Del Campo Peak

Summit: 6,614ft

11m 4,300ft gain

A gorgeous peak located off the Mountain Loop Highway in the Monte Cristo Area of the North Cascades. In early summer Del Campo offers a lot of variety with steep snow and fun scrambling. It’s also a great season to find solitude as once the snow melts Gothic Basin becomes a popular backpacking destination. Be sure to come prepared with proper gear and expertise as it is a strenuous climb any time of year.

Here it is from Mount Pugh a week later:

From Evergreen Mountain:

1st Trip: 5/27/19

Ellie and I utilized our home away from home and slept in the truck at the trailhead. Nothing better than rolling out of bed before 5am to start a hike feeling perfectly rested! The first mile starts off on the flat Monte Cristo Trail which gave our bodies time to wake up. It’s also peaceful traveling alongside the Sauk River.

From there we gradually gained 2,500ft over 3-4 miles to Gothic Basin crossing many creeks and snow bridges.

Always kept an eye on my next Mountain Loop objective Mount Pugh:

Above the basin began our steep snow climb. We had no issues thanks to solid mountaineering boots and crampons. The views really started to open up and Foggy Lake got smaller and smaller.

Damn Daniel’s looking nice:

Glacier Peak coming into view next to Sloan Peak:

Perfectly framed Static Peak:

I see these guys everywhere (Chimney Rock, Overcoat and Lemah):

Soon the summit block will appear. We continued up the snow to the gully on the right. Here is where the helmets go on and the crampons come off.

The last stretch is steep with a little exposure but we always felt safe. We were the only people in sight so we didn’t have to worry about people kicking rocks on us.

We were both ecstatic to reach the summit. These breathtaking views were well earned!

We shared the summit with a kaleidoscope of butterflies!

It was only 10:30am so we took a long break enjoying the heavenly sights!

Sloan and Glacier:

In back is Three Fingers and Whitehorse, in front is Sperry and Big Four:

The above plus Vesper, Wolf and Morning Star (Baker in the far right):

Zooming in on Baker:

Shuksan:

Forgotten, White Chuck and the Pickets:

Mount Pugh with Eldorado peaking out behind:

Stuart high above Hubbart Peak:

Gothic Peak, Red Mountain and much more (Issaquah Alps in the far left):

You can even spot The Brothers in the Olympics:

The to-do list always grows on a beautiful clear morning like this one! Thankfully we started early as clouds started to take over as the day went on.

The descent was made much faster by glissading!

In no time we were back at the trailhead! This was such a fun and challenging trip with my love!

And we here’s a window into the following weekend’s trip: