Lake Isabel Route

Overview

As a forester working in the shadow of Zekes Peak everyday for months, I was really curious if there was anyway to get up those beautifully ragged cliffs. After reading through all of the pain and suffering Josh went through to get to the summit and agonizing over Google Earth, I thought there might be an easier way up this elusive peak. 

I knew Zekes towered directly above Lake Isabel and I've clambered up the "unoffical" trail to the lake half a dozen times as one of my favorite backpacking spots close to Seattle. Looking on Google Earth, I noticed there was a sizeable talus field near the outflow of Lake Isabel and about 1,200 vertical ft. straight up the hill, there appeared to be a second talus field that leads directly to the summit ridgeline. So the simple solution..... connect the dots! 

Getting There

The fastest way to get up to Lake Isabel is to follow the bouldering access trail near the intersection of Hogarty Creek and Reiter Road. If you attempt this climb on a weekend, there's likely to be a sizeable crowd parked along Reiter Road even early in the morning. The bouldering trail connects to a forest road which you'll follow for a mile until you arrive at a big intersection with a recent clear cut behind it. The Lake Isabel trail goes directly through this clear cut and then meanders through beautiful open forests for about 2 miles. There will be a few points where the trail completely disappears in a lincoln log stack of blow down, but fear not, as long as you follow May Creek on your left side futher up the hill, you'll end up in the right place. 

Route Description

Once you reach Lake Isabel, you'll find a faint trail that travels west around the lake. It passes through a few campsites and a decent creek crossing before narrowing out on a tiny strip of trail hanging directly over the lake. This point leads down to the primary outflow of Lake Isabel. It's made up of a large block of floating logs that looks like something out of an old sawmill. These logs are pretty well in place and one can traverse over them towards the narrowing point of the lake. Right before reaching the top of the waterfall (don't get too close because I wouldn't trust those last couple of logs), you should see a sizeable talus field that veers even further away from the lake. Your goal is to clamber up to the far upper corner of this talus field. There may be a couple points where the rock steps are over 5 ft. tall, but the talus is held firm and relatively easy to navigate. 

Once you reach this far corner, there should be a pink flag hanging above the brush. I hung pink flags the rest of the way to the summit but didn't want them to be visible from the lake, in case a curious hiker accidentally goes up something they didn't sign up for... The first few flags involve bushwhacking through slide alder but they quickly reach a solid forest canopy. Around here there's a frustrating point where one has to cling to several low hanging Douglas-fir braches to get past a cliffy tree, but afterwards, it's just standard steep forest slopes. The flags general follow a very steep narrow ridgeline all the way to the upper talus slope. If you find yourself off of the spine and in one the hillsides many depressions/ravines, you will likely get cliffed out. I'm sure there is another way up this hill but this is what I found to be the path of least resistance. It's also important to note that I wouldn't recommend this climb to anyone who's uncomfortable with branch belaying. The vegetation holds are strong but this section of the climb is definitely a no-fall zone and the only real option is to put your life in the hands of some huckleberry bushes.     

Once you've arrived at the upper talus field, the pink flagging will end and there will be a series of cairns cutting up and across the slope in a westerly direction. The talus here is definitely smaller and less stable, but not nearly as bad as the talus near the base of Mount Stickney's summit. Enjoy the chirping pikas and views of Lake Isabel as the talus field leads up to the lower extent of the summit ridgeline. From this point, you're directly above a massive cliff that towers over the Skykomish Valley. 

One can likely figure out how to get to the summit from here, but I hung a couple flags along the way just in case. It's relatively gentle slopes in peaceful high elevation forests. As you get near the peak, it will seem like the end will be nothing more than a little tree'd in plateau. But after pushing through a small patch of brush, the forest opens up to beautiful semi-panoramic views of the Wild Sky Wilderness and the Skykomish Vally. I was genuinely shocked how amazing this summit was for such a lightly-travelled mountain so close to Seattle. Zekes deserves some credit. An added bonus was the lack of hellacious carpenter ants that occupy the nearby summits of Stickney, Baring, and Iron Mountain. Probably the most peaceful summit I've ever had mid-summer in the PNW.

I set this route as a full day trip, 10 hours truck-to-truck, but this would also be a great weekend outing. One could set up a basecamp along Lake Isabel and enjoy the hidden kayaks and the sandy beach on the otherside of the lake. No matter what, there's a whole lot to do here!

Essential Gear

A climbing helmet should be required considering all of the loose talus near the summit ridgeline, as well as an ice axe and some sort of snow traction if one attempts this climb early in the spring. 

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