Hiking4:56:41 9.43 mi (31:28 / mi) +2254m18:03 / mi ahr:123 max:166
Through Ingalls Pass to Lake Ingalls, down to and up the Cascadian Couloir to the summit of Mount Stuart, the sixth-highest peak in Washington at some 9420'. The climb was tough but went largely as planned, though I did go off track out of the Couloir a couple times following the shade and got into somewhat sketchy spots. I saw two marmots (?) on the shore of Lake Ingalls; they are like big dumb slow-moving squirrels. No goats to be seen, however.
I camped at the De Roux campground near the trailhead and left around 7:15am, carrying ~3.5L water and copious snacks including mixed nuts, broccoli, cubed watermelon, beef jerky, Cheez-Its, some Clif bars, some energy chews, and Good & Plenty. The watermelon in particular tasted worth its weight in gold. Incredibly spectacular views from the top in all directions - I think I spotted all five peaks higher than Stuart, which is pretty cool. Inspiration credited to Tyra's ascent a few years ago.
Hiking3:47:37 7.48 mi (30:26 / mi) +577m24:33 / mi ahr:130 max:179
Back down Stuart, up through Longs Pass and down to the trailhead. This turned into a bit of a debacle with numerous bad things happening. Firstly, I found the downclimb more taxing and less pleasant than the up, with lots of steep, loose dirt and rock leading to a few slip-and-falls and a few bumps and bruises, all in the full heat of the sun. To make matters worse, I somehow made a terrible parallel error and went down completely the wrong chute, ending up at least a K too far east and a few hundred feet too far downhill when I finally reached the valley floor. After belatedly realizing my mistake, I also had to smash though an obnoxious section of thick brush, further sapping morale. This all wasted probably 30-45 min.
Thirdly, while cursing my stupidity and slogging back toward the Longs Pass trail junction, I ran out of water, which came as a jarring and very unwelcome surprise. As it was the hot part of the day, fear of dehydration soon took root in my mind, and I took measures to combat this. I removed and hand-carried my pack, reasoning that the biggest loss of fluids was coming through contact between my back and my pack. Upon crossing a fast-moving creek a bit before the junction, I soaked my shirt, which helped greatly, and even took the calculated risk of drinking a few mouthfuls of untreated water. Finally, I began constantly shoving broccoli into my face, reasoning that its water and nutritional content would hopefully stave off any real problems.
Fourth, partway up the Longs Pass trail I somehow found myself having lost the trail and traveling cross-country, and felt the first twinge of cramping - at which point my fears grew and I even felt a little panic start to rise. I debated heading back down to put some emergency water from the creek in my pouch, but then concluded that retracing my steps wasn't worth it, I should trust my broccoli and the fact that I hadn't stopped sweating, and that following the trail was no great benefit over traveling cross country, especially as my objective was in sight all the time, making navigation trivial. In the end I made it over the pass and the relatively easy downclimb to my beautifully supplies-filled car in okay, if tired, shape.
Lessons: 1. Bring my water filter on long treks, even if it seems unnecessary. 2. Bring padded fingerless bike gloves or equivalent for technical-ish climbs; this would have provided necessary protection and prevented a lot of me getting pointlessly annoyed at scrapey rocks. 3. Take a screenshot of the area and route maps, instead of half-assedly memorizing the loop. This perhaps would have prevented my nav error. 4. Most importantly and obviously - don't do potentially dumb stuff alone, even if numerous other people are in the area.