Contact:

Re: Cloud Cap CG to Lamberson Butte

Post by pinecone » August 21st, 2022, 9:13 pm

I just did the loop CW Thursday afternoon - Friday afternoon (clouds! :lol:). Eliot is very much improved from the beginning of the season from the parade of backpackers, when I felt it was very sketchy with the amount of unconsolidated loose material, and I'd say it has progressed from the dangerous to the quite obnoxious state.

There is a standard "route" for the west side marked by cairns now that folks have been using and the foot traffic has shed a lot of the unconsolidated material out of a single path, although I was plenty happy to have my poles to poke at rocks to test if they were firmly planted or completely loose. There are several large very set boulders that work as nice shelves to aim for, and slow any momentum. I had a fairly light pack just for an overnight, so of course heavier packs increase risk/awkwardness hazard. It's not where I ascended heading westward on a trip at the beginning of the season, but going CW it seems like the route that was most apparent, or direct and now it's pretty set. (I didn't drop back in from the west side that trip, I took Stranahan Ridge down to the road crossing the Eliot on the way to Laurance Lake since I wanted to see the new roadwork down there and frolick in the Stranahan meadowy bits. I then ascended back up the other side.

Crossing CW this week felt similar to other years past at this point. Took a few moments to get down, then hop across at the same boulders I have every time this and last year, dry feet. Definitely easier than trying the larger scrambles up higher, which have also seen their share of continued erosion and steepening. Check it out on googlemaps 3d / earth for recent imagery.

The positive thing is there is some solid lava flow being exposed as the creek drops the canyon floor. A few more good serious washouts and we may have a flattened crossing on some bedrock to put some anchors into and then a more stable exit.

Post Reply